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A parade of charlatans

Hasan Abu Nimah and Ali Abunimah 29 December 2004


Supporters of Israel have often accused Arab states of cynically exploiting the Israeli problem and the suffering it has caused the Palestinians to distract their own populations from domestic troubles. But if this has occurred, others, far beyond the region have also found the conflict a useful tool for their own selfish purposes. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is the latest leader to brazenly exploit this tragedy, write EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah and co-founder Ali Abunimah. Having caused massive harm to his country’s reputation and credibility by allying it with Bush’s illegal Iraq invasion, Blair has sought to mitigate the political cost by repeatedly playing the Palestinian card. 

Boycott as Resistance: The Moral Dimension

Omar Barghouti 28 December 2004


Faced with overwhelming Israeli oppression, Palestinians under occupation, in refugee camps and in the heart of Israel’s distinct form of apartheid have increasingly reached out to the world for understanding, for compassion, and, more importantly, for solidarity. Palestinians do not beg for sympathy. We deeply resent patronization, for we are no longer a nation of hapless victims. We are resisting racial and colonial oppression, aspiring to attain justice and genuine peace. Above all, we are struggling for the universal principle of equal humanity. Omar Barghgouti presented the contents of this article at the “Resisting Israeli Apartheid” Conference at the University of London (SOAS), on December 5, 2004. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

23 December 2004


This week, Israeli forces killed 16 Palestinians, including a child. Israeli troops conducted a series of incursions into Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli forces demolished 46 homes in Khan Yunis. Israeli forces razed 69 donums of agricultural land in the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, Israeli forces demolished two homes. Israeli forces raided a number of Palestinian charitable institutions in the West Bank and confiscated some of their contents. Israel continued shelling of residential areas and civilian facilities; dozens of Palestinian civilians, including at least 30 children, were injured and a number of civilian facilities were destroyed. 

Gazan students' fugitive lives

Charles Stratford 26 December 2004


In the last four years, Israeli authorities have all but refused to issue permits for students from Gaza to travel to and from the West Bank. They have also made renewing permits increasingly difficult for students who began their degrees before the Intifada started. In 2000, 370 Gaza students enrolled at Birzeit University. Enrollment of Gaza students in 2005 is down to 39. Those who began their degrees in 2000 have been left with two stark choices: They can either drop out or stay and risk all that this entails. “We live a different life to students from the West Bank,” explains Abdel Rahim, one of the 35 Gaza students still studying at Birzeit. 

Elections without Democracy

Sam Bahour and Todd May 28 December 2004


How little has changed. Except for the lack of Congressional resistance, the situation in the Israeli-occupied territories mirrors that of apartheid South Africa. Palestinians are being forced, either by choice or fate, to agree to “acceptable” candidates for elections to offices that will have only as much power as the Israeli government, underwritten by the Bush administration, grants. Sam Bahour and Todd May report for EI. 

Abbas' rival strikes confident note

Khalid Amayreh 25 December 2004


The independent Palestinian  presidential contestant, Mustafa al-Barghuthi, has said he can beat the front-runner, official Fatah candidate Mahmud Abbas, in the 9 January election. Speaking during an election rally in the town of Dura, 45km southwest of Jerusalem, on Friday, Al-Barghuthi said Palestinians shouldn’t trust “biased and tendentious polls”, an allusion to recent opinion surveys which gave Abbas a substantial lead over al-Barghuthi and other candidates. “The results of the municipal elections prove that all the opinion polls we had seen were false. So don’t trust these polls,” he said. “Instead I urge you to work with me to create a new leadership that will feel and identify with the pain of our people, not the pain of others.” 

Living into Hope: Christmas in Zababdeh, Palestine

Marthame Sanders and Elizabeth Sanders Zababdeh, Palestine 24 December 2004


“As we write this to you, we are still in Advent, a period of waiting and hoping and preparing, a time of expectation.” Marthame and Elizabeth Sanders write from Zababdeh, Palestine. Christmas in the Holy Land has a special meaning, but under military occupation it also means stocking up for curfew, anticipating loss, fearing for the worst. Despite the exhaustion, the fear, the uncertainty, the word from Zababdeh is Hope. And from this hope springs faith anew, reborn this Christmas season. 

Palestinians prepare for local elections

Khalid Amayreh 23 December 2004


Like most Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Muhammad Qaisiya, a 45-year-old taxi driver, is quite satisfied that a municipal election will finally take place in his small town of Dahiriya, some 17km south west of Hebron, on Thursday. The last local election in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories took place in 1976. Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) supporters won the mayoral election, prompting the Israeli occupation government to freeze the democratic process indefinitely and adopt a policy based on appointment rather than election. 

Costs of conflict: The changing face of Bethlehem

19 December 2004


The glory of Bethlehem, a city of historical and religious importance for those of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish faiths alike is vanishing. Today, the centuries-old link with Jerusalem is being undermined. A number of Israeli settlements have been built around Bethlehem. Additionally, movement restrictions for Palestinians have been tightened due to the security situation with the aim of protecting Israeli civilians from suicide attacks and other violence. Bethlehem’s self-sufficiency has also diminished with the loss of tourists and pilgrims due to the conflict and to movement restrictions. 

UN school shelters 600 Gaza families displaced by Israeli offensive

20 December 2004


Following a two-day offensive by Israeli forces into the Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, the main United Nations agency helping Palestinian refugees has opened one of its schools to provide temporary accommodation to 600 families displaced by the fighting. UNRWA immediately served the families hot meals and water in addition to providing mattresses, blankets and mats. Meanwhile as Christmas approaches in Bethlehem, two UN bodies have published a report on the devastating impact that Israeli policies have had on the little hilltop town.