Once again, “concern” has graced the rhetoric of official United Nations statements about Palestinians. Following a visit to Gaza, the UN Special Coordinator, Robert Serry, elaborated upon the ramifications of the Israeli-enforced blockade, expressing “concern” about hardships and lifestyle deterioration. However, the rhetoric conformed to the incessant inconsistencies, attempting,...

A senior Israeli education official has described the country’s scientists as “an army…facing attempts to boycott us”. Speaking at a discussion on Israel’s participation in the EU’s Horizon 2020 research programme, chair of the Council for Higher Education’s planning and budget committee Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg called the scientists “ambassadors...

Ever since Mohamed Morsi, the democratically elected president of Egypt, was ousted in July 2013, the European Union – along with other western powers – has been uncertain of how best to respond. This week, the body of 28 states took steps to clarify its position, with the Foreign...

Israel has once again exhibited its dramatic propaganda, this time during a ceremony organised by former MK Michael Ben Ari, which honoured a Zionist student for complaining about her civics teacher’s anti-Zionist sentiment. Adam Verete was suspended from teaching briefly after Sapir Sabah alleged that he was utilising the...

I could not believe my eyes when I saw camels and horses running on the Nile Corniche heading to Tahrir Square. I was a witness to the battle which lasted until the next morning against attempts to break up the protest in Tahrir Square. I witnessed the shooting by...

Following recent decisions by major European investment funds to cut ties with Israeli entities, the announcement last week by Dutch pension fund ABP that it was not excluding Israeli banks was greeted with some relief by Israel and its lobby groups. In explaining this decision, ABP claimed that the...

I believe that the past few months of his political life suggest that Mahmoud Abbas will not make it to the end of this year as president of the Palestinian Authority, PLO chairman and leader of Fatah. The man is almost 80 years old and a heavy smoker; he...

If we were to ask anyone, from an ordinary observer to a well-read media analyst, who breaks ceasefires more frequently, Palestinians or Israelis, they would almost certainly say the Palestinians. This is because the international media makes sure that we all know when a rocket is launched from Gaza...

Social media activists have reported the arrest of Majdi Al-Attar, one of the actors starring in the film Al-Maydan (The Square). On Tuesday evening, Al-Attar wrote on his Facebook personal page the following: “The State Security agents are downstairs, in my house now. They are pulling the door down...

On January 31 2014, the Popular Struggle Committees participants united as part of the “Melh Al-Ard” (salt of the Earth) campaign with the objective of revitalising the abandoned village of Ein Hiljeh in the Jordan Valley. On January 31 2014, the Popular Struggle Committees participants united as part of...

In January the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, told the BBC that sanctions on Iran should be lifted, a sentiment welcomed by Oman but opposed by Saudi Arabia. Whilst the Kingdom has pushed for a closer alliance within the Gulf Cooperation Council, Oman and Dubai’s position...

“Journalists are never supposed to become the story,” wrote Al-Jazeera correspondent Peter Greste, in a letter smuggled out of Cairo’s Tora Prison. Yet that is just what has happened to the award-winning Australian journalist, who was arrested along with two Egyptian colleagues, Mohamed Famy and Baher Mohamed, on 29...

Egypt is undergoing the biggest forgery and fabrication process in its modern history at the hands of Al-Sisi and his gang, who have violated Egypt and stolen the people’s dreams of freedom, dignity and social justice. We had hoped to achieve these goals through the January 25th Revolution and...

Most of us use the term “liquidation solutions” with reference to the successive attempted settlement agreements of the Palestine issue throughout its modern history. They are usually signed by the occupation and a Palestinian party that is willing to make concessions under the patronage of international parties; who can...

I wonder if the United Nations has always been a toothless dog. The organisation is very good at coming up with conventions and getting countries to sign and ratify them but not quite so good at getting them to comply with them. The situation reminds me of the late...

A recent op-ed published in the Israel National News claims that the foundations for a democratic Palestinian state can be traced back to the 2003 Bush “Roadmap for Peace”. Apart from misrepresenting colonisation as a “Jewish-Arab conflict”, the article provides a simplistic hypothesis regarding a possible omission of “democracy”...

Seven years ago Iraq’s writers would gather in Al-Mutannabi Street, the literary district in Baghdad, sip coffee and consider the latest publications. Named after the classical 10th-century poet, the street was home to an abundant array of bookshops, market stalls, publishers, printers and cafes. But in March 2007 a...

The Mahmoud Abbas government appears to no longer have any interest in siding with opposition groups in Syria. This is possibly because Abbas believes that his earlier policies towards the Syrian crisis have caused significant drawbacks to himself and to Palestinians in general. The support would mean Abbas risks...

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu keeps undermining Israel’s self-imposed legitimacy by requesting recognition of the Jewish state from the Palestinian leadership, narratives remain involved in dominating and compromising discourse. While Netanyahu reiterated the importance of the international community’s assistance in persuading Palestinians to grant the acknowledgement, the Palestinian...

I never expected the call for January 25, 2011 protests to eventually turn into a revolution that demanded the overthrow of the Egyptian regime and succeeded in ousting the former president Hosni Mubarak. What I expected was only a small protest consisting of tens or perhaps hundreds of protesters,...

The prosecution of the legitimately-elected President of Egypt, Dr Mohamed Morsi, on the farcical charges of storming prisons and the escape of several prisoners is basically the prosecution of the January 25th Revolution itself. The revolution gained its real momentum and strength on this particular day, when millions of...

Only a few days after Tawfik Tirawi ambiguously called upon Palestinians, including the Palestinian leadership, to embrace resistance, PA President Mahmoud Abbas has once again revealed his allegiance to Israel and imperialism by compromising upon border security, should the hypothetical Palestinian state become a reality. In a televised interview...

Israel’s Finance Minister Yair Lapid has issued a stark warning of the consequences should the U.S.-led peace process end in failure. Reports of Lapid’s comments on the threat posed by a boycott of Israel came hours before news of further divestment targeting Israeli companies by the Norwegian government. Speaking...

This week, the African Union’s (AU) Peace and Security Council held a summit in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. The 54 member states focused on the situation in South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Egypt. Representatives of Egypt will be in attendance – but only to give...

Tomorrow, Israel’s Supreme Court may issue a final decision in a case which has seen the peaceful Cremisan Valley community in Beit Jala, West Bank, drawn into an 8 year battle. The community has been fighting against Israel’s defence ministry’s plans to sever the Valley with the construction of...

The illusions of establishing a Palestinian state based upon the US-brokered negotiations have shifted discourse partly to incorporate the necessity of resistance. Tawfik Tirawi, a senior Fatah official, has admitted the futility of the negotiations publicly and called upon his movement to embrace resistance. In a televised message on...

Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal under international law. Even Israel’s staunchest allies, such as Britain and the US, acknowledge this fact and make occasional critical statements about them. While international ire generally stops at statements, in recent years, the EU has been introducing...

Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security service, has recently begun asking employees if they “act according to a Zionist value system”. The question, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, was added to the organisation’s annual evaluation form for its staff. An editorial in the paper, by way of context, notes...

At dawn yesterday security forces detained, according to more than one source, three political activists: Muhammad Al-Baqir, Strong Egypt Party member; Amr Midhat, Our Egypt member; and Muhammad Said, from the Socialist Revolutionaries. Muhammad Imam, spokesman for Strong Egypt – a party that has had 20 of its members...

On the 18th January 2013 at 3.20pm 15 year old Saleh Elamareen was standing outside a youth centre with a group of friends in Aida refugee camp, Bethlehem, when he was shot in the head with a suspected dumdum bullet, fired by an Israeli soldier. After being rushed to...

The military-backed regime in Cairo has not been invited to a summit of African leaders set to take place in Washington this August because Egypt’s membership in the African Union (AU) has been suspended. In July the AU suspended Egypt days after the coup that ousted democratically elected president...

When the Arab Spring protests swept Egypt in 2011 and ousted Hosni Mubarak after decades of dictatorial rule, it seemed that the country was on the road to democracy. But the journey has been long and fractious. Three years after the 25 January revolution that toppled Mubarak, the country...

Recurring trends regarding the peace negotiations have emerged from the latest United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting. Language shifted from heroic to compromising, within a veneer of fabricated equality which rarely challenged Israel’s imperialist-supported policies. Despite the alleged concern to implement a just solution enabling Palestinians to achieve self-determination,...

It was a memorable day in the history of forged polls in Egypt, reminiscent of the 1950s when referendums were corrupt and passed by 99 per cent, and also prevalent during Abdel Nasser’s era. The famous writer and journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal was the godfather of Abdel Nasser’s era...

Oxfam’s reputation is at risk of taking a hit after the charity’s ambassador Scarlett Johansson was recently unveiled as brand ambassador for SodaStream, an Israeli company with production facilities in an illegal West Bank settlement. Oxfam is now receiving calls by campaigners urging the charity to take immediate action....

When Iman Al Ajami greets me at Movement Social’s headquarters in Badaro, Beirut, I’m immediately drawn to her warm eyes and wide smile. There is something deeply comforting about her presence. She doesn’t need to say anything for me to know that she is an important figure in the...

The Canadian Prime Minister’s visit to Israel affirmed his political and diplomatic support for the Zionist state. In an atmosphere of mutual adulation, Stephen Harper and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasised the imperialist concept of democracy, ignoring the subjugation of the Palestinians which Israel and its allies persist...

Getting all parties to the table at the second round of Syria peace talks, due to start on Wednesday, has been a major negotiation in itself. Russia and the US have been working on getting both the regime and the opposition on-side for over a year – and fundamental...

Israel’s regime of restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement between the Gaza Strip and West Bank is the subject of a new report by NGOs B’Tselem and HaMoked. A key element of Israel’s apartheid system, restrictions on Palestinians’ ability to travel freely and live where they choose have long...

On a rainy and miserably cold evening last month I attended the opening ceremony for the Bethlehem Unwrapped programme, a major interactive art installation in the middle of St. James’ Church courtyard in central London. The installation turned out to be a replica of the apartheid wall built by...

Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, head of the right-wing Yisrael Beitinu party, at the Knesset on 29 June. Israel’s right-wing Yisrael Beitinu party proposed a bill this past May that would outlaw the public commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba, or remembrance of the dispossession of Palestinians from their homes...

Israeli military jeep runs down Jenin teen, killing him. A seventeen-year-old student was killed on Wednesday morning when an Israeli military jeep ran him over near the West Bank city of Jenin. According to witnesses, Foad Mahmoud Nayif Turkman, 17, was standing with other students outside Izz Ad-Din Al-Qassam...

Hamas is critical of the Goldstone commission’s report on alleged war crimes in Gaza, but will nonetheless accept its recommendations and investigate charges that militant groups violated the rules of war, senior Hamas official Ahmad Yousef told Ma’an. In an extended interview at his home in the Gaza Strip...

Israeli police imposed strict restrictions over Muslim worshippers coming to pray Friday at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Israeli sources said that men holding Jerusalemite or Israeli identity cards (blue cards) who are over fifty and women with the same ID cards who are over 45 will be permitted to enter...

A number of prominent Palestinian human rights organizations prepared a joint statement they intended to read at the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday. However, that was before the Palestine Liberation Organization’s decision to postpone debate denied them that right, they insisted, while 14 of them issued a separate...

The Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights demanded an explanation from the PLO’s Executive Committee over the Palestinian stance on the UN-mandated Goldstone report. A statement from the center, released Saturday, described the Palestinian stance as a “stunning blow” to the report which is called an...

Israel’s air force launched three strikes on the tunnel area in Rafah, between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday morning. The strikes terrified residents, but no casualties were reported after the fourth consecutive attack in as many days. Israeli warplanes have continued to strike the Gaza Strip...

During the past two weeks, five Palestinians were killed and two injured, as violence escalates in Gaza; one Palestinian was killed and 50 injured in the West Bank, over half on one day. Settler violence continued in the West Bank. Nearly 60 percent of the Palestinian population denied access...

Israeli occupation authorities on Sunday released the final Palestinian female prisoner as part of a swap with Hamas for a short video of its soldier captured in Gaza. Roudah Habib was released into Gaza via the Erez crossing, where she was greeted by relatives and friends before being escorted...

A senior member of Hamas has demanded that the Palestinian president resign for supporting the postponement of a UN vote which could have led to the prosecution of Israel for war crimes during its campaign in Gaza. Mahmoud al-Zahar told Al Jazeera that Mahmoud Abbas was guilty of “a...