Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Rachel Williamson
-
The infants who died at the sound of bombs: Death without weeping
For the past nine days, Iran has endured relentless military aggression from Israel. More than 400 civilians have been killed and over 3,000 wounded, according to official figures. But beyond the numbers- beyond the blood-soaked sheets and overwhelmed emergency rooms- lies a deeper, quieter tragedy: children dying not from...
-
Commemorating the Nakba: Will Europe fix what it broke?
On Nakba Day this year, I was invited to attend several events in Europe to speak about the Nakba and the genocidal war waged by Israel against the Palestinian people. Although this was not my first time visiting Europe, it was my first time participating in Nakba Day events...
-
If Einstein spoke out today, he would be accused of anti-Semitism
In 1948, as the foundations of the Israeli state were being laid upon the ruins of hundreds of Palestinian villages, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to the American Friends of the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel (AFFFI), condemning the growing Zionist militancy within the settler Jewish community. “When...
-
Palestinians cannot be uprooted: Palestine is theirs, and no power on earth can sever that bond
US President Donald Trump’s recent assertion that Gaza’s population should be resettled in Egypt, Jordan or elsewhere is more than just unconscionable; it is an explicit endorsement of forced population “transfer”, a war crime and a crime against humanity under international law. His remarks were not made in a...
-
Are minorities in Syria vulnerable groups or political loopholes?
When the decades-long Assad family dictatorship fell in December, it sparked hopes for a better Syria. But did it bring hope to all Syrians? The outbreak of peaceful protests in Syria in 2011 demonstrated the Syrian people’s wish for a government that truly represents them. With the rise of...
-
What is the point of the UN Security Council?
With the beginning of 2025, Somalia, Pakistan, Panama, Denmark and Greece joined the UN Security Council as non-permanent members, a diplomatic and organisational status that, once again, raises the question of the actual use of this body in ensuring world peace, especially when it conflicts with the interests of...
-
Can Palestinians and Israelis coexist in a single democratic state?
Seventy-six years of occupation, ethnic cleansing and settler-colonisation leading up to today’s genocide in Gaza cannot disappear overnight. In light of this, does the historical Palestinian and anti-Zionist Jewish vision for a single democratic state where Palestinians and previous Israelis coexist make any sense? How would such a state...
-
Sinwar’s vision for a one-state solution: The Palestine Liberation Commission
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar realised that resistance is a tool to achieve a political goal: the establishment of a Palestinian state from the river to the sea. Interestingly, he did not postpone envisioning the shape of this state until after liberation. In 2021, he sponsored a conference titled “The...
-
Letter to the UN: Will there be an arms embargo on Israel?
On 3 November, a group of 52 countries, led by Turkiye, sent a letter to the UN calling for an arms embargo on Israel. The letter also urges the UN Security Council to act in the face of flagrant violations of its own resolutions. In addition to Turkiye, the...
-
A law banning breathing
Very soon, Israel will pass a law that will ban the Palestinian people from breathing, after a long list of laws implemented during the rule of the fascist Netanyahu government. After a year of bloodshed, this government is still finding ways to get even more revenge on the Palestinian...
-
Has MBS paved the way for Netanyahu to target Iran through a fictitious treaty compromising their oil deterrence?
Ever since Iran launched an unparalleled large-scale attack against Israel on 1 October, using a barrage of nearly 200 ballistic missiles, the Middle East has been holding its breath in anticipation of a swift and crushing Israeli retaliation. Iran said its long-awaited attack was in response to Israel’s assassinations...
-
Prosecution of dual-national Israeli soldiers
Since October last year, Israeli officials have not only made genocidal statements but have been acting upon them physically. As Palestinian health authorities report, Israel’s ground and air campaign in Gaza has killed more than 42,600 Palestinians so far, the majority women and children. The United Nations also states...
-
Gaza in ruins presents a tale of resilience and ruthlessness
By any measure, Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinians in Gaza qualify the occupation state to be accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing. Its clear “intent to destroy, in whole or in part” the population underscores the former term and “forcibly removing or displacing the population” the latter. Statistics show...
-
Freeing the world from colonial institutions
Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza over the past year has prompted a number of questions regarding the “international community”. How, for example, is this genocide being allowed to happen? Why has the UN not been able to stop it? Are international courts powerless? Are all these institutions...
-
Israel’s losing game in the Middle East: A war with no results
A year-long Israeli aggression against Palestinians in Gaza has resulted in the killing of approximately 41,000 civilians. As per United Nations and UNICEF reports, 16,756 children have been killed and 5300 injured, while 11,346 women killed in the conflict, so far. In parallel, Israeli forces are choosing counter-value targets...
-
Universalism of human rights and humanitarian response to the Sudanese crisis
Human rights and humanitarian action are closely interlinked, each aiming to alleviate the suffering and enhance the well-being of affected populations, albeit through distinct approaches. Unlike humanitarian action, which takes place only during humanitarian crises like armed conflicts and natural disasters, human rights are applicable at all times, both...
-
The pager attack and its potential consequences
Israel has added a new type of weapon used in modern warfare by blowing up Hezbollah’s field communications devices. The horrific scenes circulating on the Internet are enough in themselves to shock anyone who sees them, including Hezbollah, which is the target of this attack. However, for Hezbollah, the...
-
Famine and childhood in Gaza are marks of shame in the 21st century
The latest UN report has described the level of famine in the Gaza Strip as a catastrophic situation, warning that nearly half a million people in the Palestinian enclave suffer from extreme food insecurity, and that entire families go days without anything to eat. Twenty UN agencies and humanitarian...
-
While Gaza suffers physical genocide, the West Bank faces economic genocide
While the world is preoccupied with the horrific genocide in the embattled Gaza Strip, Israel is killing hundreds of Palestinians, seizing more land and strangling the occupied West Bank economically. On 22 May, following the International Court of Justice decisions against Israel and the recognition of Palestine by three...
-
The Illusion of safe zones: The human cost of Gaza’s conflict
One of the most insidious tactics employed by Israeli authorities in their plan to control Gaza and its cities is the concept of “safe zones”. While the purported intention is to protect civilians, these zones are often depicted as a façade for erasing the Palestinian presence through violent means....
-
Why are the Palestinians not being asked who they want to govern in Gaza?
When the Israeli war against the Palestinians in Gaza ends, as it no doubt will, questions will be asked about who will reconstruct the devastated territory, who will govern it, and how. At the moment there are no answers, not least because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no...
-
How do ordinary Palestinians view the Iranian attack on Israel?
On the night of 14 April, Iran launched drones and missiles towards Israel after it vowed to avenge the bloody attack on its Consulate in the Syrian capital, Damascus. The Iranian attack is the first direct attack against Israel from Iranian territory. The Iranian attack coincided not only with...
-
Resistance against another uprooting from the land of Palestine
Forced to relocate due to the relentless impact of aggressive shelling, widespread destruction and military directives issued by Zionist Israelis instructing them to move southward, nearly 1.7 million residents of Gaza find themselves confined within an area spanning less than 65 kilometres. Having endured the dire consequences of these...
-
Those airdropping food cannot also be airdropping missiles
What a mad world humanity lives in, where we see the US dropping missiles and bombs through its ally, Israel, on the helpless people of Gaza while, at the same time, we see it airdropping food to the same people. Is this a case of schizophrenia, or swapping roles?...