You are here: Home / Archives for West Bank

Is Oakland the new Al-Khalil?

October 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Violating the civil and human rights of people in one country is just as bad as violating the civil and human rights of people in another country.

The first video is from Oakland, California, where police officers equipped with riot gear fired tear gas canisters, rubber bullets, and percussion grenades at unarmed and nonviolent Occupy Oakland protesters. The second video is from Al-Khalil in Palestine’s West Bank where the Israeli military equipped with riot gear fired tear gas canisters, rubber bullets, and percussion grenades at unarmed and nonviolent Palestinian protesters.

.
Filed Under: Activism, Media, News Tagged With: , , , ,

On Gilad Shalit’s fifteen minutes of fame and the hummus he ate

October 25, 2011 By 7 Comments

I wonder how long it will take for Gilad Shalit, his family, and his supporters, to realize that his fifteen minutes of fame are almost up. Here is a soldier, a military combatant, a conscientious member of an army implementing the illegal occupation of a people and its land. Shalit is nothing special — the Israeli military currently employs tens of thousands of his prototypes. The only thing that stands out from the ordinary is that Shalit happened to be captured while on active military duty.

Shalit’s capture must have been very embarrassing for Israel. How did one of the world’s most advanced armies fail to outmaneuver a simple scheme? As expected, the Israeli government’s collective ego kicked in and so began another round of PR blitzes to convince the world that Shalit had in fact been the target of an armed human burglary. For the first few weeks, Israel demanded the safe return of its soldier, painting him as a defenseless cub kidnapped by ruthless invaders for no legitimate reason. But soon after, the memory of Shalit disappeared almost as fast as he did. Except by his family and close friends, he was no longer considered a hot topic.

This, however, makes complete sense. Immediately following his capture, the Israeli government put together a collection of talking points to address the public on just how criminal the Palestinians are. Government officials called Shalit a victim of racist thuggery. Propagandists depicted him as a peaceful young man who had nothing to do with Palestinians. Ambassadors urged college students to search for Shalit in their hearts. Flag-wavers argued that his disappearance was evidence of Palestine’s occupation of Israel. Political pundits identified this as an illegal and illegitimate tactic never seen before. [Read more...]

Filed Under: News, Opinion Tagged With: , , , ,

Infographic of land-theft in Palestine published by GOOD

October 23, 2011 By 6 Comments

Infographics are popular these days, and I was surprised to see one about the occupation of Palestine featured in the Politics section of the GOOD official website. The graphic, titled “Cartographic Regression“, highlights Palestinian land-loss from 1917 until today.

My opinions on the graphic are mostly but not entirely favorable. I do appreciate GOOD’s attempt to visually show how Palestinians have been forced to deal with illegal land-theft and colonization for almost an entire century, but certain omissions, such as the de facto annexation of Palestinian land through the Apartheid Wall’s encroachment into the West Bank, leave me disappointed.

Nevertheless, if there is one thing to praise about this piece, it is the detail of the West Bank territory in the map of present-day Palestine. We are oftentimes made to believe that Palestinians maintain complete control over their respective territories, but in the West Bank, where illegal Israeli settlements continue to grow and military forces are deployed to systematically restrict freedom of movement for the indigenous Palestinian people, the area is broken into dozens of small zones that don’t necessarily feature full Palestinian autonomy. Entire roads crossing the West Bank, for example, are for “Israelis only”. This is one detail the graphic designer got right.

Filed Under: Media Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Unforgotten keys: A walk through the West Bank

August 12, 2011 By 7 Comments

Photos and words by Wedad Yassin

Abd, 64, has been a loyal worker in the Hirbawi family’s keffiyeh factory in Al-Khalil (Hebron) since it opened in 1961. This is the only authentic Palestinian keffiyeh factory in the world.

A Palestinian family’s home enclosed by Israel’s apartheid wall. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Guest Contribution, Photo Post Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Reconciliation is a good thing but will it actually represent the Palestinian people?

April 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Hamas and Fatah agreed on Wednesday to reconcile and end all infighting, and to begin work toward establishing a non-partisan-based interim government ahead of long overdue elections. The reconciliation comes over a month after Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip took to the streets to demand unity between the feuding political parties each operating under a different umbrella of policies and circumstances.

The agreement, which resulted from private talks held in the newly liberated Cairo, came as a surprise to unsuspecting Palestinian and international communities. The underlying premise is that division opens the door for occupation whereas unity moves Palestinians one step closer toward declaring statehood. Put this way, it has garnered significant amounts of praise – and justifiably so. But the praise is a bit premature.

There are those who will argue that optimism is the only way to endure decades of occupation. To a certain extent, sure. After all, if it serves as a coping mechanism, then it has proven effective. But blind optimism should never compel the Palestinian people to automatically sign off on a vague proposition as if it’s a last ditch effort for liberation. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Analysis Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Video footage shows Israeli soldiers physically and verbally assaulting protesters

April 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A peaceful demonstration in Beit Ommar turned violent after Israeli soldiers physically and verbally assaulted a small group of activists protesting a new military checkpoint in the small West Bank village. The assault was documented through video footage and released exclusively on Ynet News. The footage features a small squad of Israeli soldiers beating at least four activists and shouting discriminatory slurs at them. According to Ynet, the soldiers had been sent to arrest the protesters.

I came across the following comment in response to the original Ynet article:

These protests are staged for one purpose. To make the IDF look bad. The “protesters” are coached in ways to make the soldiers angry and lose control so they can catch them on the conveniently placed video cameras. Should the soldiers refuse to be provoked? Of course. But how many young men in any situation like this anywhere in the world would have even the self-control that these soldiers do in the face of their own people that they’re risking their lives to protect spitting on them and facilitating their enemies to throw rocks at them. Shame on Ynet for pandering to this manufactured “news!”

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Commentary, News Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

‘Responsible Israel’ requests more military aid to stabilize the region

March 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In light of the recent, awe-inspiring revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa catalyzed by a collective resentment of corrupt dictatorship regimes, the Israeli government has found yet another opportunity to capitalize financially. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the following:

It might be wise to invest another $20 billion to upgrade the security of Israel for the next generation or so….A strong, responsible Israel can become a stabilizer in such a turbulent region.

Israel Considers Military ‘Upgrade’, by Richard Boudreaux and Bill Spindle, Wall Street Journal

In the most objective sense, any assessment of the Israeli military’s most recent incursions in the Gaza Strip or of the government’s financial and legal support of illegal settlements will conclude that the general concept of responsibility is not one of Israel’s priorities. Providing Israel with military aid in the form of physical weaponry or a lump sum check legitimizes further systematic oppression of the Palestinian people and finances the forceful and undoubtedly violent colonization of the Occupied Territories. I am certain the average American taxpayer would prefer to see his or her hard-earned money put towards something more productive.

Every aspect of the Arab revolutions is admirable and I, along with any other true proponent of representative democracy, welcome the changes with open arms. But since the first day of the Tunisian revolution, I’ve been wary of Israel’s military action, particularly in the Gaza Strip. With the world’s focus shifted to the streets of Tunis, Cairo, and now Tripoli, there has been less stringent coverage of the occupation.

I recently spoke to a university student in Gaza City who told me that air raids have become a daily – and even nightly – occurrence. Living conditions continue to reach all-time lows. While Prime Minister Netanyahu feigns interest in a new era of governance in the Middle East, his very own government enforces a strangling siege intended to push Gaza to the “brink of collapse,” as revealed by a Wikileaks cable and confirmed by various Israeli officials. This is the source of turbulence in the region and American investment in Israel’s military isn’t going to improve or even stabilize the current situation. [Read more...]

Filed Under: News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Newer Posts »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 2,859 other followers