Tag: Palestine

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Facebook shuts down Palestinian news site

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(photo: Dado Ruvic / Reuters)

The Israeli Justice Ministry has asked Facebook to disable 12,351 Palestinian accounts.

By Adam Rasgon | The Jerusalem Post | Mar 25, 2018

“While Facebook is taking action against Palestinian content, it is not even paying attention to inciting posts by Israelis.”
— Iyad Rifai, coordinator of Sada Social, an NGO documenting Facebook’s actions against Palestinian accounts

Over the weekend, Facebook disabled the account of Safa, a Gaza-based Palestinian news site; it had almost 1.3 million followers.

Safa is widely seen as sympathetic to Hamas, but an employee at the news site said in a phone call that the media outlet is “independent” and “has no relationship with Hamas.”

Facebook disabled Safa’s account, along with the accounts of 10 Safa editors, just after 5 pm on Saturday, without issuing a warning or providing an explanation, a manager of Safa’s social media team told The Jerusalem Post.

“We were totally surprised,” said the social media manager, who asked not to be named. “We are now working to restore the account because 60% of [the] website’s traffic comes through Facebook.”

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Bolton’s plan to make Palestine disappear

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Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and newly-appointed US National Security Advisor John Bolton. (photo: Shahar Azran)

Bolton is unlikely to be any check on Trump’s worst instincts — and, in fact, is apt to cheerlead those instincts.

By Michael Brown | The Electronic Intifada | Mar 26, 2018

Bolton has proposed a “three-state solution”: Israel, giving Gaza to Egypt, and giving the West Bank to Jordan.

One of the few times Donald Trump talked an iota of sense during his 2016 presidential campaign was when he lambasted the trillions of dollars wasted waging war in the Middle East.

In Charlotte, North Carolina on 26 October 2016 he argued that those wars “have produced only more terrorism, more death, and more suffering” and the money involved could have been better spent at home.

Yet in the last few weeks Trump has announced his determination to move CIA director Mike Pompeo — to be replaced there, he hopes, by torturer Gina Haspel — to head the State Department and has named superhawk John Bolton, a former ambassador to the United Nations, to be his national security adviser.

Bolton’s bellicosity strikes terror into the hearts of activists who have followed his career. Social media lit up between fears of war with Iran and war with North Korea.

He is, as The New York Review of Books rightly put it, “one angry man.”

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Were Palestinians wrong to endorse a nonviolent struggle?

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A demonstrator protests against Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Nablus, Dec 29, 2017. (photo: Mohamad Torokman / Reuters)

Europe told us that only after we Palestinians endorsed non-violence and the 1967 borders would they act on our behalf. We did. Now they refuse to act, because of pressure from a rogue state — America.

By Saeb Erekat | Haaretz | Mar 21, 2018

By refusing to work with the only established international order to assert Palestinian rights [the United Nations Human Rights Council], the Israeli government gets carte blanche to continue colonizing Palestinian land, while the Palestinian people get the message that international law and diplomacy are useless in their quest for freedom, justice and independence.

This is actually happening. European countries, members of the European Union, itself birthed out of the ashes of the last century’s unprecedented atrocities, are currently putting pressure on Palestine not to demand its rights at the United Nations Human Rights Council.

This Friday, four resolutions on Palestine will be voted on, and some European countries are concerned about the political implications of any calls to hold Israel accountable for its systematic violations of international law.

The very international legal standards Palestine clings to — self-determination, non-acquisition of territory through force, and equality — are the bedrock of the European project.

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A Palestinian mother’s open letter to Melania and Ivanka Trump

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A Palestinian mother and her child walk past the Israeli Army’s Qalandiya checkpoint as clashes take place. (photo: Oren Ziv / Activestills.org)

Mrs. Trump, imagine yourselves in my position. What would you do?

By Dalal Erakat | +972 Magazine | Mar 21, 2018

Mothers are advised to tell the truth. That was okay until my kids asked if Israeli soldiers could enter our city at night and harm us at anytime. I did not want to say yes, but I realized that as a Palestinian mother I could not hide the reality of occupation from them. So I told them the truth. As a mother, I don’t want my kids to lose faith in me, but at the same time, I can’t stop thinking about how they are just kids: they deserve a decent childhood and upbringing away from all the violence and insecurity of the ongoing conflict.

Raising kids in Palestine is exhausting — not just physically but also mentally. For as soon as kids become aware of the reality surrounding them, at around the age of three or four, every Palestinian mother must find explanations to help them comprehend what’s going on around them.

Even a simple trip from the West Bank to Jerusalem requires a strategic plan, especially after Mr. Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Couldn’t Mr. Trump have declared Jerusalem to be an open, global city as way of resolving the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians? How do you explain all this to a four-year-old?

March 21 is Mother’s Day in Palestine, which is why I am writing to you, Melania and Ivanka.

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The problem with international aid to Palestine

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Palestinians take part in a protest against aid cuts, outside the UN offices in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Jan 28, 2018. (photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90)

The Palestinian people have become dependent on foreign humanitarian aid to survive, but its adverse effects are strangling their economy.

By Liora Sion | +972 Magazine | Mar 20, 2018

Since the end of the Cold War, states have preferred humanitarian aid over development funds as a means of influencing international politics. Humanitarian aid is not an end in and of itself, but a tool to solve conflicts and promote state building. As such, it is dependent on the interests of the donor countries.

International aid to the Palestinians is very generous. The United Nations is aiming to raise approximately $540 million per year for the five million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. That’s a lot of money when compared to sums raised for other countries in crisis. For example, take Afghanistan, where the UN hopes to raise $437 million for the 34 million citizens of the country, despite the enormous difficulties it faces. In Iraq, a country in desperate need of rehabilitation, the UN seeks to raise $550 million for a population of 37 million. When compared to African countries such as Burundi ($113 million in aid for 10 million people) or Cameroon ($304.5 million for 23 million people), the gap is even more alarming.

Ironically, despite the vast sums, humanitarian aid doesn’t just help the Palestinians — it also harms them. Since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, the occupied territories have seen a steady economic decline and a rise in unemployment. These phenomena are tied, of course, largely due to the IDF’s closures and checkpoints, which have dismembered the West Bank and prevent both people and goods from moving about freely. Humanitarian organizations, however, also play a role.

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Take a side — the side of justice

Listen to Anne Baltzer’s inspiring TEDx on having the courage to take a side and take a stand.

By Anne Baltzer | TEDxOcala | Dec 8, 2017

“Equality is about treating everyone the same. Equity is about leveling the playing field.”

“I found a system of segregated roads, with nice roads for Jewish Israeli settlers and separate roads for Palestinians. And all around me I saw inspiring Palestinian popular resistance and its violent suppression by Israel, a military superpower armed by my own country, the United States.

“And I knew that Israel would pay me to move on to that Palestinian land, simply because I’m Jewish. I did not know at the time that Israel’s Jewish majority could only exist through the removal of Palestinians. . . .

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Why Benjamin is walking from Sweden to Palestine

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Benjamin Ladraa is walking from Sweden across Europe all the way to Palestine to raise awareness of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. (photo: Benjamin Ladraa)

Benjamin’s journey takes him to communities across Europe large and small, taking the first step towards justice.

By Benjamin Ladraa | TRT World | Mar 13, 2018

I went through the Swedish school system and came out knowing close to nothing about Palestine. I decided then that the most effective thing I could do to propel the change that was so urgently needed was to reach as many people as possible, and share the stories from Palestine with them.

The year 2017 was an auspicious one which marked the centenary of the Balfour declaration, the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, 50th anniversary of the total occupation of Palestine and the 10th anniversary of the siege on Gaza.

Each one of these events represents a tragedy that is difficult to describe in words and are all a part of the gradual destruction of the Palestinian people.

Having pursued a musical career for most of my life, Palestine and Israel was not really a topic I knew much about. After meeting some Palestinians through my part-time job at the Red Cross and hearing their stories I became curious and started reading about the occupation and eventually I decided to visit.

What I witnessed left me shocked to the core.

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New program sends Palestinian students to Ivy League schools

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Nora Marzouqa, 17, chose to attend Harvard University for its research opportunities in medicine. (photo: Taawon)

The initiative, called Bridge Palestine, is the first of its kind in the country, providing after-school classes designed to train high-potential students to compete for education abroad.

By Zena Tahhan | Al Jazeera | Mar 14, 2018

“We teach them how to write good essays, how to succeed in interviews, how to be good citizens, the basic skills of dialogue, how to be rationally and not emotionally driven, what types of questions they should ask, how to have an open mind and be open to diversity.”
— Tafeeda Jarbawi, director-general of Taawon

Nora Marzouqa, a 17-year-old Palestinian from Bethlehem, has wanted to study at Harvard University for as long as she can remember. But the aspiring doctor and skilled debater grew up believing her dream was out of reach.

“I’ve seen my family members try to study abroad but they couldn’t for financial reasons, and also because we have to do the Tawjihi [Palestinian matriculation exam] and most universities abroad don’t recognize these test scores,” she tells Al Jazeera.

“It just seemed impossible for me — I didn’t know what the process was or how to go about doing it.”

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Film: This is Palestine (Tomorrow)

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Pushing for Change: Mideast Focus Ministry Film Series V

“This is Palestine” brings us to the present day by exploring the impact of ongoing conflict and military occupation on the people who live under it. This film features powerful interviews with people who have lost homes, land, family members and friends in their struggle to bring changes during the 50-year-long occupation of the West Bank.

Date: Friday, Mar 9, 2018
Time: 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Location: Bloedel Hall
St. Mark’s Cathedral
1245 10th Ave E
Seattle, WA  98102
Information: Event website
Admission: Free

Event Details

Our concern is to help balance the limited and confusing media coverage of the Holy Land. We use compelling films as an entry point for reflection and discussion. As Christians, we respond to Christ’s call to seek justice and love the oppressed. As Americans, we ask: Can we reconcile this calling with our government’s massive financial support of Israeli military operations? We hope the time will come when Jews, Muslims and Christians will again come together in harmony in the Holy Land.

In this series, we see how people pushed to bring about a safe country for the Jewish people, and how today others are still push- ing for safety and change. Do our efforts for change lead to peace and justice . . . or not?

More information here →

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Prince William to make historic visit to Israel and Palestine

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Prince William addresses the Royal Foundation Forum in London. (photo: Chris Jackson / PA)

The Duke of Cambridge is due to arrive this summer, the first official visit ever by British royals to Israel or the Occupied Territories.

By Oliver Holmes | The Guardian | Mar 1, 2018

The visit [will be] an opportunity for the Duke of Cambridge to travel to areas of Jerusalem annexed by Israel, see illegally built settlements and understand the UK’s historical role in the conflict.

Prince William will become the first British royal to make an official visit to Israel and Palestine, an unexpected move given that political sensitivities in the region have stalled a formal trip for decades.

Kensington Palace said in a tweet that the Duke of Cambridge would visit later this year as part of a Middle East tour. The high-profile visit was “at the request of Her Majesty’s government and has been welcomed by the Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian authorities,” it added.

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