Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Ramona Wadi
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Arab aid for the PA continues to marginalise the Palestinian people and their rights
The Arab League has pledged $100 million per month as aid to the Palestinian Authority in its ongoing financial crisis, as long as there is no departure from the status quo of normalising Israel’s colonial presence in Palestine and the international impositions which have contributed to the prevailing dispossession of…
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The new PA government fits the UN agenda for reconciliation and suppression of political
The new Palestinian Authority government has been welcomed by the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov, who reiterated the rhetoric reserved for occasions on which the international organisation pledges to work closely with governments in line with their agenda. “At a time of significant financial…
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Apartheid is a Crime: Portraits of the Israeli Occupation
Mats Svensson, a former Swedish diplomat whose personal experience of Palestine opened up the possibility of rethinking through Palestinian narratives, clarifies the role of diplomacy in the preface to his book, “Apartheid is a Crime. Portraits of the Israeli Occupation” (Cune Press, 2019). Diplomats, he declares, “could not call a…
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Europe holds no moral high ground in protecting Israeli colonialism
Discussions which frame Palestine’s precarious future within the context of US President Donald Trump’s so-called “deal of the century” versus the two-state compromise continue. Apparently with just these two dangerous options on the table, Palestine is being pushed into oblivion. In anticipation of Trump’s deal, a group of former officials…
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Erekat’s response to the Israeli election result ignores reality
Israel’s colonial-settler population has elected Benjamin Netanyahu yet again as Prime Minister and the initial reactions to the result have been summed up in simple slogans that fail to reflect upon the contenders and their politics. Almost all of the contesting political parties based their campaigns on measures to coerce…
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The UN’s Guterres continues to exploit Palestinian refugee narratives
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s favourite catchphrase — “There is no Plan B” — must be remembered every time he utters anything claiming to support Palestinian refugees. The two-state compromise contradicts the already flawed Palestinian right of return as enshrined in UN Resolution 194; even in 1948, the UN had no…
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Gantz, Zionism and the two-state compromise
In his latest interview with the Times of Israel, former Israel Defence Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz makes a point which the international community and the Palestinian Authority persist in ignoring. He has been reticent about stating what outcome he envisages for Palestinian statehood, or prospects for statehood. Instead,…
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Abbas’ commitment to the status quo and international legitimacy has failed Palestinians
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’ speech at the Arab League Summit in Tunisia last month only accentuated the usual grovelling to external actors, while speaking of “decisive steps and decisions.” Yet, instead of specifying a way forward, Abbas embarked upon a recapitulation of Israel’s violations and repercussions, while insisting upon…
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Israel is targeting the Great March of Return anniversary with vile propaganda
At first, it was a rocket, Israel claimed, which prompted another round of bombing of the civilians in the Gaza Strip. After damaging 500 Palestinian homes, and with talk of the Zionist state increasing its military presence on the nominal Gaza borders, the first anniversary commemorating the Great March of…
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Palestine and Rule of Power. Local Dissent vs International Governance
This collection of well-researched essays provides an insight into the dynamics of how neoliberalism is woven within the Zionist colonial process and how it has created two opposing camps, succinctly described in the foreword by Richard Falk as the failure of UN diplomacy and the existing possibilities of Palestinian anti-colonial…
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UN and EU statements reveal their overt support for Israel
Predictably, the UN’s first remarks about Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip focused more on a single rocket reaching north of Tel Aviv than the Zionist state’s ongoing colonial violence against Palestinian civilians and its destruction of what remains of the enclave. Likewise, the Palestinian people themselves will be of…
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The EU fortifies its track record of aligning itself with Israel
A business seminar in Tel Aviv themed “Doing business with the European Union” leaves no doubts as to where the institution’s loyalties lie. Organised by the Delegation of the European Union to Israel, the Foreign Trade Administration, the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce, the Israel-Europe Directorate for Research and…
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The UN and Israel are manufacturing humanitarian narratives
Despite the dissonance between Israel and humanitarian aid, there is no lack of propaganda seeking to portray the settler-colonial state as a shining beacon for others to emulate. A forthcoming photo exhibition is now set to be hosted at the UN to showcase, in the words of Israel’s Ambassador Danny…
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In Israel normalising violence takes precedence over targeted assassinations
One outcome is certain when it comes to the forthcoming Israeli elections – Gaza will remain a top target for the new government. Amid the sparring between contenders for the elections, former IDF chief Benny Gantz declared he would implement Israel’s policy of targeted assassinations against Hamas leaders if elected,…
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Palestinian welfare must not be argued by the likes of Greenblatt and Erekat
At the UN Security Council last Friday, US Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt failed to garner support for Israel’s decision to deduct $11 million from the tax revenues to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority. The PA has repeatedly asserted it will not accept any deductions and the…
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Delaying publication of the settlement blacklist exposes the UN’s false narratives on human rights
The UN is openly flaunting its priorities and, sadly, human rights are far from a major concern for the international organisation. Since its creation post-World War Two, and having established itself as the platform which determines what constitutes a human rights violation and which countries can be considered as perpetrators,…
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Israel exports violence and human rights rhetoric to Africa
As part of Tel Aviv’s diplomatic strategy in Africa, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are providing military training to local troops in several countries. The Times of Israel has described this venture as “a dramatic upsurge of military cooperation.” Israel’s military attaché to Africa, Colonel Aviezer Segal, has said that…
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Humanitarian aid and the loss of Palestinian rights
After the US withdrew financial support from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), it is the EU which became the largest donor to the organisation. Yesterday, EU representative Ralph Tarraf and UNRWA Commissioner General Pierre Krähenbühl signed a contribution agreement of $93 million for the…
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Looking outwardly for solutions affirms the PA’s loss of its ‘authority’
Recourse to the international community for solutions has yet to reap any justice whatsoever for the people of Palestine. The lengthy processes and bureaucratic delays, not to mention the collusion of international organisations and systems with human rights violations, is not conducive to the Palestinians’ needs and requirements. However, this…
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Plan B for Palestine may exist, but the UN’s role is to eliminate its possibilities
What UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in his remarks to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People affirmed the inherent hypocrisy of international institutions towards Palestine and Palestinians. “As I have said repeatedly,” he insisted, “there is no Plan B.” Guterres could have…
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The PA refusal to participate in the Warsaw Summit doesn’t change its penchant for compromise
The Palestinian Authority described last week’s Warsaw Summit as a US-Israeli conspiracy; US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed that the Palestinians are “worse off” because of their absence. This prompted the Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation to ask if anyone could explain how the people of Palestine…
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Electrical Palestine. Capital and Technology from Empire to Nation
Review rating: 4/5 Fredrik Meiton approaches the Zionist colonisation of Palestine from an industrialisation angle in his book “Electrical Palestine. Capital and technology from Empire to Nation” (University of California Press, 2019). The study traces the plans of Pinhas Rutenberg to electrify Palestine and how the implementation of these plans…
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Prevailing reactions to Khan Al-Ahmar are harming Palestinians
The silence generated over the Bedouin village of Khan Al-Ahmar should be provoking an outrage of different proportions. Last year, the village was a focal point to the exclusion of all other ongoing demolitions. Ahead of the Israeli elections on 9 April, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly delaying…
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Palestine doesn’t need an ‘international peace conference’ which will reject liberation strategies
Palestinian media are reporting that Mahmoud Abbas has appealed to the African Union to support, and participate in, a possible international conference “to take care of the peace process.” As always, the Palestinian Authority leader’s rhetoric shifts between the similarities in the Palestinian and African struggle against colonialism, while asking…