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
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- November 15, 2018 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...
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- November 13, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- November 8, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- November 6, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- November 1, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- October 30, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- October 30, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- October 25, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- October 23, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- October 18, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- October 16, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- October 11, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- October 9, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- October 8, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- October 4, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- October 2, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- September 27, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- September 25, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- September 20, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- September 19, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- September 18, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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,...
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- September 13, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- September 11, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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...
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- September 6, 2018 Ramona Wadi
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,...