Abunimah, writer and commentator on the Middle East and Arab-American issues, was refreshingly optimistic about the increasing Arab presence in the media. To make his point, he cited the Palestine Media Watch group (www.pmwatch.org), the Palestinian Right of Return Coalition’s website and media group (www.alawda.org), the “Electronic Intifada” he helped to create (www.electronicintifada.net), and the rising number of letters to the editor and opinion pieces being published in newspapers publicizing Arab perspectives. Although Abunimah was optimistic, he was not unrealistic, noting that this was not enough and we can do even more. He advised the audience to focus more on the local level with grassroots media activism dealing with local media and presenting local angles on national and international stories. Abunimah concluded by declaring that we cannot stay silent because “the cost of silence is too great.” Read more about Activists Spend Sunday Morning Strategizing
The Internet, however, has witnessed a plethora of pro-Palestinian websites springing up, such as the highly professional and committed Electronic Intifada, Palestine Media Watch and Ramallah On-line. These sites offer the latest news on the ground from the Palestinian territories, up-to-date articles, day-to-day accounts of life under occupation as well as historical facts. These pro-Palestinian websites also organise campaigns to get their message across in the most effective way possible, without using HonestReporting-type intimidation tactics. Visitors to the websites are urged to provide moral support to courageous reporters like Robert Fisk, Suzanne Goldenberg, Amira Hass, and Gideon Levy. Read more about Time to expose Israeli propaganda network
It doesn’t always take much to spark a campus protest. Take the University of Texas, for example. In April, a forum on the Middle East crisis hosted by a UT student organization, the Palestine Solidarity Committee, featured Ali Abunimah, a co-founder of “The Electronic Intifada” Web site and a frequent critic of Israeli and U.S. policies. His remarks wound up in the April 16 edition of the Daily Texan student newspaper. Read more about Colleges urged to pull funds from Israel; Students manipulated in pro-Palestinian campaign, critics say
ONE of the most provocative images in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 tragedy was that of young Palestinians cheering and celebrating allegedly upon hearing news of the horror that visited Manhattan and the Pentagon. Nigel Parry, a writer on Mideast affairs who has lived for some time in the West Bank, offers to place this disturbing scene in context…. Read more about Opinion Context
This week’s devastating violence between Israel and the Palestinians appears to have rendered the eight-week-old truce, or hudna, null and void. After Thursday’s killing of a senior Hamas official by Israel in retaliation for a suicide bombing of a bus in Jerusalem which 20 people died. The Islamic militant group Hamas threatened revenge and formally abandoned the cease-fire. EI’s Ali Abunimah answers questions from readers of USA Today on what it takes “to stop the violence between Israel and the Palestinians.” Read more about EI's Ali Abunimah in USA Today's "Talk Today"
The Guardian’s coverage of the Middle East has been questioned this week. One is the name used for the structure being erected by the Israelis across Israeli and Palestinian territory and called by Israel the “security fence”. Finding terminology that favours neither one view nor the other is not easy. The fact is, it is a wall in some sections and a fence in others. The headline on a long discussion of the terminology by the pro-Palestinin ian website Electronic Intifada seems to state the reality fairly: “Is it a fence? Is it a wall? No, it’s a separation barrier.” Read more about Addition and long division
Two Electronic Intifada and Electronic Iraq co-founders, Ali Abunimah and Nigel Parry, were at the 20th National Convention of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Washington DC on 14 June 2003 to accept the ADC’s Voices of Peace Award on behalf of the founders of EI and sister site Electronic Iraq. The award was presented to EI and eIraq “in recognition of its commitment to bringing the concerns, voices, and experiences of the Iraqi and Palestinian peoples to audiences the world over via the Internet.” Read more about EI "Voices of Peace" acceptance speech at ADC conference
Among advocates of Arab-American rights in the US, the response to the proposed mass deportations has been significant. In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly Ali Abunimah, vice-president of the Arab-American Action Network and co-founder of the Internet magazine Electronic Intifada, cautioned against the consequences of such draconian measures. “The fact that the government is moving to deport so many people will potentially harm efforts to fight terrorism, because it will erode trust in the government.” Read more about Rounding up the Arabs
Well balanced article by Melanie A. Stawicki in the Missourian that notes the fault lines that exist between the media critiques offered by organisations such as CAMERA, The Electronic Intifada, and the commercial media itself. Read more about Mideast Internet sites claim media bias
