Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Ramona Wadi
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The PA wants its repression hidden in plain sight
The Palestinian Authority cannot help making a fool of itself. Its recent decision to suspend Al Jazeera’s broadcasts, ostensibly because the news outlet was “broadcasting inciteful content, spreading misinformation, and interfering in internal Palestinian affairs,” is an example of the scale of the repression of his own people which PA…
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Israel’s humanitarian gimmicks and settler-colonial detachment
While continuing its genocide in Gaza, Israel still wants to play its faux humanitarian concern card. An article published by AP yesterday, which made its way to the Times of Israel albeit with some details regarding the kill toll edited out, is one recent futile attempt by Israel to maintain…
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As clarity on Israel’s genocide grows, so does the int’l community’s silence
More proof of Israel’s genocidal intent and actions comes from an investigation conducted by the New York Times, which discovered that since 7 October 2023, the Israeli military issued an order that allowed the killing of up to 20 Palestinian civilians with each strike. In terms of an order, the…
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The perks for genocide in Gaza
In “enemy territory” – Israel’s euphemism for Gaza – it is beyond satire to see the Israeli military destroying Gaza’s infrastructure in order to kill Palestinians, while building infrastructure for its soldiers. Ynet news has reported on the construction of a retreat for Israeli soldiers where they can relax, rest…
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The EU continues to protect Israel and its genocide of the Palestinians
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen marked the first anniversary of the Hamas cross-border incursion by saying: “On October 7, 2023, the world awoke to horrifying images of unspeakable savagery, scenes that will remain etched in our minds forever. On this tragic anniversary, I want to honour the memories…
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Genocide in the name of security, according to Israeli settler narratives
Israeli settler leaders are calling upon the Israeli government to emulate the genocidal strategy used against Palestinians in Gaza to displace and ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the occupied West Bank. In a letter to the Israeli security cabinet, Yisrael Ganz, head of the Yesha Council which deals with settlement affairs,…
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Connecting the dots between Hebron and Gaza
As global attention remains focused on Gaza, although not to safeguard the Palestinians from genocide, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have been facing increasing violence from Israeli soldiers and settlers. B’Tselem’s latest report, titled Unleashed: Abuse of Palestinians by Israeli Soldiers in the Centre of Hebron, shows how colonial…
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UNRWA, Palestinian children and the two-state diplomacy that works against children’s rights
According to UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini writing on X, “Wherever we work, @UNRWA is dedicated to helping children be children.” He noted the severe disruption of their education for Palestinian children in Gaza. No matter what anyone says, though, colonialism and genocide do not allow children to be children.…
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Amnesty Israel: for human rights or Israel’s political agenda?
Israel’s genocide in Gaza has been up for debate for over a year and diluted to the point that even humanitarian pauses have evaporated into nothingness. The only sliver of concern that remains is securing the release of the remaining Israeli hostages. And the only reason the hostages still feature…
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The first signs of Jewish colonial resettlement in Gaza
Israel has demolished over 600 buildings to create a so-called buffer zone in what the Israeli military refers to as the Netzarim Corridor, which cuts Gaza in half and has been occupied militarily since November last year. The lack of clarification by the Israeli government over its plans for Gaza…
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An Old Carriage with Curtains
Ghassan Zaqtan’s impeccable weaving of Palestinian memory serves as a reminder of how far such memory can extend in a confined, ever-shrinking geopolitical space constantly eroded by Israeli colonialism and the ensuing military Occupation. The last book in a trilogy, An Old Carriage with Curtains (Seagull Books, 2023) does not…
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Israel was born and depends on ethnic cleansing
His admission about Israel’s ethnic cleansing in Gaza was a shard of truth from former Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon, albeit dissociated from what created Israel in the first place. In an interview with Israel’s Democrat TV, Ya’alon told the interviewer: “There’s no Beit Lahia. There’s no Bein Hanoun. They’re…
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France sets a precedent in non-compliance with the ICC Netanyahu arrest warrant
France has given an example of how non-committal diplomacy works to create impunity for genocide. After describing the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant as “legally complex”, the French government has now confirmed that it will not comply…
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Canada helps Israel in broadening its definition of ‘anti-Semitism’
Once again, anti-Semitism was the catchphrase for political rhetoric denouncing the protest in Montreal against NATO’s complicity with Israel’s genocide. NATO delegates met in Canada for the 70th annual session of its Parliamentary Assembly, and protesters called for Canada’s withdrawal from the organisation, even as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau…
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Israel’s criminal responsibility is shielded by political complicity
It remains to be seen how world leaders of the 124 states that are party to the Rome Statute will comply with the international arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The ICC’s press release clearly…
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USAID’s guise is dismantled by Israel’s genocide in Gaza
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) announced it will be adding $230 million to its “economic recovery and development programs in the West Bank and Gaza”. According to USAID’s West Bank and Gaza Mission Director, Amy Tohill-Stull, “This funding demonstrates our resolve to support sustainable development and provide essential…
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Borrell’s symbolic parting gesture is mired in hypocrisy
Diplomats and parting gestures are nothing new. As the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell comes close to ending his tenure, he has called for EU member states to stop political dialogue with Israel. “After a year of unheeded pleas, we cannot continue with business as usual,” said…
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Time frames are not threats and neither are they ‘time frames’ when it comes to US support for Israel
In yet another exercise of US hypocrisy, Israel will still qualify for weapons funding despite failing to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days, as outlined in a letter stipulating several conditions, which included allowing the entry of 350 trucks per day through all of Gaza’s border crossings.…
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Visualising Palestine: A Chronicle of Colonialism and the Struggle for Liberation
Khaled Adnan’s hunger strike in 2012 was the impetus for Visualising Palestine’s enduring project which depicts Israeli colonialism and the Palestinian experience of living under colonial rule. Unlike the statistics we are used to associating with Palestine, which render Palestinians faceless numbers with no identity, Visualising Palestine: A Chronicle of…
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Sa’ar’s twisted narrative on the two-state paradigm and Israel’s colonial expansion
Newly appointed Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar, gave a perfect example of how colonialism twists narratives for political gain. “I don’t think this position is realistic today and we must be realistic,” Sa’ar stated, with regard to the possibility of establishing a Palestinian State within the context of normalisation of…
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Netanyahu promotes genocide and annexation with his choice of Leiter as Israeli ambassador to the US
Promoting genocide and colonial expansion remain high on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s agenda, and Donald Trump’s forthcoming return to the White House is a reminder of all Israel gained under his first presidency. Netanyahu’s choice for ambassador to the US – Israeli-American Yechiel Leiter – encapsulates both genocide and…
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The PA’s misplaced optimism
The return of Donald Trump as US president will undoubtedly evoke the memory of a string of unilateral concessions to Israel, ending with the Abraham Accords, that undoubtedly contributed to the current premeditated sense of oblivion towards the genocide in Gaza. We can also remember how the Palestinian Authority was…
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The UN and Israel share direct responsibility for starvation in Gaza
After the Israeli Knesset passed a bill designating the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) as a terror organisation and banning the agency from operating in colonised Palestine, the occupation state’s foreign ministry formally notified the UN of its decision in tones that not only exhibited contempt,…
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Genocide is embedded in US diplomacy
Israel is only conducting occasional atrocities that do not align with US interests, if we are to believe US rhetoric. The Israeli air strike that killed at least 20 children in Beit Lahiya was “a horrifying incident with a horrifying result,” according to US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller. “We…