Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Ramzy Baroud
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On the Road to Gaza: The Freedom Flotilla Will Sail Again
What is Gaza to us but an Israeli missile, a rudimentary rocket, a demolished home, an injured child being whisked away by his peers under a hail of bullets? On a daily basis, Gaza is conveyed to us as a bloody image or a dramatic video, none of which can…
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Palestine and the stifling status quo
“All attempts at trying to limit UNRWA’s mandate or defund it or attack it have failed, and we hope that the international community will continue to come to the rescue.” These were the words of senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official, Dr Hanan Ashrawi, in response to the news that…
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From a blessing to a curse: how UN resolution 2334 accelerated Israel’s colonisation in the West Bank
Three years ago, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 2334. With fourteen members voting in favour and one abstention, the Resolution was the equivalent of a political earthquake. Indeed, it was the first time in many years that the international body roundly condemned Israel for its illegal settlement policies…
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‘Elected by Donors’: The University of Cape Town fails Palestine, embraces Israel
It was a scandal of the highest caliber. On 23 November, the senate of the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa was practically bullied into reversing an earlier decision calling for the academic boycott of Israel. While the story may seem relevant in South Africa’s political and academic…
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Money, Power and Turf: Winning the Middle East Media War at Any Cost
It is hardly surprising to see Middle Eastern countries at the bottom of the World Press Freedom Index, as the worst violators of freedom of the press. But equally alarming is the complete polarization of public opinion as a result of self-serving media and, bankrolled by rich Arab countries, whose…
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The unfinished ‘coup’ signals the end of the Netanyahu era and a political earthquake ahead
Nothing seems to be working for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has tried every trick in the book to save his political career and avoid a possible prison sentence. Nevertheless, for Israel’s longest-serving leader, the end is almost certainly nigh. Netanyahu described his indictment on charges of fraud, bribery…
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Israel’s next move is the real danger in the US decision to normalise illegal Jewish settlements
It is hardly a major surprise that the US government has finally decreed that illegal Jewish settlements built in defiance of international law are somehow “consistent” with the said law. US foreign policy has been edging closer towards this conclusion for some time. Since moving into the White House in…
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How Western media bias allows Israel to getaway with murder in Gaza
An Israeli attack on Gaza was imminent, and not because of any provocations by Palestinian groups in the besieged, impoverished Gaza Strip. The Israeli military escalation was foreseeable because it factors neatly in Israel’s contentious political scene. The war was not a question of “if”, but “when”. The answer came…
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The infallible warrior: Honest reflections on the legacy of Yasser Arafat 15 years after his death
15 years after the passing of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian people continue to reflect on his legacy. Thousands of images of “Abu Ammar” have been shared across numerous social media platforms remembering a man whose nom de guerre has been affiliated with the Palestinian struggle for decades. Arafat’s…
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Israel is a ‘Terrorist State’: Seven times Bolivia and Morales took a stance for Palestine
On November 10 Bolivian President Evo Morales, announced his resignation from office following what was described by his deputy, Álvaro García Linera, as a military coup. Morales’ 14 years in office have been seen by many as a triumph for the indigenous people of Bolivia; in fact, for indigenous peoples…
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A lesson for the Palestinian leadership: Real reasons behind Israel’s arrest and release of Labadi, Mi’ri
The release on November 6 of two Jordanian nationals, Heba al-Labadi and Abdul Rahman Mi’ri from Israeli prisons was a bittersweet moment. The pair were finally reunited with their families after harrowing experiences in Israel. Sadly, thousands of Palestinian prisoners are still denied their freedom, still subjected to all sorts…
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Ready for Execution: The Former Israeli General and his Quest for a New Gaza War
Benny Gantz, the leader of Israel’s newly-founded Kahol Lavan – the Blue and White Party – is the rising star of Israeli politics. The fact that he has the opportunity to finally oust long-serving Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks volumes about the appeal of his political message, his charisma, and…
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Microsoft should not fund Israeli spying on Palestinians
The act of Palestinian activists covering their faces during anti-Israeli occupation rallies is an old practice that spans decades. The masking of the face, often by Kufyias – traditional Palestinian scarves that grew to symbolise Palestinian resistance – is far from being a fashion statement. Instead, it is a survival…
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The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinian Christians that nobody is talking about
Palestine’s Christian population is dwindling at an alarming rate. The world’s most ancient Christian community is moving elsewhere. And the reason for this is Israel. Christian leaders from Palestine and South Africa sounded the alarm at a conference in Johannesburg on October 15. Their gathering was titled: “The Holy Land:…
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She deserves our support: Betty McCollum wants US to stop subsidising torture of Palestinian children
In December 2018, 17-year-old Palestinian teen, Ayham Sabah, was sentenced by an Israeli military court to 35 years in prison for his alleged role in a stabbing attack targeting an Israeli soldier in an illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Sabah was only 14 years old when the alleged attack took…
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The War on Truth: How Israel’s social media trolls conquered Facebook
On October 9, the social media platform, Facebook, deleted the page of the popular Palestinian news website, the Palestinian Information Center (PIC). This act, which was carried out without even contacting the page administrators, confirms that Facebook’s war on pro-Palestine voices is continuing unabated. PIC had nearly five million followers…
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The Last Lifeline: The real reason behind Abbas’ call for elections
The call by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for elections in the Occupied Territories is a political ploy. There will be no true, democratic elections under Abbas’ leadership. The real question is: why did he make the call in the first place? On September 26, Abbas took on the world’s…
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The way to truly defeat Apartheid: A conversation with Na’eem Jeenah and Salim Vally
“Perhaps the time has come for Palestinians and justice-loving Israelis to imagine a new future,” wrote South African intellectuals and academics, Na’eem Jeenah and Salim Vally, in their essay, “Beyond Ethnic Nationalism: Lessons from South Africa”. This “new future”, according to Jeenah and Vally, “will begin to be built when…
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Administrative Torture: Free Heba al-Labadi, a Jordanian Citizen in Israeli Prison
On August 20, Heba Ahmed al-Labadi fell into the dark hole of the Israeli legal system, joining 413 Palestinian prisoners who are currently held in so-called administrative detention. On September 26, Heba and seven other prisoners declared a hunger strike to protest their unlawful detention and horrific conditions in Israeli…
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On Racism and ‘Wild Beasts’: Why Israel besieges Palestinians
The Israeli Apartheid Wall, which is being built largely on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, once more underscores the ugliness of military occupation. As such, it truly epitomises the nature of Israeli apartheid and also delineates the siege-driven, isolationist mentality that dominates the ruling-class thinking…
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The Africa-Palestine Conference: Why South Africa Must Lead the Way
On September 16, I visited South Africa, a country where many Palestinians have always felt welcomed, if not overwhelmed by the degree of genuine and meaningful solidarity. While having the honor to address many audiences in six, major cities, I have also learned a great deal. An important and sobering…
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Netanyahu on Steroids: What a Gantz-led Government Means for Palestine
Experience has taught Palestinians not to pay heed to Israeli elections. But to every rule there is an exception. Although it is still true that no Israeli Zionist leader has ever been kind to the Palestinian people, the dynamics of the latest Israeli elections on September 17 are likely to…
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Bassam al-Sayeh, Faris Baroud and the Slow Murder of Palestinian Prisoners
Bassam al-Sayeh was the latest victim of medical negligence in Israeli prisons. The 47-year-old Palestinian from Nablus died on September 8. The last of such tragic cases is that of Faris Baroud who passed away in Nafha prison on February 6. In 2011, al-Sayeh was diagnosed with bone and blood…
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Apartheid made official: Deal of the Century is a ploy and annexation is the new reality
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is moving quickly to alter the political reality in Palestine, and facing little or no resistance. On September 10, Netanyahu declared his intentions to annex swathes of Palestinian land adjacent to the Jordan River, an area that covers 2,400 square kilometres, or nearly a third…