Statement of Cuban Ambassador Rodolfo Reyes, at the Special Session of the Human Rights Council, on the human rights situation in Syria, Geneva, 29 April 2011 Mr. President: Cuba condemns the hypocrisy and double standards on which the convocation of this special session is based. Human rights are not its genuine motive. The motive is […]
Geography Archives: Israel
Hamas’s Option in Syria
Two political analysts shared their view with Islam Online: the leadership of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas” will not leave Syria unless it is asked to do so. They say that it is not in the interest of Hamas to leave Damascus now. An Internal Affair London’s Al-Hayat newspaper claimed that Hamas decided […]
No Revolution in Syria: An Interview with Camille Otrakji
Camille Otrakji is a Syrian political blogger based in Montreal. Although he tends to keep a low profile, Otrakji has been, for the past several years, at the forefront of many of the most interesting and influential online initiatives relating to Syrian politics. He is one of the authors and moderators at Joshua Landis’s Syria […]
Demystifying Syria
Two relationships have long been key to the stability of the Syrian regime. The first is an economic relationship: the regime puts back into national production just enough to create jobs and produce cheap national goods to keep the working population in steady or, better yet improving, living conditions. The second is a political […]
Protest against Israel’s Embassy in Cairo
“Here’s the Seat of the Embassy of Palestine” On Wednesday around 300 students, largely from Cairo University, held a march and protest in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo. To be honest, it was very weird marching without the Central Security Forces being around or cracking down. At some point when we were standing […]
Iran’s Islamist Bloggers Divided over Khamenei vs. Ahmadinejad
It appears from Iranian Islamist blogs that the honeymoon between Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Islamic Republic’s Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is finally over. Some reject Ahmadinejad in favor of the Supreme Leader while others show unwavering support for Ahmadinejad. It all started when President Ahmadinejad accepted the resignation of the Iranian Minister […]
From the Fatah-Hamas Accord to UN Recognition of the Palestinian State
Statement of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Israel The Communist Party of Israel (CPI) welcomes the accord signed by representatives of the Fatah and Hamas movements, concerning the establishment of an interim unity government, and preparations for elections for the Presidency, the Parliament, and the Palestinian National Council within eight months. An […]
Norman Gottwald: A Pioneering Marxist Biblical Scholar
Norman Gottwald belongs to a rare breed — an American Marxist biblical scholar. More than one jarring juxtaposition in that epithet! Unfortunately, he is less well known outside the relative small circle of biblical scholars than he should be. In order to introduce him to a wider audience, let me say a little about his […]
Israel: Aiming to Sabotage Palestinian Reconciliation
Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist. | Print
Vik Arrigoni, Remembered for His Dreams
On April 9, Vittorio Arrigoni — Vik to us — wrote to me in an e-mail that “I will go out immediately after this shame” ends. The “shame” was Israel’s latest flurry of F-16-delivered explosives that landed on the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. On April 14 at noon I learned of Vik’s abduction at […]
Maseerat al ‘Awda, the Return to Palestine March
Following a general meeting that brought together representatives from various Palestinian and Lebanese civil society organizations as well as individual activists, the Organizing Committee of Maseerat al ‘Awda, the Return to Palestine March, has announced the launch of its preparatory activities. The “Return to Palestine March” will take participants to the border with Occupied […]
Protesters in Saudi Arabia: “Down with the Khalifas, Down with America, Down with Israel, Down with Wahhabism!”
Awamiya, 22 April 2011: “The People Want Human Rights” Qatif, 22 April 2011: “Down with the Khalifas, Down with America, Down with Israel, Down with Wahhabism!” Qatif, 22 April 2011: “With Our Soul, with Our Blood, We’ll Free Bahrain!” Cf. <www.facebook.com/Revolution.East>. See, also, Yoshie Furuhashi, “Longing for Revolution in Saudi Arabia” (MRZine, 6 March 2011); […]
Gaza Honors Slain Italian Activist Vittorio Arrigoni
Cf. Egidia Beretta Arrigoni, “Vittorio non è mai stato così vivo come ora” (Il Manifesto, 17 April 2011); “The mother of pro-Palestinian activist Victorio Arrigoni reaffirmed that his body should not return via Israel. . . . Egidia Beretta replied that ‘Israel did not want him when he was alive and won’t have him […]
On Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, Support Palestinian Prisoners’ Struggle for Freedom!
Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, April 17, 2011, the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat salutes all of the over 5,700 Palestinian prisoners inside the Israeli occupation’s jails, and calls upon all those concerned for justice and freedom to join and build the largest possible international movement to secure the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners, and of […]
The Arab Spring and the Saudi Counter-Revolution
We return from a recent trip to the region persuaded that the main question engaging people with respect to the “Arab spring” is no longer “who’s next,” but rather “how far will Saudi Arabia go in pushing a counter-revolutionary agenda” across the Middle East? Whether Saudi Arabia is really capable of coping with the momentous […]
Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank Unite in Mourning of Slain Activist Vittorio Arrigoni
Palestinians across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank will join today in mourning slain activist Vittorio Arrigoni. People will gather both in the Al Manara square in Ramallah and at Al Jundi al Majhoul, the unknown soldier park, in Gaza City. Mourners will be received by the ISM and local popular committees and BDS […]
Mobilizing for September?
The reconvening of the UN in late September and the possible recognition of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders may be a crucial political moment in the struggle for Palestinian liberation — or not. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has characterized it as a looming “diplomatic tsunami” for Israel; Ali Abunimah, a prominent Palestinian-American […]
Stay Human: Freedom Flotilla Renames Voyage in Honor of Vittorio Arrigoni
The murder of human rights activist, Vittorio Arrigoni, is a tragedy for his family, for those of us who knew him, and for the Palestinians who loved and admired him. The Steering Committee of Freedom Flotilla 2 condemns this senseless murder and the people who are behind it. They took the life of one […]
ISM Activist Vittorio Arrigoni Kidnapped in Gaza
International Solidarity Movement activist Vittorio Arrigoni was kidnapped in Gaza today. News sources in the Gaza Strip say that the kidnappers are members of a Salafi group. In a YouTube video, the group threatens to kill Arrigoni in 30 hours, counting from 11 AM in Gaza (10 AM in Italy), if the Hamas government […]
Palestinians Call for Release of Italian Activist Kidnapped in Gaza
Today, our friend and colleague, Vittorio Arrigoni, a journalist and human rights defender working in the Gaza Strip, was kidnapped by Salafists, members of a very small extremist group in Gaza. Vittorio has been active in the Palestine cause for almost 10 years. For the past two and a half years, he has been in […]
