When I watched the Oscar-winning film The Pianist I had three distinct, uneasy reactions. I was not particularly impressed by the film, from a purely artistic angle; I was horrified by the film’s depiction of the dehumanization of Polish Jews and the impunity of the German occupiers; and I could not help but compare the Warsaw ghetto wall with Israel’s much more ominous wall caging 3.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza in fragmented, sprawling prisons. Many of the methods of collective and individual “punishment” meted out to Palestinian civilians at the hands of young, racist, often sadistic and ever impervious Israeli soldiers at the hundreds of checkpoints littering the occupied Palestinian territories are reminiscent of common Nazi practices against the Jews. Read more about "The Pianist" of Palestine: Reflections on Israel's ubiquitous abuse 

I’m in the living room of a family friend. The subject changes from yoga to Israel-Palestine, and I tell her that I think Americans need to change their foreign policy towards Israel. She says, “in what way, so that the Arabs will throw the Jews into the sea?” It takes four minutes of back and forth for the conversation to degenerate. She finally says, “Look, what I have to say isn’t pretty, but I’m not afraid. I’m going to say it anyways. The Palestinians are nothing but vermin. They make trouble in every country they live in. Even the other Arab countries don’t want them.” Read more about The Wrath of the Jews 

We’re in a time of transition. Yasser Arafat died right after Kerry lost the presidential election. The opposition to the Presbyterian Church’s decision to investigate selective divestment from companies doing business with Israel’s occupation is growing. And support of them is growing. Meanwhile, Mustafa Barghouti has called for sanctions against Israel, and the Somerville, Mass. Board of Aldermen is debating divestment. It’s a time that calls for clearheadedness. New things are happening, and we need to be prepared to create new strategies. We need honor our despair and anger — they are the outward manifestation of our moral compass. Read more about The Panic 

The volume of children recruited in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains a small fracton of the problem in other conflict zones such as in Africa. A new report stated that both Israeli and Palestinian government forces have been implicated in the misuse of Palestinian children. While the Palestinian Authority has recruited some under-18s for its security forces, the Israeli army and intelligence services have sought to recruit children as informers, often putting pressure on them to collaborate. Israel detaines at least 350 Palestinian children a year. Some of these children have reported torture and are often treated in ways which fall short of standards on juvenile justice. Read more about Limited number of child soldiers, all sides implicated 

The Palestinian Legislative Council has begun making changes in the electoral system. One should expect that those members of the Legislative Council would have learned from mistakes made during the 1996 elections. Again, party politics has driven politicians change the rules to benefit the ruling party. Reviewing the 1996 electoral system, one must expect that people learn from their mistakes. Between 1996 and 1998 EI’s Arjan El Fassed was doing research on institutional design and the choices made by Palestinian officials. Today he looks back at the 1996 elections to draw conclusions for the coming elections. Read more about On the Palestinian Road to Elections: The System 

The first priority for Palestinian leaders now must be to defend their people against Israel’s relentless colonization and violence and not to negotiate with Israeli guns to Palestinian heads. They must formulate a national strategy to regain Palestinian rights enshrined in UN Resolutions, clearly explain this strategy, and organize Palestinians and allies everywhere to struggle for it. Palestinians should seek to emulate the success of the African National Congress that freed South Africans from apartheid by confronting and defeating injustice, not seeking to accommodate it, writes EI co-founder Ali Abunimah. Read more about What Palestinians should do now 

“After the death of Yasser Arafat, it was impossible not to note the grief and sadness of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories and in the Diaspora, an emotion echoed by leaders of other liberation struggles, including Nelson Mandela. Most of the Jewish voices inside Israel were conveyed a different perspective, one that ignored the fact that Israel is also the home of many Palestinians. A free election to choose a new leader must ensure the participation of all Palestinians, including prisoners and refugees.” Adri Nieuwhof and Jeff Handmaker comment from The Netherlands. Read more about World must take firm stand on free elections in Palestine