Category: Politics

The Electronic Intifada, November 9, 2009

Is Israel threatened by the BDS movement? Maan News Agency, November 11, 2009

For over six weeks now Mohammed Othman, a prominent Palestinian activist and an outspoken advocate of the nonviolent boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, has been held in an Israeli military prison without charges. On 22 September 2009 Othman, 34, was detained at the Allenby Crossing as he attempted to enter the occupied West Bank from Jordan. He was returning from a trip to Norway, where he met with Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen, amongst other officials.

At the beginning of September, Finance Minister Halvorsen announced Norway’s divestment from the Israeli company Elbit due to “ethical concerns.” Elbit provides security systems for Israel’s wall in the West Bank and illegal settlements as well as unmanned aerial vehicles (commonly known as drones) and other technology for the Israeli military. According to many Middle East analysts and human rights groups, Othman played a pivotal role in Norway’s decision to disassociate from Elbit.

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A blockade that doesn’t apply to lulavim

The Forward, October 7, 2009; print edition, October 16, 2009

When Israel recently opened a loophole in its blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza, it wasn’t heeding international calls to loosen its closure for humanitarian reasons. Instead, Israeli officials were spurred to action by the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

On September 29, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved the immediate importation of palm fronds, or lulavim, from Gaza in advance of the harvest festival. According to the Israeli daily Ma’ariv, Barak was responding to appeals from Israel’s minister of religious services, Yakov Margi of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party.

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 Israel is at war again

Zeek at Jewcy.com, July 20, 2009

Israel is at war again. This time, the frontline is deep within the country’s borders—South Tel Aviv.

Home to African refugees, foreign workers, and economically disadvantaged Israelis, South Tel Aviv was once a picture of pluralism and coexistence. Indian, Nepali, Chinese, and Filipino workers gathered in tight clusters, chattering in their mother tongues. Refugees from Darfur, Sudan, and Eritrea lined South Tel Aviv’s parks, their children sharing brightly colored swings and slides with Hebrew-speaking Filipino kids, many of whom were born and raised in Israel.

And then came Operation Oz.

On July 1, hundreds of refugees and foreign workers were detained in a massive South Tel Aviv raid that marked the beginning of Operation Oz. Waves of arrests continued in the following days. Legal foreign workers and asylum seekers were not immune—they were rounded up and warned to keep out of Tel Aviv. The next time they were caught, the police cautioned them, they would be imprisoned—with their papers in hand.

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 Tel Avivians have a headache

Zeek at Jewcy.com, June 2, 2009

On a recent Friday night, Tel Aviv ran out of the Israeli equivalent of Tylenol. A killer migraine throbbing away, I went to not one, not two, but six grocery stores in search of relief. “What’s going on in this city?” a clerk asked me. “Everyone’s got a headache.”

Maybe it’s because we have a lot to wrap our heads around. Tel Aviv, the capital of Israeli secularism, recently marked its 100th anniversary. But we celebrated under the pall of Jerusalem’s changing-of-the-guard—including Lieberman’s ominous “If you want peace, prepare for war.”

Anat Litvak, a 29-year-old educational psychologist, doesn’t mince words. “I hate it,” she says of the new government. “Netanyahu is a manipulator, a dictator.” When asked if this government represents her, Litvak quickly answers, “No.” Litvak feels she speaks for many Tel Avivians, “Here, I feel very much like part of the consensus,” she says. “But in situations like elections you see that most of the country isn’t like Tel Aviv. It’s a shock.”

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Humans, not headlines

Common Ground News Service, May 14, 2009

Daily News Egypt, May 18, 2009

Kuwait Times, May 20, 2008

The news is in: Israel’s press status has now been downgraded to “partly free” by Freedom House, the organisation dedicated to promoting democracy and civil liberties around the world. It is a disheartening reminder that we are not necessarily getting a clear-eyed look at the world in which we live. But it is also an opportunity. Perhaps we can use this news as impetus to depart from one-dimensional headlines and embark on a journey of trying to understand our living, breathing neighbours—on a personal level.

Understanding doesn’t just arrive—it’s not delivered like a newspaper hitting your doorstep. Moving past the narrow slice of reality carved out by the media and towards the rounder, decidedly more complicated, truth is a process that must be vigorously pursued.

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 Chronicles of a Refugee, a documentary review

Maan News Agency, May 6, 2009

“Do you know what the problem  is?” Nadine, a young Palestinian woman asks an off-screen interviewer.  She continues, “It’s that the Palestinian has the ability to forgive…  If you, as an Israeli, killed his mother and father and his family,  he [the Palestinian] has the ability to start all over again. But the  Israeli doesn’t have the ability to believe that the Palestinian will  forgive….”

Though many viewers might disagree,  it is certain to get people talking.

The initial buzz around the  independently-produced “Chronicles of a Refugee”—a six-part documentary  that includes Nadine’s interview as well as those of over 300 other  Palestinian refugees from almost 20 countries—was little more than  a whisper. But its collective voice is growing louder. It is circulating  through homes and hands in the north of Israel.  Tel Aviv’s Cinematheque  is planning to air it in the near future. And al-Jazeera has picked  up the documentary, as well.

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 Cross border medical practices series: Individuals must not be punished for the actions of their governments

Common Ground News Service, April 16, 2009

Daily News Egypt, May 7, 2009

In the days and months leading up to Operation Cast Lead, Gaza Strip’s healthcare system was stretched to the point of tearing. Hospitals and clinics in Gaza found themselves without almost a quarter of drug items that comprise the WHO essential drug list. Various other drug items stood at critical levels. A shortage of medical supplies endangered the long-term function of some equipment, such as dialysis machines. Vital medical equipment was unavailable, and others had fallen into disrepair, while some sat in disuse as health care workers lacked the training needed to employ them.

If Operation Cast Lead proved to be the breaking point, it also illuminated where the responsibility lies. An ongoing Israeli blockade and, within Gaza, a health workers’ strike—due, in part, to the political tug-of-war between Fatah and Hamas—had placed immense strain on an already fragile institution. The pressures that left Gaza’s medical system unable to cope with a sudden influx of patients were both internal and external.

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