The Electronic Intifada

Film review: James Longley's "Gaza Strip" (2002)

Nigel Parry 29 July 2003


Cover of the video/DVD. James Longley’s Gaza Strip is a 74-minute documentary filmed between January and April 2001, a period that stretches from four months after the beginning of the Second Palestinian Intifada — immediately preceding the election of Ariel Sharon as Israel’s prime minister — up to the end of Sharon’s third month in office. “I made this film,” Longley notes in the director’s commentary that accompanies the very highly recommended DVD version, “to satisfy my own curiosity about what was happening in the Gaza Strip since I found that it was very difficult to find information in the mainstream media and get a detailed look at what was going on, what people there were like, what they were thinking about.” EI’s Nigel Parry reviews the film. 

Khalil Shikaki defends his refugee poll

Khalil Shikaki 29 July 2003

“The views expressed below by Ali Abunimah (“Who said Palestinians gave up the right of return?”, 23 July 2003) reflect the concerns and fears of many Palestinians in the absence of a serious engagement by Palestinian leaders who refuse to be open and frank with their public.” Khalil Shikaki, director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) responds to a recent EI article that criticised a recent poll by the center. 

Former Dutch Prime Minister regrets his defense of Israel

Arjan El Fassed 28 July 2003

Former Dutch Prime Minister Dries van Agt expressed regret of his defense of the Israeli army in front of the Dutch parliament after the massacre of Palestinian civilians in Sabra and Shatila. “At that time I couldn’t believe that under the eyes of the Israeli army such atrocities could have taken place as later was revealed,” Van Agt told a Dutch daily newspaper on Saturday. 

NPR: Linda Gradstein and The Thing

Ali Abunimah 28 July 2003


This morning’s performance by Gradstein was almost as ridiculous as my little joke above. When speaking on Weekend Edition Sunday about the thing that Israel is building through the West Bank to physically divide the land and annex vast swathes of the occupied territories to Israel, Gradstein said that Israel calls it a “fence” while Palestinians call it “the wall, with echoes of the Berlin wall.” EI’s Ali Abunimah calls NPR on Gradstein’s latest misrepresentations. 

Should a university silence voices calling for peace and justice?

Fairn Herising 26 July 2003

The University of Victoria and the School of Social Work should be places where we openly challenge, discuss and debate a wide range of ideas and perspectives. Moreover, the call to pay attention to issues of human rights and the imperative to voice demands for peace and social justice cannot be practices that are merely “reserved” for particular places or occasions. The responsibility to speak out against injustice, both locally and globally, is a responsibility incumbent upon all individuals, groups and institutions, at all moments, and in every domain of life — there are no “inappropriate” places or times for this sort of endeavour.” Fairn Herising, a Ph.D. candidate at the Univeristy of Victoria and a member of the University’s Anti-Racist Action Coalition, reflects on a recent act of censorship and the dangers of shutting out dissenting voices. 

Refugee Poll Confusion

Casey Patrick Reilly 25 July 2003

Palestinian Academic Khalil Shikaki, in consultation with the Palestinian Authority (PA), set out to gauge Palestinian refugees’ reactions to the solutions to the refugee problem offered at the Taba talks in 2001. The idea, most likely, was to give the PA a sense of their bargaining position. Unfortunately, many people have taken the results of this poll out of context, and deemed it the final judgement on what Palestinian refugees want. It is no such thing and was never meant to be. 

Who said Palestinians gave up the right of return?

Ali Abunimah 23 July 2003

Khalil Shikaki of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research was attacked by an angry mob when he recently held a press conference announcing the results of a poll conducted among 4,500 Palestinian refugees on the right of return. In his study, Shikaki reported that only 10 percent of Palestinian refugees would insist on returning to Israel and becoming citizens there. Supporters of Israel and others who want to disregard refugee rights in any solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict embraced the findings. How could it be that for decades everyone — not least the refugees themselves — mistakenly believed that granting rights to millions of Palestinian refugees was the key to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? How is it that
now a single, dubious poll threatens to make the entire problem disappear into a puff of smoke? EI’s Ali Abunimah takes a closer look to help clear the fog. 

People like us: a review of "Portraits of Israelis and Palestinians: For my parents"

Maureen Clare Murphy 21 July 2003


Sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that prove the most resonant. Take Seth Tobocman’s Portraits of Israelis and Palestinians: For My Parents. The book, a collection of drawings and thoughts, is the end product of the author’s month-long tour of Israel and Palestine during June, 2002. Tobocman was accommodated by the International Solidarity Movement and a visited a West Bank hospital, took a night-time bus ride in Israel, and worked as an art teacher during a summer school session in the West Bank village of Dir Ibzia — sketching what he encountered. Maureen Clare Murphy reviews the book for EI.