Israel’s influential Reut Institute has identified the global movement for justice and peace as an “existential threat” and called on the Israeli government to “attack” and possibly engage in criminal “sabotage” of this movement in what Reut believes are its various international “hubs” in London, Madrid, Toronto, the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Ali Abunimah comments for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Israel's new strategy: "sabotage" and "attack" the global justice movement
Fifteen years of civil war followed by 20 years of civil strife have cemented the role of Lebanon’s leaders as bulwarks of their communities. If any serious sectarian reform begins to occur, hereditary inheritance and the defense of the tribe will cease to be sufficient reasons for these figures to retain their statuses. That is a prospect Lebanon’s politicians can hardly be expected to accept. Sami Halabi comments for Electronic Lebanon. Read more about The end of sectarianism?
The results of the first year of Netanyahu’s economic peace are visible. While there has been no progress on the political front, security and economic cooperation with the PA has never been better. The American-trained security forces have kept a tight grip over West Bank towns squashing dissent and keeping “order.” Ziyaad Lunat comments for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about The Netanyahu-Fayyad "economic peace" one year on
The Palestinian submission to US pressure that Israel’s large West Bank settlement blocs be annexed to Israel against a fictitious land swap is another vindication of the Israeli belief that facts created are facts accepted. But if West Bank land east of the 1967 border is still contested, so is Israeli land to the west. Hasan Abu Nimah comments. Read more about The false sacredness of the 1967 border
Once the Gaza Freedom March arrived in Cairo I repeatedly heard justification that organizers did not want to put Egyptian protesters at risk. Yet, Egyptians regularly protest in Egypt despite the risks. For a group of outsiders to justify the exclusion of our involvement without asking our opinion — in spite of the good intentions of “protecting” us — felt paternalistic and demeaning. Philip Rizk comments for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about United solidarity with Gaza
The 1993 Oslo agreement did not only usher in a new era of Palestinian-Israeli relations but has had a much more lasting effect in transforming the very language through which these relations have been governed internationally and the way the Palestinian leadership viewed them. Joseph Massad comments. Read more about How surrendering Palestinian rights became the language of "peace"
Despite logistical problems, the 12 January earthquake in Haiti has seen much of the “international community” pull together to provide food, doctors and other emergency aid for the already poverty-stricken country. But the disaster has also provided apologists for the State of Israel’s human rights abuses an opportunity to try and grab high moral ground. Sarah Irving comments for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Israel's PR exploitation of Haiti aid
Once again, Israel resorts to show trials. Sheikh Raed Salah, a prominent political and religious leader of the Palestinian minority, was sentenced on 13 January by an Israeli court to nine months of imprisonment. This is his second conviction in recent years. This time the allegation was that he assaulted a policeman and obstructed police work during a demonstration at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Nimer Sultany comments for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about "Jerusalem is in danger"
A new report by Freedom House, a US-government funded think tank, suggests US interference around the world makes countries less free. Despite this, it calls for even more US intervention. The report’s approach also provides a stark example of the abyss liberal thinking has fallen into when it comes to ignoring Israel’s systematic abuses and presenting the country as an idealized democracy. EI’s Ali Abunimah comments. Read more about The United States, Israel and the retreat of freedom
Israel’s recent aggressions look ominously like the 4 November 2008 attack on Gaza, which killed six persons and shattered the four-month-long truce meticulously respected by Hamas. Predictably, Hamas and other factions retaliated for that Israeli provocation and then Israel used their response to justify its massacre of 1,400 people in Gaza this time last year. Hasan Abu Nimah comments. Read more about A second Gaza war around the corner?
