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Rebuilding the Islamic University of Gaza

Akram Habeeb and Marcy Newman 16 February 2009


Since Israel’s bombing of the buildings housing scientific laboratories at the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) on 28 December, the rubble that remains debunks Israeli claims that those labs were used to manufacture weapons. Of course such allegations are preposterous; indeed it would be quite foolish for IUG to even entertain the notion of producing weapons given the way in which Palestinian universities have been under constant Israeli attack since the founding of Birzeit University in the West Bank in 1975. Akram Habeeb and Marcy Newman comment for The Electronic Intifada. 

In Gaza, Palestinians react to Israeli elections

Rami Almeghari Gaza Strip 13 February 2009


As Israelis voted on Tuesday for a new government, Palestinian residents in the Gaza Strip continue to rebuild from the three-week long attack on their territory which killed at least 1,350 people. While many commentators say that the results of the Israeli elections matter to the prospects for peace, Palestinians voiced less optimistic views in bomb-ravaged Gaza. The Electronic Intifada contributor Rami Almeghari reports from the occupied Gaza Strip. 

Crossing the Line: US role in the war on Gaza

13 February 2009


This week on Crossing The Line: As US President Barack Obama stood before a crowd of two million and gave his inaugural address, he pledged to work with those in the Arab and Muslim world towards peace. But absent in the address was any condemnation of Israeli atrocities committed against the Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Host Naji Ali speaks with The Electronic Intifada co-founder Ali Abunimah about the Obama administration, the recent massacre in Gaza and the prospects of peace in the region. 

Hampshire College first in US to divest from Israel

12 February 2009


Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, has become the first of any college or university in the US to divest from companies on the grounds of their involvement in the Israeli occupation of Palestine. This landmark move is a direct result of a two-year intensive campaign by the campus group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The group pressured Hampshire College’s Board of Trustees to divest from six specific companies due to human rights concerns in occupied Palestine. 

If Israel's weapons came through a tunnel

Kathy Kelly Chicago, United States 12 February 2009


Suppose that the US weapon makers had to use a tunnel to deliver weapons to Israel. The US would have to build a mighty big tunnel to accommodate the weapons that Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Caterpillar have supplied to Israel. The size of such a tunnel would be an eighth wonder of the world, a Grand Canyon of a tunnel, an engineering feat of the ages. Kathy Kelly writes from Chicago, the United States after returning from Gaza. 

Israel lurches into fascism

Ali Abunimah 12 February 2009


Whenever Israel has an election, pundits begin the usual refrain that hopes for peace depend on the “peace camp” — formerly represented by the Labor party, but now by Tzipi Livni’s Kadima — prevailing over the anti-peace right, led by the Likud. But whatever coalition emerges, it will maintain control with more violence and repression as Israel lurches into fascism. Ali Abunimah comments. 

Toronto Palestine Film Festival calls for submissions

11 February 2009


The Toronto Palestine Film Festival is now accepting entries for the festival’s second year to be held in September-October 2009. The festival was conceived by Palestine House last year to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nakba. This year’s festival will continue to present the extraordinary narrative of a dispossessed people living in exile or under Israeli occupation and will continue to introduce Canadian audiences to the rich variety of Palestinian cinema. 

Book review: Un-erasing the erasure of Palestine

Gabriel Ash 11 February 2009


I read Jonathan Cook’s new book Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s experiments in human despair before Israel committed its most recent massacres in Gaza. Israel’s massive disregard for Palestinian life and the clearly deliberate destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure shocked many poorly informed observers, but few of those acquainted with the knowledge contained in this book would have been taken by surprise. Gabriel Ash reviews for The Electronic Intifada. 

Israeli "investigation" whitewashes West Bank execution

11 February 2009


On 2 February 2009, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported the findings of an “investigation” into an incident in which, that morning, “a Palestinian gunman opened fire at an [Israeli army] Patrol Force near the Community Yatir [sic], south of Hebron.” As a result of the investigation, the Israeli military Central Command “assumes” that the “terrorist,” who was shot dead by Israeli soldiers, “was intending to execute a terror attack against Israeli civilians.” 

Gaza 2009: Culture of resistance vs. defeat

Haidar Eid 11 February 2009


The ongoing bloodletting in the Gaza Strip and the ability of the Palestinian people to creatively resist the might of the world’s fourth strongest army is being hotly debated by Palestinian political forces. The latest genocidal war which lasted 22 days, and in which apartheid Israel used F-16s, Apache helicopters, Merkava tanks and conventional and non-conventional weapons against the population, have raised many serious questions about the concept of resistance and whether the outcome of the war can, or cannot, be considered a victory for the Palestinian people. Dr. Haidar Eid comments for EI.