Alastair Crooke’s new book Resistance: The Essence of the Islamist Revolution studies the philosophy of resistance among Islamic movements as articulated by influential Islamist thinkers and revolutionaries of the last century. However, by defining an essence of Islam, Crooke reinforces many of the assumptions he is trying to dispel. Hicham Safieddine reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: Alastair Crooke's "Resistance: The Essence of the Islamist Revolution"
Insidious pressures and overt threats have created a hostile environment to telling Rachel Corrie’s story and of course, the countless tragic stories of Palestinians. They are emblematic of a determination to maintain ignorance about the realities of life in Palestine, and a desire to perpetuate the notions of Israeli innocence, virtuousness and victimhood. In maintaining any hold to this myth, we are preventing the stories of Palestinian lives from reaching the light of day. Charlotte Silver writes for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about "My Name is Rachel Corrie" and Israel's waning impunity
After the 11 September 2001 attacks there have been many books and articles regarding the misuse of justice and harsh treatment of Arab Americans and Muslims in the United States. Louise Cainkar’s extensive research and excellent analysis is the most complete published so far. Homeland Insecurity is an ethnography which took three years to complete and benefits from more than a hundred interviews. Barbara Aswad reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: Post-September 11 "Homeland Insecurity"
My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness bills itself as “A Poet’s Life in the Palestinian Century.” To better understand Adina Hoffman’s biography of the Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali, however, consider it: “A Palestinian Century in a Poet’s Life.” But this syntactical slip doesn’t discredit Hoffman’s work. By deftly stacking shattered recollections atop dusty stones of history Hoffman has built a literary landmark — not only is My Happiness the first English-language biography of a Palestinian writer, it offers an evocative biography of pre-1948 Palestine. Mya Guarnieri reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: A Palestinian century in a poet's life
On Wednesday, 11 November, more than 200 persons packed into La Sala Rossa, a slightly operatic Montreal venue, as part of the ongoing concert series “Artists Against Apartheid,” which is held in solidarity with the call from Palestinian civil society for boycott, divestment and sanctions from Israeli apartheid and is organized by Tadamon!, a Montreal collective working in solidarity with Palestine. Tyler Nadeau writes for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Sounds and struggle: Solidarity through music
Directed by Alberto Arce and Mohammed Rjuailah, To Shoot an Elephant is a documentary film that offers an eyewitness account from the Gaza Strip during Israel’s assault last winter. During the attacks, when the Israeli military banned foreign journalists from entering the Strip, Arce managed to stay inside Gaza and filmed how medical teams and hospitals were targeted by Israeli forces while performing their duties. The Electronic Intifada contributor Adri Nieuwhof met with Arce and interviewed him about the motivation behind his film. Read more about Interview: "My film makes you part of Gaza's reality"
“This is my story, the story of an Arab woman,” Wadad Makdisi Cortas states in the opening line of her memoir A World I Loved. Born Wadad Makdisi in Beirut in 1909, which at that time was considered a part of Syria, she discovered Arab nationalism at a young age and lived a life true to the idea in every sense. Cortas believed passionately that Arabs, in order to protect their culture and values, should liberate themselves from Western colonialism which sought to impose its ways and divide the people. Matthew Cassel reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: "A World I Loved"
Cartoonist Naji al-Ali was a towering figure in the Palestinian cultural and political scene. His daily political drawings were a knife-twisting, gut-wrenching journey into how Palestinians perceived their predicament. Toufic Haddad reviews A Child in Palestine: The Cartoons of Naji al-Ali for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: The timeless work of Naji al-Ali
International relations specialist Anne Le More’s first monograph, International Assistance to the Palestinians after Oslo, the first in Routledge’s Studies on the Arab-Israeli Conflict series, provides an important critique of the belief that reconstruction, development and humanitarian aid form essential counterparts to political processes aimed at resolving longstanding violent conflicts. Ali Abunimah reviews. Read more about Book review: How aid hurt Palestine
Few recent books have aroused more interest and been more frequently reviewed in the US and Europe prior to the appearance of an English version as historian Shlomo Sand’s The Invention of the Jewish People. Raymond Deane reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: Shlomo Sand's "The Invention of the Jewish People"
