While existing conditions have fueled the grassroots movement aimed at delegitimizing racist policies and shattering Israeli impunity in order to realize Palestinian freedom and dignity, they have yet to establish Palestine as an integral component of the social justice movement’s agenda in the US. Doing so requires that the pro-Palestinian movement build meaningful alliances with other organizations, communities, movements and individuals that are also struggling to achieve social justice. Andrew Dalack comments for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Bringing Palestine to the US Social Forum
Israel’s Iron Dome program has been controversial from its inception in 2005. Besides the nationalist economic motive, Israel’s efforts at intercepting rockets and mortar shells are products of Israel’s pacification industry. Iron Dome is intended to be a checkpoint of sorts, one that attempts to erase or obscure the resistance of the Palestinians warehoused behind the walls of Gaza and the West Bank by intercepting projectiles. Jimmy Johnson comments for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Israel's "Iron Dome" system aims to pacify, not protect
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - An Israeli journalist remains under house arrest and another lives abroad, after they broke news on Israeli undercover units carrying out assassinations or “targeted killings” of non-combatant Palestinian political opponents. Anat Kam, 23, who used to work for the Israeli news site “Walla,” was arrested last December for allegedly copying secret Israeli military documents during her compulsory military service. Read more about Israel gags news on extrajudicial killings
This Palestinian Life, a 28-minute documentary, surveys rural resistance in occupied Palestine: in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, in the Jordan Valley, and in the south Hebron hills. The film was made by Egyptian-German journalist Philip Rizk, who lived in Palestine from 2004 to 2007, talking with those struggling under the daily violence and oppression of Israel’s occupation, and recording their stories. Max Ajl reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Film review: Pastoral resistance in "This Palestinian Life"
Outside the Washington Convention Center, together with activists from CodePink, Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Avaaz, Jewish Voice for Peace and the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, we tried to bring a little reality to the AIPAC policy conference bubble. We carried signs and banners calling for respect for international law and human rights, an end to the siege of Gaza, Israeli apartheid and US taxpayer funding of war crimes. Read more about Activists burst AIPAC conference's bubble
Sinan Antoon is an Iraqi-born poet, novelist, filmmaker and assistant professor at New York University. His novel I’jaam: An Iraqi Rhapsody and his collection of poems The Baghdad Blues are written with great sophistication and a haunting sense of irony. Similarly, his 2003 documentary About Baghdad captured the terror and exhilaration of Iraqis after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime and the early months of the US occupation. The Electronic Intifada contributor Dina Omar interviewed Sinan Antoon about his work and experiences. Read more about Sinan Antoon: "I think of myself as a global citizen"
More than a year ago, several concerned Swedish organizations asked fashion chain H&M about its plans to extend its franchise to Israel. H&M’s management denied the rumors but refused to provide written confirmation. In March, H&M unexpectedly opened a store in Tel Aviv and a second store in Jerusalem’s Malha shopping mall. Adri Nieuwhof reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Swedish fashion chain H&M under pressure
Kate Raphael is a Palestine solidarity activist who is currently publishing a mystery novel entitled Murder Under the Bridge one chapter at a time on its own blog. The Electronic Intifada contributor Hannah Mermelstein interviewed Raphael about how the novel came about and where she hopes it will go. Read more about Interview: Palestine a rich landscape for a mystery
Gideon Levy is a rare voice of courage in an Israeli media generally supine towards the political establishment. Since 1988, he has written the “Twilight Zone” column for the Israeli daily Haaretz, documenting unflinchingly the myriad cruelties inflicted on the Palestinian people under occupation. In his new book Gaza, a collection of articles which has just been published in French, Levy utters phrases that, by his own admission, are considered “insane” by most of his compatriots. The Electronic Intifada contributor David Cronin spoke with Gideon Levy about his background and journalism. Read more about A rare voice of courage: journalist Gideon Levy interviewed
Under cover of a sudden interest in developing new green technologies, the Israeli government hopes to weaken the Gulf states by making their oil redundant and thereby defeating “Islamic terror.” Uzi Landau, the national infrastructures minister, outlined a vision of a world without oil this week to Israel’s most loyal supporters in Washington as he searched for wealthy American-Jewish investors and White House support for the strategy. Jonathan Cook analyzes. Read more about Israel greenwashing the "war on terror"
