Arts and culture

New book on Israeli occupation draws angry response, harassment



The editors and publishers of a recently released anthology about international nonviolent action supporting Palestinian sovereignty have experienced harassment by phone and email. Harassment surrounding this publication is nothing new. Months earlier when the book was first advertised on the internet, one of the authors started receiving continuous hate calls and emails at her office, acts that completely disrupted the workplace. 

JCSER: Israeli Department of Antiquities hides outcome of archaeological excavations

The Jerusalem Center for Social & Economic Rights (JCSER) calls on the Israeli Department of Antiquities to reveal the outcome of archaeological excavations currently taking place under its supervision. These excavations are being carried out in Jerusalem’s old City; inside the Palestinian Museum, also known as the Rockefeller Museum in Occupied Jerusalem; and in Shu’fat, along the main Jerusalem-Ramallah road. 

Edward Said's breadth of interest



Perhaps the first thing one remembers about Edward Said was his breadth of interest. He was not only at home in music, literature, philosophy, or the understanding of politics, but also he was one of those rare people who saw the connections and the parallels between different disciplines, because he had an unusual understanding of the human spirit, and of the human being, and he recognized that parallels and paradoxes are not contradictions. The Palestinians have lost one of the most eloquent defenders of their aspirations. I have lost my soul mate. 

Theater Review: Jamil Khoury's "Precious Stones"



When a playwright tackles the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, sexual identity issues, class issues, Arab-American community issues, and Jewish-American community issues (among others), in a 90-minute play, not much room is left for anything else — like character development and breathing room. And that’s the main trouble with Jamil Khoury’s Precious Stones. Maureen Clare Murphy reviews the play for EI

Film review: James Longley's "Gaza Strip" (2002)


Cover of the video/DVD.
James Longley’s Gaza Strip is a 74-minute documentary filmed between January and April 2001, a period that stretches from four months after the beginning of the Second Palestinian Intifada — immediately preceding the election of Ariel Sharon as Israel’s prime minister — up to the end of Sharon’s third month in office. “I made this film,” Longley notes in the director’s commentary that accompanies the very highly recommended DVD version, “to satisfy my own curiosity about what was happening in the Gaza Strip since I found that it was very difficult to find information in the mainstream media and get a detailed look at what was going on, what people there were like, what they were thinking about.” EI’s Nigel Parry reviews the film. 

Divine Intervention now available on VHS/DVD for universites and organisations



Avatar Films is continuing its release of Divine Intervention, the first Palestinian-made film ever to be widely distributed in the United States. Divine Intervention is available for screenings at universities, organizations and institutions, and is available on 35mm film, DVD, Digital Betacam, and VHS. Divine Intervention will be not released on home video and DVD until well into 2004. 

People like us: a review of "Portraits of Israelis and Palestinians: For my parents"



Sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that prove the most resonant. Take Seth Tobocman’s Portraits of Israelis and Palestinians: For My Parents. The book, a collection of drawings and thoughts, is the end product of the author’s month-long tour of Israel and Palestine during June, 2002. Tobocman was accommodated by the International Solidarity Movement and a visited a West Bank hospital, took a night-time bus ride in Israel, and worked as an art teacher during a summer school session in the West Bank village of Dir Ibzia — sketching what he encountered. Maureen Clare Murphy reviews the book for EI

Ibdaa dance troupe on US Tour



Ibdaa is a Palestinian youth dance troupe from Dheisheh refugee camp, near the city of Bethlehem in the Israeli occupied West Bank. MECA is sponsoring the 2nd nationwide performance tour of Ibdaa, the renowned Palestinian youth dance troupe from Dheisheh Refugee Camp, West Bank, this July and August. 

Hany Abu-Assad wins 'Spirit of Freedom Award' at Jerusalem Film Festival

Hany Abu-Assad’s documentary ‘Ford Transit’, which follows Palestinian taxi-van driver Rajai who tries to live and survive in and around roadblocks separating Ramallah from Jerusalem, won the ‘Spirit of Freedom Award’, dedicated to the memory of Wim van Leer, for best documentary at the 20th annual Jerusalem Film Festival. 

From a lost refugee

I come from a small deprived Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon called Bourj Al Barajneh. Something special about my camp is that it rains day and night, during summer and winter. It rains tears that are a result of future worries, present fears, and past dark memories. 

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