Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Ramona Wadi
-
Gaza Weddings
Ibrahim Nasrallah has woven a tale in which themes intertwine; where possibilities and peril are never isolated from each other. “Gaza Weddings” (Hoopoe Press, 2017) immediately presents the reader with ambiguities that remain unresolved by the end of the book. Situated within the complex social, political and psychological scenario...
-
Palestinian demands should be the foundation for decolonisation
The Palestinian Authority now has a tangible proposal from the US, partly as a result of perpetual waiting. On several occasions waiting was touted as the reason for Mahmoud Abbas’s diplomatic delays and refusal to connect with Palestinian aspirations. However, since US President Donald Trump laid bare his agenda...
-
Impediments to UNRWA’s mandate reflect the intention to make violations permanent
Last year, Israel and the US invested unprecedented efforts in discrediting the legitimate rights of Palestinians and seeking to limit, to the point of dysfunction, the role of institutions working directly with Palestinian refugees, notably the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). During a meeting with Israeli Prime...
-
Despite a clear admission, Mahmoud Abbas’s statement is not unequivocal
Israel is, allegedly, furious. The fact that Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas has finally declared the Zionist entity “a colonial project” has unleashed a tirade of insults. Yet, while accurate, as with other PA-issued declarations, this description of Israel is a belated recognition of the facts. Only a...
-
The Least of All Possible Evils: A Short History of Humanitarian Violence
Eyal Weizman commences his discussion of humanitarian violence with a succinct reflection: “It is through the collateral – flood or blood – that a government – divine or human – can demonstrate, indeed exercise, its power.” “The Least of All Possible Evils: A Short History of Humanitarian Intervention” (Verso...
-
Israel is so emboldened by Trump that ministers call openly for killing Palestinians
Israeli Agricultural Minister Uri Ariel wants more injured and dead Palestinians in Gaza. “What is this special weapon we have that we fire and see pillars of smoke and fire, but nobody gets hurt?” he said on local radio. “It is time for there to be injuries and deaths...
-
The PA is exploiting history rather than confronting reality
Just one week after Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas declared that important decisions will be taken in 2018 there is already evidence that extending the political impasse for Israel’s benefit is high on the agenda. On Monday, Wafa news agency reported that the PLO’s central council will be holding...
-
The EU response to Israel’s ‘death penalty for Palestinians’ bill is painfully weak
Israel is planning a law which allows its military courts to sentence Palestinians to death. The bill to bring this about has passed its first reading in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. The aim of the legislation has been backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who justified his stance...
-
As Israel prepares to annex most of the West Bank, Abbas bleats about ‘incitement’
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas should be aware by now that he can no longer be taken seriously. As evidence of a shrinking Palestine continues to accumulate, Israel and the international community are well aware of this and are applying two complementary strategies. While Israel passes legislation to annex...
-
The campaign for Ahed Tamimi’s release should reflect her stance
Since the detention of teenage Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi by Israeli security forces, social media has erupted in a frenzy calling for her release. Her constant defiance of Israel’s occupation has made her instantly recognisable, prompting the state authorities into an arrest which should increase international scrutiny of how...
-
The focus on Guatemala obscures international damage to Palestine
Guatemala’s President Jimmy Morales has become the first to follow US President Donald Trump in planning to move his country’s embassy to Jerusalem. The announcement by Morales was a swift manifestation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prediction that other countries will follow suit. Considering the historical ties between...
-
Any disservice to Abu Thurayya's memory is a disservice to Palestinian memory
The killing of Palestinian activist Ibrahim Abu Thurayya is an example of Israel’s policy of slow extermination. After losing both legs in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza in 2009, Abu Thurayya was murdered by a sniper, who shot him in the head during protests against the appropriation of Jerusalem,...
-
I Don’t Want This Poem to End: Early and Late Poems
The first impression that sprang to mind upon reading the first few pages of this collection of Mahmoud Darwish’s poetry is the impossibility of quantifying the sense of nostalgia that knows its roots in love. There is no need to search for Palestine’s mention in this collection – the...
-
The PA shapes facts on the ground, for Israel’s benefit
Since US President Donald Trump’s declaration regarding Jerusalem it has become clear that the Palestinian Authority (PA) remains committed to reacting to, rather than acting on, political developments which in the long run could contribute to additional forced displacement and colonial expansion. If it were not for the genuine...
-
Israel, the US and the PA are complicit in normalising colonialism
Two recent news reports about Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas and his role in the diplomatic negotiations have conveyed the absence of leadership in reclaiming Palestinian rights. The White House statement blaming Abbas for wasting decades of negotiations is accurate up to a point, although the context given by...
-
Israeli security interests dominate EU diplomacy
The EU Foreign Policy Chief has told Benjamin Netanyahu that there will be no mass relocation of embassies to Jerusalem. Federica Mogherini insisted that this will be the case in response to the Israeli Prime Minister’s comment that most European countries would follow Donald Trump’s unilateral decision to move...
-
Trump’s declaration is a reflection of the UN’s earlier colonial impositions on Palestine
Since 1967, the UN regularly adopted resolutions concerning the status of Jerusalem, most of them dealing with withdrawing military forces, condemnation of land confiscation and settlement expansion, as well as requesting that Israel refrains from holding military activities in the city. A recurring warning was that no action should...
-
Palestinian leaders should stop discussing Jerusalem within the context of negotiations
US President Donald Trump has embarked upon a strategy that incorporates even more delays for Palestinians than those of his predecessors. Previous presidencies were marked by obvious support for Israel’s security narrative which in turn led to increased dispossession and violence against Palestinians. Trump has projected ambiguity in the...
-
Cuba’s historical opposition to the UN Partition Plan for Palestine
Instead of commemorating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People as designated by the UN decades after the organisation bolstered Israel’s colonialism in Palestine, a better alternative is to revisit Cuba’s reasons for opposing and voting against the 1947 UN Partition Plan. Cuban opposition to the Plan...
-
The international community’s emulation of Moshe Dayan’s strategy
The recently released transcripts of Israeli cabinet meetings following the 1967 war contain important information regarding the colonial state’s approach to negotiations. Israel does favour negotiations, or the concept of negotiations, which plays into the diplomatic tangles preferred by the international community. However, for Israel, negotiations are a means...
-
Gaza – preparing for dawn
Against a modified backdrop of Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”, altered to evoke symbolism of the political differences between Hamas and Fatah, journalist Donald Macintyre notes the absence of reconciliation. The prologue to “Gaza – preparing for dawn” (OneWorld Publications, 2017) is deftly constructed to give the reader insights...
-
The UN’s Peace Process Coordinator is misleading us on Palestine
If in the past there were attempts to disguise political collusion against Palestine, it is no longer the case. Whether the topic is reconciliation or the two-state compromise, Israel blatantly stands out as the prime concern for the UN. A reading of UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East...
-
The consequences of symbolic recognition of Palestine
Seeking recognition of Palestine has been one of the Palestinian Authority’s diplomatic strategies which lose significance when juxtaposed against Mahmoud Abbas’s collaboration with the Israeli occupation. Behind statements of recognition lies silence and the tacit acceptance of Israel’s colonisation of Palestinian land and forced displacement of the indigenous people....
-
The international community should prioritise Palestine’s security
The reconciliation agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas increasingly resembles other political miscalculations which the international community still upholds as significant reference points. As long as Israel and the PA stand to benefit, accolades from the international community will continue, despite the fact that such prominence usually does...