Painful events have been continuing in Syria for nearly two months, since the emergence of a protest movement raising legitimate local and general demands among people in the governorate of Daraa. This movement threw light on the presence of major problems in the political life in Syria: the continuation of the state of emergency, the […]
Geography Archives: Israel
How Green Is the Jewish National Fund?
Greenwashing Apartheid: The Jewish National Fund’s Environmental Cover Up. JNF eBook (Volume 4). May 15, 2011. The 63-year old State of Israel has had overwhelming success at hiding its true intentions and purposes, effectively whitewashing actions which, if properly understood, would be extremely disturbing to most people. Thus the passage of laws discriminating on […]
Syria, Libya, and Russia’s Retreat from “Reset”
The last thing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev did before departing for France to attend this week’s Group of Eight summit meeting in Deauville was place a call to Damascus. Prima facie, one may think the call made sense, since, as Reuters reported, “Syria’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests” is going to be high on the agenda […]
Michal Kalecki and the Economics of Development
In the long and impressive catalogue of Michal Kalecki’s contributions to economics, the proportion of writings devoted to what is now called “development economics” is relatively small. And most of his work in this area is concise to the point of being terse, in short articles that simply state some crucial principles, typically without much […]
Israel and South Sudan
Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist. This cartoon was first published in his blog on 23 May 2011; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. Cf. Gil Ronen, “South Sudan Wants Ties with Israel” (Arutz Sheva, 17 February 2011); “Israel Hopes to Attain a New African Ally in S. Sudan” (Jerusalem Post, 29 February […]
Palestinians in America: An Intelligent Socialist’s Guide to Tony Kushner, with a Key to the UN Declaration of Human Rights
(Scene: an elevator, downstage right. Stuck inside are ROY COHN and ETHEL ROSENBERG, characters in Tony Kushner’s landmark play, Angels in America. McCarthyite lawyer, ROY prosecuted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were accused of spying for the USSR and executed in 1953. ETHEL now paces impatiently, pushing elevator buttons. Above the stage, captions from recent […]
Obama at AIPAC: What the Decline of American Power Means for Israel
President Obama’s speech to the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference on Sunday predictably offered lots of “red meat” for pro-Israel constituencies. But, in heavily veiled language, the President also made an enormously important point about the evolving character of international relations in the 21st century and what that means for the United […]
On the Revolt in Syria
The parties involved in the revolt in Syria so far have not made their programs public. Undoubtedly, the drift of the Ba’athist regime, won over to neoliberalism and singularly passive in the face of the Israeli occupation of Golan, is the reason for the uprising of people. However, the CIA’s intervention must not be ruled […]
New Insights into the Islamic Republic of Iran
Arguably the most important reason for the international interest in Iran is its strategically pivotal geography. Like some of its Muslim neighbours, it has tremendous oil and gas reserves. For the United States, the revolution in Iran was nothing less than a geopolitical shock. Revolutionary dynamics in the Arab World have recently rekindled the debate […]
May 15: The Return to Palestine, from the Maroun Ar-Ras Border
In 2006, I found myself working with a variety of Palestinian groups who wanted to establish an educational center downtown, to create a space for discussion of their legitimate grievances, both about the right of return to Palestine and their situation within Lebanon. The center went up, but then a few days later Israel started […]
Obama on the Middle East: Sticking with a Failed Script
May 18, 2011 In an effort to define the dominant narrative about the ongoing Arab awakening and America’s role in the Middle East, President Obama will give what the White House is billing as a major address on Middle East policy. However eloquently delivered, the address will not be able to overcome or compensate for […]
Returning to Jaffa: The Triumphant Odyssey of Palestinian Refugee Hassan Hijazi
Hassan Hijazi, a Syrian-Palestinian youth, is as surprised as the Israeli police. Hassan, who is a civil servant in the Education Ministry of Syria, had never imagined, even in his wildest dream, that one day he would be able to stroll on the streets of Jaffa, a city annexed to Tel Aviv. “My parents […]
Jaffa: Arabs and Jews Commemorate Nakba, Defying Israeli Censorship
“We say to the Israeli establishment in the name of each and every one of us: I am not a stranger in my homeland, I am not a hostage to your ideas, I am free, despite your accusation, I am the owner of this land, despite your oppression.” — Omar Siksik, 14 May 2011 Cf. […]
Egypt: Protesters, Police Clash Outside Israeli Embassy
Abdus Shuman and Ian Lee
Scores of protesters in Cairo clash with Egyptian security forces in front of the Israeli embassy. They were gathering to urge Egypt to cut ties with Israel and also show support for the Palestinians’ Third Intifada. As tensions grew, security forces used live rounds, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. According to […]
Egypt: The People Want to Liberate Palestine
“There must constantly be an intifada. I am for the one state solution, so there must be an intifada in Palestine. The liberation of Palestine is a part of every one of these Arab revolutions. Now, even after the revolution, the [Egyptian] army is banning these peaceful convoys [to Gaza] and this show of solidarity […]
The Nakba Law: In German It Sounds Worse
“It is forbidden to mourn on the founding day of the state.” — Israel 2011 Tel Aviv, Israel, 9 May 2011 Zochrot is an NGO whose goal is to introduce the Palestinian Nakba to the Israeli-Jewish public, to express the Nakba in Hebrew. This is in order to promote an alternative memory to the […]
Egypt’s Christians Blame Army after Sectarian Violence
Coptic anger turns on the army after bloody sectarian violence gripped Cairo. The clashes between Muslims and Christians in Imbaba left at least 12 dead. Two churches were torched. It’s the latest in a string of sectarian incidents since Egypt’s revolution, which left the army in interim charge of the country. Now the Coptic community […]
Intervention in the Name of Stability
Intervention in the Name of Stability Professor Noam Chomsky recently delivered an important address in Amsterdam entitled “Contours of the World Order.”1 A large part of the speech was devoted to the role of the United States in defending its area of absolute hegemony. According to Chomsky’s excellent analysis, the US relates to all countries […]
On Syria, Democracy, and Imperialism
The trajectory of the democratic movement in the Arab world was never going to be a straight line with clear goals and objectives. The Arab regimes are not homogeneous; they have medieval Islamist monarchies, as in Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states, and secular but completely authoritarian regimes, both Western puppets like Mubarak and […]
Statement of Principles and Call for International Trade Union Support for BDS
Occupied Palestine, 4 May 2011 — In commemoration of the first of May — a day of workers’ struggle and international solidarity — the first Palestinian trade union conference for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel (BDS) was held in Ramallah on 30 April 2011, organized by almost the entirety of the Palestinian trade […]
