Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Ramona Wadi
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Venezuela hosts 1st Latin American Congress on Palestinian Right of Return
Last Friday, Venezuela hosted the first Latin American Congress of the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine. The initiative brought together Palestinian solidarity activists from various countries across Latin America, including Chile, Cuba, Ecuador and Argentina. According to Palestinian ambassador Linda Sobeh Ali, the event strengthened Venezuela’s stance as...
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Human trafficking and the scramble for political influence
Part of the political rhetoric regurgitated repeatedly since 2011 has been the expectation that the surge of African migrants heading towards Europe would decrease in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. Four years later, the human trafficking industry is still producing tragic tales, the most recent being the drowning...
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Egypt's adaptation of the 'War on Terror'
Egypt’s penal code has been updated to reflect Zionist terror and impositions. Following collaboration with Israel in destroying the tunnel network, the alleged “War on Terror” has now been extended by Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi to Gaza. Individuals found guilty of tunnel construction or usage as regards the...
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FIFA’s collaboration with colonialism
Two corrupt entities – FIFA and Israel, have teamed up to ensure another request from Palestine to an international organisation is ridiculed and rejected. As the Palestine FA stated its intention to submit a draft resolution to the FIFA congress in May calling for Israel’s suspension from the international...
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Iranian support forHamas highlights legitimacy of armed resistance against colonisation
Citing the Telegraph, Israeli media is once again fuelling speculation about the network of tunnels created by Hamas in Gaza – this time within the context of Iranian aid to the resistance movement. “Intelligence sources” have alleged that Iran has sent “tens of millions of dollars to help rebuild...
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Palestine, the ICC and international complicity
‘As Palestine formally becomes a State Party to the Rome Statute today, the world is also a step closer to ending a long era of impunity and injustice’ is Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad al-Maliki’s triumphant statement. However, he fails to reflect the reality behind the ceremonial accession that...
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Israel's nuclear arsenal highlights Western paranoia over Iran
The Israeli media has publicised a declassified Pentagon document detailing Israel’s covert nuclear programme. The report, dated 1987 and titled “Critical Technological Assessment in Israel and NATO Nations”, describes Israel’s nuclear infrastructure development and research throughout the 1970s and 1980s. According to Israel National News, the state had refrained...
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Manipulating security narratives and the two-state paradigm
The US obsession with manipulating security narratives for political purposes has recently been manifested in Obama’s Executive Order dated 9 March, 2015 in which he declared Venezuela to be “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”. Alleged threats by socialist...
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Palestinian subjugation at an international level
A recent interview with Palestine’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations Riyad Mansour once again exhibited the Palestinian Authority’s trend of compromising Palestinian independence at the international level. The brief interview on NBC News’ Meet the Press highlighted the contradictions which the PA embarks upon relentlessly, notably in its...
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Endorsing Netanyahu's narrative at the Arab League
Israeli media has reported extensively about comments by Arab League Chief Nabil Al-Arabi with regard to Netanyahu’s refuting the existence of a Palestinian state. According to a quote obtained by AFP and disseminated widely in news reports, Al-Arabi stated that: “I believe, personally, that he made that statement about…...
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Ensuing contradictions about Yasser Arafat’s death and the rupture of memory
In November 2013, Swiss scientists determined the presence of polonium in the exhumed remains of PLO leader Yasser Arafat, prompting Palestinian factions to react in unison and condemn Arafat’s death as a crime perpetrated by Israel. The results validated Al-Jazeera’s earlier investigations which revealed high levels of polonium in...
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The EU’s reliance on selective remembrance
The EU representative in Jerusalem has issued a mild condemnation of Israel’s destruction of two shelters intended to alleviate hardships for displaced Bedouin. The shelters were located in Area C in the vicinities of the Apartheid Wall. “We condemn the demolition of two shelters funded by the European Union...
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Two-state compromise relevant only in terms of facilitating Israel’s colonisation process
Over the weekend, seemingly contradictory statements have emerged from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud Party with regard to the two-state compromise – including the contradiction between allegedly not wanting to rule over Palestinians and enforcing the concept of a demilitarised hypothetical Palestinian state. These statements departed...
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Avaaz - imperialism's willing collaborator
PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ endeavours to obtain symbolic recognition of Palestinian statehood from European countries had, as intended, eclipsed the necessity of developing awareness of the importance of Palestine’s anti-colonial struggle. With each assertion garnered, mainstream media hype created an additional illusion out of futile gestures. Meanwhile, seemingly on...
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UNESCO report on education in Gaza avoids question of responsibility
A UNESCO report issued in late January looked specifically at Gaza’s educational system. Already rendered precarious with schools operating double shifts due to a shortage of premises, it was damaged further by Israel during Operation Protective Edge last summer. Israel’s direct attacks on educational premises by drones, anti-tank missiles and...
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UNICEF recommendations enforce Israel’s colonial policies
UNICEF’s latest bulletin has confirmed the systematic violation of children’s rights while they are in Israeli detention. The findings of “Children in Israeli Military Detention” support evidence collected in 2014 by Defence for Children International Palestine (DCIP). Accountability Programme Director Ayed Abu Eqtaish said that, “Despite an ongoing dialogue...
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Manipulating EU rules on funding for Israel’s benefit
Stop The Wall has published a detailed summary of the funds that Europe’s research programme Horizon 2020 will be granting to Israel for 205 projects approved by the EU. Among the companies benefiting from EU funding is Elbit Systems, the drone manufacturing company which has played a major role...
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Indyk's duplicitous comments and the two-state compromise
Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies recently hosted its 8th annual international conference themed “Israel in a Turbulent Region”. Subjects discussed ranged from BDS, Iran, the Oslo Accords as an alleged “incubator for terrorist organisations” according to speaker Gilad Erdan, demilitarisation of Gaza, anti-Semitism, and former US special envoy...
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Blair’s concern is to protect Israeli colonialism
Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair has made a series of spurious comments on Gaza following his visit to the besieged enclave. “The last conflict left Gaza devastated and its people worn down and impoverished,” he wrote on his website. “Twenty years after Oslo we need a new approach...
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Hamas training camps and the continuity of resistance
Israeli and other mainstream media have ignited a furore over 17,000 young Palestinians who participated in Hamas-run military training camps during a two-week school holiday in January. Although it’s a common phenomenon that has happened in previous years, especially within the context of the Palestinians’ anti-colonial struggle, the news...
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Middle East Quartet calls for resumption of negotiations between Israel and Palestine
During the 51st Munich Security Conference last Sunday, the Middle East Quartet urged for a resumption of negotiations between Israel and Palestine and expressed concern about the impediments that have delayed Gaza’s reconstruction; thus creating another arena through which to repeat a diplomatic discourse that has ultimately aided Israel’s...
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Impartiality, irrelevance and accountability
Israel’s recent complaint against Canadian lawyer and international law expert William Schabas has led to his resignation from the UN Human Rights Council’s fact finding commission on Gaza. Schabas was accused of having a conflict of interest – the reason for this being his having provided consultation to the...
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The IMF contributes to the oppression of the Palestinians
The International Monetary Fund has issued a press release following its latest visit to East Jerusalem and Ramallah, during which the economic decline in both Gaza and the West Bank were assessed. Since Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, both areas have suffered through massive destruction and punitive measures, as well...
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Israeli products in Gaza hinder resistance
One of the repercussions, probably intended, of Operation Protective Edge last summer was to destroy Gaza’s autonomy in a manner that would entail a compromise between resistance to the occupation and the necessity of addressing humanitarian needs. With most of Gaza in ruins following the Israeli bombardment of the enclave,...