Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Motasem A Dalloul
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Medical negligence by Israel is a major cause of death among Palestinian prisoners
Bassam Al-Sayeh was 47 years old when he died in an Israeli prison on Sunday. His family, rights groups and Palestinian campaigners allege that he died because of maltreatment by the Israeli Prison Service and deliberate medical negligence. Al-Sayeh was diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and was detained while attending…
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The battle for the Israeli premiership has left morality behind
Last Thursday, Israelis living abroad started to cast their votes to choose the make-up of the 22nd Israeli parliament, the Knesset. The General Election is slated to take place on 17 September. The Likud, led by incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Blue and White alliance, led by former Chief…
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Why do people emigrate from the Gaza Strip?
A Palestinian pharmacist from the Gaza Strip, Tamer Al-Sultan, 38, passed away last week in a hospital in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he was admitted after catching a disease believed to be caused by a sting or insect bite. He was a husband and father of three young children. Al-Sultan…
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Israel’s ban on Tlaib and Omar has thrown the spotlight on the Palestinian cause
When Benjamin Netanyahu and three of his cabinet ministers cancelled the visit to Israel of Democratic US Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, he no doubt thought that he had achieved a victory for “the only democracy in the Middle East”. Israel’s Prime Minister said in…
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What does Netanyahu build and plant in occupied Palestinian lands?
During his visit to the site where Israeli settler Dvir Sorek was earlier this week found dead, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Migdal Oz in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel’s response to the alleged murder will be to build what the…
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Gaza shootout proved the failure of Israel’s tactics
Three Israeli occupation soldiers, including one officer, were injured by a Palestinian gunman in the Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis at dawn today. The Palestinian was identified as Hani Abu Salah, who was killed while the three soldiers were evacuated by helicopter to an Israeli hospital in the Negev…
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Why doesn’t Trump help Rashida Tlaib to fix the place where her family comes from?
Last week, US President Donald Trump advised four congresswomen to “go back home” because they “hate” America and can fix the “crime infested” countries from where they or their families migrated. The targets of this “advice” were Democratic Congresswomen Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley…
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Can Israel conceal its crimes by destroying its archives?
In January 2018, +972 Magazine published an article outlining the reasons why Israel’s Chief Archivist Dr Yaakov Lozowick had declared he was going into early retirement. Lozowick was protesting against Israel’s policy of maintaining documents classified. A report by the senior archivist said: “Israel is not dealing with its archival…
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Israel’s use of defector Sohaib Hassan Yousef just peddles more propaganda
Sohaib Hassan Yousef is the second son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef to defect to the Israelis from the family which has been one of the hubs of the Islamic movement in the occupied West Bank for decades. The first was the Sheikh’s eldest son Mosab, known as the…
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How is Netanyahu still Israel’s Prime Minister?
It has become very clear that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been playing all of his cards in order to remain in office and avoid the fate of his predecessor Ehud Olmert, who ended up in prison for corruption. Although acquitted on two charges, Olmert was found guilty of…
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Morsi, did he die or was he assassinated?
The Egyptian state TV announced, Monday, the death of the former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi during the trial on espionage with Hamas. It reported that he asked the judge to speak, he spoke for 20 minutes and then raised his head and fell unconscious and passed away. In fact, Morsi’s…
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Another Gaza medic has been killed on duty by Israel, but nobody expects justice to be served
It was a difficult moment for the wife of Mohammad Al-Judaily when she heard that he had succumbed to his wounds. The paramedic was 37 years old when he was shot in the face by an Israeli sniper while providing first aid to participants in Gaza’s Great March of Return…
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Is the PA really suffering from a financial crisis?
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is under pressure from American President Donald Trump and his administration, is increasing isolated in the Arab world and is running out of money, the New York Times columnist David M Halbfinger wrote last week. In his article, Halbfinger quoted Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh saying: “We…
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Sohaib and Naziha lost their limbs, but did not lose their hope
It was a long week to wait until Friday 30 March 2018 for 27-year-old Sohaib Qudeh, the hardworking farmer from Abbasan neighbourhood in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, in order to take part in the protests of the Great March of Return and Breaking the Siege. It was…
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How a BBC documentary promoted Israel’s narrative about the Gaza protests
A documentary aired recently by the BBC, One Day in Gaza, was produced by award-winning filmmaker Olly Lambert. It covered a day in 2018 of the ongoing protests when Palestinians specifically marked the 70th anniversary of the Nakba (Catastrophe) of the creation of the State of Israel, while Israelis and…
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After 71 years, Abu Ibrahim still hopes to return to his home
Ever since 1948, Abu Ibrahim has been waiting to return to the simple house that he and his father built in their village which was occupied by nascent Israeli occupation forces and turned into a moshav agricultural settlement. Although he has lost most of his relatives and friends who fled…
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Why did Netanyahu end the offensive on Gaza very quickly?
Former head of the Israeli National Security Council Yaakov Amidror was asked by Army Radio today whether the Gaza “problem” has a solution? He referred to the rule of Hamas then answered: “No, there is no way to get Hamas out of Gaza without completely defeating it.” But he did…
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PA salary cuts leave Gaza employees unable to cope
Raafat Al-Nedar woke up and headed straight to join the long queues at the ATM in the northern Gaza city of Jabaliya in order to withdraw his month salary. The 47-year-old had already spent the money; repayment of a loan he’d taken, electricity, water and telephone bills, school fees for…
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Q&A with Dr Mousa Abu Marzook, the first head of the Hamas political bureau
Born in Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, in 1951, Mousa Abu Marzook was educated in Egypt and the USA. He went on to become the first head of the Hamas political bureau. He currently lives in Cairo. What’s your view of the recent Israeli General Election? The election took place…
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Israel’s new government will offer Palestinians a few crumbs, nothing more
After securing 36 seats in the Knesset, and with other right-wing parties winning at least 30, it is obvious that the leader of Israel’s Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, is going to form the next — his fifth — government. Although he is not as pragmatic a leader as others, mainly…
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More than 80 wounded in Gaza as protests enter 2nd year
Amidst calls from the organisers to be completely peaceful, thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip yesterday once again took part in the Great March of Return (GMoR) protests along the eastern fence of the besieged enclave. However, the peaceful protesters were met with a brutal Israeli crackdown, as Israeli…
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The easing of Gaza fishing restrictions meets Israel’s security needs, not fishermen’s interests
The head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, revealed on Tuesday that the Israeli occupation authorities have handed over a time frame for the implementation of the terms of the truce deal reached between the two sides under Egyptian and UN sponsorship. Hamas made public the terms of the…
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What have the Palestinians gained from a year of protests along the eastern Gaza fence?
On 30 March last year, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip took part in the Great March of Return, an example of popular resistance initiated by activist Ahmad Abu Rtema and then adopted by the factions. They then established the National Committee for the Great March of Return and Breaking…
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Israel is bracing for a massive ground operation in Gaza
After completing discussions and assessing the situation on the southern front, the Israeli occupation army has likely decided to prepare for a massive ground attack in the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported this morning. “Following the assessment of the situation by the chief of staff, we are currently rapidly transferring…