AMSTERDAM (IPS) - Call it that choice between looking at the half-full or half-empty part of the results. And it is almost half; 55 percent of schoolchildren passed their general secondary school examinations in Gaza this year. The results in the humanities section in the exams, the tawjihis as they are called, were four percent better than last year, and in the sciences they were better by two percent. So much for the impact of the Israeli bombardment last December-January, on most of the children anyway. Read more about Despite obstacles, Gaza students score well on exams
The question of the arts in times of siege and occupation is one of the main themes in Gaza’s newest theatre production, Film Cinema, which opened on 4 August in Gaza City. A stage buried in film negatives, and adorned with a lone plump teddy bear, sets the scene of the three-person play. Eva Bartlett reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Gaza play highlights difficulties for artists under siege
In pondering “a different kind of future,” author Ben White in his new book Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide stresses that there is no point in “trying to ‘undo’ things that cannot be undone.” He castigates rhetoric about a “two-state solution” or demands that Palestinians should “compromise,” as if the solution could bypass the dissolution of Israeli apartheid. Raymond Deane reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: "Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide"
Ziad Deeb, a young artist, lost his entire family and both his legs in the Israeli attack on Gaza six months ago. In his grief, Deeb has found solace in his work. Memories of the massacre inspire him “to keep painting more and more, I believe this is the only thing that can’t be taken away from me and my disability can’t be an obstacle.” Eman Mohammed reports for The Electronic Intifada from Gaza. Read more about Gaza artist, survivor finds power in paint
Breakdance, the hip hop dance style that began on the streets of New York City more than 30 years ago has become popular with youth all over the world, even breaking through the tight Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip. Rami Almeghari reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Breakdance breaks out in the Gaza Strip
Palestine should not have problems attracting tourists, with its rich blend of history, religious significance, local culture, as well as the varied and breathtaking scenery. But of course, the political context of the Israeli occupation means that the vast majority of tourists in the “Holy Land” only see Palestinians through the window of a tour bus, as they dash in and out of Bethlehem for a couple of hours. Ben White reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about "Visit Palestine" says West Bank's growing alternative tourism industry
The power of posters, as not merely symbolic weapons but also sites of hegemonic struggle during Lebanon’s civil war, is a central theme of Zeina Maasri’s new book Off the Wall: Political Posters of the Lebanese Civil War. A mix of text and image, the book is a rich and visually engaging work that tackles a dimension of war long-neglected by Lebanese historians. Hicham Safieddine reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: Lebanon's political posters as sites of struggle
Ali Jabri locked his paintings in a trunk. It had been more than 20 years since the artist had opened it, but after he was murdered in his Amman, Jordan apartment in December 2002 his friends decided it was time to tell Jabri’s tale. Six years in the making, Fadi Ghandour, a philanthropist and friend of Jabri’s, set up a foundation to document and preserve the late artist’s work. In a home Jabri had wished to one day own, the Ali Jabri Human Heritage Foundation was launched in Amman. Sousan Hammad reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Ali Jabri retrospective: a life recorded in sketchbooks
The play Oh Well Never Mind Bye is set in the busy newsroom of an unnamed London-based newspaper — probably a right-wing tabloid — in the days before and after London police shot dead a Brazilian immigrant on an underground train. But in a genuinely brave piece of playwriting, Steven Lally has drawn on wider themes, including the “churnalism” that has turned much of the journalistic profession into a regurgitation of celebrity press releases, the way in which Palestine and related issues are reported in the mainstream media and the influence of the Zionist lobby on news coverage. Sarah Irving reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Newsroom politics dramatized in "Oh Well Never Mind Bye"
In his autobiography, Embers and Ashes: Memoirs of an Arab Intellectual, the late Hisham Sharabi transports the reader seamlessly from his early life in Palestine, where he was born in 1927, to his studies at the American University of Beirut, and finally his own American experience and life as a university professor at Georgetown. While it occasionally lacks cohesion, the book is unmistakably personal and insightful. Atef Alshaer reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about "Embers and Ashes:" An intellectual's exile, struggle and success
