RAMALLAH (IPS) - Unity talks between the two main Palestinian political factions Hamas and Fatah failed before they even began this week following Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’s refusal to release 400 Hamas prisoners held in PA jails in the West Bank. Hamas demanded their release as a precondition for attending the talks which were due to take place in Cairo. Read more about Palestinian factions torture opponents
Using what they call the “simplest language,” the Eltiqa Group for Contemporary Art seeks to challenge the harsh obstacles of life in their native Gaza: “we color life for the others.” In the past month some of their work has reached London as part of a new exhibition organized by the UK Palestine Solidarity Campaign in association with the A.M. Qattan Foundation. Occupied Space 2008: Art for Palestine brought together over 100 works not only from Palestinian artists, but from those across the globe from Algeria, Tunisia and Jordan to the UK to China. Isabelle Humphries reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about "Occupied Space 2008" adds Palestinian color to London's art world
The sun is sinking fast behind the trees of an olive grove on the outskirts of the West Bank village of Nilin. After a day of confrontations between the Israeli army and the Palestinian villagers over Israel’s building of its separation wall on Nilin’s land, the soldiers appear finally to have gone. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Israel tightens chokehold on village of entrepreneurs
UNITEDNATIONS (IPS) - A company that is a member of the UN Global Compact for corporate social responsibility has ties to production in an Israeli settlement on the West Bank considered illegal by the United Nations. A spokesperson for the company, Vileda said he was unaware of the contract with a manufacturer in the West Bank. However, a representative of Plasto confirmed that the company was a subcontractor for Vileda. Read more about UN social responsibility member company tied to settlements
RAMALLAH (IPS) - The assault on Chris Davies, Liberal Democrat party spokesman for the environment for the north west of Britain and a member of the European Union’s parliamentary delegation to the Palestinian Legislative Council, has delivered a firm political message to the European parliament. Read more about EU parliamentarian: "Hamas is fighting an occupation"
In April 2003, the 21-year-old Tom Hurndall was shot in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip. The Israeli authorities absurdly claimed “that a Palestinian gunman wearing fatigues had been shooting a pistol at a watchtower and had been targeted by a member of the Israeli Defense Force [‘IDF’].” His mother Jocelyn, the author of the harrowing memoir, My Son Tom - The Life and Tragic Death of Tom Hurndall (with Hazel Wood), travels to Israel. At the Soroka Hospital in Beersheva she recognizes her comatose son “despite the bandages surrounding [his] dreadfully swollen head, covering [his] eyes.” Raymond Deane reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about "My Son Tom": Mother continues the solidarity that Israeli bullets cut short
A Country of Words: from the Refugee Camps to the Front Page is a remarkable Palestinian memoir, exceptional because of its abundance of compassion, humor and humility. Its author is Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based Arabic-language daily al-Quds al-Arabi who also wrote The Secret History of al-Qa’ida. Individuals have their own lives and create their own narratives, and for Atwan, his story begins in Palestine. Atef Alshaer reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: Abdel Bari Atwan's "Country of Words"
There has been a spate of recent news reports on international companies moving out of the Occupied Palestinian Territories to locations inside the internationally-recognized boundary between Israel and the West Bank. The impression is made that boycotting products originating in Israel’s illegal colonies in the West Bank is on its way to becoming mainstream, handing the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions movement with a fresh, substantial victory. The Electronic Intifada contributor Omar Barghouti comments. Read more about Boycotting Israeli settlement products: tactic vs. strategy
In January US president elect Barack Obama will be inaugurated as the new American head of state. The term of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will end a few days before that, and in February, Israeli elections will be held. In 2010 the term of the Palestinian Legislative Council is also set to expire. The Electronic Intifada co-founder Arjan El Fassed suggests how the Palestinian national movement should move forward, inclusive of Palestinians around the world. Read more about Palestine's greatest asset: its people
Israel seems to have little time for the irony that a modern Jewish shrine to “coexistence and tolerance” is being built on the graves of the city’s Muslim forefathers. The Israeli Supreme Court’s approval last week of the building of a Jewish Museum of Tolerance over an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem is the latest in a series of legal and physical assaults on Islamic holy places since Israel’s founding in 1948. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Travesty of tolerance on display
