Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Jessica Purkiss
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Palestinian leaders help Israel evade ICC, again
In 2009, Palestinian leaders attempted to bring Israel’s actions during “Operation Cast Lead” to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Although the bid was refused by the then prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on the grounds that only states could do so and Palestine was not recognized as a state, the move fuelled…
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Silence over Galloway attack
Neil Masterson, the suspect in the attack on British Member of Parliament, George Galloway, is to appear at Hammersmith Magistrates Court on Monday. Galloway, the Respect Party representative for Bradford West, was posing for pictures with supporters when he was attacked by Masterson on Friday. The incident left the 61…
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Justifying terror with counter terrorism
Under the banner of “terrorism” and “counter terrorism” democratic countries have justified interventions, invasions, the waging of wars in distant places- and the loss of civilian lives. There is no international consensus on a set definition of “terrorism” despite the terms relentless use in political discourse- following 9/11 this intensified,…
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Israel in the docks at the ICC- a not so distant possibility?
Israel’s military offensive on Gaza has devastated the small coastal enclave. During the lull of hostilities, part of a recently extended ceasefire, the damage is being assessed and calls for justice are growing stronger. Last week, Palestinian foreign minister Riad Malki visited The Hague, the seat of the International Criminal…
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No safe place for the children of the occupation
The Gaza offensive, dubbed “Operation Protective Edge,” has been described by International children’s rights group Save the Children as a “war against children”- the United Nations said a total of 456 children have been killed since its start. Gaza’s streets are slowly filling as a lull in hostilities, part of…
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Israel’s restrictions hinders UK’s development work in OPT
In a report on the UK’s development work in the occupied territories (OPTs), the international development committee (IDC) argues that Israel’s policies – which include restrictions on building, access to water, and trade, are not fully justified by Israel’s security concerns, and may in fact make the security situation worse.…
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Time to ask the question: why does Hamas fire rockets?
Israel’s month long military offensive- dubbed “Operation Protective Edge,” has claimed the lives of over 1,865 Palestinians, largely civilians. The civilian death toll has bought Israel worldwide condemnation from politicians, the media and the general public. Prime Minister David Cameron’s called the loss of life in Gaza awful, but said,…
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Gaza offensive putting pressure on Israel’s allies
As civilian casualties mount in the Gaza strip, Britain’s foreign secretary Philip Hammond warned that long-time ally Israel is “undermining” support from the West. “Israelis have to understand that while they are defending their security in seeking to root out these rocket launchers and deal with the attack tunnels, they…
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Israeli weapons add to brutality of Gaza attack
As Israel’s military operation passes the two-week mark, Palestinian hospitals in the Gaza Strip are struggling to deal with the continuous flow of the wounded and the dead. The weapons Israel is employing are adding to the brutality of the ongoing attack, which has already claimed the lives of over…
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Beaten Palestinian American teen returns home
The Palestinian American teenager whose savage beating by Israeli soldiers was caught on camera returned home to the United States on Wednesday. Fifteen year old Tariq Abu Khdeir had reportedly attended a protest for his cousin, Muhammed Abu Khdeir, when he was seized by Israeli soldiers, beaten and detained. Mohammed,…
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Farming in the shadow of Israel’s separation wall bears bitter fruits
Muhammad Amira’s small garden in the West Bank village of Ni’lin is crammed with lemon trees, tomatoes and lettuces; his balcony is home to creeping vines bearing bunches of tiny grapes. These patches of land remind the father of four of his farming days. After losing all his land to…
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Arafat Jaradat and the man behind his autopsy
Last Monday, Haaretz on Turkish pathology expert Dr. Sebnem Korur Fincanci’s findings regarding the death of Palestinian prisoner Arafat Jaradat. Thirty year old Jaradat died in his cell at Israel’s Megiddo Prison on February 23, 2013. He had been arrested by the Shin Bet security service five days earlier, on…
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Arafat Jaradat and the man behind his autopsy
On Monday, Haaretz reported on Turkish pathology expert Dr. Sebnem Korur Fincanci’s findings regarding the death of Palestinian prisoner Arafat Jaradat. Thirty year old Jaradat died in his cell at Israel’s Megiddo Prison on February 23, 2013. He had been arrested by the Shin Bet security service five days earlier,…
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The Israeli soldiers breaking their silence on the occupation
Zehava Galon, Chair of Israel’s Meretz Party, stood on a podium in Tel Aviv’s Habima Square and read out the testimony of an Israeli soldier. She was one of many readers taking part in an event marking the tenth anniversary of the founding of “Breaking the Silence,” an organisation formed…
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Palestinian families torn between the territories
Eight years ago, Mostafa Easariaj set off on a summer vacation to visit his father. His father, Hachem, still lives in the tiny, impoverished Gaza Strip, where Mostafa was born and resided in until he was 16 when his mother seized a rare chance to relocate to West Bank, which…
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Hunger strike is the only choice left for Palestinian prisoners
Ahmed Rimawi was arrested at the age of 17. He has been in an Israeli prison for 1 year and 7 months- kept behind bars without charge and without trial. He is now the youngest of an estimated 125 to 200 Palestinian prisoners residing in Israeli jails on a mass…
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Pope’s visit to the Holy Land stirs sectarian tensions
As the Holy Land prepares to welcome Pope Francis on Sunday, growing concerns over the rising anti-Christian attacks are darkening the occasion for Israel’s Christian community. On March 9th, church officials of a Romanian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem discovered “Price tag, King David is for the Jews, Jesus is garbage,”…
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Syrian families in the occupied Golan remain fractured after 47 years
The Syrian community of Majdal Shams – one of 4 Syrian Druze villages in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights – take delight in storytelling. Huddled around fires in their apple orchards they talk of memories of their youth, of their homeland and of their families living just across the border.…
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Events in Ukraine bring Beijing, Moscow and Tehran closer
In protest of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to sidle closer to Russia instead of the EU, thousands of people poured onto Kiev’s streets and in February were left counting their dead after snipers were let loose on the masses. Now the calls of protestors in the Ukraine’s capital could…
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Harvesting the sweet Golan apples under the bitterness of occupation and civil war
Nazem Khater, an aging apple farmer sits on his veranda looking out at the agricultural lands of Majdal Shams, in the occupied Golan. His father, and his father’s father, were also apple farmers, ploughing the same lands, producing the regions famous sweet Golan apples, and passing down the trade through…
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Spring time in Tulkarem as farms fight Israeli chemical factories
It is spring on the Tanib farm and the eskadenias or loquats – small sweet orange fruits – and the strawberries are perfectly ripe. Workers and volunteers who have travelled far and wide to take part in a two week campus on the farm grounds are busy harvesting. The volunteers…
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Haaretz journalist accuses Israel of creating friction to avoid political agreement
A prominent Israeli journalist has accused the authorities in Tel Aviv of creating friction between Israel and the Palestinians in order to avoid reaching a political agreement. Amira Hass made her statement following what she described as the “cold-blooded assassination” of Mu’atazz Washaha in BirZeit on Thursday. “The Israeli army…
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A whole system of deception
“A whole system of deception”, was how anthropologist Meira Weiss, who observed the work of the Israeli forensic department, described the process of their dealing with the death of a Palestinian. On a recent Israeli television show she spoke of the fatal shooting of one Palestinian man whom the Israel…
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Tourism as a tool to erase Palestinian identity
At the entrance of a Dead Sea resort located in the West Bank, Palestinian man Hazem paid his 70 shekels admission fee to the women sitting behind the desk. “Can we camp here?” he asked. Surveying the group of internationals, she said, “Are there any Arabs in your group?” Hazem,…