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
“The Achille Lauro is back in the news. Most of us know that a Palestinian, Mohammed Abu Abbas, is believed to have planned the 7 October 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship. His group, the Palestinian Liberation Front, demanded that Israel free 50 Palestinian prisoners. An American Jewish passenger in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot and thrown into the sea. While Abbas was not on board the ship, the hijacking, taking of hostages, and killing of Mr. Klinghoffer were heinous crimes for which he should be brought to justice.” Daniel Jacob Quinn writes about another, forgotten event that happened one week prior to the hijacking. Read more about The Achille Lauro hijacking: Selective memory does none of us justice
This speech was written by the family of Rachel Corrie and read on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at numerous peace rallies around the world. Read more about "Rachel had dreams" speech
Joseph Massad, in this contribution to EI, writes about an intense campaign by supporters of Israel against academics who criticize Israel and against academic freedom itself. While the pro-Israel lobby’s campaigns to discredit people who criticise Israel had decreased in relative terms after Oslo, they were revived after the failure of the Camp David talks and the eruption of the second Intifada. The lobby and its individual manifestations have become rabid in their campaigns of discrediting offenders to the point that they have become embarrassing to many Americans who support Israel. Read more about Policing the academy
