The latest controversy over Mitt Romney’s comments towards Israel/Palestine at a fund-raiser are instructive: I’m torn by two perspectives in this regard. One is the one which I’ve had for some time, which is that the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish.…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
“After Zionism” reviewed in The Jordan Times
The following book review… by Sally Bland of After Zionism appears in The Jordan Times: Writing in the face of Israel’s ravenous colonisation that has negated the option of a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, 14 esteemed writers, academicians and activists explore alternative solutions in this very timely and readable book. The authors are Palestinians,…
Independent Australian Jewish Voices September newsletter
The following email has just been sent to our email list: Hi all, We would like to remind you of the upcoming speaking tour by the Israeli historian and social activist Professor Ilan Pappe, which IAJV has co-sponsored. He will be speaking in… Sydney… (at… the… Opera House’s Festival of Dangerous Ideas and elsewhere),… Wollongong… (where he will be a keynote…
One-state solution in Palestine receives new and important supporter
One of the key points of my recent book, After Zionism, is that a two-state solution has always been a mirage, designed to distract from Israel’s colonisation project. The one-state solution is the only just and democratic outcome. It’s therefore pleasing to read that The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) have released a new…
Haiti run, controlled and influenced by too many foreign interests
Being here in Haiti for the last while, it’s striking how often I hear how many locals say that their independence was taken from them years ago, particularly by the US and foreign NGOs. This story has only inflamed sentiments (via GlobalPost): Sean Penn’s aid foundation, J/P HRO, began tearing down the once-picturesque National Palace…
Yet another way Israel’s Better Place seduces foolish greenies
Israeli electric car company Better Place is rightly challenged by activists as being part of Brand Israel. Its human rights record is troubling. Here’s the latest example (via Electronic Intifada) of how these facts are routinely ignored in the name of being green and embracing “start-up Israel”: An Israeli company that builds infrastructure for the…
The aid economy that fuels Haiti’s misery
I’m currently in Haiti working on my book about disaster capitalism and a documentary with New York film-maker Thor Neureiter. It’ll be a global picture to show how privatisation and outsourcing, in the military, aid, intelligence, detention centres and mineral exploitation businesses, are creating a world of even greater disparity. Cholera remains a massive issue…
Australian Zionists fear Israeli group Breaking the Silence and its message on IDF immorality
This is an instructive story of how mainstream Australian Jewish groups are petrified that a) the public will hear critical and truthful views about Israeli behaviour in the West Bank and b) a desire to “protect” Jews from even understanding what Israeli occupation means. A feature appeared in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald last…
Palestine Chronicle tackles “After Zionism”
The following piece, by Karen Dabrowska, appears in the Palestine Chronicle: Time has run out for the two-state solution because of the unending and permanent Jewish colonization of Palestinian land. That is the conclusion of Antony Loewenstein and Ahmed Moor the authors of After Zionism, which brings together some of the world’s leading thinkers on…