Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Jessica Purkiss
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In the name of security, Israel is creating a generation of frustrated youths and a legacy of insecurity
Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, the Gaza Strip and West Bank were defined as two territories of a single unit, between which Palestinians should be permitted to move freely and trade goods without restrictions. This never worked out. Israel began applying restrictions, especially limiting the travel between the two areas.…
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Water running dry for Palestinians as Israel turns off the taps
In the northern Jordan Valley last week, Israeli forces destroyed a 1,000 metre pipeline built to provide water to Palestinian communities. In East Jerusalem, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been cut off from a regular supply of running water for nearly a year. In Gaza, the water infrastructure has been…
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Libya talks gain urgency
If further evidence was needed to demonstrate the desperate situation in Libya, the attack by ISIS on a hotel in Tripoli last week was it. Ever since the ousting of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 the country has descended into chaos. Thousands are dead, towns have been wrecked and…
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Leaders from countries that persecute journalists march for freedom of speech in Paris
Around 40 world leaders joined more than one million people in a massive rally in Paris in support of freedom of speech and in honour of the 17 people killed in terrorist attacks last Wednesday. The attendance of the leaders was supposed to be a show of solidarity and unity,…
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Gaza’s power crisis claiming lives
Three year old Amr Al Habeel and his older brother Khalid, four, were sleeping when the fire that took their lives broke out in their bedroom last week. The cause of the fire is unclear; some reports state it was started by a candle and others report a short circuit…
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Netanyahu’s recruitment of the Hebdo attack
On Wednesday two gunmen attacked the offices of Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine, killing eight of the publication’s journalists, including its chief editor, along with four other people, including a maintenance worker, a visitor and two police officers. Paris is mourning the tragic incident, and condolences have flooded in…
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Gaza: A crossroads of civilisations
In 201 BC King Antiochus captured Gaza. Polybius, a Greek Historian of the Hellenistic Period (period of ancient Greek and eastern Mediterranean history) recounted the incident in his work The Histories, which covered the period of 264–146 BC in detail. He wrote: “It seems to me both just and proper…
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Will the Palestinian leadership really halt security cooperation with Israel?
Palestinian Authority minister Ziad Abu Ein died on Wednesday after attending a protest against the separation barrier in a village near Ramallah, West Bank. Palestinian and Jordanian doctors who performed the autopsy on Abu Ein said he died of tear gas inhalation, blunt force and a lack of immediate medical…
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The port that could turn the tide for Gazans
In 1993 the Oslo Accords were signed. They were meant to lead to an end to the Israeli occupation and the birth of a sovereign Palestinian state. The Oslo Accords also permitted the construction of a seaport in Gaza. An empty piece of land, turned into mud by the recent…
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A series on statelessness: Palestinians fleeing death and destruction in Syria are unwelcome visitors in host countries
This November marked 60 years since the 1954 United Nations convention which first promised to tackle the issue of statelessness was adopted. Today however the problem is far from resolved and being stateless – not considered a national of any state-effects at least 10 million people worldwide. To mark the…
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Counter-terrorism and security bill: necessary or draconian?
The Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, introduced to the Commons yesterday, is intended to counter the threat posed by Islamic State (Isis) and the increasing number of Britons travelling to Iraq and Syria to fight on its behalf. The date for its second reading in Parliament – the first opportunity for…
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Israel pushing an Intifada?
On 12th July, three Israeli boys were kidnapped resulting in collective punishment throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Israeli soldiers led a manhunt to find the boys, ransacking thousands of homes- the boys’ bodies were found two and a half weeks later. Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach had been…
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The Palestinians of Lebanon; a life of curtailed rights and limited opportunities
This November marked 60 years since the 1954 United Nations convention which first promised to tackle the issue of statelessness was adopted. Today however the problem is far from resolved and being stateless – not considered a national of any state-effects at least 10 million people worldwide. To mark the…
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A series on Statelessness: Palestinians in East Jerusalem fighting complete erasure
This November marked 60 years since the 1954 United Nations convention which first promised to tackle the issue of statelessness was adopted. Today however the problem is far from resolved and being stateless – not considered a national of any state-effects at least 10 million people worldwide. To mark the…
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Hard winter in store for Gazans after summer of destruction
Gazans are facing a hard winter without adequate shelter after a summer of destruction. Gaza emerged from the recent assault over July and August in tatters: over 2,000 Gazans had lost their lives, 100,000 people had their homes destroyed and the public infrastructure was in pieces. As temperatures drop, their…
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UNRWA’s Gunness fights against accusations that the UN agency assists Hamas
The above clip taken from a Fox News broadcast aired last week shows the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) spokesperson Christopher Gunness and anti-Palestinian activist David Bedein debating US funding to the UN agency. Bedein claims that two incidents during Israel’s summer offensive on Gaza in which weapons were…
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Hamas accuses PA of targeting members
Hamas’ West Bank Spokesperson Saed Abu Bahaa has accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) of “targeting” its members during rallies called for by the group’s leadership to defend the Al-Aqsa mosque compound against Israeli efforts to assert control over it. Bahaa said the PA were attempting to “silence” and marginalize members…
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Archaeology as a tool of the occupation
It costs four dollars to visit the archaeological site of Susiya in the southernmost part of the West Bank. For your four dollars you can view an ancient Jewish city, supposedly once home to 3,000 people which peaked in the years 400 to 800 CE, the late Talmudic, mid-Byzantine, and…
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Aid conference hollow if countries rebuilding Gaza are funding the forces destroying it
At a conference in Cairo on Sunday Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende announced that international donors have pledged $5.4bn (£3.4bn) towards the reconstruction of Gaza, exceeding the $4bn (£2.5bn) the Palestinian Authority had requested. European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton said donations from member states would reach $568m (£353m).…
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Forget its Charter, Hamas has given de facto recognition to the State of Israel
The Palestinian unity government held its first meeting in the Gaza Strip on Thursday after “great efforts” were made to obtain the necessary permits from Israel for ministers from the West Bank to cross into the coastal territory. Ever since moves were made to bring about Palestinian reconciliation, Israeli Prime…
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The Bedouins long history of demolitions and displacement
The Bedouin Jahalin Tribe had a historic existence roaming the expansive lands in the Naqab Desert which ended abruptly when the State of Israel was declared. Most joined the thousands of Palestinians fleeing, and the group was splintered and scattered. Many of the Jahalin continued to herd their livestock between…
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A summer of protests in East Jerusalem leave the youth behind bars
On Wednesday, Muslim worshippers took their dawn prayers in the streets as the third holiest site in Islam was placed under siege by soldiers. Stray rubber coated steel bullets showered on those who refused to stop worshiping hit three students in their school classrooms. An eleven year old boy escaped…
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The curtailing of NGO freedom in Israel
It wasn’t a shock when Ayman Nasser, the coordinator of the legal unit of the prisoner rights group Addameer was arrested by Israeli forces in the early hours of Thursday. This was his third arrest, the second that has occurred during his time with the organisation. For those working for…
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Indictment in case of US citizen beaten by Israeli soldiers an anomaly
Last Wednesday Israeli Police filed an indictment against an officer who was filmed beating Tariq Abu Khdeir, a 15 year old Palestinian-American teenager from Florida. He was beaten and arrested during a demonstration to protest the brutal murder of his cousin Mohammed Abu Khdeir. On 2nd July 16 year old…