The Electronic Intifada

Suddenly, home was gone

Eva Bartlett 9 March 2009


BEIT HANOUN, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - Dates in the calendar to mark the rights of women mean little to Manwa Tarrabin, 56, and her two daughters. They have lost home, and any rights to it. Until 17 January, they were living in a small bungalow in the al-Amal quarter of Beit Hanoun, within 200 meters of Gaza’s eastern border, in a region declared by the Israeli authorities a “closed military zone.” 

Gaza reconstruction aid fettered by political motives

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani 8 March 2009


CAIRO (IPS) - A conference held this week in Cairo devoted to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip succeeded in raising more than 5 billion dollars from international donors. But some critics say the issue is being used as a means of isolating Gaza-based resistance faction Hamas. “Reconstruction efforts are being exploited to further weaken Hamas and coerce it into changing its position vis-a-vis the Zionist occupation,” Essam al-Arian, leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition movement, told IPS. 

A public stoning in Germany

Raymond Deane 6 March 2009


It appears that freedom of speech, supposedly one of the proudest acquisitions of post-Fascist Germany, is readily suppressed when exercised to advocate positive action against the racist, politicidal institutions and actions of the Zionist state. Raymond Deane comments for The Electronic Intifada. 

Lessons from the I-97 Seattle divestment initiative

Dave Jette 5 March 2009


No two campaigns are the same, and no experience can be fully replicated from one city to the next. However, the experience of I-97 in Seattle has shown that it is possible to use the ballot initiative process to educate the public, keep their attention focused on issues of war and occupation in the Middle East, and mount a serious challenge, at the local level, to the foreign policies of the US government. Dave Jette comments for The Electronic Intifada. 

Washington ends its diplomatic embargo on Syria

Jim Lobe 4 March 2009


WASHINGTON (IPS) - Ending a four-year diplomatic embargo on Damascus, the administration of United States President Barack Obama Tuesday confirmed that it is sending two high-level officials to Syria this week for “preliminary conversations,” presumably on improving relations. The trip, which will be undertaken by Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and Daniel Shapiro, a senior staffer on the National Security Council who also served as one of Obama’s top Middle East advisers during his presidential campaign, was announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Jerusalem. 

Solidarity with Gaza brings jail

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani 8 March 2009


CAIRO (IPS) - Magdi Hussein, secretary-general of Egypt’s suspended Socialist Labor Party, has been sentenced to two years in prison by a military tribunal. Hussein, along with two others, was charged with “infiltrating” into the Gaza Strip following Israel’s recent campaign against the coastal enclave. Protests against his arrest continue to be ineffective. 

Israel boycott movement gains momentum

Mel Frykberg 4 March 2009


RAMALLAH (IPS) - “Standing United with the People of Gaza” is the theme of this week’s Israel Apartheid Week, which kicked off in Toronto and another 39 cities across the globe Sunday. A movement to boycott Israeli goods, culture and academic institutions is gaining momentum as Geneva prepares to host the UN’s Anti-Racism Conference, Durban II next month amidst swirling controversy. 

Did Clinton sabotage a Palestinian reconciliation?

Hasan Abu Nimah and Ali Abunimah 4 March 2009


On her first visit to the Middle East as US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has made the same demands of Palestinians as the Bush administration. But it is ludicrous to insist that the stateless Palestinian people unconditionally recognize the legitimacy of the entity that dispossessed them and occupies them, that itself has no declared borders and that continues to violently expand its territory at their expense. Hasan Abu Nimah and Ali Abunimah comment.