22 September 2003
Two years ago EI’s Arjan El Fassed attended the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR). At that time he was part of the Palestinian delegation at the NGO Forum. Two years after the conference, Israel’s apartheid policies have only deepened and become systematic and widespread. Read more about Remember Durban
3 September 2003
Against the background of shock and disgust at the mass terror attack on the Jerusalem bus on August 19, and the fear of advanced Qassam rocket attacks, the government of Israel energetically renewed its policy of targeted killings. From August 21 through yesterday, September 1, Air Force fighters killed 11 Hamas activists in six targeted assassinations in crowded central locations. Four other Palestinians were killed in those actions, among them a young girl and an old man, and dozens were injured. The threatened revenge attack has not occurred. Is this not proof that targeted killings are the way to go? Amira Hass writes in Ha’aretz. Read more about What the fatality statistics tell us
18 August 2003
The next terror strike is on its way. You don’t need to be an expert on terror, or a compulsive gambler, to foresee that Islamic Jihad will try very soon to avenge the death of Mohammed Sider the head of the organization’s military wing in Hebron. Read more about Who Violated Hudna?
12 September 2003
“The government of Israel has tonight resolved to commit a cold-blooded murder, with the implementation deferred — the cold blooded murder of the elected president of the Palestinians. Let there be no mistake about it. Let no one be fooled by the talk of ‘deportation’. There is no intention that Arafat will survive the encounter with Sharon’s soldiers. I know Sharon, I have followed his career for decades, ever since he was a young commando officer carrying out brutal cross-border raids. He has not changed in any essential, only in the amount of power held in his hands. He means to do it, he means to kill Arafat. He will watch for his chance, wait for a moment when the Amercians look elsewhere - and then he will pounce.” Read more about "They have decided upon cold-blooded murder"
29 August 2003
The Zionist revolution has always rested on two pillars: a just path and an ethical leadership. Neither of these is operative any longer. The Israeli nation today rests on a scaffolding of corruption, and on foundations of oppression and injustice. As such, the end of the Zionist enterprise is already on our doorstep. There is a real chance that ours will be the last Zionist generation. There may yet be a Jewish state here, but it will be a different sort, strange and ugly, writes Avraham Burg, former speaker of Israel’s Knesset from 1999 to 2003. Read more about A failed Israeli society collapses while its leaders remain silent
12 September 2003
The crisis represented by the Abbas resignation may actually signal the end of the era in which hopes for peace were predicated on the division of the land between an Israeli and a Palestinian state. If this is the case, argues EI’s Ali Abunimah, we will have to embrace a “South African solution”—bringing Palestinians and Israelis together in one political entity where they enjoy equal rights and freedom. We should be under no illusion that embracing the one-state solution is an easy choice for Palestinians, let alone Israelis. On the contrary, it entails a political movement of immense complexity and against powerful opposition. Yet this struggle may soon, if it has not already, become unavoidable. Read more about 10 years after Oslo, question of single state unavoidable
11 September 2003
Immediately after the 11 September 2001 attacks, American news channels repeatedly aired footage of a tiny group of Palestinians celebrating. Israel’s supporters tried to spin these images as proof that the Palestinians were a barbaric people and as much enemies of the US as of Israel. For Palestinians — who naturally shared the horror of the rest of the world — it was a particularly anxious moment, and many feared that after the thousands killed in the attacks, they would be the “second victims” of September 11. Two years on, EI’s Ali Abunimah asks whether the worst fears were realized and if the attacks made any fundamental difference to the dynamics of the Palestine conflict. Read more about The Palestinians after September 11
10 September 2003
The resignation of the first Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, should surprise no one. The whole scheme was no more than an artificial arrangement intended to serve far more hidden, dangerous purposes than those sanctimoniously declared. Regular EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah analyzes why Abbas failed, and considers the chances for a successor to do any better. Read more about The quick rise and fall of Mahmoud Abbas
2 September 2003
Palestinian suicide bombings are vicious and grave abuses, clearly war crimes under international law for intentionally killing civilians. They have also been a strategic disaster for Palestinian national aspirations, souring the Israeli public on peace and damaging the Palestinian cause in the court of world opinion. Nevertheless, it is nearly impossible to avoid concluding that the current Israeli government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has either deliberately provoked a number of them or at least undertaken actions that would clearly risk them. Either way, it is complicit in the deaths of scores of Israeli citizens. Steve Niva comments. Read more about Israel's Assassination Policy Triggers Latest Suicide Bombings
29 August 2003
The two devastating bomb attacks in Baghdad and Jerusalem last week have further confirmed the fragile nature of measures taken so far to deal with the two complex issues of Palestine and Iraq. It was particularly shocking, and deeply agonising to realise that even the United Nations’ Baghdad headquarters would not be spared the evil of those whose main interest, it seems, is only to spread death, destruction and total chaos. The United Nations, and the many noble people who fell victim in the senseless, horrendous attack had no reason to be there other than to help the Iraqis overcome the suffering of the war, and provide them with much needed assistance to rebuild their shattered country and battered society. Yet, argues regular EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah, the lesson of these atrocities is once again that occupation breeds chaos, violence and endless resistance. Read more about Violence will end when occupation ends