Ramzy Baroud

Bat-Hen Epstein Elias’s long article on Iranian Jews is interesting. Parts of it, in fact, are heartwarming. Yet, despite the lack of any serious evidence, the story is entirely framed in the language of fear. Entitled, “All the Jews there live in fear that their telephones are tapped,” the story in Israel Hayom peddles the … Continue reading “Fear as an Obstacle to Peace: Why Are Israelis Afraid?”

The Israeli Knesset (parliament) has hurriedly passed a new bill that defines Israel as the “national home of the Jewish people.” Although the association between Jewishness and Israel goes back to the foundation of the state, the new law also carries clear discriminatory elements that target the country’s Arab communities, numbering nearly two million people. … Continue reading “Jewish Nation-State Bill: Israel’s Precarious Identity Is Palestine’s Nightmare”

Now that the Palestinian Islamic Movement, Hamas, has officially changed its Charter, one should not immediately assume that the decision is, in itself, an act of political maturity. Undoubtedly, Hamas’ first Charter, which was released to the public in August 1988, reflected a degree of great intellectual dearth and political naïveté. “Allah is great, Allah … Continue reading “Should Hamas Rewrite the Past?”

Gaza is the world’s largest open air prison. The West Bank is a prison, too, segmented into various wards, known as areas A, B and C. In fact, all Palestinians are subjected to varied degrees of military restrictions. At some level, they are all prisoners. East Jerusalem is cut off from the West Bank, and … Continue reading “The Prisoners’ Revolt: The Real Reasons behind the Palestinian Hunger Strike”

Israel has resorted to three main strategies to suppress Palestinian calls for justice and human rights, including the Right of Return for refugees. One is dedicated to rewriting history; another attempts to distract from present realities altogether and a third aims at reclaiming the Palestinian narrative as essentially an Israeli one. The rewriting of history … Continue reading “Palestinian and Jewish Voices Must Challenge Israel’s Past Together”

Back in the Middle East for a few months, I find myself astounded by the absence of the strong voices of Arab intellectuals. The region that has given rise to the likes of Michel Aflaq, George Habash, Rached Al-Ghannouchi, Edward Said and numerous others has marginalized its intellectuals. Arab visionaries have either been co-opted by … Continue reading “When ISIS Is Defeated: Who Will Fill the Intellectual Vacuum in the Arab World?”

For Palestinians, 2017 is a year of significant anniversaries. While historians mark May 15th as the anniversary of the date on which Palestinians were expelled from their historic homeland in 1948, the fact is the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians began in earnest in 1947. In strict historical terms 1947 and 1948 were the years … Continue reading “Palestine Retold: Palestine’s Tragic Anniversaries Are Not Only About Remembrance”

Once more, the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 is taking center stage. Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas insisted during his speech before the recently-concluded Arab League Summit in Jordan, that the Initiative is the only solution on the table; asserting that it will not be changed or even tweaked. But why is this Initiative, … Continue reading “Normalization in the Name of Peace: How Israel Understands the Arab Peace Initiative”

The Israeli state has violated international law more than any other country, yet has rarely, if ever, been held accountable for crimes and misconduct. Israel’s successful public relation campaigns through the ever-willing western media partners, coupled with the relentless work and pressure carried out by its powerful backers in Washington DC, London, Paris and elsewhere, … Continue reading “The Next Phase in the War on BDS: Why Israel Detained Omar Barghouti”

“We must look back twenty-five years to realize how far Israel has fallen in world support,” wrote famed Jewish scholar, Harvard sociologist, Nathan Glazer in 1976. In the last forty years since Glazer wrote his piece, which was uncovered and transmitted by Philip Weiss, Israel’s global support has fallen much further. The country that once … Continue reading “US and Israeli Codependent Relationship Is Not Just about Money”