RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) — Nasser Abdulhadi is a mild-mannered man who runs a restaurant. He was always known as the jovial sort. One day, his friends say, he stopped being jovial. He chose instead to fight for a world title for one of his country’s national dishes, and through that to gain worldwide recognition for Palestine. Read more about Palestinians break records to reclaim culture
The small volume The Punishment of Gaza provides a selection of Gideon Levy’s columns on Gaza in Israeli daily Haaretz since 2006. But does its publication reflect a bias against Palestinian and other Arab voices in the publishing industry? Asa Winstanley reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: Gideon Levy and the Western media elite
Director Julia Bacha pieces together a lovely film exploring the evolution of the West Bank village of Budrus’ resistance to Israel’s wall, and its reclaiming of its destiny. Jimmy Johnson reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about The story of a people's resistance told in "Budrus"
Comprised of four women and three men between the ages of 18 and 27, a Palestinian football team was organized to participate in the Anti-Racism World Cup in Belfast, Ireland. Jillian Kestler-D’Amours reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Fighting racism through sports
If you live under a colonial regime, the first thing you are prevented from doing is thinking about a future,” proclaims Sandi Hilal, one of the founders of Decolonizing Architecture. “This is the first thing that the occupation imposes on you. And to propose in Palestine right now a future where you can plan, imagine, is something which is very important.” Read more about Architectural planning for a different future
Veteran Middle East correspondent David Hirst, author of the seminal work on the Palestinian plight The Gun and the Olive Branch, has a new release: Beware of Small States, an equally important book on Lebanon’s complex tragedy. The Electronic Intifada contributor Robin Yassin-Kassab interviews Hirst on his work and views. Read more about "Beware of Small States": journalist David Hirst interviewed
Objective information is urgently required in order to further a more nuanced awareness of what Hamas is all about. Raymond Deane determines whether two new books on the group that has caused an earthquake in Middle East politics stand up to the test. Read more about Division on Unity Street: two books on Hamas reviewed
In his latest book, Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid, Yves Engler contends that Canada’s lopsided support for Israel is neither a shift nor the product of current government policy but goes as far back as Zionism itself. Hicham Safieddine reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: pocket-sized volume deflates Canada's "peacemaker" myth
In order to understand how the law works, one needs to situate it in its political and historical context, otherwise it loses its relevance. That’s what Victor Kattan’s new book From Coexistence to Conquest does. It is a novel attempt to examine the legal history of the Israeli-Arab conflict, describing law as one factor among many that shaped the development of events. Mazen Masri reviews. Read more about Book review: Victor Kattan's legal history of the colonization of Palestine
Why migrate? What do you leave when you do? What’s waiting for you? How do you bring the social construct of “home” with you? Or replace it? And in a collection of such heavy questions, where is there room for marijuana jokes? Director Cherien Dabis’ award-winning feature-length debut Amreeka investigates all of these and much more in an hour and a half of marvelous cinema. Jimmy Johnson writes for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Cherien Dabis' journey to "Amreeka"