Jonathan Cook

”Dear reader, as Israel slides ever deeper into a morass of racism and ethnic solipsism, please do not rely too heavily on Haaretz to understand how or why this ‘light unto the nations’ has grown so dim.” Jonathan Cook examines the politically significant differences between the English and Hebrew versions of a newspaper thought to be the conscience of Israel.

”For months, Israeli officials have been furiously shuttling between Jerusalem and the White House lobbying to have the peace ‘road-map’ torn up. A memo from Sharon’s office, published in the Israeli daily Haaretz two weeks ago, revealed that, along with more than 100 other alterations, Israel was urging the Americans to change the road map’s goal from creating an ‘independent’ Palestinian state to one with ‘certain attributes of sovereignty’.” Jonathan Cook reports on Ariel Sharon’s late conversion to the utility of a growing dividing wall that is changing facts on the ground for Palestinians.

”As the storm clouds build over Baghdad, the Palestinians will have wait out the war, and its aftermath, without food or gas masks.” Jonathan Cook of Al-Ahram Weekly surveys the dire straits in which Palestinians under Israeli occupation now find themselves and concludes that the situation will worsen before it improves.

“To be an Arab in Israel is also to suffer from a qualitatively different kind of discrimination: a racism that is unknown to anyone who can claim to be an “ethnic Jew,” or, in the case of the Russian Christians, a “social Jew.” The discrimination is not just structural but ideological: it is the negation of the Arab citizen’s right to an identity as an Israeli. It is felt in the absolute exclusion of the minority from all aspects of the Zionist nation-building programme.” Jonathan Cook exposes the logical and methodological flaws in the writings of former Israeli government minister Professor Amnon Rubinstein.

“It is a reflex question for Palestinians, always posed early in the Arab greeting ritual, to ask a stranger, even another Palestinian, ‘Where are you from?’ before enquiring: ‘Where do you live?’ Few Palestinians live where they feel they belong. ” Jonathan Cook introduces us to a new generation of Saffuriyeen who are keeping their ties to the destroyed town of Saffuriyya strong and vibrant.