Yousef Munayyer: Demographic engineering is central to Zionism and has been through every stage of Zionist history. I suppose when a political movement seeks to transplant millions of non-natives into a land of indigenous Arabs, to borrow “father of Zionism” Theodore Herzl’s phraseology, demography must become a central obsession.
Yousef Munayyer: Yes, Mitt Romney’s ‘analysis’ of the economic disparities between Israelis and Palestinians was racist on multiple levels. ”There is just something about those Jews; they are so good at making money.” Most people in the modern world would dismiss such a statement as anti-Semitic. But when the presumptive Republican candidate for president insinuates the same in the pursuit of pandering for pro-Zionist support it seems excusable.
Yousef Munayyer: Levy is right, this isn’t occupation. Well, not JUST occupation. When an Israeli panel appointed by Benjamin Netanyahu to investigate the question of outposts issued its findings (that there was no occupation and the settlements were legal), most sensible people responded with contempt.
Yousef Munayyer: Al Jazeera dropped a bombshell last week when it revealed the results of a 9-month investigation suggesting the late Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Yasser Arafat, could have been poisoned with a radioactive isotope, Polonium-210.
Yousef Munayyer: Last week, after a period of relatively negligible rocket fire from Gaza, Israel struck Gaza in response to attacks from Sinai (that’s Egypt). Provoked, militants in Gaza responded with rockets.
Yousef Munayyer: Removing settlers from illegally constructed housing inevitably leads to attacks against nearby Palestinian villages but Israel does nothing to stop them.
Yousef Munayyer: Last week the Israeli prime minister, with the help of Washington, made one of the strongest cases for the need for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) in the wake of an Israeli court decision regarding an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. By demonstrating that twenty years of ‘peace process’ policies have yielded an Israeli government drunk on settlements, Netanyahu’s statement and the United States’ reaction should convince any remaining doubters that BDS is an urgently necessary alternative.
Yousef Munayyer: In the wake of the commemoration of the Nakba this month, several Zionist commentaries appearing in both several Israeli publications and American publications have highlighted a similar and disturbing trend; they blame the victims of the Nakba for their fate.
Yousef Munayyer: I’m a Palestinian who was born in the Israeli town of Lod, and thus I am an Israeli citizen. My wife is not; she is a Palestinian from Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Despite our towns being just 30 miles apart, we met almost 6,000 miles away in Massachusetts, where we attended neighboring colleges.
Through educational events, humanitarian support, and cultural preservation, the Jerusalem Fund is helping build the movement for Palestinian liberation.
Connect
The Jerusalem Fund
2425 Virginia Ave NW
Washington, DC 20037
(202) 338-1958