In her recent travels through the Middle East, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brought with her, many have speculated, little more than another round of optimism. This familiar optimism was also found following the statements Secretary Rice delivered in her keynote address at the American Task Force on Palestine Inaugural Gala in Washington, DC in October of last year in which she declared her “personal commitment” to the goal of a “Palestinian state living side by side in peace with Israel.” Whatever sense of optimism one might draw from such statements, it is predictably shattered when confronted with the worsening situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Read more about The Road to Hell is Paved with Personal Commitments
Last Sunday in San Francisco, the Anti-Defamation League sponsored “Finding Our Voice,” a conference designed to help Jews recognize and confront the “new anti-Semitism.” For me, it was ironic. Ten days before, my own voice was silenced by fellow Jews. I was to give a talk about our Middle East policy to high school students at the Harker School in San Jose. With one day to go, my contact there called to say my appearance had been canceled. He was apologetic and upset. He expected the talk would be intellectually stimulating and intriguing for students. But, he said, “a certain community of parents” complained to the headmaster. He added, without divulging details, that the Jewish Community Relations Council of Silicon Valley had played a role. Read more about Silencing critics not way to Middle East peace
“Back in Tennessee, my son who had lived for three years in Ramallah, was sometimes asked to sing songs in Hebrew to celebrate Yom Kippur; he was given assignments dealing with the Holocaust; and he was told by one teacher that his impressions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are simply in his head. It was, therefore, not surprising at all for him to come home one day with a copy of Lynne Reid Banks’ novel Broken Bridge.” Alarmed by the racist portrayal of Arabs in the book assigned to his 12-year-old son, EI contributor Fouad Moughrabi analyzes some portrayals of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in popular children’s literature. Read more about Three representations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in children's literature (Part 2)
“Back in Tennessee, my son who had lived for three years in Ramallah, was sometimes asked to sing songs in Hebrew to celebrate Yom Kippur; he was given assignments dealing with the Holocaust; and he was told by one teacher that his impressions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are simply in his head. It was, therefore, not surprising at all for him to come home one day with a copy of Lynne Reid Banks’ novel Broken Bridge.” Alarmed by the racist portrayal of Arabs in the book assigned to his 12-year-old son, EI contributor Fouad Moughrabi analyzes some portrayals of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in popular children’s literature. Read more about Three representations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in children's literature (Part 1)
Bedouin villages have been on the land since before the State of Israel was conceived. The Israeli government doesn’t recognise them and calls them illegal, and therefore they are not entitled to any infrastructure or services. The “illegal” villages lack even basic amenities such as running water and electricity. According to Yeela Raanan of the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages (RCUV), the elders have held receipts since the 1970s of payments made to Israel for plots of land in the town of Laquia. They lived on other people’s land in shacks and tents on the outskirts of the town, waiting for the land — which never came — to build homes for their families. Read more about Interview with Israeli activist Yeela Raanan
GAZACITY, Feb 5 (IPS) - The United Nations has indefinitely suspended elementary school classes for tens of thousands of Gaza City’s children following a weekend of unprecedented factional violence, which turned this isolated enclave into a war zone and left at least 27 dead and 250 wounded. John Ging, director of operations for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said, “we try to balance the risk of violence to kids and parents on the one hand, and the need for these kids to get an education on the other. Read more about War Enters the Classrooms
On January 26, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe gave a lecture at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Pappe was in the Netherlands on invitation of United Civilians for Peace and Another Jewish Voice. On January 27 he presented his latest book “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” in ABC Treehouse Gallery and On January 28, he lectured at Desmet in Amsterdam. Pappe’s book shows that in 1948, the Zionist movement waged a war against the Palestinian people in order to implement its long term plans of ethnic cleansing. Read more about Ilan Pappe lectures and presents his latest book in Amsterdam
Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees3 February 2007
As we enter 2007, the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees marks its fourth year of fighting against the deportation of Palestinian refugees from Canada. We have, since early 2003, been publicly organizing to reverse the efforts of Immigration Canada to deport Palestinian refugees and for them instead to be granted permanent residency in Canada. The year 2006 provided numerous examples of the arbitrariness and injustice with which Immigration Canada has treated the cases of the stateless Palestinian refugees in Canada. While two members of the Coalition received positive decisions on their applications for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, others were unjustly refused, and still more have been left in wait for years. Read more about Canada: Fight the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees
For three painful months while his brother’s family was imprisoned by USA immigration authorities, Ahmad Ibrahim, a United States citizen of Palestinian heritage, kept his faith that “the people of America are good people.” But Ahmad did not know that the one good American who would finally orchestrate the dramatic release of the family had himself been exiled by USA immigration authorities to China. So Ahmad’s faith in America had to hold strong from the beginning of November through the sacred Eid al-Adha season of early January, until the exiled American could return. Read more about Faith of Ibrahim Redeemed: Texas Family Released from Hutto Prison
What lies behind the bloody battles between Hamas and Fatah loyalists which have claimed dozens of Palestinian lives in Gaza in recent days and increased fears of a Palestinian civil war? EI co-founder Ali Abunimah argues that in the minds of Bush administration ideologues, Palestine has become another front in what they conceive as a new Cold War against “Islamofascism.” Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Gaza warlord Muhammad Dahlan have become the willing proxies for an American war spreading across the region. And as Palestinians kill each other, Israel watches — and lets the weapons come in — with glee. Read more about The American proxy war in Gaza
