Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Ramona Wadi
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Rethinking language and memory as part of the Palestinian struggle
The Israeli annual tirade over Palestinian textbooks has once again materialised – this time by Gal Berger, correspondent of Palestinian Affairs on Israel Radio, who complained that the absence of Israel in education material pertaining to history, geography and Islamic studies indicated “a systematic blurring out of Israel’s existence.” According…
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Systematic torture and international complicity
Systematic torture has surfaced once again as an integral part of the state of Israel’s colonial violence. A recent report by Israeli human rights organisations B’Tselem and HaMoked — “Backed by the System: Abuse and Torture at the Shikma Interrogation Facility” — has exposed the dynamics of collective punishment and…
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The choice between resistance and acquiescence in Palestinian narratives
News briefs regarding Palestinian journalist and hunger striker Muhammad Al-Qeeq have been replete with dire warnings of his imminent death. The recent harrowing video clip of Al-Qeeq writhing in pain has unfortunately contributed to another spectacle which not only increases awareness through visual information but also provides Israel with further…
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Disappearing Palestinians – Naftali Bennett’s latest recommendation
The persistence of the Jerusalem Intifada, despite the lack of strategic organisation and involvement of Palestinian resistance factions, has incurred Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett’s misplaced wrath. Notoriously known for his pride of having murdered many Arabs, among other brutal statements, Bennett is now advocating for the murder and disappearance…
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International submission delaying Palestinian rights
Speaking at a joint press conference following a meeting of the German and Israeli cabinet in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her political alignment with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stating that the current situation in the Middle East is an impediment to a Palestinian state. She said: “Now…
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More PA manoeuvres reaping identical consequences
In the absence of any consistency on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, any statement with the potential of raising a furore should be read as another chapter of obligatory, meaningless rhetoric. Since the atrocities committed by Israel during Operation Protective Edge in 2014, international efforts to restore a semblance of…
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Further schemes for temporary humanitarian relief
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has issued a joint press release together with the Palestinian Authority announcing details of the Humanitarian Response Plan for 2016, which seeks to raise $571 million to address humanitarian needs in the occupied Palestinian territories. Replete with statistical information, the…
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Events past and present suggest that colonial violence is inherent in Israel
The recent verdicts in the trial of those responsible for the brutal murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, the Palestinian teenager kidnapped, beaten and burned alive by Israeli settlers in July 2014, have coincided with the publication of historical testimony that sheds light upon the inherent nature of Israel’s colonial violence.…
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Herzog’s ‘separation peace plan’ is a fallacy to gain Israel more time and impunity
Whatever rhetoric Israel decides to use within the context of the Jerusalem Intifada, the underlying concept remains consistent. Following his initial calls for separation of the Palestinians from their homeland, which revealed a plan as sinister as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s overt violence, opposition leader Isaac Herzog has promoted…
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Tunnel network forms premise of Netanyahu’s threats against Gaza
Recent announcements by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) that Hamas is rebuilding the border tunnel network have led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to issue belligerent statements promising more brutality against the Palestinians in Gaza. Collaboration between Israel, the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and Egypt, which ensures and enforces Gaza’s isolation,…
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Ban Ki-moon affirms permanent dispossession and displacement
Speaking during the UN Security Council’s session on the Middle East last Tuesday, the organisation’s Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, managed to create both anger and agreement among his audience. For supporters of the Palestinians, the speech was surprising, given the slightly different rhetoric employed. Israel, which has condemned the UN…
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In the absence of unity, Palestinian resistance can’t compete with PA collaboration
Following Israeli tantrums over EU plans to move ahead with the accurate and honest labelling of settlement products, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been venting his spleen about purported anti-Israel bias, stating rather ambiguously that ties between Israel and the EU need to be “reset”. According to Netanyahu, “there…
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Security measures remain ubiquitous in Israeli and PA rhetoric
The Palestinian Authority has complained intermittently about the unyielding Israeli preconditions throughout the lengthy and fruitless process of negotiations. This concern became more open following last year’s Israeli General Election and the inclusion of ministers such as Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked in influential coalition posts in education and justice…
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Escalation in Israeli brutality against Palestinian prisoners
The Jerusalem Intifada has sparked much debate regarding the impunity which enables Israel to justify mass arrests, administrative detention, torture, extrajudicial killings and, most recently, proposals to hinder the process of cross examination during court trials. Palestinian resistance, legitimate under international law, has been routinely maligned by Israel and the…
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Shin Bet evidence proposal confirms official ambivalence towards detainees’ rights
Citing the redundant, yet still macabre metaphor of the “war on terror”, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet, has requested amendments to the law which would allow for evidence not sworn in court to be used as testimony against defendants, even prior to investigation. According to Ma’an news agency, an…
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Resignations, complicity and impunity
Once again, the UN is reaping the harvest of its colonial endeavours in Palestine. Last week, Makarim Wibisono, the organisation’s Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, announced his resignation, claiming that his mandate could not be fulfilled due to Israel’s repeated refusal to grant him entry into the territories.…
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Bennett’s proposed rehabilitation of settler-terrorists is a deceptive sleight of hand
In a move that is far from benevolent, Israel’s Minister of Education Naftali Bennett has declared the launch of programmes “to try to rehabilitate the hundreds of ‘hilltop youth’”, which is his euphemism for terrorist Jewish settlers. Linked intrinsically to the deadly Duma arson attack committed by settlers last year,…
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UN report highlights Palestinian needs
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for the Occupied Palestinian Territory has released a statistical document related to Palestinians’ humanitarian needs for 2016. Insecurities related to protection, basic needs and psychological attention have increased particularly since the ramifications of Israel’s aggression in 2014. The published information should…
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The PA is still conspiring to undermine Palestinian resistance
Despite the increasing and systematic brutality of Jewish settlers and the Israeli military, the Palestinian Authority is still seeking ways to indulge in its own version of premeditated annihilation of Palestinian land and memory. After a brief outburst of outrage when PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat countered Israeli Prime Minister…
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Settlement expansion and the disappearance of Palestinian memory
Israeli pressure group Peace Now, which defends Israel’s right to exist “within secure borders” and advocates for the two-state paradigm, has revealed that the Israeli housing ministry is planning the construction of 55,548 settlement units in the occupied West Bank. The contracts had been signed between March 2013 and May…
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Endless resolutions and dispossession
Palestine can add yet another approved draft resolution to the list of UN General Assembly attempts to distort Israeli colonial appropriation into a manageable conflict with repercussions. Last Tuesday, the UNGA adopted a draft resolution that emphasises “Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East…
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With a former ICC chief prosecutor advising Israel about evading international law, justice will remain elusive
The Palestinian Authority has been celebrating its diplomatic efforts as a step towards achieving at least partial justice, particularly in seeking to hold Israel to account for war crimes at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Israelis themselves, meanwhile, have been receiving advice from former ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno…
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Israel and UN incitement against Palestinian resistance
While Israel continues with its premeditated and systematic oppressive policies, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a statement which, as is typical of the organisation, is devoid of both coherence and context. Despite the cited difference in statistics of Israelis and Palestinians killed since the beginning of October,…
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Palestinians have challenged the dynamics of resistance
As Hamas celebrated the 28th anniversary since its inception, the resistance movement has reiterated its aims departing from the context of the current uprising in the West Bank, the fact that the masses have, this time, eclipsed all Palestinian resistance factions and carved their own niche in resisting Israeli state…