Having himself been such a key part of the failed peace process, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana recently made a seemingly bold proposal that the UN Security Council “mandate” a resolution of central issues in the Palestine/Israel conflict — borders, refugees, Jerusalem, settlements and security arrangements. What lies behind this surprise move? Hasan Abu Nimah comments. Read more about Using the UN to undermine Palestinian rights
A leading Arab educator in Israel has denounced the decision of Gideon Saar, the education minister, to require schools to study the Israeli national anthem. Officials announced last week that they were sending out special “national anthem kits” to 8,000 schools, including those in the separate Arab education system, in time for the start of the new academic year in September. Read more about Palestinians in Israel forced to study Zionist anthem
This month marked six months since the “official” conclusion to Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, “Operation Cast Lead.” Electronic Intifada contributor Ben White looks at some of the strategies of Israel’s campaign of disinformation, confusion, and lies — and the reality of its war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Read more about Lies and Israel's war crimes
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - What remains of Palestinian civil rights is rapidly being eroded by the dictatorial Palestinian governments that respectively control the divided Occupied Palestinian Territories. Palestinian civilians are paying the price as Hamas, which controls Gaza, and the PA, which rules the West Bank, continue to target their political opponents as part of their bitter power struggle. Read more about Fatah, Hamas rule increasingly authoritarian
According to experts the reality is that in both a practical and legal sense Netanyahu’s “open city” is a fiction, extended only to the settlers and not to Khurd or to the 250,000 other Palestinians of East Jerusalem. Khurd, for example, has been forced to live in a tent after settlers ousted her from her East Jerusalem home of five decades in November. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Israel's "open" Jerusalem closed to Palestinians
In pondering “a different kind of future,” author Ben White in his new book Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide stresses that there is no point in “trying to ‘undo’ things that cannot be undone.” He castigates rhetoric about a “two-state solution” or demands that Palestinians should “compromise,” as if the solution could bypass the dissolution of Israeli apartheid. Raymond Deane reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: "Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide"
Rolling into Gaza I had a feeling of homecoming. There is a flavor to the ghetto. To the Bantustan. To the “rez.” Last March, poet and novelist Alice Walker traveled to the Gaza Strip just weeks after the 22-day Israeli assault. The Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Color Purple, now recounts the stories of people she met in Gaza, and offers a lyrical analysis that ties their struggle to what she and her community experienced in the segregated American South. Read more about "The best place one could be on Earth"
Ziad Deeb, a young artist, lost his entire family and both his legs in the Israeli attack on Gaza six months ago. In his grief, Deeb has found solace in his work. Memories of the massacre inspire him “to keep painting more and more, I believe this is the only thing that can’t be taken away from me and my disability can’t be an obstacle.” Eman Mohammed reports for The Electronic Intifada from Gaza. Read more about Gaza artist, survivor finds power in paint
Maryam Monalisa Gharavi and Anat Matar22 July 2009
On 9 July Harvard University’s Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research invited Colonel Pnina Sharvit-Baruch, former Israeli military legal adviser, to their online Humanitarian Law and Policy Forum. The stated aim was to bring “objective” discussion to the principle of distinction in international humanitarian law. Maryam Monalisa Gharavi and Dr. Anat Matar report for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Israeli officer promotes war crimes at Harvard
The passionate support for Israel expressed on talkback and comment sections of websites, internet chat forums, blogs, Twitter and Facebook may not be all that it seems. Israel’s foreign ministry is reported to be establishing a special undercover team of paid workers whose job it will be to surf the internet 24 hours a day spreading positive news about Israel. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Internet users paid to spread Israeli propaganda
