“Europe has always been at the forefront in defending Palestinian national aspirations.” So says Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief. This used to be true, but Europe’s past record is now too threadbare to serve as a cloak for the scandalous bankruptcy of its present policies. The Palestinians are not in their predicament because of insufficient “technical assistance ” from EU bureaucrats, but because they live under a brutal foreign military occupation which they have few means to resist. True EU solidarity with the Palestinians, writes EI co-founder Ali Abunimah, would involve a total reversal of its current pro-Israeli approach. Read more about Yes Mr. Solana, the EU has abandoned the Palestinian people
The Israeli attack on Jericho and kidnap of a number of Palestinian prisoners, including the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) demonstrates once again the fiction that there is a functioning Palestinian “government” in the occupied territories. The ease and impunity with which the occupation forces attack Palestinians everywhere serves to remind us that these territories remain today, as they have been since 1967, under full Israeli military dictatorship. It is a mistake to keep referring to a “Palestinian government,” because this gives the false impression that Palestinians under occupation are in control of their destiny. Palestinian factions may be negotiating to form a “government,” but this does not mean that this “government” can exercise any control or protect Palestinians from the ravages of the occupying power write EI co-founders Ali Abunimah and Arjan El Fassed. Read more about Israel's attack on Jericho: Palestinians remain without protection
Hamas’ victory in the Palestinian Authority legislative elections has everyone asking “what next”? The answer, and whether the result should be seen as a good or bad thing, depends very much on who is asking the question. Although a Hamas success was heavily trailed, the scale of the victory has been widely termed a “shock.” Several factors explain the dramatic rise of Hamas, including disillusionment and disgust with the corruption, cynicism and lack of strategy of the Fatah faction which has dominated the Palestinian movement for decades and had arrogantly come to view itself as the natural and indisputable leader. The election result is not entirely surprising, however, and has been foreshadowed by recent events. Read more about Hamas Election Victory: A Vote for Clarity
For four years, The Electronic Intifada has, with your support, worked to bring light to this darkness through award-winning original investigative reporting, sound analysis and features. At a time when the mainstream media’s attention is increasingly dominated by repetition of cliches and conventional wisdom, EI remains committed to making intelligent noise. In 2005, the Electronic Intifada saw over two million visitor sessions and the original material we produce continues to be picked up and used by journalists, activists and educators all over the world. Read more about Help EI Make Intelligent Noise
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana successfully lobbied EU foreign ministers to suppress a report documenting the devastating effects of Israel’s separation wall and colonies in Occupied East Jerusalem. Solana argued that publishing the report would hurt Israeli sensitivities and would cause the EU to lose influence. Electronic Intifada co-founder, in a letter to Solana, argues that EU indulgence of Israel is like the action of “a person who provides an alcoholic with money for booze and a car to drive while drunk while saying that to do otherwise would offend the sensitivities of someone who is a great danger to himself and others.” Read more about Letter: EU's Solana pushes cover-up of Jerusalem report
New documents obtained by EI under the UK’s Freedom of Information Act (2000) indicate that Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was asked to personally lobby Israeli officials on behalf of a UK company whose work helps extend Israel’s administrative and legal structures into Occupied East Jerusalem in violation of international law and long-standing UK policy. The new documents indicate not only the high importance the British government attached to the contract, but that British officials dismissed concerns that the company’s work could violate British policy on the status of Jerusalem. EI co-founder Ali Abunimah reports this exclusive. Read more about EI EXCLUSIVE: Did UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw help sell out Jerusalem?
One constant in the long conflict over Palestine is that Israel and its backers always have an excuse to avoid the central issues that prevent peace. Israel is adapt at creating complications which then absorb and exhaust all available diplomatic and political energy, while it uses the time to entrench itself ever more deeply in the occupied territories. EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah and co-founder Ali Abunimah write that attention is set to focus on the new distraction of an Israeli general election while the hard realities of spreading Israeli settlements, extrajudicial killings and the grimness of life in still occupied Gaza feature nowhere in all the heady talk about peace. Read more about Another checkpoint on the road to nowhere
EI co-founder Ali Abunimah responds to defamatory charges made in The Pitt News that he had advocated the “use of terrorism,” when he spoke at Carnegie Mellon University in February 2005. Abunimah writes, “I am happy to repeat here, as I have many times both in print, on our Web site and in speeches, that I am unequivocally opposed to all violence targeting civilians, regardless of the motive or the identity of the perpetrator or victim.” Read more about EI co-founder responds to defamation by CMU Hillel head
Ever since EI Co-founder Ali Abunimah and DePaul University professor Norman Finkelstein lectured separately at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University in the Spring of 2005, pro-Israel groups, who had attempted to block the appearances, have been conducting a campaign to silence free discussion of the Palestine-Israel conflict on campus. Abunimah responds to the latest salvos in the campaign, detailing some of the pro-Israel activist’s disruptive and defamatory tactics, and offering to appear before a university committee to answer any alleged concerns about the views he expressed in his lecture. Read more about EI co-founder responds to censorship campaign at Carnegie Mellon
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict gets a disproportionate share of mainstream western media attention, as compared, say, with conflicts in Africa. Yet the public, particularly in the United States, remains grossly misinformed. Even respected outlets like National Public Radio fail to provide objective and consistently fair coverage. EI co-founder Ali Abunimah examines trends in media coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and finds that as news organizations come under increasing pressure from pro-Israel groups, there are fewer places to go for solid, independent coverage. Read more about Gross Misinformation: the media in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict
