On November 5th, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “As It Happens” program, rebroadcast in the US on National Public Radio, featured former Middle East Envoy Dennis Ross being interviewed about Yasser Arafat, who is currently seriously ill in a French hospital. Ross had much to say about Arafat and Camp David. Clayton E. Swisher, a former Marine reservist and federal criminal investigator, was a VIP security guard at the Camp David talks. Nation Books recently published Swisher’s The Truth About Camp David, which provides a devastating counternarrative to the commonly held myths about Arafat’s intransigence and Barak’s “generous offer” at the summit. EI’s Nigel Parry interviewed Swisher about Dennis Ross’ comments on the CBC program. Read more about Interview: Challenging Camp David mythology, four years on
Over the past several weeks, claims of intimidation in the department of Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures (MEALAC) of Columbia University have hit newspapers around the world. Accusations of one-sidedness and anti-Americanism abound. It is all based on a previously unreleased film by The David Project, Columbia Unbecoming, which purports to document incidences of intimidation and anti-Semitism in the classroom. The “underground documentary” that has been touted by major New York City press has been released. We can finally begin an honest discussion. Read more about "Columbia Unbecoming" in the clear light of day
The recent controversy elicited by the propaganda film “Columbia Unbecoming,” a film funded and produced by a Boston-based pro-Israel organization, is the latest salvo in a campaign of intimidation of Jewish and non-Jewish professors who criticize Israel. Professor Joseph Massad, who has been a central target of this campaign, responds, exposing its tactics and explaining that its aim is to stifle pluralism, academic freedom, and the freedom of expression on university campuses in order to ensure that only one opinion is permitted, that of uncritical support for the State of Israel. Read more about Joseph Massad responds to the intimidation of Columbia University
The European Union is on the verge of introducing a major new policy designed to bring member states closer to their neighbors. Launching a new initiative towards Israel and the Palestinian Authority and concluding negotiations on a new bilateral agreement with Israel, the EU this week also adopted a common position to extend the permits of Palestinians deported from Bethlehem in May 2002 for a further period of twelve months. EI co-founder Arjan El Fassed argues that the EU has never taken concrete steps to enforce international law in Occupied Palestine. A serious EU step towards enforcing international law should start with respecting the law itself. Read more about EU launches new initiative as deportation of Palestinians is extended
President Bush and Senator John Kerry have avoided mentioning the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in their campaigns. EI co-founder Ali Abunimah writes that while this is politically understandable, the next president will not be able to ignore it for long. US actions, combined with recent statements by a top Israeli official have only reinforced the worst suspicions of Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims that the United States is in cahoots with Israel to allow Israel to complete the colonization of the West Bank. Is there a way forward? Read more about US can't ignore Palestine-Israel conflict forever
“Twelve years ago, an El Al Boeing airplane carrying military cargo crashed into an apartment building in the Bijlmer neighbourhood of Amsterdam. Forty-three people directly lost their lives. More people have died since then, and many are still suffering from unidentified diseases. The Dutch government denies any connection between health ailments and the disaster, though hundreds of people inhaled poisonous smoke from the burning airplane and the apartment building. Some of the El Al plane’s cargo is still unknown, but three of the four components of sarin nerve gas were present at the crash site.” Lizzy Bloem reports for Electronic Intifada from Amsterdam Read more about The 1992 El Al Bijlmer crash: a cover-up of a chemical inferno?
Question: A tax-exempt organization that lobbies Congress on behalf of Israel, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (also known as AIPAC), has been under investigation by the FBI for allegedly receiving classified information from a Pentagon official and using this information on behalf of the government of Israel. In view of this investigation, do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree that AIPAC should be asked to register as an agent of a foreign government and lose its tax-exempt status?Read more about Zogby Poll: Should AIPAC be asked to register as an agent of a foreign government and lose its tax-exempt status?
The FBI investigation into the leaked information on Iran to the Israeli lobby group AIPAC has inadvertently revealed a subtle, but significant, divide among Israeli and American officials. While it is true that Israel and the United States coordinate their policies at the highest levels - Dick Cheney often holds talks with Israeli politician Natan Sharansky while former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is viewed as one of the most influential men in Washington - that cooperation does not extend much beyond the Oval Office. Mark Perry analyzes the situation for the Palestine Report. Read more about With friends like these...
Here is my take on the Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal in the Pentagon. It is an echo of the one-two punch secretly planned by the pro-Likud faction in the Department of Defense. First, Iraq would be taken out by the United States, and then Iran. David Wurmser, a key member of the group, also wanted Syria included. These pro-Likud intellectuals concluded that 9/11 would give them carte blanche to use the Pentagon as Israel’s Gurkha regiment, fighting elective wars on behalf of Tel Aviv (not wars that really needed to be fought, but wars that the Likud coalition thought it would be nice to see fought so as to increase Israel’s ability to annex land and act aggressively, especially if someone else’s boys did the dying). Juan Cole comments. Read more about Pentagon/Israel Spying Case Expands: Fomenting a War on Iran
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) called on its member states to bar all products and goods emanating from Israeli settlements at the end of the fourteenth Ministerial Conference of the Non-Alignment Movement (Mid-Term Review) in Durban, South Africa. The call for measures was issued by the Committee on Palestine of the Non-Alignment Movement. The NAM declaration called for its members to “decline entry to Israeli settlers and to impose sanctions against companies and entities involved in the construction of the wall.” “With regard to member states, the ministers called upon them to undertake measures, including by means of legislation, collectively, regionally and individually, to prevent any products of the illegal Israeli settlements from entering their markets,” said the declaration. Read more about Non Alignment Movement to impose sanctions on Israel
