19 October 2009
The Electronic Intifada’s exclusive footage of the multiple disruptions of former Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s speech in Chicago last week has now been seen by millions all over the world. EI’s exclusive video report of this event, posted on YouTube, had 100,000 views and had been reposted or cited as a source by news organizations all over the world. Read more about EI video of Olmert protest goes global
19 October 2009
In his timely and insightful new book, Engaging the Muslim World, University of Michigan professor Juan Cole debunks prevailing myths and presents a set of compelling policy prescriptions that aim to encourage dialogue and defuse hostilities. However, while he convincingly addresses the questions of knowledge, he leaves issues of power largely unexamined. Muhammad Idrees Ahmad reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: Juan Cole's "Engaging the Muslim World"
19 October 2009
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The 47-member Human Rights Council approved a resolution Friday endorsing war crimes charges against Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, as spelled out in a report by a four-member international fact-finding mission headed by Justice Richard Goldstone. As expected, the United States threw a protective arm around Israel and voted against the resolution, along with some members of the European Union. Read more about UN body adopts Goldstone report
16 October 2009
Approximately 30 activists – mainly students from area universities – disrupted a lecture given in Chicago by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday which was hosted by the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. While Olmert’s speech was disrupted inside the lecture hall, approximately 150 activists protested outside the hall in the freezing rain. Read more about EI exclusive video: Protesters shout down Ehud Olmert in Chicago
16 October 2009
Last month South Africa’s premier investigative journalism TV show, Carte Blanche, aired an investigation of allegations that security personnel from Israel’s national carrier, El Al Airlines, were acting dubiously at Johannesburg’s airport. Carte Blanche conducted an experiment, sending an undercover reporter into the airport, expecting him to be targeted simply because he was Muslim. Sayed Dhansay comments for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Report: Israeli intelligence illegally profiling travelers in South Africa
16 October 2009
GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) - Thousands of Gazan farmers may be unable to replant their crops during the region’s main planting season in October due to agricultural land still damaged by the Israeli offensive at the start of the year, and a lack of agricultural materials like seeds and fertilizers, according to officials. Read more about Gaza farmers struggle with damaged agricultural land
15 October 2009
Steven Salaita’s new collection of political essays, The Uncultured Wars, Arabs, Muslims and the Poverty of Liberal Thought exposes orientalism and Islamophobia on the American left. Joseph Shahadi reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: Orientalism and Islamophobia in the American left
14 October 2009
SHEIKH ZAYED, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - On a searing summer morning, workers are adding layers to the mud-brick police station being constructed in Sheikh Zayed, northern Gaza. “We started building on 20 June,” says Mohammed al-Sheikh Eid, a consultant engineer with Gaza’s Ministry of Interior. “Since this is the first time we’ve built something on this scale with mud bricks, we can’t estimate exactly how much longer it will take to complete. Maybe another two months or so.” Read more about Rebuilding Gaza's infrastructure with mud
14 October 2009
On 7 October 2009, Tony Blair gave a lecture at a New York university. In responding to an unexpectedly direct student question, he publicly joined, for the first time, the US and Israeli Zionist consensus rejecting the Goldstone report. Jim Holstun comments for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Tony Blair and the business of covering up war crimes
13 October 2009
In his new book The Making of a Human Bomb: An Ethnography of Palestinian Resistance, Nasser Abufarha examines the phenomena of Palestinian suicide operations. It is based on extensive fieldwork conducted in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, mostly in and around the northern town of Jenin. A native of the city, Abufarha interviewed families of suicide bombers, observed demonstrations and studied Palestinian cultural products that addressed suicide attacks. Asa Winstanley reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: Palestinian views on suicide operations