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Boycott group: Israeli-British academic project politically motivated

22 July 2008


The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel deplores the unabashed pro-Israel bias of UK officialdom displayed during Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s visit to occupied Jerusalem. Brown’s pro-forma criticism of Israeli colonizing activities notwithstanding, the visit became an occasion to underline the UK government’s prejudice in favor of Israeli policies of apartheid, dispossession and colonial expansionism. 

The Nakba, Intel, and Kiryat Gat

Henry Norr 23 July 2008


Israel established a “development town” on the site of the destroyed villages of al-Faluja and ‘Iraq al-Manshiya in 1955. It was called Kiryat Gat (Gat City) in the mistaken belief that it was the site of the ancient Philistine town of Gath. Initially, Kiryat Gat’s major industries were agriculture and textiles. But in the mid-1990s Intel chose Kiryat Gat as the site for a huge new plant it called Fab 18. Henry Norr comments for EI about the Intel corporation’s complicity in the ongoing Nakba in Palestine. 

Seeing the Dome of the Rock

Najwa Sheikh East Jerusalem 21 July 2008


Some might think that I am overreacting about the short trip out of Gaza to a place only two hours away. But I would say to them that for me and so many other Palestinians in Gaza, it is not just a short trip, but rather a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The trip was a window that opened suddenly to allow in the fresh air and joy of life, and one that I may never experience again. Najwa Sheikh writes from occupied Jerusalem. 

Celebrated Latin diva urged to cancel Tel Aviv concert

21 July 2008


The following is an open letter to Latin musician Mercedes Sosa sent on 21 July 2008 by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel: How can Mercedes Sosa, the quintessentially progressive diva of freedom songs in Latin America, sing in Israel, a colonial and apartheid state whose war crimes have reached new lows, systematically and deliberately destroying Palestinian society and engendering a process of slow ethnic cleansing of the indigenous people of Palestine? 

The Palestinian Bar Mitzvah

Bassam Aramin East Jerusalem 21 July 2008


My son Arab is 14, just past the age that his Jewish Israeli peers are celebrating their Bar Mitzvahs. This ceremony in Jewish culture is a rite of passage that marks a boy’s entrance into the realities and responsibilities of adulthood. And last week, my son experienced something akin to the Palestinian Bar Mitzvah. Bassam Aramin writes from occupied Jerusalem. 

Taking you home: "Palestinian Walks"

Lora Gordon 21 July 2008


Accounts by Western travelers coming to the “Holy Land,” later used by Zionists to justify their colonization, also compelled Raja Shehadeh to provide a counter-narrative, in Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape. “The accounts I have read do not describe a land familiar to me,” Shehadeh writes, “but rather a land of these travelers’ imaginations. Palestine has been constantly reinvented, with devastating consequences to its original inhabitants.” Lora Gordon reviews for The Electronic Intifada. 

"Subjective Atlas of Palestine" wins prestigious Dutch award

Adri Nieuwhof 16 July 2008


Dutch designer Annelys de Vet of the the International Academy of Arts in Palestine and the Dutch Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation, joined forces with a group of Palestinian artists to realize a moving, beautiful, poetic and at times heart-breaking book. The resulting Subjective Atlas of Palestine offers a picture of Palestine that differs from the images the public generally receives through the mass media. On 26 June 2008 it was awarded the best designed book of 2007, beating out 465 others. Adri Niewuhof reports for EI. 

The Israel-Hizballah prisoner deal

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb 16 July 2008


The Israeli cabinet’s decision to strike a prisoner-exchange deal with the Hizballah movement in Lebanon — on the eve of the anniversary of the war between the two sides of 12 July-14 August 2006 — will not be remembered as one of Israel’s most glorious moments. Amal Saad-Ghorayeb looks at the short-term and long-term implications of the deal.