Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Ramona Wadi
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Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practising Resistance in Palestine
This complex subject is presented with meticulous research by Lara Sheehi and Stephen Sheehi in Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practising Resistance in Palestine (Routledge, 2022). The book goes beyond the 1948 Nakba to portray how Israel’s settler-colonial violence cannot be removed from the Palestinian experience and its psychological impact, and the…
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Australia’s Jerusalem move doesn’t help Palestinian political demands
In December 2018, former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison emulated the Trump administration and recognised West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, although it kept its embassy in Tel Aviv. Australia thus kept partly in line with international consensus, which is in any case inherently hypocritical, given that Palestinians are subjected to…
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Looking beyond US violence and PA dependence
Belatedly, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas has issued a statement of clear mistrust in US diplomacy towards Palestine. “We don’t trust America and you know our position. We don’t trust it, we don’t rely on it, and under no circumstances can we accept that America is the sole party in…
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The US National Security Strategy promotes the Abraham Accords
In another nod to former US Donald Trump’s legacy, the Biden administration has outlined its approach to Israel and Palestine in the 2022 National Security Strategy. The Abraham Accords, Trump’s parting legacy, have now eclipsed the two-state compromise in US rhetoric. Just like the EU did in its statement regarding…
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The PA and the UN should stop their complicity in Israel’s colonial violence
Calling upon the UN to protect Palestinian civilians from Israeli violence is not effective diplomacy on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. A recent letter by the PA’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates to the UN summarised Israel’s targeting of Palestinian children since the beginning of this year, while regurgitating…
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Palestine’s humanitarian paradigm only serves Israeli interests
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has once again exposed how the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the Palestinian refugees themselves are subject to a cycle of exploitative violence which does more to serve the international organisation’s humanitarian paradigm. During a meeting on the sidelines of the…
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‘A political horizon’ where there is none in sight
When the Palestinian Authority announces that talks have been held with US officials, it does so with the intent of portraying itself worthy of diplomatic acknowledgement. Within a few sentences into the updates, however, the PA confirms that the Palestinian people are right to be disillusioned with the leadership and…
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The EU prioritises the Abraham Accords
At the UN General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, defined Israel’s security concerns as the motivating factor behind supporting the two-state paradigm, even as the US has been repeating that it does not envisage any resolution in the immediate future. With the Abraham Accords being the main driving force…
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The targeted killing of Palestinians is the next Israeli crime to be normalised
For decades, the international community has sought to portray the occupied West Bank as being distinct from Gaza by focusing on the Palestinian Authority in terms of diplomacy, and showcasing Ramallah as an example of prosperity. Israel’s colonial violence in the occupied West Bank and the PA’s “sacred” security collaboration…
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The EU-Israel Association exposes the bloc’s reliance on the occupation state
Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association agreement states, “Relations between the Parties, as well as all the provisions of the Agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this Agreement.” When it…
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Despite his assertions at the UN, Abbas has no political will to deliver
If Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas was serious about holding the international community and Israel accountable for the ongoing colonisation of Palestine, his UN General Assembly speech would have been more definite. “Today, on behalf of the Palestinian people, to whom I am proud to belong, I tell you that…
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Blog: Chile’s Boric wasted an opportunity for Palestine at the UN General Assembly
Chilean President Gabriel Boric may currently be the most outspoken leader in Latin America on Palestinian rights and Israeli violations. However, his rhetoric leaves much to be desired. It, in turn, raises questions about how Chile – the country with the largest Palestinian community in the region – can differentiate…
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Vehicles of Decolonisation: Public Transit in the Palestinian West Bank
A prominent part of Israel’s colonial violence is the deprivation of free movement for Palestinians. Maryam S. Griffin’s book, Vehicles of Decolonisation: Public Transport in the Palestinian West Bank (Temple University Press, 2022), provides details of the ways in which Israel collectively denies mobility for Palestinians and how, as a…
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The EU should stop exploiting Palestinian NGOs
If the EU did not embark upon “shows of support”, to use the phrase synonymous with anything related diplomatically to Palestine, there would be nothing to its name through which the bloc could claim any semblance of accomplishment in this arena. We saw one such “show of support” last week…
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America’s need to bolster the PA is indicative of the strength of Palestinian resistance
The US preoccupation with the Palestinian Authority possibly losing control over the Israeli-occupied West Bank has resurfaced, at a time when Mahmoud Abbas is adamant about pursuing full UN membership for Palestine, despite Washington threatening to use its veto. The message is clear: the US wants the PA to be…
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Israel and the US are accomplices in ambiguity and impunity
No criminal investigation will be opened to establish who killed Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) released an ambiguous statement that merely echoed the US State Department’s non-committal tone when it said that no conclusive evidence was provided by the ballistic analysis. “There is…
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The two-state compromise drives arguments for and against Palestine’s UN membership
The Palestinian Authority is once again seeking full membership of the UN, and the US has already expressed its opposition. The two-state compromise continues to form the premise for the arguments both for and against UN membership, as presented by the PA and the US respectively. However, the PA’s political…
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The EU sensationalises hunger strikes and protects Israel’s violations
Had the wife of hunger striking Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawdeh not publicised photos of her husband’s emaciated body, the EU would have felt no urge to call for his release. “Shocked by the horrible picture of Awawdeh who is hunger striking now for 169 days in protest against his detention…
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Israel’s visible violence is protected by its own impunity
When Israel’s violations are caught on camera, it seeks to scapegoat the identifiable individuals only in order to safeguard the state’s institutions. Israeli media quoting the Israeli Defence Forces’ Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi concerning the recent (and normal) brutality of soldiers beating up Palestinian detainees must be seen within…
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EU concern about Palestinian NGOs will not override its support for Israel
Israeli forces raided the offices of seven Palestinian civil society organisations last week and shut down the premises, following accusations of ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The doors of the premises were welded shut and documents left behind by the soldiers specified no duration…
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Gantz and Lapid are on the same page in their intentions towards the Palestinians
For Israeli officials who disagree with the meetings between Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, the latter’s remarks during a press conference in Germany provided an opportunity to showcase their opposition. Abbas later retracted his statement about Israel committing 50 holocausts against the Palestinians and…
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The US ambassador’s rhetoric bolsters Israel’s oppression of Palestinians
We expect better terminology from a diplomat, not uncouth jargon with no other purpose except to misrepresent a bad situation. US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides spoke out recently in favour of the colonial-occupation state’s latest aerial offensive against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. His words were reminiscent of…
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Mansour Abbas lends support to Israel’s colonial narrative
Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas has exposed how exploitative his role is within the coalition government formed by former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. His political party, he claims, has “no influence” when it comes to Israel’s security concerns. “We have no influence on military operations. We are in the…
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Israel’s fake security narrative is bolstered by the Abraham Accords
“The deaths of innocent people, particularly children, is heart-breaking,” said Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, without any signs that his heart was breaking. All Palestinians, including children, have been regarded as legitimate targets by Israel for decades, and in a densely populated strip of land such as Gaza, the Israeli…