Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Ramona Wadi
-
Opposing Israel's permanence
Mangled beyond recognition, the concept and implementation of reconciliation has been usurped by diplomacy to encompass a wider spectrum than its initial intention. Hailed as the means through which factional differences in Palestinian leadership might be resolved, reconciliation has instead become a multi-faceted process that lends itself, with the...
-
Challenging Israel's contempt for murder allegations
Exhibiting the usual contempt, the Israel Defence Forces have dismissed the autopsy results on Nadim Seyam Nawara and Mohammed Mahmoud Odeh which determined that live fire was the cause of the teenagers’ deaths. Such disdain was also evident in the rhetoric expressed by the UN regarding the killing of...
-
EU's condescending rhetoric and the inclusion of Israel in its grants
Speaking at the Herzliya conference in Israel, European Commission Chief Jose Manuel Barroso voiced support for Palestinian political reconciliation and the ensuing unity government. EU support, however, is dependent upon the major compromise expected on behalf of Palestinian leaders, who were urged to consider Israeli demands to the absolute...
-
Force-feeding within the wider spectrum of torture and complicity in Israeli jails
In a typically aggressive response to Palestinian prisoners expressing resistance through hunger strikes against administrative detention, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to implement a bill that would allow the force-feeding of prisoners whose lives are deemed to be in danger. According to Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark Regev as quoted...
-
UN expresses satisfaction at further political betrayal
The United Nations has released another compromised statement from Ban Ki-moon, depicting the organisation’s adherence to supporting the fragmentation of Palestine by amalgamating the concept of peace with the formation of a new, allegedly unifying Palestinian government; that has endorsed 1967 to the absolute exclusion of 1948. Following the announcement...
-
Financing Palestinian dependence
The European Commission released a statement confirming the granting of €200 million in financial aid to the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA. As on other occasions, the importance of disassociating alleged support from historical ramifications and complicity prevails. The financial aid, divided into contributions of €130 million and €70 million...
-
Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel advocates for the complete colonisation of Palestine
Adhering to the continuous Zionist plans of colonisation, Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel emphasised the supremacy garnered from settlement expansion and the commitment to eradicate any remaining slivers of Palestinian territory. Speaking at an activity commemorating the Israeli designated ‘Jerusalem Day’ which marks the commencement of colonisation of East Jerusalem...
-
Internationalising the conflict detracts from the necessary internationalising of the resistance
A recent interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published on Bloomberg regurgitates previous arguments while attempting to provide an innovative context based upon the alleged futility of the recent US-brokered negotiations and an accusation of internationalising conflict. The usual laments – the lack of a negotiating partner, the pondering...
-
The repercussions of forfeiting international recognition
In an example of the hypocrisy inherent in diplomacy and negotiations, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has stated that there will be a temporary halt in seeking further recognition from international organisations in order to perceive the outcome following the suspension of negotiations. The decision would have entailed obtaining...
-
Venezuela implements agreements with Palestine
In keeping with previous declarations, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and PA President Mahmoud Abbas have signed agreements pertaining to taxation, energy and health, at the presidential Miraflores palace in the Venezuelan capital Caracas. Abbas’s third visit to Venezuela enhanced the foundations agreed upon in previous visits during the late Hugo...
-
Obscuring the Nakba with 1967 rhetoric
Reiterating the right to memory has sustained Palestinian tenacity towards reclaiming their land and the right of return. However, their adamant statements on each Nakba commemoration are threatened by the increasing compromise trajectory echoed by Palestinian leaders who seek to prioritise 1967 over the 1948 imposition of settler-colonialism in...
-
Separating the issue of borders from colonial history
Further statements have emerged with regards to the two-state solution based upon the 1967 borders, advocated by Israel’s allies and endorsed by Palestinian leaders. A news brief by Haaretz brings together the views of UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry, Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb...
-
International Workers' Day and imperialist oppression of Palestinians
Israel and imperialism have ascertained that International Workers’ Day remains an elusive anniversary for Palestinians. The celebrations, marking the historic struggle for workers’ rights and dignity, is also a reminder of incomplete liberation from imperialism, especially within the context of Palestine – a land mutilated by Israel and its...
-
External impositions of violence and oblivion
Following a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, issued a statement with regard to the unity agreement between Fatah and Hamas. The statement made no reference to Hamas, instead focusing on Abbas’s emphasis that a unity...
-
Israeli drone technology and the restructuring of violence
The imperialist concept of “restructuring”, or restoring order, has become common rhetoric, aiding in the transformation of violence as a socially acceptable and normalised routine. As detachment strangles perception, spectators become an essential component maintaining global violence. In cases of brutal evidence, such as the Israeli massacres perpetrated against...
-
Defining political unity
The announcement that Fatah and Hamas will be embarking upon reconciliation has raised the ire of Israel and the US. As the formation of an interim unity government within five weeks moves towards a possible implementation, rhetoric of peace mingled with renewed Israeli airstrikes upon Gaza, while the US...
-
Latin American support for Palestine thwarts Zionist ambitions to dominate the region
A recent op-ed in the Jerusalem Post glorifying the international influence of Israel with particular reference to Guatemala has once again sparked the conviction that the settler-colonial state should turn to Latin America for political support. The op-ed, a mixture of misplaced patriotism and an exaltation of Israel’s humanitarian...
-
Israel, settler violence and calculated differentiation
Settler-colonial violence has rarely prompted any condemnation from Israel and its institutions. Regularly dismissed as isolated incidents despite the constant phenomenon and its deleterious effects upon Palestinians, settler violence is sanctioned by the Zionist state. Its perpetrators are regaled with impunity for upholding the historical violence that facilitated the...
-
Solidarity, concessions and complicity
In the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the United Nations deems it pertinent to issue a reminder to Palestine with regard to the rapacious imperial benevolence. On April 14, the UN website published a news brief stating that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had spoken to Mahmoud...
-
Rhetoric of blame and recognition
Within Zionist perspectives, essential components of “peace” are the urge to assign blame upon Palestinians and the tendency to wallow in the mild “condemnation” of the settler-colonial state by the international community. Having accomplished this sequence, peace is then constructed as “an Israeli need”. Recent rhetoric by Israeli Foreign...
-
Rejecting resistance, defending acceptance
“In response to the Palestinian violation of their commitments under peace talks…Israeli government ministers have been told to refrain from meeting their Palestinian counterparts,” reported the Times of Israel. The retaliation against the belated decision on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to seek international recognition seems destined to...
-
Palestinian prisoners' struggle disappearing from mainstream narrative
After Israel predictably failed to uphold its terms in the agreement, as confirmed by foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, to release the fourth group of Palestinian political prisoners, the Ma’an News Agency has reported that prisoners in Israeli jails are to embark on a series of protests. According to the...
-
Reconciliation as a prelude to unified resistance and challenge to the UN
As speculation regarding reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas erupts intermittently in the media, Hamas spokesperson Ihab Al-Ghussein identified the political necessities for the Palestinian people, emphasising unity and resistance as essential components. As Hamas persists in the struggle against the illegal blockade imposed by Israel, Al-Ghussein explained the dynamics...
-
Abbas' last resort and the pitfalls of international oppression
The belated decision to resort to international institutions has been hailed as a surprise by the media, signalling a dramatic shift from compliance to independence. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ prior decision to forfeit access to international treaties as a precondition to the commencement of the US-brokered diplomatic manoeuvring...