Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Oraib Al-Rantawi
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The raging Israeli bull fears no constraints or punishments
Like a raging bull, the Israeli authorities are throwing their weight around the occupied Palestinian territories, launching air strikes on the Gaza Strip; besieging Hebron and carrying out raids and search operations; mass arrests; taking the children and women of wanted and hounded Palestinians as hostages; and placing barriers...
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From Tunis to Cairo: who are these "new revolutionaries"?
Who are the new revolutionaries filling the streets of Tunis, Cairo, Sana’a and other Arab cities? Where have they come from; to what social, cultural and political background do they belong? What are their aims and aspirations? What do we read into their slogans? These are important questions which,...
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Winning the Battle of UNESCO
Israel wants to punish the Palestinians because they obtained full membership of UNESCO; the United States wants to punish UNESCO because it granted Palestine full membership. In the presence of such strategic allies, how can the state of Palestine ever come to fruition? And in the presence of such...
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The reconciliation train is back on track, but beware of further derailment
The meeting in Cairo between Mahmoud Abbas and Khaled Meshaal can be best described as “an important step in the right direction”, not least because reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas appears to be more likely. It has set the stage for dialogue which, it is hoped, will move beyond...
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When Clinton compares Israel's religious fundamentalism to Iran's "rule of the mullahs", the writing is on the wall for the "Jewish state"
Israel is no longer “the only democracy” in the political desert of the Middle East; indeed, it never was. Any country which maintains a military occupation, builds illegal colonies and practices racism in the land of another doesn’t deserve to call itself democratic. Nevertheless, that’s the stereotypical image of...
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Calling all friends of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa
Palestinians have been putting their bodies and lives on the line against repeated Israeli aggression in the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Sometimes they have succeeded in pushing back the hordes of illegal Jewish settlers and the Israeli soldiers protecting them; sometimes they...
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There can be no election without Jerusalem and Hamas
It looks as if Israel intends to put many obstacles in the way of the proposed Palestinian election, not least that it does not want polling stations in Jerusalem – “the eternal capital of the unified state for Jews only” and it does not want Hamas to participate, directly or...
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When Beilin calls on Abbas to hand over the PA to Netanyahu, we should listen
Yossi Beilin is a smart man – he told us so himself – and because of that, he is quite certain that the Netanyahu government will not accept the four Palestinian demands of (1) the cessation of settlement activity; (2) adopting the 4th June 1967 border as a reference; (3)...
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Fatah and Hamas reconciliation still misses the main issues in the national struggle
From a strategic point of view, the reform of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) is the most important issue for the parties to Palestinian reconciliation. However, it is the least important concern for both the parties and observers. All discussions focus on forming a national unity government headed by...
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Salam Fayyad and his exclusive election theory
We were afraid that the Palestinian leadership would neglect the right of Palestinians in the diaspora to elect their representatives to the Palestinian National Council. Now we are also afraid that the current leadership will even ignore the right of Palestinians inside Palestine to choose their president and representatives...
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Netanyahu's gambles
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to impose a long-term ceasefire on Hamas and the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, one that lasts for fifteen years at least. This is reminiscent of his predecessor Ariel Sharon’s project for a lengthy “transitional” solution. Sharon proposed the establishment of a Palestinian state in...
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Israeli messages to the delegates holding talks in Cairo
Israel has been sending messages confirming its intentions to undermine the merit of Palestinian elections and derail their national reconciliation efforts. The most prominent of these messages have been the threats to continue withholding tax revenue owed to the PA and its recent campaign of arrests against Hamas activists...
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The third intifada and the decisive year
The Israeli military has warned about the outbreak of a “third intifada” in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. I have also warned of this before now, as there have been several signs that this is a distinct possibility. First, the “peace process” and “two-state solution” have reached a dead...
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Palestinians and another deadline... that is not sacred?
The Palestinian leadership has begun to speak about this coming September as the month of the three appointments or deadlines; for the end of the year of negotiations approved by Washington, the Quartet and the international community; the end of the “two year” period designated by the caretaker government...
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Does President Abbas have the power to dissolve the Palestinian Authority?
Just one week separates two recent statements by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, each of which contradicts the other. He hinted in his first statement to a “conditional acceptance” of a state with provisional borders; in his second statement he threatened to dissolve the Palestinian Authority, after “discovering” that it...
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Netanyahu's Jewish Republic of Israel
The Israeli Knesset (parliament) has started its latest session full of racism and hatred. It is scheduled to discuss a number of laws devoted to the country’s supposed “Jewish identity”. The first of these is the “citizenship law”, which is backed by the Netanyahu government with the support of the...
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The battle of the siege, border crossings and reconciliation starts now
The recent calls across the world for the siege on Gaza to be eased, if not lifted, are welcomed by most people but not, it seems, those in power in Ramallah and Cairo. Reports from the West Bank and Egypt suggest that concerns exist about lifting the siege and...
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The art of making a leader: Fayyad as a model
Whenever the topic of the Palestinian Authority arises, few people talk about the institution itself, or the PLO or its President. The main topic for discussion is Salam Fayyad and his “genius” attempt to build the institutions of state while under Israeli occupation but with a view to ending...
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On the Debate with Freedom House
According to its own website, Freedom House is “an independent watchdog organisation that supports the expansion of freedom around the world”. It “supports democratic change, monitors freedom, and advocates for democracy and human rights”. At the end of last month (29 April 2010) the organisation published a report on...
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Palestinians face a the third wave of expulsions
When he began his first period in office in 1996, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received advice from a group of scholars and experts. Under the chairmanship of Richard Perle, one of the staunchest of US Zionist neo-conservatives, the group aimed to formulate an alternative strategy to Oslo-Taba, which...
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A quest for peace or preparation for a new war?
In an attempt to justify her country’s determination to tighten international sanctions against Iran, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has constructed a scenario wild enough to make reasonable people question her grasp of reality. A nuclear Iran, she claims, would launch a nuclear arms race in the Middle...
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The Palestinian Authority and the settlement freeze
How do we stop the creeping growth of Israeli settlements? How do we put the freeze on settlements in their various manifestations at the top of the agenda for the struggle of the Palestinian people? How do we resist external pressures for a ‘resumption of peace talks’ without a...
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Unsafe Assurances
Have you noticed how Washington has quietly stopped trying to “freeze settlement activities” – a Palestinian precondition for the resumption of peace negotiations – after the Obama administration found out the hard way that it has limited influence over Netanyahu’s right-wing government in Israel? Of course, that doesn’t mean...
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Is this the new Bar-Lev Line?
Our brothers in Egypt have the right to dig trenches as they want, build walls as they like, and stick in the ground, to whatever depth they want, reinforced steel beams. All these actions and those like them apparently fall into the category of “national sovereignty” and we must...