Dr. Sami Al-Arian, Palestinian political prisoner, is being held in a prison hospital, after a debilitating 60-day hunger strike seeking to draw the attention of the nation and the world to the injustice visited upon him, jailed for his commitment to justice and dignity for his homeland. This is not a scene from an Israeli jail, however, but from a U.S. prison in North Carolina. In a two-part series, Charlotte Kates examines how the unjustified detention of Dr. Al-Arian is the latest indication of a U.S. government policy of targeting Palestinian activists. (PART 2) Read more about Criminalizing Solidarity: Sami Al-Arian and the War of Terror (Part 2)
The Arab League peace initiative is back in play after an Israeli and American-imposed five-year hiatus. The return to the previously shunted aside proposal comes only because the Bush administration has utterly fouled the region — from the bloody sectarian turmoil of Baghdad to the tsunami of human waste that recently swept through part of northern Gaza — and has evidently concluded there is now a better hope of “fixing” Israel and Palestine than Iraq. In an ironic twist, the Bush administration claim that the road to Middle East peace runs through Baghdad has been inverted by the total collapse in Iraq. Read more about Style or substance following Riyadh summit?
At its Annual General Assembly in the Irish Museum of Modern Art (28 March 2007) the Irish state-sponsored academy of artists Aosdána debated two motions concerning Palestine presented by Margaretta D’Arcy, playwright and veteran political activist, and the composer Raymond Deane — who was a founding-member and former chairperson of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Read more about Irish artists' academy debates boycott motion
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani31 March 2007
CAIRO, Mar 30 (IPS) - Another diplomatic row has erupted between Cairo and Tel Aviv after a documentary film aired on Israeli television in February claimed that Israeli forces had executed hundreds of unarmed Egyptian prisoners of war (POWs) in the wake of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The foreign ministry summoned the Israeli ambassador to express “Egypt’s anger” over the revelations, but critics from across the political spectrum decried the step as inadequate. Read more about Alleged POW Killings Spark Egypt-Israel Diplomatic Row
One by one, all the helium-inflated excuses for arresting and imprisoning Suzi Hazahza have been popped and now lie on the ground. And the single memory humanizing the government that still holds her unlawfully behind bars is the look on one Federal Magistrate’s face Thursday in Dallas when he was told by a US Attorney that Congress has stripped the federal bench of any right to order Suzi Hazahza freed until a full six months of illegal detention have passed. Read more about Suzi Hazahza and the Pirates of Homeland Security
WASHINGTON, Mar 26 (IPS) - A controversial documentary on the threat of radical Islam, promoted by the two most-watched U.S. cable news networks, was marketed and supported in part by self-described “pro-Israel” groups, according to an IPS investigation. Abbreviated versions and segments of Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West ran on FOX News and CNN, but neither station disclosed the film’s connection to HonestReporting, a watchdog group that monitors the media for allegedly negative portrayals of Israel. Read more about Film on "Radical Islam" Tied to Pro-Israel Groups
Summer 2006, Palestine — a crossover between film, video art, individual expression and a collective voice — is a unique experience in the Palestinian cultural scene. This collection of short films brings together 13 individual artists with different degrees of experience within the Palestinian film scene and other visual arts disciplines to convey the summer of 2006 in Palestine. The project is the result of an initiative led by several Palestinian filmmakers from the Palestinian Filmmakers’ Collective. Read more about Film review: "Summer 2006, Palestine"
There are many aspects of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in urgent need of legal scrutiny as part of a much-needed critical dialogue. One such issue is Israel’s claim towards Hamas to acknowledge that it has a ‘right to exist’. This claim has not only been uncritically taken on board by the Quartet. It has become one of the top conditions to be fulfilled by Hamas for receiving aid by the Quartet and other international donors. At the risk of stating the obvious, we argue that this position lacks any basis under international law and will serve no constructive political purpose in seeking to resolve the conflict. Read more about 'Israel's right to exist': Is it a real issue?
MONTREAL: Over 100 people gathered at the Mile End Cultural Center on Tuesday, March 20th for a film-screening and public discussion entitled “Lebanon: Resistance & Hezbollah” organized by Tadamon! Montreal. In the shadow of the 2006 Israeli attack on Lebanon, widely opposed in Quebec and internationally, public discussion and debate on the Lebanese popular movement and political party Hezbollah has grown. The event featured a documentary film produced by Swiss Television, which focused on former Lebanese political prisoner Soha Bechara’s return to Lebanon after 2006 war. Read more about Montreal: Resistance and Hezbollah
On 4 April 1968, Martin Luther King was shot dead in Memphis, Tennessee, where he planned to lead a protest march. The powerful voice of King was silenced, but almost fifty years later, his ideas are still a source of inspiration for people who seek peace and justice. Israel claims to have a special relation with the legacy of King. Every year it marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a United States holiday, with a special session in parliament. Read more about The legacy of Martin Luther King: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere
