The Electronic Intifada

The Nakba, Intel, and Kiryat Gat

Henry Norr 23 July 2008


Israel established a “development town” on the site of the destroyed villages of al-Faluja and ‘Iraq al-Manshiya in 1955. It was called Kiryat Gat (Gat City) in the mistaken belief that it was the site of the ancient Philistine town of Gath. Initially, Kiryat Gat’s major industries were agriculture and textiles. But in the mid-1990s Intel chose Kiryat Gat as the site for a huge new plant it called Fab 18. Henry Norr comments for EI about the Intel corporation’s complicity in the ongoing Nakba in Palestine. 

Taking you home: "Palestinian Walks"

Lora Gordon 21 July 2008


Accounts by Western travelers coming to the “Holy Land,” later used by Zionists to justify their colonization, also compelled Raja Shehadeh to provide a counter-narrative, in Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape. “The accounts I have read do not describe a land familiar to me,” Shehadeh writes, “but rather a land of these travelers’ imaginations. Palestine has been constantly reinvented, with devastating consequences to its original inhabitants.” Lora Gordon reviews for The Electronic Intifada. 

"Subjective Atlas of Palestine" wins prestigious Dutch award

Adri Nieuwhof 16 July 2008


Dutch designer Annelys de Vet of the the International Academy of Arts in Palestine and the Dutch Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation, joined forces with a group of Palestinian artists to realize a moving, beautiful, poetic and at times heart-breaking book. The resulting Subjective Atlas of Palestine offers a picture of Palestine that differs from the images the public generally receives through the mass media. On 26 June 2008 it was awarded the best designed book of 2007, beating out 465 others. Adri Niewuhof reports for EI. 

No Mediterranean Union shortcut around Arab-Israeli conflict

Hasan Abu Nimah 16 July 2008


Escaping into ambitious political fantasy like that behind the Mediterranean Union is not the right approach to urgent political questions. It is no more than a waste of time. If Europe is truly concerned, there is a due need for a principled, bold, decisive and compatible with international law policy towards the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah comments. 

Celebrities urged to cut ties to settlement financier

Omid Memarian 15 July 2008


UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - Having successfully lobbied the UN Children’s Agency UNICEF to stop accepting donations from Israeli billionaire Lev Avnerovich Leviev, activists are urging celebrities who have made public appearances with Leviev to cut all ties with him. Leviev is the chairman of Africa Israel Investments, a global conglomerate that has been criticized by a variety of non-governmental organizations for its involvement in building settlements in the occupied West Bank. 

Israel targets Hamas orphanages

Peter Hirschberg 15 July 2008


JERUSALEM (IPS) - Shopping malls. Schools. Medical centers. Charities, orphanages. Soup kitchens. These are the latest targets in the campaign the Israeli military is waging against Hamas in the West Bank. Israeli military officials have identified Hamas’s civilian infrastructure in the West Bank as a major source of the Islamic group’s popularity, and have begun raiding and shutting down these institutions in cities like Hebron, Nablus and Qalqiliya. 

Hamas-Israel prisoner swap remains elusive

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani 15 July 2008


CAIRO, (IPS) - Despite intensive mediation efforts by Egyptian officials, a delegation from Palestinian resistance faction Hamas departed Cairo Saturday without securing a prisoner exchange deal with Israel. According to local analysts, fresh swap proposals — featuring the release of long-time Israeli captive Gilad Shalit — continue to run up against Israeli obduracy. 

Photostory: A culture of survival amidst a ravaged geography

Umayyah Cable 18 July 2008


For most Americans, Palestine does not exist. Yet it is present enough to be seen as a faceless enemy. A dangerous and unwelcoming land, a breeding ground for fundamentalist Islam, teeming with angry anti-American Jihadists, Palestine is, in the American imagination, a ravaged landscape devoid of culture and joy. Umayyah Cable’s photographs tell a different story of Palestine. 

Tel Aviv conference organizes around the right of return

Nora Barrows-Friedman 14 July 2008


Late last month a conference on the Implementation of the Palestinian right of return was organized by the Israeli human rights organization Zochrot (Hebrew for “The Remembering”). Zochrot is an anti-Zionist, pro-justice group that works diligently to raise awareness within Israeli Jewish society about the Palestinian Nakba, “ground zero of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.” Nora Barrows-Friedman reports from Tel Aviv.