While the world’s attention is almost completely absorbed by events in Iraq, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s onslaught on the Palestinians continues with extreme brutality. He hopes to put an end to the Intifada before a new American administration is in place, writes EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah, but while the Palestinian resistance may be exhausted for now, Israel is nowhere near victory and is, strategically, in its worst position against the Palestinians ever. Israel has missed a historic opportunity for peace on highly favorable terms, and the time is coming where it will be lucky to settle for much less than it has now. Read more about Israel's race to end Palestinian resistance before the US election
Palestinian prisoners in four different Israeli prisons started an open-ended hunger strike on Sunday to press for better living conditions of the nearly 8,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli authorities reacted to the strike with disciplinary measures and suspended several of the prisoners’ privileges such as confiscating television sets and radios, suspending newspaper deliveries and stopping visits. Since 1967 to date, Israel has arbitrarily detained over 630,000 Palestinians. In 1989 alone, Israel detained 50,000 Palestinians, representing 16% of the entire male population of the West Bank and Gaza Strip between the ages of 14 and 55. Read more about Imprisoned Decency
The recent Geneva performance by the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, created by the late Edward Said and the world-famous musician Daniel Barenboim, was cultural diplomacy at its best, and at the same time represented the kind of politics that, quite simply, defies the very conventions of politics. Peace making made fun (and beautiful), but not watered down, the performance was a sophisticated, classic display of the pen’s superiority over the sword, the violin over the rifle. Ismail Khalidi reflects upon the orchedstra’s talent and significance for EI. Read more about The intellectual, the maestro, and the "piece process"
The Myth of Palestinian Development is a focused biography that takes a deep and serious look into how two funding agencies, in particular, and the entire donor community in general, including pre-Oslo Palestinian and Arab donors, view and act toward Palestinian development. The book takes a unique approach by surveying the Palestinian development process — the ‘de-development’ process as Dr. Nakhleh would call it — through his own work experience with the two most significant developmental agencies of the pre and post-Oslo periods, The Welfare Association (1984-1992) and the European Commission (1993-2001). Read more about Book Review: The Myth of Palestinian Development
Two Palestinians were killed and seven Israeli soldiers and 13 Palestinians were wounded today when a bomb exploded at Kalandia checkpoint, separating Ramallah and northern parts of Jerusalem from the rest of the city. Six Palestinian wounded were taken to Ramallah hospitals. All Israeli casualties were Israeli army officers. They were taken to hospitals in Jerusalem. As Israeli soldiers are combing the streets of Jerusalem neighborhoods ar-Ram and Dahiya al-Barid, the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack. The Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said the attack was meant to retaliate for Israeli actions in Gaza. Israeli armed forces imposed a closure on Ramallah. Hundreds of Israeli police and soldiers are deployed in the area. Read more about Photostory: Images of the Kalandia Checkpoint bombing
The Oslo Agreement stipulation on the telecom sector is very clear. Any operator must be licensed by the Palestinian Authority if they desire to sell their services to the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Not only are all of the Israeli cellular companies illegally operating in Palestinian areas without licenses, but the Israeli government is encouraging them by disrupting the ability of the Palestinians to develop their own telecommunications networks and refusing to take action against these Israeli operators for violating agreements. Read more about De-development Israeli style
The case for Israel’s wall and fence barrier rests an endlessly repeated and passionately defended premise: only such a barrier can provide Israel security from the waves of Palestinian suicide bombers who have brutally maimed and killed hundreds of Israeli civilians in buses and café’s over the past four years. Given the devastating impact of Palestinian suicide attacks on Israeli society, it’s not hard to see why many have embraced the barrier as a remedy to stop the carnage. Unfortunately, in this case the proposed cure may actually be worse than the malady itself. Steve Niva examines the facts. Read more about Dangerous Illusion: Why Israel's Barrier Will Fail to Provide Security
News from the Holy Land: Options and Consequences is a film that shows how journalists can improve their coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict. It is geared towards aspiring journalists (although veteran journalists could learn a thing or two from it), introducing creative ways of covering the conflict. The film stresses that it is the lack of context in mainstream reporting of the conflict that leads to a process of polarization. This is partly because the media are only interested in violence and not the underlying processes which lead to the violence. Read more about Documentary film review: "News from the Holy Land"
Take the A train to Brooklyn, the message said. Walk one block west. Meet at the basement. Call this number if you’re lost and don’t forward this message. Palestinian Activist Forum of New York (PAFNY), was planning a demonstration in Manhattan, the Big Apple turned Orange. With the Republican National Convention around the corner, the city would amputate a bridge over one suspicious package. So as PAFNY convened last Friday night to prepare banners, placards and leaflets, security precautions were necessary. Any responsible political group takes precautions into their own hands. Read more about Protest March New York, includes Jewish support for refugees' return
A settler group, Women in Green, has taken to spying on MachsomWatch at checkpoints, taking cookies and Cokes to “our boys in green” or, in the Gaza settlements, doing the soldiers’ laundry. Meanwhile, on various occasions, settlers (including Daniela Weiss, lady mayor of Kedumim settlement near Nablus) have physically attacked MachsomWatch groups. Now, anonymous right-wingers have set up a tastelessly fake version of MachsomWatch’s website. The fake “dot com” site is used as a platform for ultra-right wing propaganda of a typically odious nature. Angela Godfrey-Goldstein reports. Read more about Ultra-right establish fake MachsomWatch website
