22 April 2003
George, we have been more than patient. You wouldn’t try sanctions and you wouldn’t try the carrot and the stick. Israel has resisting efforts you won’t even consider trying. Let us know what you will consider. Something has to change.” EI’s Arjan El Fassed sighs loudly. Read more about George, we have been more than patient
22 April 2003
At the beginning of Israel’s crackdown on the Palestinians, we could anguish at the deaths of strangers, like 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durra, or the innocent Israeli teenagers murdered in 2001 by a Palestinian suicide bomber at a Tel Aviv discotheque. Almost two years later, with victims mounting, no one has the emotional capacity to mourn for so many. But the killing of Corrie, and the shooting of Avery and Hurndall, renew for me the sense of personal anguish at the fate of strangers. EI founder Ali Abunimah comments on recent events. Read more about Armed with principles
22 April 2003
To conceive a film or video and execute it successfully is a challenge for any experienced director. But add a military occupation into the mix — with its checkpoints, invasions, and violence — and the difficulty is increased exponentially. Yahya Barakat, who has seven documentaries under his belt and spoke with The Electronic Intifada during the Chicago Palestine Film Festival, has met the challenge of working under an occupation and and tackles its stories in his work. EI contributer Maureen Clare Murphy reports. Read more about Documenting the Occupation: Director Yahya Barakat discusses working under Israeli military rule
21 April 2003
In Tawfiq Abu Wael’s Diary of a Male Whore, the main character, a young man who states, “My physical pleasures make me forget the hunger,” finds that humiliation is the way of life in an occupied land. EI contributer Maureen Clare Murphy reviews the film at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival. Read more about Review: Diary of a Male Whore
21 April 2003
Nicholas Dembowski’s video, Lord’s Song in a Strange Land is a clever montage of found footage from Hollywood movies, cable news networks, European news stations, old Western films and edited it as though to let his viewers channel surf through the American media’s representation of what it considers “the Arab world.” EI contributer Maureen Clare Murphy reviews the film at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival. Read more about Review: Lord's Song in a Strange Land
30 April 2003
For one year, photographer Darren Ell attended a large number of the many events organized by Palestinian solidarity groups in Montreal. The following photo story speaks of steadfast activist work in this Canadian city. Read more about Photostory: A year in the life of Montreal's Palestinian solidarity movement
17 April 2003
“The Achille Lauro is back in the news. Most of us know that a Palestinian, Mohammed Abu Abbas, is believed to have planned the 7 October 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship. His group, the Palestinian Liberation Front, demanded that Israel free 50 Palestinian prisoners. An American Jewish passenger in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot and thrown into the sea. While Abbas was not on board the ship, the hijacking, taking of hostages, and killing of Mr. Klinghoffer were heinous crimes for which he should be brought to justice.” Daniel Jacob Quinn writes about another, forgotten event that happened one week prior to the hijacking. Read more about The Achille Lauro hijacking: Selective memory does none of us justice
14 April 2003
This speech was written by the family of Rachel Corrie and read on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at numerous peace rallies around the world. Read more about "Rachel had dreams" speech
13 April 2003
Joseph Massad, in this contribution to EI, writes about an intense campaign by supporters of Israel against academics who criticize Israel and against academic freedom itself. While the pro-Israel lobby’s campaigns to discredit people who criticise Israel had decreased in relative terms after Oslo, they were revived after the failure of the Camp David talks and the eruption of the second Intifada. The lobby and its individual manifestations have become rabid in their campaigns of discrediting offenders to the point that they have become embarrassing to many Americans who support Israel. Read more about Policing the academy
12 April 2003
“[Tom and I] even had a conversation that day about the dangers of this place, and how none of us really understood them or we wouldn’t be here. I said that I still felt confident with my international status even after the recent violence against us. I believed that it was not a calculated targeting of internationals, just an increased amount of recklessness and hostility brought on by the increased effectiveness of our work. I said I wouldn’t really be intimidated until they openly target an obvious international. Not until they very intentionally kill one of us would I feel the terror experienced by Palestinians. Fate works in mysterious ways.” Joe Smith writes from Rafah about Israel’s shooting of Tom Hurndall. Read more about "Not again": Eyewitness Joe Smith writes about the shooting of Tom Hurndall