Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Yousef Al-Helou
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Israel flares the situation in Gaza to shift attention from Sheikh Jarrah eviction
It seems it is the fate of Palestinians to face the worst of apartheid policies under Israel’s military occupation. Denial of rights, dispossessions, expulsions, evictions, ID confiscations, house demolitions, land grabs, airstrikes, tank shelling, targeted assassinations, warships, refugees, military occupation. These are terms among many others that Palestinians are...
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Is Biden going to make US aid conditional on more Palestinian concessions?
When Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States, some Palestinians raised their hopes that he might replace Trump’s reckless approach to their situation. They forget that US foreign policy has been always pro-Israel and always will be, for the simple reason that the Zionist lobby in...
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Why did the PA decide to resume diplomatic ties with the UAE and Bahrain?
The Palestinian Authority’s decision to send its ambassadors back to the UAE and Bahrain stems from the fact that it has found itself isolated amid the wave of normalisation sweeping across the Arab world. The ambassadors were withdrawn in protest when the pair of Gulf States signed normalisation deals...
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Saeb Erekat’s death is a loss to the Palestinian people
The death of Dr Saeb Erekat marks a sad moment and turning point in the history of the Palestinian struggle for freedom. The hashtag #SaebErekat was trending moments after the announcement of his passing on 10 November. It almost coincided with the 16th anniversary of the death of former...
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Israel is racing to destroy Palestinian properties while Trump is in office
Last week, Israeli occupation forces carried out the largest demolition in years in the occupied West Bank. Some 76 Palestinian-owned properties, tents, sheds, structures and animal fodder were destroyed in the occupied Jordan Valley village of Khirbet Humsa. Almost 80 people, including 41 children, were displaced as winter approaches...
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Israel seems to be collaborating already with its Gulf allies to silence the Palestinians
Israel has banned Palestinian singer Mohammed Assaf from entering the occupied Palestinian territories, namely the West Bank where the Palestinian Authority is based in Ramallah. Assaf won the “Arab Idol” singing contest in 2013. According to Knesset Member Avi Dichter of the Likud Party — he is a former...
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Why do Palestinians not pin their hopes on the Arab League?
The State of Palestine has recently abandoned its right to chair the Council of the Arab League for the current session, in response to the wave of normalisation with the Israeli state. As a result, it resigned from the presidency of the 154th regular session of the Arab League at the...
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A message to search engines and social media platforms - Put Palestine on the map
Over a million people have signed a petition since July calling on Google to recognise Palestine on its maps, and to clearly designate and identify the Palestinian territories illegally occupied by Israel. The petition was initially launched in 2016 on Change.org, but gained significant momentum in mid-July 2020 when...
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Israeli interests put the UAE and Qatar in the same basket
Two weeks after US President Donald Trump brokered a “historic” normalisation deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Qatar managed to broker a truce between Tel Aviv and Hamas-ruled Gaza. The UAE deal led Abu Dhabi to announce its public and official recognition of Israel and its intention...
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Why besieged Gaza is a ticking time bomb
Gaza’s two million residents have become accustomed for the past 20 years to Israeli air strikes, ground incursions and naval attacks. In fact, the besieged coastal enclave has become an experimental field where Israel’s latest technology and military arsenal including deadly drones are used. Fear and panic have become the...
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Palestine: UAE-Israel normalisation deal, a stab in the back and a betrayal to Jerusalem
The tripartite US-brokered Israel-United Arab Emirates (UAE) deal on the announcement of full normalisation of relations between Israel and the UAE came as a surprise. But, in reality, it was not that shocking, as both countries had secret relations for years. The deal will include areas of security, tourism,...
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Another Palestinian political prisoner dies in Israeli prison due to deliberate medical negligence
Yet another Palestinian political prisoner has died in an Israeli prison due to the medical negligence of the Israeli prison administration. 75-year-old Saadi Al-Gharably was the latest victim in a series of similar cases, bringing the total number of victims to 233 since 1967. The Waed Society for Palestinian...
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Johnson's diplomatic advice to Netanyahu and the UK's stance on Hong Kong and Palestine
The Israeli annexation of parts of the Palestinian West Bank – a territory already occupied since 1967 – did not take place, just as Johnson and others hoped. As a “passionate defender of Israel” the British prime minister’s plea to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu not to implement the...
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Will Israel’s annexation plan undermine Arab-Israeli normalisation?
The position adopted by Arab states over Israel’s plan to annex swathes of the occupied West Bank from next month, including the Jordan Valley, can be split broadly into three categories: those like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Morocco and Egypt which give explicit support...
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Is the PA serious about cutting all ties with Israel?
Two weeks have passed since Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced that ties with Israel were being cut. It was an impossible thing to suggest, as such a move would have serious implications for the existence of PA institutions, including the security services whose main role is to protect...
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Is a Hamas-Israel prisoner swap deal imminent?
Fears over Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails contracting COVID-19 have triggered Egyptian-mediated discussions to secure a prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas-ruled Gaza. The continuing mobilisation and efforts to resume talks on this file emerged last April following media reports that some Israeli prison guards, as well...
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Palestine is still my cause, but is it yours?
Arguments have erupted on social media between Saudi and Palestinian activists over a TV programme on Saudi-run MBC. Palestinians are outraged that some Saudi activists have said that they are the enemy, not Israel. The issue arose after an episode of a comedy show, Makhraj 7. In the scene...
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Palestinians’ names often reflect their heritage and challenge the occupation
Colonial powers subjugated other nations and imposed their own language and culture upon the indigenous people. Ever since Israel was established at the expense of the inhabitants of Palestine and uprooted three-quarters of a million of them in 1948, successive Israeli governments have changed the Arabic names of cities,...
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How will the Palestinians be affected by the Israeli election result?
Voters in Israel have gone to the polls for the third time in less than twelve months to elect the 23rd Knesset (parliament) in the country’s history. They have suffered from political stalemate for the past year and more. Caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unable to form a...
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Israel has no moral high ground after violating a Palestinian corpse in Gaza
Restoring its lost “power of deterrence” has been always Israel’s pretext for using excessive force against Palestinians, especially in the besieged Gaza Strip. “Changing the rules of engagement” is another term that we hear from Israeli officials when it comes to dealing with the legitimate resistance factions. However, what...
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Naming companies profiting from Israel’s occupation boosts Palestinians in this asymmetric struggle
An overdue report has finally been published by the UN Human Rights office which lists 112 companies benefiting from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Almost 100 of the companies are based in Israel, while the rest are from 18 other countries including the...
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Post-Brexit, Britain aims to strengthen its partnership with Africa in trade deals
Britain is set to leave the European Union at the end of this month. The government will then be free to strike new economic deals without being bound by EU regulations. It now has 11 months to come up with a trade deal with the EU to avoid reverting...
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Some Palestinians in Gaza are forced to start marriage via social media
The Gaza Strip is well known for the hardships imposed by Israel’s ongoing 13-year land, air and sea blockade, as well as three devastating military offensives. As “the world’s largest open air prison”, its two million residents face travel restrictions and punitive measures. People are surviving on the bare...
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Attacks against Gaza’s resistance are Netanyahu’s way to cover up his failures
Israel’s assassination of Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Bahaa Abu Al-Ata while he slept at his home in Shuja’iyah neighbourhood east of Gaza City also killed his wife. A simultaneous assassination attempt failed to kill Akram Al-Ajoury, another Islamic Jihad commander, at his home in Damascus; his son, though, was...
