Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Ramona Wadi
-
Israel’s alternative to colonisation is still colonisation
Whether Israel decides to go ahead with its so-called humanitarian cities or occupy further territory in Gaza, the end result is still colonisation. The international community is too busy trying to navigate the dynamics of the new humanitarian and rescue its diplomatic relevance to bother with the slightest remaining vestiges…
-
Voices of Resistance: Diaries of Genocide
Voices of Resistance: Diaries of Genocide (Comma Press, 2025), presents the diary entries of four Palestinian women living through the genocide in Gaza. Spanning a time frame from October 2003 to March 2025, Batool Abu Akleen, Sondos Sabra, Nahil Mohama and Ala’a Obaid narrate their experiences, intertwined with those of…
-
Saving the humanitarian paradigm does not save Palestinians from Israeli colonialism
Earlier this month, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres outlined four options that the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) currently faces. A potential collapse of the agency, reducing services and transferring some functions to other actors, creating an executive board to secure accountability, funding and services, and…
-
Without punitive measures, the EU rewards Israeli colonialism, genocide and violence
Israel and the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) have turned aid distribution into macabre spectacles. The statistics should hold more weight than the GHF’s justifications – out of 875 Palestinians killed since the distribution sites started operating, 674 happened “in the vicinity of GHF sites”. Yesterday 21 Palestinian people were killed…
-
Israel controls the narrative on ethnic cleansing
Israel’s former prime minister Ehud Olmert made headline news upon calling the planned humanitarian transit areas “concentration camps”. No disputing Olmert’s statement: “If [the Palestinians] are to be exiled to the new ‘humanitarian aid city’, you can say this is part of ethnic cleansing.” Part of ethnic cleansing as a…
-
Killing Palestinians, by genocide and formalities
Israel used no formality in genocide. The EU, on the other hand, treats Israel with the utmost formality designed to help the settler-colonial entity achieve its genocidal aims. Following a report on the EU-Israel Association Agreement, details of which show hesitant language: “There are indications that Israel would be in…
-
The UN’s colonial fabrication of human rights
The UN has repeatedly and uselessly declared itself against the forced transfer of the Palestinian people. Yet under its watch, the Zionist paramilitaries, precursors to the Israeli military, carried out the first large scale ethnic cleansing in 1948. Israel continued to expel Palestinians from their homes and villages, leading to…
-
The genocide is still far from being condemned in the West’s rhetoric
While more rhetoric but barely any pressure is raised against the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) and Israel using the distribution hubs as kill zones, the genocide in Gaza reflects an earlier trend of pinpointing violations into manageable disturbances. That way, Israel’s violence can remain unchecked and the genocide in Gaza…
-
Humanitarian aid and colonial violence
As scrutiny of the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) increases, the Israeli military has tried to rally support for the agency’s operations, saying it provides “Palestinians with an opportunity to eat from another hand that isn’t the terrorist group,” with reference to Hamas. The military also stated it does not intentionally…
-
Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal
“It is not only grief that makes writing in the time of genocide a tortuous task; it is, more so, one’s recognition of the written word as shamefully insufficient in the face of 2,000-pound bombs,” Mohammed El-Kurd writes in the introduction to his book Perfect Victims and the Politics of…
-
Merz’s blurred division between reasoning and questioning
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spouted several contradictions in his speech on Tuesday to the Bundestag, ahead of the NATO summit which was held at The Hague this week. Germany’s “reason of state,” he said, “is to defend the state of Israel in its existence.” But, he added, “the moment has…
-
The EU makes Gaza fodder for its delayed diplomacy
Leaked excerpts of the European External Action Service’s (EEAS) review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement exhibits more cautiousness than determination to condemn Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza. “There are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations under Article 2 of the EU-Israeli Association Agreement.” If…
-
The EU-Israel Association Agreement is not fit for purpose
It is now possible that the EU-Israel Association Agreement will not be suspended, in light of Israel’s attacks on Iran. No mater how much the EU tries to frame this outcome on Iran, the fact remains that Israel extended its warfare. And for extending its warfare, Israel will likely be…
-
The politics of postponing Palestine
As attention shifts towards Israel’s attacks on Iran, where does Palestine stand? Just a few weeks ago, anticipation for the joint France-Saudi Arabia conference on the two-state paradigm was gradually building, albeit with no particular expectations other than statements of promise to symbolically recognise a Palestinian state. If symbolic recognition…
-
The implications of supporting Israel’s ambiguity policy on its nuclear weapons
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had the audacity to accuse Iran of genocide in his statement outlining the reasons for Operation Rising Lion, while openly committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza with the international community’s complicity. “For decades, the tyrants of Tehran brazenly, openly called for Israel’s destruction. They backed…
-
Resisting Erasure: Capitalism, Imperialism and Race in Palestine
One statement the authors make in the introduction to Resisting Erasure: Capitalism, Imperialism and Race in Palestine (Verso Books, 2025) encapsulates book’s essence: “We hope to de-exceptionalise the question of Palestine.” The prevailing concepts of the Zionist colonisation of Palestine do not consider the wider imperialist context. Religious conflict, the…
-
Protecting Israel’s narrative also protects genocide
According to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, there is a ‘complication’ when Palestinians want their own state on their own land. Speaking during an interview with Bloomberg, Huckabee undoubtedly awarded Israel with further impunity for its ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, when severing the link between Palestinians and…
-
Israel’s PR stunt backfires, guides focus to humanitarian deprivation in Gaza
“All the passengers of the ‘selfie yacht’ are safe and unharmed. They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry posted on X. The images of Israeli commandos handing out packets of sandwiches and bottles of water to the 12 activists on board the Madleen…
-
How world leaders stand with genocide
Do world leaders really want the genocide in Gaza to end? Israel’s arms sales record for 2024 paints a clearer picture of where the international communities’ loyalties lie. For the fourth consecutive year Israel broke its arms sales record, totalling $14.8 billion in 2024. Israeli media reports note that European…
-
The diplomatic gamble on Palestinian statehood gives Palestinians no security
After France announced its intention to recognise a Palestinian state, Israel and the US have been lobbying against the possibility. France and Saudi Arabia are due to host a summit on Palestinian statehood at the UN in June. The summit is based on UN General Assembly Resolution 79/81, and it…
-
Starvation, surveillance and elimination in genocide
Images from Gaza do not paint a picture of humanitarian aid, as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) commenced its operations. The long lines of Palestinians waiting for food evoked recollections of people in concentration camps, and the grouping of Palestinians was more an exercise in surveillance. Of course, chaos ensued.…
-
Humanitarian aid serves violent interests
Humanitarian aid has become one of the most prominent and shameful means through which international institutions attempt to mitigate the consequences of military aggression. Israel’s purported concept of aid has obviously fared no better. It must be said again that Israel’s designation of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) can be…
-
Will the international community rethink its support for Israel’s security narrative?
Earlier this week, Israel fired warning shots at an international diplomatic delegation in the occupied West Bank. According to the Israeli military, the delegation “deviated from the approved route and entered an area where they were not authorised to be”. The delegation was visiting the Jenin refugee camp, which both…
-
Bureaucracy is saving both Israel and the EU
Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement has long been touted as one avenue for the EU to rethink its allegiances with Israel. The article 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…