Nakba Day Protests over the Weekend
I apologize to all readers of this blog for I have no posted anything in some days. I was shot in the head by the Israeli Army or Border Police at a peaceful protest in the West Bank village of Al-Nabi Saleh with a metal tear gas canister at close range. If you are interested in … Read more
Israeli Minister Calls for Re-Occuppying West Bank, is this a Step towards One State?
Yesterday Yisrael Katz, Minister of Transport, called on Israel to reoccupy the West Bank if the Palestinians declare statehood in September in the UN. Now this is not news per se as every month, regardless of the statehood vote, an Israeli minister makes this call. Some argue for an annexation, and some argue for a reoccupying. … Read more
Syria surpasses Israel?
I was looking through the headlines and came across this article. It discusses the Emergency Law lifting in Syria and links it to the issue of Israel’s Emergency Law that has been in place since 1948, 4 days after the establishment of the State to be exact. The law is renewed every year, in a … Read more
Palestinian Prisoner’s Day
To give recognition to all those Palestinians in Israeli prisons, April 17th, 1974 was declared Palestinian Prisoner’s Day. The day is April 17th because the first prisoner swap was done on this day releasing Mahmoud Hijazi from an Israeli jail. Since the occupation began over 650,000 Palestinians have been in Israeli jail and is sometimes used … Read more
Syrian Emergency Law
Since this issue has been in the news a lot and I study Syrian politics in detail I figured I would put my two cents in regarding the issue of the Emergency Law in Syria. The Emergency Law of 1963 was instituted after the Neo-Baath takeover of Syria led by Jedid and Assad overthrowing the … Read more
Book Review “Gaza in Crisis” by Ilan Pappe and Noam Chomsky
I completed this book yesterday so I figured I would give a review to people who like to read books about the Middle East and Palestine in particular. It takes two prominent authors Ilan Pappe (author of A History of Modern Palestine, the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, etc) and Noam Chomsky (Hegemony or Survival, Manufacturing Consent, … Read more
Book Review: “Popular Resistance in Palestine” by Mazin Qumsiyeh
As a break with the usual posts about recent news developments but in line with a blog I posted the other day I decided to review a book I have recently read and liked enough to review. The book is a new release by the Palestinian Professor and author Mazin Qumsiyeh of Bethlehem and Bir Zeit University. If one … Read more
A Third Palestinian Intifada?
I will be honest, as a Marxist who believes in revolution (not by violent means) my leftist antenna goes up every time I hear the word Intifada not used in a context of ways to achieve some form of parity with the Israelis. Within Hebrew University, and it seems Israel at large, the two Intifadas are treated … Read more
Bin Laden in Egypt, Con’t
Throughout the entire uprising in Egypt, my mind keeps returning to the hypocrisy of western regimes and/or pundits who are seemingly afraid of democracy in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood might win, leaving the Middle East one match away from total eruption. To believe some of the conservative punditry would be to understand the inevitability of the Ikhwan … Read more
