Sam Bahour

Refugees are the key



Today there are over 5.5 million Palestinian refugees and displaced persons who have never been allowed the choice to return to their homes or given redress for their losses. The continued denial of their rights encapsulates the decades-long strife, disenfranchisement and dispossession the Palestinians have suffered. EI contributor Sam Bahour comments. 

Bush's "vision" is Palestine's nightmare



Much more important issues than the siege on Gaza were on Bush’s agenda. The need to realize and work on a “vision” for the future was in the forefront of Bush’s mind. “The parties” should now sit down and “negotiate a vision” — the parties being Israel, the fourth strongest military might in the world and a forty-year-long occupier, and the Palestinians, a stateless people who have been dispossessed by Israel for sixty years and under brutal military occupation by their colonizers for over four decades. Sam Bahour comments from al-Bireh/Ramallah. 

Film review: "Jerusalem ... The east side story"



Jerusalem … The east side story squeezes nearly one hundred years of history into an hour or so of cinema. It mainly exposes the past forty years of Israeli military occupation policies in Jerusalem and their devastating impact on the city and its peoples. The producer of the film, Terry Boullata, says that the intention of the documentary is to bring the Palestinian struggle for freedom and independence to a Western audience which has shown by way of its acquiescence to the ongoing Israeli military occupation that it still needs to be educated. Sam Bahour reviews for EI

Hamas' Shock and Awe



The recent overrunning of Gaza by Hamas militants was the equivalent to the United States’ Shock and Awe campaign in Iraq. EI contributor Sam Bahour writes, both campaigns were conducted outside the realm of international law and were violent and brutal, albeit each relative to their respective resources and internal contexts; both claimed to be “preemptive” in nature; and both events placed the Palestinian people and struggle for national liberation in even a more precarious position. 

Another assassination in Ramallah's city center



It was a good day today, well, that is until about 5:40pm when Israeli undercover and military forces assassinated a Palestinian outside the window where I was standing. The target was Omar Abu Daher, a 22-year-old who it seems happens to be a member of a security force loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He was only one of several that were murdered in cold blood today; two more were killed in Gaza, one in Tulkarem, two others in Jenin. These are the ones reported so far, but the night is still young. 

Building Economic Independence in Palestine



The following is a speech given by Sam Bahour at the Second Annual Conference on Non-Violent Popular Resistance in the Palestinian village of Bil’in. “Israel is making sure land is not sufficient for daily life, let alone economic independence. The hand of occupation controls the lands we can cultivate and the destiny of the trees that we plant. We are forced to buy our water from the Israeli water company, paying more than Israelis buying from the same source but using less per capita.” 

The IDF and my daughter's hamburger



I wanted to write this two nights ago but was exhausted from playing umpteen hands of the card game UNO with my six-year-old daughter, Nadine. Why this card frenzy, especially given that I hate playing cards? Well, we were in the center of Ramallah Thursday afternoon, at 3:40 pm when the almighty Israeli military decided, again, that it was time to wreak havoc on our city. I should not really complain since what happened in Ramallah yesterday happens across the West Bank and Gaza regularly. Nevertheless, I will make an issue about it and urge every Palestinian, in every city, to make an issue about every Israeli infraction on our lives. 

Refugees Are The Key



The Bush Administration’s insistence that the Hamas-led government of the Palestinian Authority recognize Israel’s existence may seek to achieve a moderate Palestinian leadership to enable a peaceful political process between the sides, but what about Israeli leadership and moderation? For five months Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip have been subjected to an incessant Israeli military campaign that has left over 500 Palestinians dead. While the provocation of Palestinian crude rocket attacks from Gaza into Israeli towns is well cited in US media, much less emphasized is the fact that most residents of Gaza are refugees from inside what is now Israel.