Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Eman Abusidu
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A Palestinian refugee has been nominated as the most influential student in the world
A Palestinian student born and raised in a refugee camp in Lebanon has been selected as one of the top 50 finalists for the 2021 Chegg Global Student Prize. More than 3,500 candidates from 94 countries around the world were nominated for having a real impact on learning, the...
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Europe wants a school curriculum for Israel to occupy Palestinian minds as well as land
Israel’s Ynet news website has claimed that discussions have taken place in the European Parliament about freezing funding for education programmes in the occupied Palestinian territories, because pupils are “encouraged” towards violence against Israelis. Such allegations are not new. In December 2020, Norway’s legislature backed cuts in aid to...
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Turkey is now the destination of choice for Palestinians
The first question asked of you in Turkey is often “Where are you from?” When you say, “Palestine”, Turkish eyes light up, because the people love Palestine and the Palestinians. Theirs is a very popular cause in Turkey. Moreover, although Istanbul in particular is well-known for its great mosques, there...
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Palestine Travellers are flying the flag for their country
Last week, the founder of Palestine Travellers, Ramzi Abbasi, posted a video on Instagram showing the moment when he and his friends held the flag of Palestine aloft at the summit of Mount Ararat in Turkey. At 5,137 metres above sea level, it is the highest peak in the...
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Meet Aya Halaf, a Palestinian singer and teacher keeping her heritage alive
Many of us have never heard about the martyrs of Al-Buraq Revolution except through the popular song “Min Sijjin Akka” (“From Akka Prison”), which mentions Fouad Hijazi, Atta Al-Zeer, and Mohammed Khalil Jamjoum. The lyrics of this song have become part of Palestinian heritage and are sung at national...
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How much more can Palestinian refugees in Lebanon bear?
Four generations of Palestinian refugees, descendants of the 750,000 Palestinians ethnically cleansed from their land in 1948, are spread across the global diaspora. More than half a million live in Lebanon, making up around 10 per cent of the total population. Just over half live in UN-run refugee camps...
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Facebook is imposing ‘digital apartheid’ on pro-Palestine accounts and content
Social media has played a major role in spreading awareness of the Palestinian cause, providing a voice to those marginalised by the mainstream. Now, though, social media outlets are excluding Palestinian voices from their platforms in order to silence them. Dozens of Palestinian pages and accounts have been removed,...
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‘I want to make beauty from this ugliness’, says Gaza’s first calligraffiti artist
‘The soul that fights in us’ are the words which Palestinian artist Belal Khaled spent four days drawing onto the 50 metre long, seven metre high bombed wall of a building in Gaza. With a flat brush and a bucket brimming with colours, Belal translated the Palestinian people’s feelings...
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Israel should focus on Brazil for migrant Jews, says one major institute
What do you think of when someone mentions Brazil? Football? Coffee? The samba? Lovely people? Any and all of these probably. However, for Israel, Brazil is the home of 120,000 Jews, all of whom are potential migrants to the occupation state. Haaretz reported on 20 June that according to researchers...
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Why does Israel ban Palestinian mothers from accompanying sick children from Gaza seeking treatment in the West Bank?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) pointed out in its 2020 annual report that, “All patients and patient companions from the Gaza Strip must apply for Israeli permits to exit the Gaza Strip in order to access hospitals in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and Israel.” Israel’s blockade of the...
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Israel wants to control media output from Gaza, but can’t
In just three words, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza set social media buzzing: “The tower collapsed.” That was how Wael Al-Dahdouh announced to the world that the tower block housing Al Jazeera and other media offices had been bombed by Israel and was coming down. He is well known...
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‘We are the free voice of Palestine’: Brazil and Argentina continue their support of Palestine
The world is continuing to express its solidarity with the Palestinian people, especially following recent events in Gaza and Sheikh Jarrah. Latin America has conveyed a strong spirit of support for Palestine, particularly Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Mosques were lit, flags were raised and people chanted in support on...
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The struggle for our rights in Palestine must continue until the occupation ends
I am a Palestinian. I know about pain. I have felt it, seen it and lived through it many times. Ever since I was born, the Gaza Strip has faced brutal Israeli military offensives and incursions. Scenes of death and destruction are the backdrop to my life, having witnessed...
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Chile’s Club Deportivo Palestino stands in solidarity with Jerusalem
Solidarity with the Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah and the people of occupied Jerusalem is being shown in many ways. Club Deportivo Palestino in Chile’s Premier League expressed its solidarity with the team wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh before the game against Colo-Colo on Saturday. The football club was founded in Chile...
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Life goes on during Ramadan despite Covid restrictions in Brazil
In an interview with Jihad Hammadeh, president of the Cinco Pilares institution ICP for humanitarian aid ...
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NASA’s Palestinian engineer gets ready to make history once again
Palestinian electrical engineer Loay Elbasyouni, who was part of the NASA team which sent the Perseverance spacecraft to Mars last month, has returned to prominence as the space agency prepares for the first helicopter flight on Mars later this morning. NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter is just a few hours...
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A second wave of Covid-19 has hit the Gaza Strip with devastating effect
The humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip is worsening as health officials report more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases daily. They warn of a healthcare catastrophe under an Israeli-led blockade that restricts medical imports, among many other things. The impact of the pandemic is devastating in such a closed...
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Meet the Palestinian refugee who commemorates Land Day every year in Brazil
On 30 March, 1976, forty-five years ago today, Israeli occupation forces killed six Palestinians as they were protesting against the government’s expropriation of Palestinian land. The events on that day have been remembered ever since as Land Day, and are commemorated annually. The day has come to symbolise the...
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Despite the pandemic and domestic crisis, Brazil maintains its support for Palestine
Brazil is facing the collapse of its health service under the second-highest number of coronavirus infections in the world and the government is in the midst of a domestic political crisis. Nevertheless, it maintains its support for the self-determination of the Palestinian people and their struggle to regain their...
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Young Palestinians in Gaza have shown the way to export inspiration through TEDx
TEDx events provide a unique platform to unleash new ideas, to inspire and to inform. I have always wondered whether the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip could ever organise such an international event one day. I need wonder no longer, though, for last week the TEDx team invited me...
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Despite the hardship, for 2 million Palestinians Gaza is home, and they can’t wait to get back
Two million people live on the sliver of land along the Mediterranean coast of Palestine that we know as the Gaza Strip. They have endured 14 years of Israeli-led blockade; many of their homes have been destroyed or badly damaged; the infrastructure is shaky at the best of times;...
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The ‘soft resistance’ of doctor-cartoonist Alaa’ Allaqta
The Palestinian people have used many tactics in their legitimate resistance against the Israeli occupation which has robbed them of their land, rights and holy places. The use of caricature is one of these modes of resistance which have angered and even hurt the Israeli occupation. The 1987 assassination...
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The Muslim winner of Bake Off Brasil promotes her recipes and her faith
A Lebanese Brazilian Muslim woman who won the first series of Bake Off Brasil in 2015 is now a well-known figure all over the country. Samira Ghannoum won the competition over 13 weeks watched by millions in 20 countries across Latin America. “I am very happy to be the first...
