Reporters might like to consider the Arab point of view

The Australian Committee for Truth in the Middle East, a group with a fine pedigree, offers some advice to journalists covering the Middle East: 1. In Gaza and the West Bank Hamas won popular support – enough to win an election generally regarded in the West as fair (except for the result, of course) –…

In Indonesia for two weeks

I’ll be in Indonesia for the coming two weeks as a guest of the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali. Public events, media engagements and sharing thoughts with speakers and guests at one of Asia’s biggest literary festivals. Post Bali, I’ll be visiting other Indonesian cities on a book tour, talking about the Middle…

Removing “normality” from the Middle East

Why boycott, divest and sanction Israel? The Electronic Intifada provides some answers: …Veterans of the South Africa anti-apartheid campaign who led a successful boycott have also stressed the need to stand with indigenous communities. Boycott is a move to heed the voice of an oppressed group and follow its lead. The idea is that there…

Nukes and more nukes for the Jewish state

Anybody unclear that Israel can act illegally and the US gives her a free pass? President Obama has reaffirmed a 4-decade-old secret understanding that has allowed Israel to keep a nuclear arsenal without opening it to international inspections, three officials familiar with the understanding said. The officials, who spoke on the condition that they not…

Do they speak for Israel or the Palestinians?

The Palestinian Authority, complicit in the occupation, now proves its utter powerlessness yet again: In a startling shift, the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council dropped its efforts to forward a report accusing Israel of possible war crimes to the Security Council, under pressure from the United States, diplomats said Thursday. The…

The democratic gap inside Israel

The fine Israeli blog Promised Land discusses the concept of Neo-Zionism and its ramifications for the Jewish state: The settlers are by no means neo-Zionists. They represent the old fashion right wing, the one that still dreams of colonizing Eretz Israel Hashlema (the great land of Israel). Netanyahu was supposed to be their natural leader,…

The nice benefits given to favoured Palestinians

The Jerusalem Post correctly slams the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (the kind of corrupt and complicit friends colonial powers have always loved): The Palestinian Authority’s actions and rhetoric, especially in the past few weeks and months, show that hypocrisy has become a major component of its official policy. One sometimes wonders whether the PA that speaks…

Resistance brews as Israel builds more settlements

Rumblings about a third intifada are emerging from the Middle East. It’s not a pretty prospect but the utter failure to stop Israeli expansionism almost makes it inevitable. Eileen Read, writing at True/Slant, shares this concern: This week’s violent clashes between the Israeli military and the citizenry of Palestine underscore the ever-present chance of another…

The Holocaust in Palestine

A documentary about the first Holocaust museum in the Arab world, Heart of the Other: Heart of the Other Trailer from jerusalemnewyork on Vimeo. More here.

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