The Electronic Intifada has obtained, and today publishes in full, a document prepared for pro-Israel activists by the public relations firm The Luntz Research Companies and The Israel Project. The document spells out the tactics that Israel and its US advocates should use to maintain support for Israel and its hardline policies. Introduction by EI’s Ali Abunimah. Read more about Leaked document exposes pro-Israel lobby's manipulation of US public
On 24 April, Israeli occupation forces opened fire on school children near Ramallah, killing a student and a taxi driver, and injuring several others. Also, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up and an Israeli security guard. National Public Radio reported only on the latter, demonstrating an incredible double standard, as EI’s Ali Abunimah writes. Read more about NPR ignores Israeli attack on school, killing of two
“The wall is no secret. Even if people have not visited Qalqilya and Jayyous, the story is there in the newspapers. Or here, on this website. The people of Qalqilya are locked in a prison. There is only one way out, and few have permits to leave so as to find work elsewhere. Half the farmland is now gone and vital water supplies have been cut off. Palestinians do not have the permission to dig for more water. Israel is unilaterally setting boundaries, with no negotiation, no court of appeal. ” Isabelle Humphries revisits the concrete embodiment of Israeli impunity near Qalqilya and reports on the abuses suffered by farmers and merchants for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about The wall goes on and on and on...
Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli and US-backed Palestinian “prime minister” is locked in a dispute with Yasser Arafat over the formation of a cabinet. The key sticking point is Abbas’ insistence that Muhammad Dahlan be placed in charge of security. Abbas and Dahlan have been enjoying a positive press in the United States recently as well as the support of George W. Bush. What is forgotten is that Abbas and Dahlan are steeped in the very corruption which they are supposedly expected to fight. Abbas has been chosen, writes EI’s Ali Abunimah, not to bring a better future, but because he represents a past in which Palestine’s rights are traded for private profit. Read more about The men who are selling Palestine
George, we have been more than patient. You wouldn’t try sanctions and you wouldn’t try the carrot and the stick. Israel has resisting efforts you won’t even consider trying. Let us know what you will consider. Something has to change.” EI’s Arjan El Fassed sighs loudly. Read more about George, we have been more than patient
At the beginning of Israel’s crackdown on the Palestinians, we could anguish at the deaths of strangers, like 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durra, or the innocent Israeli teenagers murdered in 2001 by a Palestinian suicide bomber at a Tel Aviv discotheque. Almost two years later, with victims mounting, no one has the emotional capacity to mourn for so many. But the killing of Corrie, and the shooting of Avery and Hurndall, renew for me the sense of personal anguish at the fate of strangers. EI founder Ali Abunimah comments on recent events. Read more about Armed with principles
To conceive a film or video and execute it successfully is a challenge for any experienced director. But add a military occupation into the mix — with its checkpoints, invasions, and violence — and the difficulty is increased exponentially. Yahya Barakat, who has seven documentaries under his belt and spoke with The Electronic Intifada during the Chicago Palestine Film Festival, has met the challenge of working under an occupation and and tackles its stories in his work. EI contributer Maureen Clare Murphy reports. Read more about Documenting the Occupation: Director Yahya Barakat discusses working under Israeli military rule
In Tawfiq Abu Wael’s Diary of a Male Whore, the main character, a young man who states, “My physical pleasures make me forget the hunger,” finds that humiliation is the way of life in an occupied land. EI contributer Maureen Clare Murphy reviews the film at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival. Read more about Review: Diary of a Male Whore
Nicholas Dembowski’s video, Lord’s Song in a Strange Land is a clever montage of found footage from Hollywood movies, cable news networks, European news stations, old Western films and edited it as though to let his viewers channel surf through the American media’s representation of what it considers “the Arab world.” EI contributer Maureen Clare Murphy reviews the film at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival. Read more about Review: Lord's Song in a Strange Land
