Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Rebecca Stead
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Remembering Israel’s 2008 War on Gaza
What: Israel waged a three-week military offensive against the Gaza Strip, killing almost 1,400 Palestinians and wounding thousands more. Where: The Gaza Strip When: 27 Dec 2008 – 18 Jan 2009 What happened? On 27 December 2008, Israel launched a massive military offensive against the Palestinians in the Gaza...
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‘Detention is an instrument of Israel’s oppression’
In the dead of night, Israeli forces knocked on the door of Salah Hamouri’s apartment in Jerusalem, he told me. “When I opened the door they told me they were looking for me and began to search the house. They destroyed the furniture, turning it upside down, searching for...
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London launch celebrates Palestinian history through embroidery
Hundreds of people gathered today to attend the London launch of the Palestinian History Tapestry Project (PHT), an exhibition celebrating the history of Palestine as told by Palestinians themselves. Embroidered by 36 Palestinian women living across the Middle East, the tapestry is composed of 80 panels, each of which depicts a...
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A year after his Jerusalem bombshell, Trump continues to strangle the Palestinians
On 6 December last year, US President Donald Trump formally recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and promised to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv. One year on from that bombshell, he continues to strangle the Palestinians. “My announcement today marks the beginning of a new approach...
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‘He re-occupied his land from the occupation’
Director Wafa Jamil discusses her film ‘Coffee For All Nations’ ahead of its screening at the London Palestine Film Festival tomorrow. Sitting in semi-darkness, Abed brews his coffee. The light from his small gas burner illuminates his face, set with concentration as he stirs the thick, black liquid. A poster commemorating...
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‘I thought I knew about Palestine, until I saw the occupation first hand’
Al-Manara Square, central Ramallah. Children eat candy floss greedily as their parents tug at their hands, hurrying them along. Street vendors peer cautiously into the camera. Taxis fight their way through the gridlock that clogs the roundabout. Amid the chaos, Maher stands barefoot on the concrete, his movements soft...
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‘Settler colonialism has destroyed the culture of the colonised – Palestine is no different’
In 1982, Israel invaded the Lebanese capital Beirut to root out the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Vast swathes of the city were razed. Among the buildings targeted for destruction were the Palestine Film Unit’s archives, home to more than a decade’s worth of film footage that stood as testimony...
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Awards season launched at MEMO’s Palestinian literary event
A packed audience hall gathered in London this evening to listen to some of the Palestine Book Award’s shortlisted authors discuss their works ahead of the winners’ announcement tomorrow evening. Tonight three of the shortlisted authors: Tareq Baconi, author of “Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance”;...
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‘I felt guilty I received so much attention for being shot – this is Palestinians’ daily reality’
As she loitered at the back of a public demonstration in Kafr Qaddum, west of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, Kristin was shot by Israeli soldiers. She had been leaning against the wall and playing with her phone, posing no threat to anyone and trying her best to...
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The Great War and the Remaking of Palestine
Offering an insightful account of a period often neglected by historians, Salim Tamari’s book The Great War and the Remaking of Palestine provides a window into the lost world of late-Ottoman Palestine and the intricate web of political and social relations it enabled. Despite the old adage that you...
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Remembering Jamal: A ‘voice of the voiceless’
On a crisp autumn night in central London, hundreds gathered to remember Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist murdered on 2 October at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Journalists, activists and members of the public, as well as friends and family of Jamal, gathered in his honour and to...
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Jerusalem Stands Alone
Intricately weaving past and present, humour and pain, love and loss, “Jerusalem Stands Alone” is a beautiful homage to a living, breathing city so often reduced to nothing more than a pawn in political games. The story begins as our protagonist, whose name we never learn, walks to the markets...
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7 myths about Israel’s ‘Separation Wall’
In 2002, Israel decided to build the so-called Separation Wall. By 2003, it had already constructed 143 kilometres of the colossal structure, most of which cut deep into the West Bank, the Palestinian territory that Israel has occupied since the Six Day War of 1967. Its route through occupied...
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The ‘Law of Return’ is being tested by Ethiopian Jews as an ‘Israel First’ policy begins to bite
This week, Israel’s cabinet approved a bill to allow 1,000 Ethiopian Jews to migrate to Israel. The bill, which was first announced in September, proposed that Ethiopian Jews who already have family in Israel would be allowed to relocate to the state, bringing with them their partners and any...
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Brothers Apart: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World
The year is 1959. The place? The Seventh World Festival of Youth and Students in Vienna. Seventeen thousand left-leaning activists gathered to discuss “brotherhood and peace”, among them Rashid Husayn, a Palestinian poet, journalist and translator from Musmus, south-east of Haifa. Husayn “was especially eager to meet some of...
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Messi in Israel? Just an Israeli tycoon settling old scores
This week, reports emerged that Argentinian football star Lionel Messi is slated to play in Israel in November. Israel TV (ILTV) speculated that the match – due to be played between Messi’s home side Barcelona and Athlético Madrid – would be confirmed sometime in the next few days. ILTV’s...
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How the Spanish courts became a battleground for Israel’s anti-BDS efforts
On 4 September, a Spanish district court annulled a resolution to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The resolution had been put forward by the municipal council of Ayamonte, a small town situated on the border with Portugal, and advocated for a ban on any association with...
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Remembering the Jerusalem Intifada
What: After a group of extremist Israelis stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque, waves of violence broke out across Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. Where: Jerusalem When: 14 September 2015 What happened? On 13 September 2015, the eve of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), a number of Jewish Israelis visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound....
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‘This is occupation, not conflict: it’s black and white.’
Mohammad Sabaaneh was released from an Israeli prison four years ago. He had been incarcerated for five months, spending almost two weeks in solitary confinement. Israeli forces held Mohammad in administrative detention, meaning they needed no charge and did not send him to trial. During one of his interrogation...
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When Israel starts looking like Azerbaijan, there’s a problem
Last week, Israel’s Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra participated in the X Gabala International Festival in the city of Gabala (sometimes spelled Qabala), northern Azerbaijan. The General Director of the orchestra, Yair Shtern, told the Jerusalem Post that “Azerbaijani-Israeli relations are a positive, strategic partnership. Azerbaijan is a true model of...
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11 things you should know about Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip
For 11 years, Israel has imposed an unforgiving siege on the Gaza Strip. With severely restricted access in and out of the enclave — via land, air and, notoriously, sea — Gaza has effectively been sealed off from the world. The Strip is only 360 square kilometres in...
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‘Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians need your solidarity’
After months of preparation by its volunteer team, the ride sets out from Coventry on Friday and will arrive in London on Sunday, staging rallies along the way. The Big Ride is endorsed by Dr Mona El Farra, former vice president of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in...
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Remembering the arson attack that orphaned Ahmed Dawabsheh
What: Extremist Jewish Israeli settlers attacked the Dawabsheh family home, orphaning Ahmed and killing his parents and baby brother, Ali Where: Duma village near Nablus, occupied West Bank When: 31 July 2015 What happened? On 31 July 2015, Ali Saeed Dawabsheh was burned to death in his home. He...
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‘Activism works; we can make an impact if we make the effort’
Almost a year since he set out walking to Palestine, Swedish #WalkToPalestine activist Benjamin Ladraa reflects on his journey. On 6 July, after spending 11 months walking from his native Sweden to Palestine, Benjamin Ladraa made it to the Allenby Bridge crossing, situated on the border between Jordan and...