Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Professor Kamel Hawwash
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The Palestinian voice will be heard at the Labour conference
John Bercow, the speaker of the UK’s House of Commons, will be standing down soon. He has been an animated figure, whose gesticulations and dressing downs of MPs have left a mark with viewers all over the world. At the height of the continuing Brexit saga, my 7-year-old son...
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The whole world is a threat to Israel’s security
Israel’s greatest weapon against peace is its endlessly fluid security needs. It really is a case of “how long is its security piece of string”? The piece of string keeps being elongated and its demands are always at the edge of that. With its ever expanding security reach, the...
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Israel won’t silence Tlaib, Omar by banning them from entry
US Representatives, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, a thorn in the side of the American establishment and the pro-Israel lobby have been banned from entering Israel and Palestine. There is no precedent for American congressmen or women being denied entry or as in this case, boarding a flight to...
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The US administration and fanatic Zionism
For decades now, the Palestinians have been looking for an ‘honest peace broker’ to bring an end to their suffering through a negotiated peace agreement with Israel. However, the image of US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman beaming as he snuck into a tunnel under the Palestinian Jerusalem neighbourhood of...
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Kushner unites Palestinians against the Bahrain workshop
Donald Trump’s senior advisor on the Middle East peace process, Jared Kushner has achieved something many have failed to achieve. He has managed to unite Palestinians at all levels in rejecting the first stage of the “deal of the century”, namely the “Manama workshop”. This political novice and his partner...
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Why supporters of the Palestinian people are marching in London on the 11th of May
It is not 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 or 70 years since the Nakba, the Palestinian people’s Catastrophe. This year the Palestinians will be marking the 71st year since their dispossession and the creation of Apartheid state, Israel, in their homeland and against their will. Enough is enough....
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37 ex-EU leaders wrote a letter, so what could the current European leaders do to deliver justice to Palestinians?
The European Union is at a crossroads when it comes to the Palestine-Israel conflict. It can continue to provide cover for Israeli breaches of international law and oppression of the Palestinian people or it can stand up both to Israel and to its chief ally, the United States of...
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There are no fig leaves left to cover the uncomfortable and illegal facts about Israel
There is nothing left of the rotten fig leaves which have been used to cover Israeli Apartheid. On 19 July last year, Israel’s parliament and main democratic institution, the Knesset, passed the racist Nation-State Law, which gave the right to self-determination in Israel only to Jews. In the run...
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Grenfell Tower and Christchurch, 2 prime ministers, one leader
I had not heard of New Zealand’s 38-year-old prime minster Jacinda Ardern until the recent mosque massacres in Christchurch in which over 50 Muslims attending Friday prayers were attacked by a far right terrorist. In cold blood he emptied his semi-automatic rifles at one mosque and then calmly drove...
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From Qana to Gaza, Israel issues denials and smears investigations of its crimes
I wrote recently about an EU report on the growth of illegal Israeli settlements and argued that the EU was diligent in documenting Israel’s-breaches of international law but that it has singularly failed to bring it to account, even when it has demolished EU-funded projects. A more recent report commissioned...
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The EU documents Israeli crimes; now it must do something about them
The lack of action to bring Israel to account for more than seven decades’ worth of crimes against the Palestinian people is obvious. “Enough is enough” is an overused phrase, but in the case of the people of occupied Palestine, it does not even scratch the surface in terms...
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Al-Aqsa under threat as Israeli elections loom
When Muslims first prayed, they faced Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem rather than Makkah. When Prophet Mohammed (Peace be Upon Him) ascended to heaven, he did so from Al-Aqsa, not Makkah. Muslims believe the rock from which he ascended (Mi’raj) is the same rock in the basement of the Dome...
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HSBC divests from major Israeli arms company ten years after Operation Cast Lead
It is ten years since Israel launched a major military offensive against the people of the Gaza Strip, which it called Operation Cast Lead. Israel started its bombardment on 27 December, 2008, as Palestinian children were heading home at the end of the school day. The war lasted for...
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Nikki Haley’s swansong at the UN was an embarrassment
The 6 December was the first anniversary of US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and that he would move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city. The announcement was cheered by Israel and its supporters for whom international laws and...
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While Arab states normalise relations with Israel, British voters lobby MPs for Palestine
November was an extraordinary month for normalisation between Arab states and Israel. You would think that Israel had settled its disputes with its neighbours — perhaps accepting and implementing the Arab peace initiative, for example, — and that a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital was close...
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Western hypocrisy: Khashoggi and Murtaja two deceased journalists but the world will only remember one
Yaser Murtaja was a Palestinian photojournalist who had gone to the Gaza fence with Israel to cover the second Friday of the Great Return March. He was killed by an IDF sniper on 7 April. There was modest coverage of his death coming on the second Friday of the...
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With no meaningful international plan, Khan Al-Ahmar needs a popular uprising to save it
The Palestinian Bedouin residents of Khan Al-Ahmar wake up every morning relieved that the Israeli occupation’s bulldozers did not arrive overnight to destroy their homes and their children’s school. They remain fearful, though, that it is only a matter of time before their village is destroyed and they are...
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Trump’s Administration will fail to break the Palestinians
Trump and Netanyahu are now brothers in arms in racism against the Palestinians...
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With Israel’s Nation State Law in place, violence against Palestinians will get worse
Ever since Israel passed the Nation State Law, Palestinians and neutral observers have been wondering about its possible impact on the substantial Palestinian minority in Israel as well as those living under occupation in the rest of historic Palestine. The law says that Israel is the state for Jews...
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If free speech is to mean anything at all, its principles must be applied equally
Britain’s two major political parties have been gripped by accusations that they have a problem with racism. In the case of the Labour Party, this allegedly takes the form of anti-Semitism, while in the Conservative Party, it is alleged Islamophobia. Clouding the anti-Semitism issue, somewhat, is the fact that...
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Israel challenges the world: I am an Apartheid state, what are you going to do about it?
Remember the date, 19 July 2018 is when Israel’s pretense of democracy, the Knesset passed the Nation State Bill, which could more aptly be called, the “Jewish State Apartheid Law” where Jews dominate the Israeli Palestinian Arabs who are lesser than them, even if they are citizens. I deliberately...
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Ireland’s decision to advance boycott bill could be the tipping point for justice for Palestine
The Palestinian people are in need of some good news to boost their morale at an extremely difficult time in their struggle for freedom, justice and equality. There has been little good news, particularly since US President Trump took office, recognised Jerusalem as capital of Israel, moved the US Embassy...
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Israel’s royal reward for discriminating against Palestinians
As Britain’s Prince William arrives in Israel for a royal visit that will also see him visit the Occupied Palestinian Territories, does he really understand the country upon which he is bestowing an air of normality? The same question would apply to any world leader or dignitaries making a...
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Israel’s most famous human shield is its defence minister, Avigdor Lieberman
The Israeli propaganda machine has been in full swing since 30 March when the Great Return March saw tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza march to the fence with Israel demanding that they be allowed to return to their home towns and villages and for an end to the...
