Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Ramona Wadi
-
The PA crackdown on Palestinian journalists and activists shows contempt for international law
The Palestinian Authority’s bizarre crackdown on Palestinian journalists and human rights activists continues, with the security forces exhibiting a preference for a steady supply of detainees. Following the three-day detention and release of Ayman Qawasmeh, the director of Manbar Al-Hurriya radio station who called for the resignation of PA...
-
Israel paralysed a Palestinian child. Now they’re exploiting her
In 2006 the Israeli assassination of Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad Dahdouh while he was driving through Gaza City also killed and injured other civilians. Maria Aman, who was travelling with her family when the missile struck Dahdouh’s car, was left paralysed, while four of her family members were also...
-
Substituting political necessity for compromise
One wonders how the UN can continue to masquerade in a role that it has ridiculed beyond redemption this week. Antonio Guterres’s statements eliminating Palestinian options, the enforcing of the two-state compromise as a purported solution and affirming Israel’s permanence are all contrary to international law. During his visit...
-
This is not a border: reportage and reflection from the Palestinian festival of literature
In this impeccable collection of writings, perceptions and understandings about Palestine and Palestinians reinforce the importance of authentic trajectories. “This is not a border: reportage and reflections from the Palestine festival of literature” (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017) brings together diverse voices which reminisce and, at times, force remembrance upon the...
-
On his first visit to Israel, Guterres cast aside any possibility of decolonisation
While exhibiting contempt for international laws and conventions through its existence and policies, Israel also reserves the right to dictate to others with regard to its violations of the said laws, all in the name of “security concerns”. The institution bearing the brunt of such diktats is the UN,...
-
PA rhetoric encourages colonial rule
The permanently belated affirmations by the Palestinian Authority make a mockery of its leadership. In a meeting with British Minister of State at the Foreign Office Alistair Burt in Ramallah, PA Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki flaunted the typical grovelling and feeble attempts at assertions, stating that the international community...
-
Combating the PA’s manipulation of humanitarian aid
The Palestinian Authority’s penchant for divisive politics plumbed to new lows after Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki announced the delivery of three truckloads of medical supplies to Venezuela. Social media reacted harshly as the PA exploited the suffering of the people in Venezuela and Gaza, pointing out — rightly so...
-
The possibilities of challenging Netanyahu’s claims about Latin America
Latin America is once again Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s diplomatic target, at a time when violence in the region fomented by US imperialism is once again rising to the fore. Coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the UN Partition Plan, Netanyahu is planning to visit Mexico and Argentina...
-
The PA is developing a penchant for coercion and intimidation
The Palestinian Authority is continuing with its reconciliation charade, this time through a visit by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah. He has met with a delegation from Hamas to reiterate the PA’s preconditions and manipulate Palestinian resistance aims. Dictating terms in the name of reconciliation is a fraudulent gesture, particularly...
-
'Ten Myths About Israel'
“Historical disinformation, even of the most recent past, can do tremendous harm.” Ilan Pappé’s latest publication, “Ten Myths About Israel” (Verso Books, 2017), opens with an overview of the intentional violence inflicted upon Palestinians through several forms of colonial violence. Applying a thorough analysis of the myths perpetuated by...
-
Abbas suspends security coordination with Israel but continues assaulting journalists
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas is still enjoying the limelight after insisting that security coordination with Israel will not be reinstated before certain demands are met, yet the PA’s security services are still deploying oppressive tactics upon Palestinian journalists. In fact, suspending security coordination only tackles a fragment...
-
What is the PA doing for Jerusalem?
In a speech last Saturday evening, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas evoked narratives of belonging with regard to Jerusalem, departing from the collective Palestinian mobilisation against Israeli oppression over Al-Aqsa Mosque. His spurious words, ostensibly celebrating Palestinian resistance, portray a political faction which navigates between two extremes. As the...
-
Palestinian leaders are far from embodying the spirit of unity displayed by the people
Palestinians have displayed amazing unity in the past couple of weeks over the issue of Al-Aqsa Mosque; their political and resistance protest rendered as mere spectators the political factions. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas continue with the sporadic trend of attempting reconciliation. There are, of course, differences between...
-
The slow extermination of Gaza
Gaza continues to make headlines, to no avail. It has become a putrid metaphor of unsustainability and the political actors responsible for the deprivation are content to allow the enclave to fester. Three years since “Operation Protective Edge”, 4,000 homes are still awaiting reconstruction and 1,500 other dwellings are...
-
I Can Only Tell You What My Eyes See: Photographs from the Refugee Crisis
“They asked me to follow my heart.” With a simple statement that rings only truth, Giles Duley embarked upon a photography project commissioned by the UNHRC titled “I Can Only Tell You What My Eyes See”. The trajectory followed by Duley flows from the heart to the eyes, creating...
-
Israel is continuing the Nakba
Choosing and implementing narratives according to circumstances continue to define Israel’s stance towards Palestinians. Recently, Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi threatened Palestinians with a third Nakba in a Facebook post. Appropriating Palestinian remembrance to suit his brief rant, warned of impending ethnic cleansing against the backdrop of incited Israeli violence which has...
-
Exploiting the Palestinian divide has never been easier, as the PA and Israel know well
The Palestinian Authority continues to make news for the wrong reasons, a trend which it copies from Israel which is also seeking to increase Palestinian fragmentation. Yesterday, Israeli media reported on a ruling issued by the Jerusalem District Court, which allows Palestinians detained by the PA and who collaborated...
-
Netanyahu wants undue influence over EU policies
During a meeting with the leaders of Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, Benjamin Netanyahu revealed his antagonism towards the European Union in remarks which were “accidentally” transmitted to journalists. Voicing displeasure at the EU’s conditioning of relations with Israel, the Israeli Prime Minister urged the assembled leaders...
-
The negotiations impasse has exposed a seamless agreement between Israel and the PA
Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is fond of claiming that there is a stalemate with regard to peace negotiations, it is clear that the international community and the Palestinian Authority are fully in tune with what Israel ultimately desires. Now that the two-state paradigm is recognised as convenient...
-
“Where the line is drawn: Crossing boundaries in Occupied Palestine”
It is a conflicting memoir, so Raja Shehadeh’s latest book “Where the line is drawn: Crossing the boundaries in occupied Palestine” (Profile Books, 2017) must be read with an instilled acceptance of understanding on various levels. From the very first pages, Shehadeh imbues the reader with varying contrasts. Palestine’s...
-
Scapegoating Hamas doesn’t hide the fact that the UN’s prime concern remains Israel
A report issued this month by the UN — “Gaza: ten years later” — once again reminds us that 2020 is the date by which Gaza is estimated to become unliveable. The date is drawing closer and there is no sign of things getting any better for the Palestinians...
-
Preventing the sabotage of Palestinian rights
Israeli antics at UNESCO over the vote which recognised the old city of Hebron as a Palestinian World Heritage Site were accompanied by other tirades against the international institution. US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, declared the decision “an affront to history” and a discredit to “an already...
-
Palestinians fear fragmentation
A recent poll carried out by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research has seen Palestinians reject the current political developments. A majority of respondents rejected the PA’s measure of cutting public sector employees’ salaries and power-sharing between Hamas and Mohammad Dahlan. The divide between the political statements...
-
When Abbas lauds Trump, he is trying to deflect his own accountability
In his address to the African Union’s 29th Summit in Addis Ababa, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas gave an example of how to engage in double standards that are mostly ignored. He was thus allowed to have a negative impact on Palestinian prospects for autonomy. Wafa news agency reported...