Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Ramzy Baroud
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Palestine and Kenya: Our historic fight against injustice is one and the same
In 1948 my grandfather, along with thousands of Badrasawis, was expelled by Israeli military forces from our ancestral village of Beit Daras in Palestine. Like hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from over 500 villages, my grandfather assumed he would be back home in a few weeks. “Why bother to haul...
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The day after: What if Israel annexes the West Bank?
Calls for the annexation of the Occupied West Bank are gaining momentum in both Tel Aviv and Washington. But Israel and its American allies should be careful what they wish for. Annexing the Occupied Palestinian Territories will only reinforce the current rethink of the Palestinian strategy, as opposed to...
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‘World Refugee Day’: Palestinians Keep Their Right of Return Alive Through Hope, Resistance
The United Nations’ World Refugee Day, observed annually on June 20, should not merely represent a reminder of “the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homeland under threat of persecution, conflict and violence.” It should also be an opportunity for the...
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115 Court Appearances and Counting: Father of ‘Humanitarian Hero’, Mohammed El-Halabi Speaks Out
Mohammed Khalil El Halabi was born on April 2, 1978. He is the second of seven brothers. The El Halabi family was ethnically cleansed from the town of Al-Majdal in historic Palestine in 1948, to live in permanent exile ever since. Mohammed was born and raised in the Jabaliya...
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Kushner as a Colonial Administrator: Let’s Talk About the ‘Israeli Model’
In a TV interview on June 2, on the news docuseries “Axios” on the HBO channel, Jared Kushner opened up regarding many issues, in which his ‘Deal of the Century’ was a prime focus. The major revelation made by Kushner, President Donald Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, was least surprising. Kushner...
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Facing the Facts: Israel Cannot Escape ICC Jurisdiction
The Chief Military Advocate General of the Israeli army, Sharon Afek, and the US Department of Defense General Counsel, Paul Ney, shared a platform at the ‘International Conference on the Law of Armed Conflict’, which took place in Herzliya, Israel between May 28-30. Their panel witnessed some of the most...
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Arab-Israeli Normalisation: A desperate attempt at isolating Iran
Bahrain is gearing up to host the economic version of the so-called Deal of the Century. A two-day conference, co-hosted by the United States, is scheduled to be held in the capital, Manama June 25-26. The Palestinian leadership has rightly refused to take part in the latest US-Arab charade, which...
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Politics of Humiliation: Trump, Palestine, the Arab Peoples
The Deal of the Century has inspired much discussion about Washington’s latest political gambit in the Middle East. Largely excluded from the debate, however, is the emotional toll involving the Arab peoples everywhere. The ‘politics of humiliation’ is fairly a new discourse associated with the sense of collective defeat and...
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Resurrecting the PLO is Palestine’s Best Response to the ‘Deal of the Century’
Palestinian groups, Fatah, Hamas and others should not confine themselves to merely rejecting the Trump Administration’s so-called ‘Deal of the Century’. Instead, they should use their resistance to the new American-Israeli plot as an opportunity to unify their ranks. Leaked details of the ‘Deal of the Century’ confirm Palestinians’ worst...
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Madonna’s Fake Revolution: Eurovision, Cultural Hegemony and Resistance
Rim Banna, a famous Palestinian singer who translated Palestine’s most moving poetry to song, passed away on March 24, 2018, at the age of 51. Rim captured the struggle for Palestinian freedom in the most dignified and melodious ways. If we could imagine angels singing, they would sound like...
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A changing Middle East: Why the deal of the century will fail
Some are being misled to believe that the soon-to-be-announced deal of the century is a US-sponsored peace initiative aimed at resolving the so-called Palestinian-Israeli conflict. However, such a perception is erroneous, not only because the US is not interested in achieving a just peace in the region, but because the...
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Israel’s common denominator: Why Israel will continue to bomb Gaza
On May 4, Israel launched a series of deadly airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip, prompting a response from various resistance groups. At least 25 Palestinians were killed and nearly 200 people wounded in the Israeli attacks. Four Israelis were also killed by Palestinian rockets. The clashes were instigated by...
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The two narratives of Palestine: The people are united, the factions are not
The International Conference on Palestine held in Istanbul between April 27-29 brought together many speakers and hundreds of academics, journalists, activists and students from Turkey and all over the world. The Conference was a rare opportunity aimed at articulating a discourse of international solidarity that is both inclusive and forward...
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Why Palestinian prisoners choose hunger strike as a resistance strategy
One of the many ways in which Israel seeks to oppress and control the Palestinian population is by imprisoning those who lead the resistance to its occupation and settler colonialist project. In Palestine, a Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail is referred to as “aseer“, or captive, because he or she is...
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France and the EU, Recognising Yet Supporting Apartheid Reality in Palestine
A recent statement made by the outgoing French Ambassador to the US regarding the nature of Israeli apartheid accentuates a larger ailment that has afflicted the European Union foreign policy. The EU is simply gutless when it comes to confronting Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. Ambassador Gerard Araud was, of course,...
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Notre Dame of Gaza: Our mosques and churches are also burning
As the 300-foot spire of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris tragically came tumbling down on live television, my thoughts ventured to Nuseirat Refugee Camp, my childhood home in the Gaza Strip. Then, also on television, I watched as a small bulldozer hopelessly clawed through the rubble of my neighbourhood...
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War Versus Peace: Israel Has Decided and So Should We
So, what have we learned from the Israeli legislative elections on April 9? A whole lot. To start with, don’t let such references as the “tight race” between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his main rival, Benny Gantz, fool you. Yes, Israelis are divided on some issues that are particular to...
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Access to clean water is a human right, so why is Palestine an exception?
Free access to clean water is a basic human right. This is not just a common-sense assertion, but also a binding legal commitment enshrined in international law. In November 2002, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted “General Comment No. 15” regarding the right to water:...
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The unfinished Gaza war: What Netanyahu hopes to gain from attacking Palestinian prisoners
The current violence targeting Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails dates back to January 2. It was then that Israel’s Public Security Minister, Gilad Erdan declared that the “party is over.” “Every so often, infuriating pictures appear of cooking in the terrorist wings. This party is coming to an end,” Erdan...
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‘Prisoners are heroes’: Being a Palestinian prisoner in Israel
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons are gearing up for a mass hunger strike. Already horrific conditions in these jails deteriorated further in recent months, especially since the announcement by Israel’s Public Security Minister, Gilad Erdan, that the “party is over”. On January 2, Erdan promised to “worsen” the conditions under...
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The ‘Great Replacement’: Why far-right nationalists love Israel
The link between Israel and budding far-right movements around the world is not a mere random phenomenon, inspired by common hate for Islam and Muslims. Moreover, the common understanding that this problematic relationship – between Israel and the global far right – only concerns the common cause between Israel and...
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Why AIPAC Is Wrong about Israel’s ‘Core Values’
Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, described various comments made by the head of Otzma Yehudit as “incitement to racism.” But the fringe political party would not have captured much media, and political attention was it not for its ties with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The controversy started on February 20,...
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On my visit to New Zealand: Can Christchurch heal our collective wounds?
I visited the city of Christchurch on 23 May 2018, as part of a larger speaking tour in New Zealand that also took me to Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton and Dunedin. New Zealand is an exceptional country, different from other countries that are often lumped under the generalised designation of the...
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Uniting Fatah, Not Palestinians: The Dubious Role of Mohammed Shtayyeh
Political commentators sympathetic to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Fatah Movement, in particular, fanned out as soon as the news was announced of Mohammad Shtayyeh’s appointment as the new Palestinian Prime Minister. It is no surprise to witness this gush of support and enthusiasm, for Shtayyeh is a Fatah...
