Author: Kairos Puget Sound Coalition

By Wesam Abu Shamaleh | Middle East Monitor | Sept 15, 2022

The Palestinian resistance leadership is a unique example of sacrifice; dozens of military and political leaders have been martyred, as have many family members.

This week marked the 17th anniversary of the Israel army’s unilateral evacuation from Gaza in 2005, after a physical occupation lasting 38 years. Gaza was always a thorn in the side of the occupation state, prompting former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to say, “I wish I could wake up one day and find that Gaza has sunk into the sea.”

It also forced Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister in 2005, to retreat from his categorical refusal to withdraw from Gaza and his commitment to Jewish settlements in the enclave. He withdrew his soldiers, evacuated thousands of settlers and destroyed all of their settlements in Gaza, unconditionally. Twenty-one settlements covering around 35 per cent of the Gaza Strip were destroyed as the troops and settlers pulled out.

Continue reading “Why does Israel regard Gaza as a constant threat?”

By blurring the line between combatants and civilians, Israel justifies its repression of Palestinians — and decries all resistance to it as “terrorism.”

By Orly Noy | +972 Magazine | Sept 6, 2022

When it comes to the Palestinian struggle, Israel chooses to have its cake and eat it too: to kill Palestinians as combatants, while jailing them as civilians, not as prisoners of war, as is required by international law.

The shooting at a soldiers’ bus on Sunday in the Jordan Valley, in the occupied West Bank, sent Israel’s military reporters and security commentators rushing to the news studios in familiar fashion. Accordingly, everyone used the same vocabulary to describe what happened: the Palestinian shooters were defined in all of the reports as “terrorists,” while the event itself was a “terrorist attack.”

And yet, none of the reports I saw on the various channels mentioned the basic fact that the shooting happened in occupied territory. The Israeli media avoids making the crucial distinction between an action directed against soldiers and an action directed against civilians; just like the regime it serves, in the eyes of the vast majority of the Israeli media there is no Palestinian struggle that is not inherently defined as terrorism, be it armed or unarmed.

Continue reading “A soldier is not a civilian”

A new report from Emek Shaveh shows how Israeli settlers and the government use archeological projects to advance the annexation of Palestinian land.

By Jeff Wright |  Mondoweiss | Sept 4, 2022

“the ruins of the past have become a political tool in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict… [we] work to challenge those who use archaeological sites to dispossess disenfranchised communities.”
— Emek Shaveh, Israeli NGO website

In its 18-page biannual report released last week, Emek Shaveh documents the plans of Israeli government bodies and settler organizations it says are “designed to change the demographic and historic character of East Jerusalem.” The report also details “a widespread effort [in the West Bank] to crack down on Palestinian construction, agricultural activity and the development of heritage sites.

”Settlers and government bodies seize land or assume control, the report charges, “under the pretext of archeological research or the development of historic sites for the public benefit.” Continue reading “How Israeli settlers use archeology to displace Palestinians from their land “

For liberal Jewish readers abroad, the front-row seat that Haaretz English provides to a less rose-tinted reality of Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is discomfiting – and compelling.

By Dov Waxman | Haaretz | Sept 8, 2022

Committed to journalistic independence…Haaretz English has consistently delivered unvarnished reporting and unrestrained opinion, in stark contrast to the rose-colored hasbara (public diplomacy/propaganda) of the Israeli government, which is all too often echoed in much of the Israeli and Jewish press.

When the English edition of Haaretz was first published in September 1997, Benjamin Netanyahu was prime minister of Israel, for the first time. A quarter-century later, he looks likely to become prime minister again, for the seventh time.

But while Netanyahu continues to dominate Israeli politics, in many other respects – both positive and negative – Israel has significantly changed since Haaretz English first appeared.

Continue reading “Opinion: Haaretz English at 25: Diaspora Jews Meet Israel’s Gritty Reality”

By Ramona Wadi |  Middle East Monitor | Sept 1, 2022

“It would be hard to explain that in addition to being reluctant to hold Israel accountable for destroying the two-state solution before our eyes, you would also oppose a positive way that contributes to saving the two-state solution, which is the official policy of the United States,”
— Riyad Mansour, Palestinian Ambassador to the UN

The Palestinian Authority is once again seeking full membership of the UN, and the US has already expressed its opposition. The two-state compromise continues to form the premise for the arguments both for and against UN membership, as presented by the PA and the US respectively. However, the PA’s political decision-making is so fragmented, that its arguments in favour of the two-state compromise only strengthen those within the international community, and in this case the US, who oppose Palestine becoming a full UN member state.

Continue reading “The two-state compromise drives arguments for and against Palestine’s UN membership”

Settler violence in Hebron exposes the true colonial face of the Zionist project, and the world cannot sit idly by while it continues.

By Mella Jongebloed | Mondoweiss | Aug 27, 2022

As Israel tries to prevent tourists from traveling to the West Bank by scaring them off, it is my duty to bear witness to what I have seen

A group of eleven young settlers pass by, aged somewhere between fifteen and eighteen. Two soldiers walk with them on foot and a military vehicle drives beside them. Along the side of the road are outposts where soldiers have their guns ready at any time. The settlers say something to us in Hebrew that we don’t understand, their faces show an arrogance that does not match their age. A few meters down the road, we see one of them spitting on a Palestinian man who sits on the staircase in front of his house. When we pass the man, we reckon he is mute. He mumbles unintelligible words, points with his arms at the settlers, seemingly upset but not able to tell what happened.

Continue reading “Illegal kings on Palestinian land”

Sources say report shows CIA unable to find evidence to support Israeli claim, but finding does not prompt US rebuttal.

By Isaac Scher | The Guardian | Aug 22, 2022

…“the United States should very clearly call on the Israeli government to reverse these designations, and to allow these organizations to continue their vital work,”
— Omar Shakir, Israel/Palestine director of Human Rights Watch

A classified CIA report shows the agency was unable to find any evidence to support Israel’s decision to label six prominent Palestinian NGOs as “terrorist organizations”.

In October, Israel labeled as terror groups Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International–Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, and the Union of Palestinian Women Committees.

Continue reading “CIA unable to corroborate Israel’s ‘terror’ label for Palestinian rights groups”

By Richard Silverstein | Tikun Olam תיקון עולם | Aug 10, 2022

But when Palestinian reality gives you a dead baby, you better admit something’s terribly wrong; and that you will never be able to fix it with good intentions.

Is there a solution to the conflict? I would argue, no.  Forever? No.  But for now, there is no reasonable chance to reach such a solution.  Has there been a chance over the past 70 years? No.  For the next 70 years? Maybe.

This is a tough thing to admit for someone who’s been devoted to the idea that there is a solution, and has been working for decades toward it.  But you have to look reality dead in the face without flinching, and say what you really see.  Not what you want to see.  The truth is very plain.  It’s staring us in the face.  We just hate what we see so much we don’t want to admit it.

Continue reading “Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: No Solutions, No Illusions”

Below is a letter about the recent (August 2022) Israeli attacks on Gaza.  NVI has long advocated for a nonviolent resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Please get involved. The status quo is horrible, particularly for the Palestinians. 

By Jonathan Kuttab | Nonviolence International | August 11, 2022

The biggest victory for Israel was in the muted response by the American media.

Israel is currently gloating over its recent operation in Gaza. It succeeded by all measures: Israel initiated the conflict, first by arresting an Islamic Jihad leader in the West Bank city of Jenin and dragging him out in humiliation, as he was bitten by a dog; then, anticipating a reaction by his organization, Israel proceeded to bombard Gaza “preemptively.” In three short days, the Israeli military managed to rain death and destruction on Gaza, assassinating another Islamic Jihad leader, killing 46 Palestinians (including 16 children), and wounding 460 others. Meanwhile, it suffered no casualties itself aside from a few lightly wounded by shrapnel. The world press largely followed the Israeli narrative, giving credit to Israeli lies that it was Palestinian fire that killed its child-victims. Israel succeeded in calculating and limiting the actions it initiated, as Hamas was both bribed and bullied into staying on the sidelines and Egypt quickly moved in to suggest a ceasefire once Israel felt satisfied.

Continue reading “Gaza: Cruelty without consequences”

Meta’s inaction raises many questions.

By Omar Zahzah  | The Eletronic Intifada | July 28, 2022

If these are indeed values to which Meta holds itself, Palestine is apparently an exception to the norm

Tech giant Meta – owner of Facebook – is increasingly being identified with censorship and repression of pro-Palestine content.

The company has regularly targeted accounts advancing the Palestinian liberation struggle in various capacities, subjecting them to all forms of obstruction, from shadow-banning to outright deletion.

But up until now, Meta’s political bigotry has largely revolved around hiding, blocking or removing content that centers Palestine.

Continue reading “Meta facilitates bullying of Palestine activists”