On some days, such as today, I look at the Middle East “peace process” and wonder how any serious journalist can’t write about Israel and Palestine and not simply laugh (or cry). Talks, meeting, summits, statements of intent and yet the occupation only grows. A farce allowed to continue by either blind Zionists or bought…
Showing all posts tagged settlements
Jewish angst over colonies is utterly unappealing
Chaim Gans, author of A Just Zionism: On the Morality of the Jewish State, continues the grand Zionist tradition of endlessly debating the “rights” and wrongs of the occupation and the pain of the Right that believes God gave the land to the Jews. Such circular and futile discussions have been going on for decades…
The awakening of the mainstream journalist in Jerusalem
Jason Koutsoukis, Middle East correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age, has published an important piece online today, singularly challenging the myth that Israel is a victim in the Middle East: Forgive me for being confused, but exactly what are the clear and present dangers facing the State of Israel? … The more…
Introducing Saree Makdisi to Australia
During last night’s Sydney Ideas event with Sareee Makdisi, I gave the following introduction: Sydney Ideas 22 September, 2009 Excavating Memory in Jerusalem Professor Saree Makdisi, US academic, author and Middle East analyst Seymour Centre, Sydney University An introduction by Antony Loewenstein During an interview with the Boston Globe in 2008 during the release of…
The Israeli Jewish bubble
Back in July, Joseph Dana and I walked the streets of West Jerusalem to check Israeli public opinion towards Arabs, Barack Obama and settlemets. The main message? Leave us Jews alone. Racism was everywhere. Now Al-Jazeera has pounded the same area and heard virtually similar comments. At what point will Israeli Jewish racism be exposed…
The importance of standing up for Palestinian rights, those occupied
Following an article in the Australian on the weekend – that accused critics of Israel of extremism – the paper publishes the following letters today: This week a leading US Jewish newspaper, The Forward, has published an article with the headline “Palestinian-led movement to boycott Israel is gaining support”. It explains how the global and…
Palestine will not rise under the jackboot
Bernard Avishai writes in Harpers about the wonderful economic possibilities of the US-backed Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. I believe he grossly exaggerates the potential to thrive as a society while under occupation (as I explained recently on ABC Radio). So long as Israel shows no intention of giving up its colonial mindset, “economic development” is…
How Israel plays Washington day in day out
The Israel Lobby co-author Steve Walt writes in the Washington Post: Like so many of his predecessors, President Obama is quickly discovering that persuading Israel to change course is nearly impossible. Obama came to office determined to achieve a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians. His opening move was to insist that Israel stop building…
Allowing a mainstream audience to see Zionist extremism
Last night 60 Minutes ran a feature on the occupied West Bank (the reporter’s blog on the… subject clearly sees the Jewish settlers as the main impediment to peace). When the journalist Liam Bartlett told settler leader Nadia Matar that all the settlements were illegal, her response was instructive: The UN is biased, uh uh…
The time to implement a boycott is now
The following interview by Stu Harrison appears in this week’s Green Left Weekly: “The war could have finished the day before I arrived”, independent journalist and author Antony Loewenstein told Green Left Weekly of his recent trip to the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza. His trip in July was months after the December-January war, in…