Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Ramona Wadi
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Indyk’s duplicitous comments and the two-state compromise
Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies recently hosted its 8th annual international conference themed “Israel in a Turbulent Region”. Subjects discussed ranged from BDS, Iran, the Oslo Accords as an alleged “incubator for terrorist organisations” according to speaker Gilad Erdan, demilitarisation of Gaza, anti-Semitism, and former US special envoy and…
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Blair’s concern is to protect Israeli colonialism
Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair has made a series of spurious comments on Gaza following his visit to the besieged enclave. “The last conflict left Gaza devastated and its people worn down and impoverished,” he wrote on his website. “Twenty years after Oslo we need a new approach to…
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Hamas training camps and the continuity of resistance
Israeli and other mainstream media have ignited a furore over 17,000 young Palestinians who participated in Hamas-run military training camps during a two-week school holiday in January. Although it’s a common phenomenon that has happened in previous years, especially within the context of the Palestinians’ anti-colonial struggle, the news has…
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Middle East Quartet calls for resumption of negotiations between Israel and Palestine
During the 51st Munich Security Conference last Sunday, the Middle East Quartet urged for a resumption of negotiations between Israel and Palestine and expressed concern about the impediments that have delayed Gaza’s reconstruction; thus creating another arena through which to repeat a diplomatic discourse that has ultimately aided Israel’s colonisation…
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Impartiality, irrelevance and accountability
Israel’s recent complaint against Canadian lawyer and international law expert William Schabas has led to his resignation from the UN Human Rights Council’s fact finding commission on Gaza. Schabas was accused of having a conflict of interest – the reason for this being his having provided consultation to the PLO…
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The IMF contributes to the oppression of the Palestinians
The International Monetary Fund has issued a press release following its latest visit to East Jerusalem and Ramallah, during which the economic decline in both Gaza and the West Bank were assessed. Since Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, both areas have suffered through massive destruction and punitive measures, as well as…
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Israeli products in Gaza hinder resistance
One of the repercussions, probably intended, of Operation Protective Edge last summer was to destroy Gaza’s autonomy in a manner that would entail a compromise between resistance to the occupation and the necessity of addressing humanitarian needs. With most of Gaza in ruins following the Israeli bombardment of the enclave,…
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What do these demands for apologies actually mean?
Apology rhetoric, this time from Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird and Palestinian Authority chief negotiator Sa’eb Erekat, has shed light upon the ongoing efforts to undermine the Palestinian narrative. Baird’s five day visit to Palestine and Israel occurred within the same timeframe that the settler-colonial state embarked upon its lobbying…
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Accession to the ICC may well be meaningless
“It is a tragic irony that Israel, which has withstood thousands of terrorist rockets fired at its civilians and its neighbourhoods, is now being scrutinised by the ICC.” So said the US State Department’s Jeff Rathke, who seems to have exhausted all creativity when it comes to finding reasons as…
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Reconstruction delays prompting Hamas into assertiveness
PLO factions have reportedly criticised Hamas, holding the movement responsible for the reconstruction delays in Gaza, as well as hindering the unity government’s political progress in the enclave. Despite the obvious attempts at marginalising Hamas throughout Operation Protective Edge and its aftermath, which led to agreements being brokered without the…
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Collective efforts in undermining resistance and internationalism
The decline of internationalism, with the exception of few countries whose experience of revolutionary process has altered political vision, has rendered the same countries isolated from the rest of the world governed by acquiescence or adherence to imperialist dictates. The crimes committed against Palestinians during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge were…
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Abbas upholds symbolism over anti-colonial struggle
PA President Mahmoud Abbas seems intent on pursuing further symbolism for Palestine. Following the perfunctory recognition of Palestinian statehood by some European countries last year, which was essentially an affirmation of support for the further deterioration of Palestine through negotiations and the two-state compromise, Abbas is seeking to resubmit the…
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What good is ‘balance’ if it is only of benefit to the occupying power?
President Mahmoud Abbas’s signing of the Rome Statute after months of hesitation, has given rise to an increased wave of hostility against the Palestinians. According to the Times of Israel, for example, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “retaliated” to the PA leader’s move by freezing $127 million of Palestinian taxes…
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Normalisation and exploitation efforts are thwarted by Hamas
Mainstream media has created a furore out of Hamas’ decision to prevent Palestinian children bereaved in Israel’s colonial massacre from visiting Israel and the West Bank. The trip which is said to have been organised by a Fatah-affiliated group in Gaza, the Kibbutz Movement as well as the charity Candle…
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PA’s draft resolution provokes criticism from Palestinian factions
In what is evidently further proof of acquiescence to imperialist oppression, the US has once again rejected the Palestinian draft resolution proposing Palestinian statehood and an end to the Israeli “occupation”. The diplomatic endeavours which have led to condemnations from Hamas, as well as the Popular Front for the Liberation…
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Israel’s maintenance of conditions to prevent Gaza’s reconstruction
At a conference organised by the financial publication Calcalist, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz made a series of statements indicating further possible aggression against Palestinians. The “significant trend of instability” – deemed a threat to Israel’s security despite the imperialist agenda that creates turmoil to safeguard its base, was…
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Palestinian workers in Israel protest dehumanising conditions at checkpoints
A protest by Palestinians over deteriorating work conditions has been manipulated into a construction delay by Israel. On Sunday, Palestinians working inside Israel decided to go on strike indefinitely, protesting the daily humiliations inflicted upon them at checkpoints and border crossings in Tulkarem by the Israeli authorities. The language used…
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Charting dependency through the PA’s draft resolution to the UNSC
“The Palestinians made sure to remove any mention of Israel’s status as a Jewish state from the draft, which means this is not a peace process, it’s a declaration of war.” The comment by Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s minister of intelligence, international relations and strategic affairs, was a prelude to further…
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Palestinian demands may be thwarted by “mutual recognition”
As the Palestinians’ UN Security Council bid and the EU vote on statehood loom closer, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has raised the tone of his defiant rhetoric by rejecting what he calls “coercion” by the EU and Palestinian Authority. Prior to meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry, Netanyahu…
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Amnesty report angers Israeli government, but impunity persists
Amnesty International’s latest report on Israel’s colonial massacre in Gaza has angered the Israeli government. Called “Nothing is immune: Israel’s destruction of landmark buildings in Gaza”, the report calls for war crimes committed during Operation Protective Edge to be investigated. Focusing in particular upon the destruction of four landmark buildings…
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Netanyahu’s comments persisting in the physical destruction of Palestine
The 11th annual Saban Forum was characterised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recurring expectations of Palestinian compliance. Held from December 5-7, the forum was hailed as “a platform for unparalleled dialogue between American and Israeli officials”. Prioritising negotiations while simultaneously declaring the Palestinian leadership incapable of dialogue, Netanyahu’s speech…
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Defining resistance away from diplomatic overtures
“Hamas is a part of the Palestinian people, and it behaves as a main element of its people, it doesn’t have an independent vision from its people.” These words, uttered by Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in a recent interview that provided insightful commentary about Palestine from within a historical and…
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Putin calls for resumption of negotiations
Beyond mere symbolism, Palestine’s struggle for liberation, already thwarted by its leaders, is becoming an abstract endeavour. Several countries have embarked upon symbolic recognition of Palestinian statehood, which is now serving as the euphemism for approval of territorial loss and a resumption of negotiations, thus promoting further political deconstruction of…
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Fatah and Hamas discord over unity government mandate
Recent statements by Fatah and Hamas concerning the validity of the Palestinian unity government now that its interim period is over provided an initial contrast with regard to the factions’ political discord. Accusations of retraction and collaboration by Fatah and Hamas respectively have framed a discussion about a government built…