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Creating new perspectives since 2009

 

Ramona Wadi

Ramona Wadi is an independent researcher, freelance journalist, book reviewer and blogger. Her writing covers a range of themes in relation to Palestine, Chile and Latin America.

 

Items by Ramona Wadi

  • Israel and the international community are normalising the forced displacement of Palestinians

    A Washington Post editorial sums up the mainstream aftermath of Israeli aggression against Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is credited with purportedly “choosing peace” in the enclave: “The ceasefire and humanitarian respite that Mr Netanyahu has accepted are far better than another war.” The Post is wrong. Netanyahu...

  • Sustaining cycles of Israeli aggression in Gaza

    It is time, once again, for the hyphenated “Israel-Gaza” paradigm – an invention that suits mainstream narratives. As the media mulls the possibilities of another Israeli military aggression against Palestinians in Gaza, it is pertinent to take a step back to remember how, since “Operation Protective Edge”, Israel regularly...

  • UN politics for Palestinians determined by convenience

    The UN promotes its penchant for convenience at the expense of Palestinians and hardly anyone expresses concern. Perhaps because “concern” is the UN’s monopoly over the political squalour that produces an entire spectrum of human rights violations against Palestinians. In an interview with The Times of Israel, UN Deputy Special...

  • Palestinian education must move away from the imposed humanitarian agenda

    As the media hype over Khan Al-Ahmar fades away, mainstream narratives have yet to find another sensationalist violation to exploit. It is disheartening to see that the disappearance of the Palestinian village from the headlines also means that the fate of the Bedouin community it houses will be forgotten...

  • Normalising external narratives in Palestine’s spaces for education

    In collaboration with the Palestinian Ministry of Education, the EU launched a competition across schools in Gaza and the occupied West Bank called “Know Europe”. The aim, according to EU Deputy Representative Tomas Niklasson, is “to introduce ourselves again to students of Palestine: introduce our values, culture, history and...

  • PA is ‘deliberating’ on marginalising the Palestinian people

    With the US set to reveal details of the “Deal of the Century” in the forthcoming days, the Palestinian Central Council scheduled time for “deliberation upon important matters” to arrive at stale conclusions which highlight the Palestinian Authority’s penchant for presenting past recommendations as purportedly new stances. It took the...

  • Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History

    Nur Masalha’s latest book, “Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History” (Zed Books, 2018) presents an accurate distinction between the Palestinian return to history and the purported Zionist reclamation – the latter failing in its endeavours to justify its claims historically. In discussing Palestine’s rich history, the limitations of Zionism...

  • Amid torture accusations, the PA consolidates its links with the CIA

    The news that the US and the Palestinian Authority are planning for CIA Director Gina Haspell to visit Ramallah comes just as Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report which accuses Hamas and the PA of torture. Titled “Two Authorities, One Way, Zero Dissent”, is based on a two-year...

  • Kushner demands higher levels of betrayal from the PA

    After the US unilaterally recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, withdrew all funding from the United Nations Relief and Works Organisation for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and closed the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Mission in Washington, Senior Advisor to the US President Jared Kushner had the audacity to announce that a...

  • Khan Al-Ahmar exposes the misplaced priorities of the PA and the international community

    The Palestinian Authority and the international community made a PR spectacle out of Khan Al-Ahmar and its impending demolition. Suffice to say that when facing human rights violations which are listed as war crimes, protocol is given precedence and the media follows suit. Two recent statements testify to this...

  • Excuses, excuses when the stone-thrower is an Israeli settler and the victim is Palestinian

    In 2015, Israel approved a law that stipulated a 20 year prison sentence for individuals caught throwing stones. The intention was to target Palestinians involved in resistance activities, despite the discrepancies between armed Jewish Israeli settlers and Palestinians in terms of weapons available for them to use. “Tolerance towards...

  • The PA is exploiting Khan Al-Ahmar to maintain its two-state rhetoric

    It is disconcerting that the decision to demolish the village of Khan Al-Ahmar is being tied to the two-state compromise by Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah. At a meeting in Ramallah with a delegation from the European Parliament last Monday, Hamdallah declared that Israel’s actions in the occupied Palestinian...

  • Closing UNRWA will not alter Israel’s role in creating Palestine refugees

    The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has recently had its mandate extended until 30 June 2020 “in the absence of a solution to the Palestine refugee problem”. Meanwhile Israel and the US are consorting to eliminate the existence of Palestinian refugees by redefining them...

  • Nabil Anani: Palestine, Land and People

    The introduction to Nabil Anani: Palestine, Land and People (Saqi Books, 2018) sets the pace for delving into the art collection in this book which weaves an intricate trail of memory, where its participants and inhabitants beckon for our sensibilities first and foremost to see the laceration of land...

  • The politicisation of the Palestinian right of return is imperative

    In its annual report to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People recommended that Israel acknowledges the Palestinian Nakba. The backdrop for such an acknowledgement remains the two-state compromise, which defeats the purpose of the recommendation. Such recognition, according...

  • It is not up to the UN to determine Palestinian resistance and narratives

    The Great Return March protests in the Gaza Strip have provided the foundations for Palestinians from which they can articulate their demands, away from the political bickering, opportunism and exploitation which has rendered the people dependent solely on their own determination to survive. Since 30 March, they have not only...

  • UN General Assembly charades offer publicity stunts but nothing for Palestinians

    While speculation about Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’s speech to the UN General Assembly continues, the trends unfolding on the sidelines are indicative of increasing restrictions, to the point that it will no longer be plausible to claim the UN podium to make the case for Palestinian rights. After...

  • The blocking of Palestinian rights at an international level is endorsed by the PA

    As the UN General Assembly meeting approaches, the entire international community is engaged in a collective spectacle discussing the obsolete two-state compromise as the only way forward for Palestinians. There is no debate about how the facts on the ground contradict the diplomatic hyperbole. Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas is...

  • Joint endeavours to exploit Palestinians in Gaza

    Human rights are universal. Or so we were taught. But the simplistic notion has been overturned, mutilated and manipulated to the point that the only universal aspect about human rights is the bureaucratic process that dictates the trajectories of the oppressed. Gaza and human rights are such an example. As...

  • Redrawing the Middle East – Sir Mark Sykes, imperialism and the Sykes-Picot agreement

    Michael Berdine’s succinct analysis of his subject Sykes’s political involvement in the Middle East is also a reflection that can be extended to the present-day turmoil in the region. “As a man of his time and class,” he writes, “Sir Mark Sykes was an imperialist driven more by ego...

  • Exploiting Gaza tops the UN’s humanitarian agenda

    What would prompt the UN to assert, without reservations or calculated statements, that Gaza has collapsed in terms of humanitarian necessities? So far, the international organisation has relied on projecting extended timeframes; the result being that Gaza was forced into a currently irreversible situation while the UN saves face,...

  • The EU favours a two-state ‘solution’, in Israel’s interests

    There is increasing evidence that international overtures, ostensibly to safeguard Palestinian rights, are nothing but pretence. Following Israel’s High Court ruling in favour of the destruction of Khan Al-Ahmar, which will displace the entire community, the EU has subjected Palestinian rights to the dictates of Israeli interests. In a letter...

  • Recent developments highlight the enforced separation of Palestinians from their rights

    The US decision to close down the Palestinian Liberation Organisation’s office in Washington is reported to have been made in retaliation for the Palestinian Authority’s decision to reject negotiations and call for Israel to be investigated at the International Criminal Court. Neither of these decisions is a novelty. The...

  • The debate on UNRWA takes focus away from the realities of Palestinian refugees

    In the aftermath of the US decision to end its funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the EU has pledged to continue its financial support. In terms of the agency being able to continue providing services to Palestinian refugees, the news is undoubtedly welcome. However,...