News

Blocking Out the Sun

Mike Odetalla Beit Hanina, Palestine 14 February 2005


My Palestinian mother has a favorite expression that she likes to use. Whenever she wants the curtains pulled back, a window or door opened to the outside world, or just wants to get out of the house, to be outdoors, she would always say that she wants to ashoof wijih rabie (roughly translated: “to see the face of my God”). Last summer, while my family and I were in Palestine, we got to see and experience, first hand, the magnificence of God’s face and the ugly face of occupation and oppression, the Apartheid Wall that is being built by Israel. Mike Odetalla writes from Beit Hanina. 

The False Promise of Western Democracy

Nora Bassiouni and David Reznik 14 February 2005


The recent election of Mahmoud Abbas in the Occupied Territories was hailed by the Western press as a milestone in the democratization of the Palestinian people. However, recent reports coming out of that region have questioned the legitimacy of this supposed triumph in democracy. These elections have added to a growing worldwide skepticism about Western notions of democracy (i.e. institutionalized suffrage, parliamentary procedures, etc.). It seems Western democratic practices, here in the form of an internationally-supervised day of voting, do not, in and of themselves, guarantee a truly democratic society. 

The Sharm El-Sheikh Summit: An interview with Saleh Abdel Jawad

11 February 2005


“Abbas is serious, he is committed to what he says, and I think the ball is now mainly in the Israeli court. Abbas is still obliged to do certain things on the Palestinian side: he has to apply the ceasefire fully and control the situation. The Israelis have to get to, at least, the pre-September 28, 2000 situation. Then we can maybe move on the roadmap.” This week Palestine Report Online interviews Saleh Abdel Jawad, professor of political science at Birzeit University, on the Sharm Al Sheikh summit. 

Prison experience as a normal part of life

Ray Smith 10 February 2005


According to the International Red Cross (ICRC), approximately 8,500 inhabitants of the occupied Palestinian territories — among them more than a hundred women and almost 500 children — sit for “security reasons” in Israeli jails. ICRC found in a 1999 survey that almost half of all men below 40 years have been in Israeli prisons, many of them several times. Prison experience is no exception out here, it’s the norm. In the following interview, a recently released prisoner from Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus — the largest camp in the occupied West Bank — talks about his experiences and the difficulties that one faces during and after imprisonment. 

Amandla Ngawethu! South Africa and Palestine compared

Jeff Handmaker, Bangani Ngeleza and Adri Nieuwhof 8 February 2005


Sometimes the relevance of making comparisons between the liberation movements in South Africa and Palestine is questioned. Jeff Handmaker, Adri Nieuwhof and Bangani Ngeleza argue that, while the situations are by no means identical, sufficient similarities exist for Palestinians and their solidarity counterparts to draw relevant experiences and strategies that helped form the conditions for peace negotiations in South Africa. It is the massive land dispossession and disproportionate situation that has existed both for black South Africans and for Palestinians, reinforced by policies and actions designed to destroy their dignity, which have formed the primary motivators in both liberation struggles. 

Is Hamas going mainstream?

Khalid Amayreh 1 February 2005


Despite Israel’s efforts to destroy Hamas, including assassination of most of its top leaders, the resistance movement was able to emerge victorious in local elections held in 10 Gaza towns and villages last week. With a Hamas’ victory in Gaza’s local elections, and its earlier good performance in the West Bank local elections on 23 December, it is likely the movement will be encouraged to participate fully in July’s legislative elections. It remains unclear if the strengthening of Hamas through the ballot boxes will push the movement towards more moderation, as some observers have suggested. Khalid Amayreh reports from the West Bank. 

Killing of Palestinian girl shatters family

Laila El-Haddad 3 February 2005


Ten-year-old Nuran Iyad Dib went to school as ecstatic as any schoolgirl should be. But this crisp winter day was special: she would receive her bi-annual report card. As it turned out, she passed with flying colors, which meant a gift from her parents, who had been saving up their dwindling funds for this occasion. The teacher’s comment on top of her report read: We predict a very bright future for Nuran. But Nuran would have no such future, and her gift lies abandoned in a corner of her family’s grieving home. On the afternoon of 31 January 2005, Israeli sniper fire ripped through her face as she stood in her school’s courtyard, lining up for afternoon assembly. 

Look for a future Palestine in the past

George Bisharat 3 February 2005


Six decades ago, my family celebrated Christmas in its Jerusalem home, as did the families of other Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem, Nazareth and throughout the Holy Land. Then, in 1948, Palestinian society was destroyed. More than 700,000 Palestinians — many, like us, Christians, but even more Muslims — fled or were forced into exile by Israeli troops. That is the history of the establishment of Israel that is often forgotten in the United States — but is stubbornly remembered by Palestinians. Why do Palestinians who lost their homes, and who have been barred by Israel from returning ever since, remember their pre-exile lives with such enduring intensity? George Bisharat offers an answer. 

Saida's Six Days of Curfew

Donna Mulhearn Saida, Palestine 3 February 2005


I am writing this by candlelight in a family living room in the Palestinian West Bank town of Saida where I am currently under military-enforced house arrest, along with 3,500 others. The living room of my adopted home is packed full of people. They have no choice but to stay inside. If they open their front door they will be confronted by the machine gun of one of the hundreds of heavily armed Israeli soldiers who invaded and occupied this sleepy farming town three days ago. Donna Mulhearn has spent the last week in the Palestinian West Bank town of Saida under curfew and military occupation with its people. 

Letter from Prison: My Interview with Israel's Shin Bet Intelligence Agency

Patrick O'Connor Ramle 1 February 2005


Recently the Israeli authorities have begun searching for and arresting experienced International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and international activists. My arrest and attempted deportation is another example of this. Evidently the Israeli authorities find nonviolent resistance and active support of Palestinian rights to be threatening. Pat O’Connor has managed humanitarian aid programs in the Middle East and Africa, and volunteered with the International Solidarity Movement in the West Bank supporting non-violent Palestinian protest against the Wall. He is currently in detention at Maasiyahu prison in Ramle awaiting deportation.