Made in Palestine is the first museum quality exhibition devoted to the contemporary art of Palestine to be held in the United States. It is a survey of work spanning three generations of Palestinian artists who live in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, parts of Israel, Syria, Jordan, and the United States. The exhibition opened in New York on March 14th, and held its gala opening on March 16th. EI’s Nigel Parry, also working on publicity for the exhibit, contributed this photostory from the opening. Read more about Photostory: Made in Palestine Exhibit opens to packed crowds in New York 

There are many reasons for the raid on Jericho prison. One of them is the Israeli election. Palestinians know from experience that before every election Israel becomes more brutal. Another reason is to send Hamas a message: They will not be accepted and the agreements between Israel and the previous PA are no longer valid. The arrival of Israeli tanks just twenty minutes after the withdrawal of the British and American guards from the prison shows that Israel is not the only one sending this message. The attack on Jericho and the kidnapping of Ahmed Sa’adat and others proves once again that Israel is, for all intents and purposes, a country above the law writes Rifat Odeh Kassis. Read more about Sa'adat kidnap boosts Olmert's election campaign 

To Palestinians, the British broken promise, as well as the hasty exit from Jericho and apparent collusion with Israel, all smacked a little too painfully of other episodes of British foreign policy in the Middle East. There were echoes of 1956 and London’s pact during the Suez Crisis with Israel on the invasion of Egypt. And there were echoes too of 1948, when Britain hurriedly abandoned Palestine, though not before it had effectively fulfilled the Balfour Declaration’s promise of creating a Jewish homeland by allowing hundreds of thousands of Jews to immigrate. Read more about Britain's Duplicity and the Siege of Jericho Jail 

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 

At a time in which the Palestinian people are desperately lost between the harsh reality of occupation and the uncertainty of a changing internal political landscape, a sober assessment and restructuring of the foundations of the so-called “peace process” may be our best attempt at reversing, or at least containing, the damage that has beset the Palestinian cause since the (evident) end of the first Palestinian Intifada (uprising) in 1993. Given the complete failure of the Oslo Agreement, and in light of the new dynamics governing the current regional and global political stages, what we desperately need is a fully restructured framework for negotiations. Read more about Breaking Oslo's Unmagical Spell 

Richard Rogers, the noted British architect, was recently summoned to the offices of the Empire State Development Corp. to explain his connection to a group called Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine which has called for a boycott of Israel’s construction industry to protest the apartheid wall. Empire State is overseeing the redesign of New York’s $1.7-billion Javits Convention Center, and Rogers is the architect on the job. EI contributor Saree Makdisi explains how pro-Israel groups, enraged at Rogers’ association with the architects’ group used their political clout to force Rogers into obsequious professions of loyalty to Israel. Read more about Building an edifice on blackmail 

Until recently liberal Europeans were keen to distance themselves, at least officially, from the ideological excesses of the current American administration. They argued that the neo-conservative enthusiasm for the “war on terror” — and its underpinning ideology of “a clash of civilisations” — did not fit with Europe’s painful recent experiences of world wars and the dismantling of its colonial outposts around the globe, writes EI contributor Jonathan Cook. But there is every sign that the public dissociation is coming to a very rapid end. As criticism of Israel is increasingly not tolerated, it is becoming normal to see Muslims as a civilizational threat. Read more about Sane Britain disappears as Neocons set agenda 

Thousands of Nazarenes rushed to the Basilica of the Annunciation in the early evening of Friday March 3, as rumours swept the city that their church was under attack. For several minutes the congregation huddled together in fear of their lives before a priest and several churchgoers managed to overpower a grey-bearded man in jeans, 44-year-old Haim Habibi, an Israeli Jew accompanied by his wife, Violet, and the couple’s 20-year-old daughter Odelia. Almost from the outset the Israeli media downplayed the significance of the attack, saying only “firecrackers” had been set off by Habibi, who was described - without evidence - as being mentally disturbed. As a result, most of the world’s media ignored the event entirely. Read more about Photostory: Israeli extremists' attack on Nazareth's most famous Christian church goes virtually unreported