Europe is facing the most significant refugee crisis since World War II. All attempts at resolving the issue have failed, mostly because they have ignored the root causes of the problem. On June 11, Italy’s new Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, blocked the...
Beating the US ‘Veto’: Palestinians Need Urgent Protection from Israel
What is taking place in Palestine is not a "conflict". We readily utilize the term but, in fact, the word "conflict" is misleading. It equates between oppressed Palestinians and Israel, a military power that stands in violation of numerous United...
The Colonization of Palestine: Rethinking the Term ‘Israeli Occupation’
June 5, 2018 marks the 51st anniversary of the Israeli Occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. But, unlike the massive popular mobilization that preceded the anniversary of the Nakba – the catastrophic destruction of Palestine in 1948 – on May 15, the...
8 Things I learned about Palestine While Touring 8 Western Nations
On 20 February, I embarked on a global book tour that has, thus far, taken me to eight nations. The main theme of all my talks in various cultural, academic and media platforms was the pressing need to refocus the discussion on Palestine on the struggle, aspirations,...
Israel’s Premature Celebration: Gazans Have Crossed the Fear Barrier
60 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on May 15, simply for protesting and demanding their Right of Return as guaranteed by international law. 50 more were killed since March 30, the start of the “Great March of Return”, which marks Land Day. Nearly 10,000 have been...
My Family’s Home Is and Always Will Be Beit Daras
Although I was born and raised in a Gaza refugee camp, and then moved to and lived in the United States, finding a village that was erased from the map decades earlier was not, at least for me, an irrational act. The village of Beit Daras was the single most important...
Eclipsing Factionalism: The Missing Story From the Gaza Protests
The Gaza border protests must be understood in the context of the Israeli Occupation, the siege and the long-delayed ‘Right of Return’ for Palestinian refugees. However, they should also be appreciated in a parallel context: Palestine’s own factionalism and...
Gazan Gandhis: Gaza Bleeds Alone as ‘Liberals’ and ‘Progressives’ Go Mute
Three more Palestinians were killed and 611 wounded last Friday, when tens of thousands of Gazans continued their largely nonviolent protests at the Gaza-Israel border. Yet as the casualty count keeps climbing – nearly 45 dead and over 5,500 wounded – the deafening...
The Ghost of Herut: Einstein on Israel, 70 Years Ago
Albert Einstein, along with other Jewish luminaries, including Hannah Arendt, published a letter in the New York Times on December 4, 1948. That was only a few months after Israel had declared its independence and as hundreds of Palestinian villages were being...
Media Cover-up: Shielding Israel Is a Matter of Policy
The term “media bias” does not do justice to the western corporate media’s relationship with Israel and Palestine. The relationship is, indeed, far more profound than mere partiality. It is not ignorance, either. It is a calculated and long-term campaign, aimed at...