The Gaza massacre, at least for the moment, is over — ended just before Barack Obama’s inauguration, so as not to cast an unwelcome cloud over his first hours as U.S. President. The initial Palestinian death toll is 1,300 . . . and expected to rise. (Four times that number were injured, and more wounded […]
Geography Archives: Palestine
A Muslim’s Memo to Obama: Words Cannot Camouflage Cluster Bombs
Liberals swooning over President Barack Obama’s recent speechmaking are also much impressed by his rhetorical overtures to Arabs and Muslims, first articulated during his inaugural address and reiterated on a major Arabic-language news channel. The sharp divergence in tone and tenor from Bush’s rhetoric is certainly welcome after eight years of hubris and arrogance. Quoting […]
Behind the Myths about Hamas
Most mainstream accounts of the Palestinian Hamas organization present it as a bunch of rabid fanatics, bent on violence and motivated by an irrational hatred of Jews and the state of Israel. This view is reflected both in the mainstream media and in many books published on the topic. When we separate propaganda from reality, […]
Palestinian Government’s Open Letter to President Hugo Chavez
Palestinian National Authority Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Office, Gaza January 12, 2009 In the Name of God; the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful President Hugo Chavez, Your Excellency, President Hugo Chavez, We, the people of Palestine, commend your courage to speak and act upon your conscience regardless of your detractors’ criticism or cowardice. Mr. […]
Women of Gaza: Interview with Islah Jad
Islah Jad is a Ph.D holder from SOAS (School of African and Asian Studies), University of London. She lectures on gender and politics in the Women’s Studies Institute and Cultural Studies Department, Bir Zeit University, Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine. Rochelle Jones: Israel’s attacks on Gaza have taken a heavy toll. What is your understanding […]
Roma Slated to Be Ignored at the UN Commemoration of the International Day in Memory of the Holocaust
The president of the European Roma and Travellers Forum, Rudko Kawczynski, has expressed outrage at the decision by the U.N. to formally exclude the Roma from its commemoration ceremony on International day in Memory of the Holocaust, January 27, in the General Assembly Hall in New York City. He noted that “the Holocaust was the […]
Gaza in Europe
Freedom of expression is once again on the agenda in Denmark. The country received world attention when the rightist newspaper Jyllands-Posten published provocative cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad a few years ago. The cartoons caused widespread protests in the Muslim world, whereas discussions in Denmark and other Western countries revolved around freedom of the press. […]
“My Grandmother Did Not Die to Provide Cover for Israeli Soldiers Murdering Palestinian Grandmothers in Gaza”
I was brought up as an orthodox Jew and a Zionist. On a shelf in our kitchen, there was a tin box for the Jewish National Fund, into which we put coins to help the pioneers building a Jewish presence in Palestine. I first went to Israel in 1961 and I have been there […]
Still Breathing: A Report from Gaza
The morgues of Gaza’s hospitals are overflowing. The bodies in their blood-soaked white shrouds cover the entire floor space of the Shifa hospital morgue. Some are intact, most horribly deformed, limbs twisted into unnatural positions, chest cavities exposed, heads blown off, skulls crushed in. Family members wait outside to identify and claim a brother, […]
UE General Executive Board Calls for End to Bloodshed in Gaza
16 January 2009 Meeting in Pittsburgh, January 15 and 16, UE‘s General Executive Board adopted a statement condemning the current war in the Gaza Strip. The union’s national leadership body reiterated the position adopted by delegates to UE’s 70th Convention in 2007, which called for “replacing the lopsided pro-Israel policy of the U.S. with a […]
Interview with Avi Shlaim:Israel’s “State Terror” in Gaza
Introduction by Lincoln Shlensky Israeli historian Avi Shlaim, in an audio/video interview (also transcribed) with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, breaks down the responsibility for the current war in Gaza and clarifies the definition of “terror” as a term that should be applied both to Hamas and Israel. Based on Israeli Ministry of Defense statistics […]
Palestinian, Jewish, and Other Local Activists Shut Down Israeli Consulate in San Francisco
Thursday, January 15, 2009 SAN FRANCISCO — A group of nine activists — Palestinian, anti-Zionist Jewish, and immigrant rights activists — blocked the entrance of the Israeli Consulate beginning at 8:30am today, in nonviolent protest of Israeli apartheid and its current attacks on Gaza. The activists chained themselves together using handcuffs and locks, locked the […]
Under the Voices of Fire: Artists in Gaza
I am working under the voices of fire, Israeli warplanes. . . . I still breathe, take some pictures everyday. — artist Shareef Sarhan, January 12, 2009 As Israel’s vicious attack claims more lives, Gaza’s infrastructure now lies in shambles, including the handful of nonprofit venues that made cultural life possible. Even before the invasion, […]
South African Solidarity with Egyptian and Palestinian Peoples
Numerous protests against Israel’s apartheid and massacres in Gaza have been held in South Africa. One of the targets has been the Egyptian regime’s role in the siege of Gaza. — Ed. Memorandum To President Hosni Mubarak, president of the Arab Republic of Egypt 9 January 2009 We who have gathered today outside the Egyptian […]
British Jews Call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel
We the undersigned are all of Jewish origin. When we see the dead and bloodied bodies of young children, the cutting off of water, electricity and food, we are reminded of the siege of the Warsaw Ghetto. When Dov Weisglass, an adviser to the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, talked of putting Gazans “on a […]
Greek Solidarity with Gaza in Response to PFLP Appeal
On 10 January 2009, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine* issued an “Urgent Call to Greek People: Block the Shipment of US Arms to Israel through Greek Ports.” It reported that the U.S. Navy was planning to ship 3,000 tons of ammunition by merchant ship from the Greek port Astakos to the […]
Support the PGFTU Gaza Aid Fund!
Dear Brothers and Sisters, We are writing this letter to urge you to contribute to a special fund established by the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) to help with the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza. All funds sent to the PGFTU GAZA AID will go to basic survival needs — food, medicine, rudimentary […]
“Labor Boycott of Israel” Urged at Rally for Palestinians
On January 10, 2009, thousands of people in the Bay Area protested the US-supported attack by Israel on the people of Gaza at a rally and march in San Francisco. Trade unionists including leaders of the Oakland Education Association and ILWU Local 10 and a leader of the California Peace and Freedom party condemned the […]
Muslims and Palestine: An Alliance of Values
Listening to the feelings expressed by Muslims around the world, one perceives an emotion of anger and revolt mixed with a deep sense of helplessness. The current massacres are but a confirmation of the well known: the “international community” does not really care about the Palestinians, and it is as if the state of Israel, […]
Hamas: What It Is, What It Wants, and What Israel Makes of It
Israel’s stated reasons for its declaration of “all-out war” against the population of Gaza are the latest variation on a theme it put forward following the 2006 electoral victory of Hamas in Gaza. In February of that year Israel issued an official set of demands. Israel requires that Hamas recognize Israel’s permanent right to exist, […]
