Palestine solidarity activists based in Basel, Switzerland demanded Bank Sarasin to divest from Veolia Environnement in early June, because of its involvement in the illegal tramway being built by Israel that runs through occupied East Jerusalem. Within a month Bank Sarasin replied with a five-page response, to explain its longstanding practice of assessing its sustainable investments. Adri Nieuwhof reports. Read more about Swiss bank excludes company involved with illegal tramway
Last Wednesday’s state funeral in Ramallah for the revered Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, with its excessive military pomp, revealed how far the Palestinian people are from realizing the justice imagined in Darwish’s writing, and was a sad reminder of how the Palestinian Authority helps undermine his people’s struggle. EI contributor Sumia Ibrahim comments from Ramallah. Read more about Failing Darwish's legacy
As Philip Giraldi points out in his 12 August article “America’s Israeli-Occupied Media” published on antiwar.com, the Israeli government is continuing its campaign to get the US military to attack Iran or at least give a “green light” for a massive Israeli bombing strike. In pursuit of this reckless and ill-conceived plan Tel Aviv has a willing co-conspirator in the mainstream American media, who will present the Israeli world-view without criticism or qualification. Ira Glunts analyzes. Read more about "60 Minutes" serves as Israeli propaganda mouthpiece
In many ways, Mahmoud Darwish’s life summarizes the Palestinian journey of suffering. He was born in Palestine (in what is today “Israel”), and was forced out of his home by Israeli occupation troops. When he returned (or when he snuck back in as the Israeli occupiers killed thousands of other Palestinians who attempted to return), his village was among the hundreds razed to the ground and erased from the map by Israel — or so thought the Zionists. As’ad AbuKhalil comments. Read more about The poetics of Palestinian resistance
Last week, I landed in Washington, DC, brimming with optimism. Upon arrival, I was whisked into a separate room. An American official informed me that he had just received information about me that he could not reveal. However, it required him to put me on the next plane home. I was shocked. And I was taken aback at the cruelty of snatching away my educational dreams at the last possible moment. Fulbright scholarship recipient Fidaa Abed comments. Read more about Fulbright or McCarthy for Palestinian students?
RAMALLAH (IRIN) - A newly formed Ramallah-based “Palestinian community foundation” said it is looking to change the way aid is given, so that more sections of society benefit from international donations and less money goes to waste. “We don’t want to get rid of foreign aid; we want to reform it, so it is in line with the Palestinians’ priorities,” said Nora Lester Murad from the Dalia Association. Read more about Palestinian group seeks to change aid dynamics
“The moment I stepped into the camps here in Lebanon, I thought I was in Palestine,” Arab-American filmmaker Jackie Salloum said after a 6 August nighttime screening in the Shatila refugee camp of her documentary, Slingshot Hip Hop. “I hope people living in Beirut come to see the film,” Salloum said anxiously before a previous screening on 5 August in the Burj al-Barajne refugee camp. Read more about Slingshot Hip Hop comes to Lebanon
RAMALLAH, West Bank (IPS) - Over a hundred Fatah fighters loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement fled to the West Bank from Gaza last week, fearing for their lives at the hands of Hamas, the Islamic movement which took over the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after it routed Fatah forces. Read more about Gaza and West Bank in muddied separation
On Sunday, hundreds of Hamas supporters, many stranded Gaza patients, students and travelers, took part in a rally at the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing terminal in southern Gaza, against the continued closure of the terminal for the past 14 months and calling on Egypt to reopen it. The attendees blamed the Egyptian leadership for the terminal closure, saying that this crossing, Gaza’s sole outlet to the outside world, should be opened under joint Palestinian-Egyptian control. Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza. Read more about Challenging the siege from Rafah to Cyprus
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani13 August 2008
CAIRO (IPS) - With Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s recent resignation announcement, the self-proclaimed Jewish state is headed for new leadership. Egyptian commentators, though, entertain few hopes that Olmert’s successor — whoever he or she may be — will temper Israel’s hard-line approach to the peace process. Read more about "Israeli policy won't change with a new PM"
