Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Fayez Rasheed
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Israel’s newest myth: Palestinians originate from southern Europe
Israelis continuously come up with false facts for two purposes: first, to prove their divine historical right to Palestine, and second, to deny the Palestinians’ connection to their land. This results in the invention and formulation of what they call “scientific facts” that serve their two purposes. There have been…
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The occupied West Bank is on the verge of a mass uprising
When US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman commented on Israel’s “right” to annex land in the occupied West Bank — as a dutiful Zionist he called it “Judea and Samaria” — he provided the Palestinians with an important reason for resistance to the Israeli occupation. So too does Israel’s systematic…
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What’s unknown about Oslo?
Twenty-two years have passed since the ill-fated Oslo Accords were signed. Despite the Palestinian struggle over the past century and its many sacrifices, including the 170 souls lost during the current — and third — intifada, 68 per cent of our people would like to abolish the agreements with Israel.…
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We love life, but we love our land more
They claim that our Palestinian youth who are resisting Israel’s occupation sanctify the “culture of death”. They see them going to their deaths, but they are desperate in falsifying such a claim. They do not realise that given the conditions of displacement and suffering to which Palestinians are subject, they…
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We are not Native Americans but is the US ready to implement its own law?
There are many who provoke me and it is thus with very little faith that I write. The comments on Israel’s streets regarding the crimes that are currently being committed by its army, settlers and “Arabised” undercover police all say the same thing: “Kill the Arabs, wipe out their children,…
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The illusion of a rift in the Obama-Netanyahu relationship
Some of our Palestinian and Arab politicians and writers are counting on a desert mirage. They think it is water, but when they approach it, they find that it is something else. This mirage is the rift in the relationship between Netanyahu and Obama. Their evidence of this is weak,…
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Israel’s constant: More extremism
Following the refusal of Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party, to join what he described as the “opportunistic” coalition with Netanyahu, the prime minister resorted to forming a different coalition. Nevertheless, Lieberman may still agree to join Netanyahu’s government at the last moment (the second deadline was…
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Shocking security agency statistics and the dissolution of the PA
Palestinian writer Saed Abu Farha has published a report on the Palestinian security services in Ramallah. This report includes figures that simply cannot be believed due to their disastrous implications and miserable details. For example, the ratio of Palestinian citizens to security officers is 52:1; the equivalent ratio of citizens…
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A boycott of Israel is so important that it is criminal not to take part
I have heard that the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) released a statement urging Egyptian poet Hisham El-Gakh to cancel his poetry evening scheduled to be held next week in Nazareth because he will be visiting the Palestinian territory occupied in 1948 under a…
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ISIS repeats the Zionist approach
I remember back in the late 1950’s (when I first started to become aware of things) and until the mid-1960’s how the official Arab media would portray Israel. We imagined Israel to be a supernatural monster capable of achieving miracles. We imagined our soldiers as extraordinary human beings capable of…
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Resistance strategy and the negotiations approach
Palestine’s many experiences with Israel, especially that of resistance and the steadfastness of our people, not least in facing up to “Operation Protective Edge”, highlight the failure of the negotiations approach as the sole political and strategic option. The example of all national liberation movements demonstrates that resistance, in all…
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What does President Abbas want?
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s speech to the Palestinian Authority leadership (on Saturday August 16) confirmed his commitment to the Egyptian initiative, “as there are no other viable initiatives”; the truth of the matter is that there are no other initiatives on the table nor will there be any in…
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On the concept of national unity
The national liberation phase of a nation whose land is occupied and whose will has been usurped has acted as a turning point in the life of these people. How do they resist their oppressors and what means and formulas are used to organise the resistance and the popular forces…
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The Oslo swamp after two decades
The ill-fated Oslo Accords, signed 20 years ago, have only made Israel more arrogant and open about its disregard of the Palestinians’ national rights. Illegal settlements and their infrastructure now cover 80 per cent of the West Bank, leaving the Palestinians with just 12 per cent of historical Palestine. The…
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Israel and the PA raid Jenin refugee camp
It is both strange and somewhat unbelievable that Palestinian Authority security services have “invaded” Jenin refugee camp, which is known for its steadfastness in the face of Israeli aggression in 2002 and has been likened to Stalingrad’s famous resistance against the Nazis in World War II. The camp held firm…