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Decoding the media's Palestinian "civil war"

Ben White 19 June 2007


Major news stories from Palestine/Israel are often accompanied by what becomes a self-reinforcing “vocabulary,” typically generated by Israeli government ministries or other propaganda outlets, and then picked up by the Western media. A classic example was the redeployment of Israeli settlers and military from the Gaza Strip in 2005, which was successfully packaged as a “disengagement” that pitted “Israeli against Israeli,” in a “painful compromise.” 

Division among Palestinians

19 June 2007


The following letter to the editor by EI co-founder Ali Abunimah was published by The Irish Times on 19 June 2007: As a Palestinian, I am appalled that the European Union and the United States have backed Mahmoud Abbas’s so-called “emergency government” in Israeli-occupied Ramallah. The Palestinian Basic Law makes no provision for such a development. Hamas, no matter what one thinks of it, won the January 2006 election fair and square. On the eve of its victory, it had already observed a one-year unilateral truce with Israel. 

Bush Faces Crises from Palestine to Pakistan

Jim Lobe 18 June 2007


Four years after the emergence of the first signs of a serious insurgency in Iraq, U.S. President George W. Bush finds himself beset with major crises stretching from Palestine to Pakistan.With U.S.-backed Fatah forces routed by Hamas in Gaza this week, Bush’s five-year-old vision of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict now looks more remote than ever, while a new Pentagon report in Iraq suggests that his four-month-old “surge” strategy is failing in its primary objective of reducing the violence there. 

Letter from a Palestinian Camp

Marcy Newman Beirut 18 June 2007


In 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed white American clergymen who were opposed to his civil resistance campaign that fought against racist, segregationist policies and practices in the US. Writing from his jail cell he responded particularly to people who would have preferred that African Americans be patient and wait for those rights to come to them rather than to resist: “For years now I have heard the word ‘Wait!’ It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied.’” Dr. Marcy Newman reflects upon the relevance of King’s words to the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. 

Whose Coup, Exactly?

Virginia Tilley 18 June 2007


Mutual accusations are hurled by Abbas and Haniyeh that the other side launched a coup against the legitimate authority. An international community worried by the ‘coup’ accusation might endorse the Fayyad government as the seemingly correct position. But the ‘coup’ claim stumbles over a basic problem — that Abbas’s appointing a new prime minister was itself entirely illegal. The new ‘emergency government’ is illegal, too. Virginia Tilley analyzes the situation and assesses the international community’s options. 

Hamas' Shock and Awe

Sam Bahour 20 June 2007


The recent overrunning of Gaza by Hamas militants was the equivalent to the United States’ Shock and Awe campaign in Iraq. EI contributor Sam Bahour writes, both campaigns were conducted outside the realm of international law and were violent and brutal, albeit each relative to their respective resources and internal contexts; both claimed to be “preemptive” in nature; and both events placed the Palestinian people and struggle for national liberation in even a more precarious position. 

Towards a Geography of Peace: Whither Gaza?

Ilan Pappe 17 June 2007


The Gaza Strip is a little bit more than two percent of Palestine. This small detail is never mentioned in the present Western media coverage of the dramatic events unfolding there. Gaza is isolated now by the Israeli siege, but historian Ilan Pappé explains that Gaza was always an integral part of Palestine and its cosmopolitan gateway to the world. It is within this context that we should view the violence raging today in Gaza and reject the reference to the events there as another arena in a ‘Clash of Civilizations.’ 

Audio: Crossing the Line interviews journalist and activist Alison Weir

15 June 2007


This week on Crossing the Line, host Chris Brown examines the disparity in media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with journalist Alison Weir. Brown also speaks with photographer and activist Andrew Courtney about the little known community of African Palestinians and their long history within the country and conflict. 

Oslo's baleful legacy

Nimer Sultany 16 June 2007


The Oslo endless fruitless negotiations peace process has created an ambiguous situation: the Palestinians are caught somewhere between state-building and liberation struggle without being or having either. As a result they bear the responsibilities of freedom without actually enjoying freedom. The world looks at them as if they were in a postcolonial stage while the colonialists are still around. Additionally, the Oslo process has transformed the Palestinian revolutionary project into a corrupted comprador class that enjoys some benefits from the occupier. 

Audio/Transcript: Ali Abunimah and Laila El-Haddad on the situation in Gaza

15 June 2007


EI’s Ali Abunimah appeared on Democracy Now!, interviewed by host Amy Goodman, on Friday, 15 June 2007. He was joined by journalist and mother living in Gaza, Laila El-Haddad. Abunimah and El-Haddad discuss the current situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as Hamas takes control over the Gaza Strip. The two discuss US and Israel’s involvement in the recent fighting between Fatah and Hamas which has been commonly referred to as a civil war.