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"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. 

No Mediterranean Union shortcut around Arab-Israeli conflict

Hasan Abu Nimah 16 July 2008


Escaping into ambitious political fantasy like that behind the Mediterranean Union is not the right approach to urgent political questions. It is no more than a waste of time. If Europe is truly concerned, there is a due need for a principled, bold, decisive and compatible with international law policy towards the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah comments. 

Meet the Lebanese Press: Free at last!

Hicham Safieddine 16 July 2008


The petty politics of forming a national “unity” government in Lebanon will be overshadowed this week by a development with local and regional implications. All Lebanese political prisoners still held in Israeli jails will return home. Five in total, including Samir Kuntar, the dean of Arab detainees, who has spent close to three decades of his life in captivity. With the return of prisoners, another chapter of Hizballah’s struggle against Israel has closed. 

Celebrities urged to cut ties to settlement financier

Omid Memarian 15 July 2008


UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - Having successfully lobbied the UN Children’s Agency UNICEF to stop accepting donations from Israeli billionaire Lev Avnerovich Leviev, activists are urging celebrities who have made public appearances with Leviev to cut all ties with him. Leviev is the chairman of Africa Israel Investments, a global conglomerate that has been criticized by a variety of non-governmental organizations for its involvement in building settlements in the occupied West Bank. 

Israel targets Hamas orphanages

Peter Hirschberg 15 July 2008


JERUSALEM (IPS) - Shopping malls. Schools. Medical centers. Charities, orphanages. Soup kitchens. These are the latest targets in the campaign the Israeli military is waging against Hamas in the West Bank. Israeli military officials have identified Hamas’s civilian infrastructure in the West Bank as a major source of the Islamic group’s popularity, and have begun raiding and shutting down these institutions in cities like Hebron, Nablus and Qalqiliya. 

Hamas-Israel prisoner swap remains elusive

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani 15 July 2008


CAIRO, (IPS) - Despite intensive mediation efforts by Egyptian officials, a delegation from Palestinian resistance faction Hamas departed Cairo Saturday without securing a prisoner exchange deal with Israel. According to local analysts, fresh swap proposals — featuring the release of long-time Israeli captive Gilad Shalit — continue to run up against Israeli obduracy. 

A family under siege

Philip Rizk Gaza Strip 16 July 2008


At the end of my visit they started asking me to take pictures for their brothers, uncles, sons and fathers detained in Israeli prisons for over four months — a picture of a newborn not yet seen by the imprisoned father, one father’s favorite girl and a picture of the detainees’ pictures hanging on the wall to let the prisoners know they are missed, they are celebrated. Philip Rizk writes from the occupied Gaza Strip. 

Photostory: A culture of survival amidst a ravaged geography

Umayyah Cable 18 July 2008


For most Americans, Palestine does not exist. Yet it is present enough to be seen as a faceless enemy. A dangerous and unwelcoming land, a breeding ground for fundamentalist Islam, teeming with angry anti-American Jihadists, Palestine is, in the American imagination, a ravaged landscape devoid of culture and joy. Umayyah Cable’s photographs tell a different story of Palestine. 

US billionaire owns corporations sued by Palestinian villagers

10 July 2008


Evidence gathered by Adalah-NY indicates that Brooklyn-based billionaire Shaya Boymelgreen owns the two little-known Canadian companies sued Wednesday for war crimes in Canada by the West Bank Palestinian village of Bil’in. Three Hebrew language Israeli media reports from 2005-2006 report that Boymelgreen owns the Green Park companies that are now being sued for $2 million in Quebec Superior Court.