The Jerusalem Post

The blogging war

Arjan El Fassed, 28, is a Dutch-Palestinian resident of Ar-Ram, a Ramallah suburb, who has recently published op-ed pieces in the Philadelphia Inquirer and Newsday. “TalG” is the online name of a 30-something resident of Jerusalem’s Katamon neighborhood who has been quoted in recent articles in the Christian Science Monitor, as well as numerous Web sites. Their politics couldn’t be more different. What they have in common is they are both “bloggers,” writers of online diaries known as “blogs.” 

Virtual war

There are many sites out there that give a Palestinian perspective of the news, but one of the most elaborate is the Electronic Intifada. Many other URLs for Web sites that no longer exist, such as the Palestinian Authority’s old Web site, now take you directly to this site. EI, as it calls itself, is very professional, user-friendly and well written. It does collect news from a wide variety of sources, including (although not usually) the Post. 

Nablus bullets ricochet in Hartford

The obituary was placed anonymously by Gale Courey Toensing, 56, of Canaan, wife of the chairman of the Connecticut board of education, Craig Toensing. What motivated Toensing, an Arab-American, to pay $ 300 for the notice was a posting by Amer Abdelhadi “writing from Nablus, occupied Palestine” on a Web site called Electronic Intifada Diaries. “The reason I did it was so people would know what’s going on there,” Toensing told the Courant after her involvement became public. 

Occupied peoples have the right to resist


“We are unwavering in our commitment to nonviolence. Due to these beliefs, we oppose the illegal Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. As a result we have come under heavy fire in the Occupied Territories and in the media. Israeli officials and several right-wing Israeli and American pundits have embarked on a campaign to discredit ISM, by attempting to equate ISM’s principled and active support for Palestinian rights with terrorism.” Tom Wallace and Rakhika Sainath recently wrote this op/ed in The Jerusalem Post. 

The blogging war


Politically-oriented, personal Web-journals - dubbed ‘blogs’ - have become part of the battle being fought over the Internet between supporters of Israel and of the Palestinians. The Jerusalem Post’s Alan Abbey takes a look.