Geography Archives: Palestine

The notion of the “west”, like any such construct, has various associations depending on who is using it, where and in what circumstances.  Many people (especially in other parts of the world) tend to associate the “west” with military campaigns and foreign interventions by Nato and its leading states, the United States and Britain.  More […]

  The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association, which did not admit people of color.  The National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States.  With headquarters in New York, it has chapters in every state.  From its […]

No one knows the precise plans of the Palestinian Authority vis-a-vis September: will Mahmoud Abbas declare a Palestinian state within recognized borders and ask that it be admitted as a full member of the UN — or not?  Perhaps Abbas himself does not know.  Now political leaders often make decisions alone or in consultation with […]

  Much of the commentary in the Arabic media in recent days has focused on the realignments taking place across the Middle East as a result of the various Arab uprisings. Ammar Nehmeh, an occasional columnist at the Beirut-based leftist daily As-Safir, wrote that forces that traditionally resist U.S. policy in the region, and that […]

Seldom it is that the Russian Foreign Ministry chooses a Sunday to issue a formal statement.  Evidently, something of extreme gravity arose for Moscow to speak out urgently.  The provocation was the appearance of a United States guided missile cruiser in the Black Sea for naval exercises with Ukraine.  The USS Monterrey cruiser equipped with […]

  Statement by the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Society Palestinian queer activists from Al Qaws for Sexual & Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society, Aswat — Palestinian Gay Women, and PQBDS (Palestinian Queers for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions) have issued a joint statement on June 1st 2011 calling on organizations, groups and […]

According to the New York Times, a quarter of the passengers on the U.S. Boat to Gaza are Jewish. What does it mean that the U.S. Boat to Gaza is a quarter Jewish?  According to the noted American Jewish commentator Adam Sandler, a quarter Jewish is “not too shabby!”  Maybe the U.S. Boat to Gaza […]

“As for US AID, we’re ready.  A lot of US AID.  The important thing: Don’t depend on yourself, and keep depending on us.  Otherwise you won’t listen to us.  Then, we’ll be angry.  As for the topic of Palestine, we want to find a solution.  We’ll recognize your country on the 67 borders.”  “Mr. President, […]

This poster was produced to commemorate the “setback” (naksa): the 1967 war that Israel waged and that resulted in the loss of the Sinai, the Golan, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank.  While a dark moment in history, it nonetheless planted the seeds that will lead to eventual victory (nasr) and a restoration of Palestine […]

  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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

(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 […]

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 […]

13 May 2011 Tonight, the transnational delegation from the Knowledge Liberation Front (KLF) reunited in Tunis to begin the Liberation Without Borders Tour.  This delegation is a project of activist research that was initiated at a meeting in Paris last February.  It aims to reinforce the relations with the Tunisian movement activists that were forged […]

  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 […]

“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 […]

  “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 […]

  The sun had not yet risen in Cairo, as the Stay Human convoy began to prepare the departure for Gaza.  The journey about to be embarked upon was one filled with expectations and hope.  The importance of crossing the border at Rafah following the protests that brought down the Mubarak regime was on the […]

Jamaa Al-Yad, an artists’ collective located in Beirut, in coordination with representatives from various Palestinian and Lebanese civil society organizations, is providing a collection of materials (posters, flyers, handouts, stickers, stencils, etc.) to be used to publicize “The Return to Palestine March” and related activities scheduled for May 15 throughout the world.  These materials are […]