Israeli and Palestinian leaders have traded pointed barbs at the UN general assembly, in a rhetorical exchange that underlines the deep differences between the two sides – and the dim prospects for meaningful dialogue.
By Zeina Azzam
“During Israel’s 2014 assault on Gaza and its 1.8 million inhabitants, Palestinian poet Khaled Juma penned a moving poem titled ‘Oh Rascal Children of Gaza’. The first few lines were about the chaos and mischief that the children had perpetrated in their neighborhoods before the war, but the wistful ending laments, ‘Come back/and scream as you want/and break all the vases./Steal all the flowers./Come back./Just come back…'”
By Zeina Azzam
It is clear that there are changes in the way Palestine and Israel are being discussed in the media and in the progressive movement in the United States. Now that the traditional taboos of criticizing Israel have been brought to light and acknowledged nationally, our work is to continue the momentum toward increased awareness of the Palestinians’ plight.
By Palestine Center Interns — Sarah Dickshinski and Mirvat Salameh
In February 2016 there were 438 Palestinian minors being held in Israeli prisons and since this time the number of Palestinian child detainees in Israel has barely decreased. Victims of abuse and subject to harsh Israeli military laws that deprive them of their basic rights, Palestinian children find themselves part of larger system of inequality and oppression imposed by Israel in Palestine. Although Israel has been called out time and time again for violating international conventions protecting minors, its military forces continue to wage war against a defenseless portion of the Palestinian population.
Israel is adept at creating new Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons, taking advantage of every opportunity to do so and exploiting temporary crises to promote permanent measures. Today, it is using the recent violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) to introduce a dangerous new twist to its long-standing residency revocation policy to force Palestinians out of East Jerusalem
Last week a controversy broke out in Israel over the segregation of Palestinian and Jewish mothers in Israeli hospitals. ‘Israel Radio… reported on Tuesday that various hospitals around the country have been separating Jewish and Arab women in the maternity ward.’
In interview with Emran Feroz, Israeli historian and Exeter University professor Ilan Pappe criticises the unilateral policy favoured by the Netanyahu government, which is committed to retaining control of historical Palestine in its entirety and approves of the restoration of authoritarian Arab regimes.
Tel Aviv – Israel’s one in five citizens, whose mother tongue is Arabic, are increasingly fearful of using it in public as hostility has mounted towards the language from both officials and the Jewish public, human rights groups warned this week. The alert comes as lawyers have threatened the municipality of Tel Aviv , Israel’s largest city, with a contempt of court action for failing to include Arabic on most of the city’s public signs – 14 years after the Israeli supreme court ordered it to do so.
By Mohamed Mohamed
The US has repeatedly tried to portray itself as an “honest broker” of peace between Israelis and Palestinians, but actions speak louder than words. Allowing US citizens to participate in Israel’s occupation and oppression of Palestinians blatantly contradicts this self-proclaimed title.
Through educational events, humanitarian support, and cultural preservation, the Jerusalem Fund is helping build the movement for Palestinian liberation.
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