Dive into the archives.
- Welcome To Gaza!
“Welcome To Gaza!” Palestine Chronicle. October 31, 2007. Khalil laughs and shakes head as we dine along the seaside terrace of Gaza’s luxurious al-Deira Hotel. “This is not Gaza,” he says, dismissively gesturing towards the hotel’s maroon exterior and the tables of dining European journalists. “The real Gaza is just down the street, where 1,000 [...]
- Kris Petersen: ‘Welcome to Gaza!’
The Palestine Chronicle published an essay I wrote upon arrival in Gaza. It was syndicated by the International Middle East Media Center here. * * * Khalil laughs and shakes head as we dine along the seaside terrace of Gaza’s luxurious al-Deira Hotel. “This is not Gaza,” he says, dismissively gesturing towards the hotel’s maroon [...]
- Reuven Kaminer: Slouching Towards Annapolis
Two major developments dominate the news in our region. George Bush has ratcheted up the hysterical anti-Iranian campaign – even going so far as to threaten the world with a third world war. At the same time, the United States is convening an important “peace meeting” designed, ostensibly, to jump start the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. [...]
- Comment: Retaliation or Collective Punishment?
Another rejected op-ed. I sent it last week—before Israel cut power. * * * In the tragically habitual nature of relations between Israel and the Gaza Strip, tensions have heightened once more, overshadowing U.S. plans for the Annapolis peace summit slated for next month. Several weeks ago, Israel labeled Gaza an “enemy entity”, causing businesses [...]
- Anonymous Palestinian Man
It was shocking for me to discover that there are over 54,000 Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank even more trapped and isolated than most Palestinians. They are the citizens lacking a hawiyye (national identification card), which were issued by Israel under the provisions of the Oslo Accords. When the second Intifada broke out, [...]
- Comment: Blocking Blair
I wrote this last month and submitted it to the New York Times, LA Times and San Francisco Chronicle among others—all without a positive reply. * * * Easing into his new position as Special Envoy to the Middle-East, Tony Blair has wasted no time in pursuing a break in the ever-moribund peace process. Israeli [...]
- Jennifer Loewenstein
Jennifer Loewenstein is a busy woman. On top of her work as associate director of the Middle Eastern studies program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Loewenstein is also a prolific freelance journalist and human rights activist. Over the years, she has spent a great deal of time in the Gaza Strip—including a period with [...]
- Response: Noam Chomsky
I received this message from Professor Noam Chomsky this summer in response to my article Security or Demography: The West Bank Barrier as a Demographic Tool. From: chomsky[at]MIT.EDU Subject: Re: West Bank Barrier Date: June 16, 2007 19:27:29 IDT To: kris[at]harmonicminor.com Interesting, and well done, but I’m quite skeptical about the value of such inquiries, [...]
- Comment: Has Gaza Not Suffered Enough?
Since the 2005 unilateral disengagement: Dozens of development projects have been quashed by the total closure of Gaza’s borders, Palestinian industries are now unable to access foreign markets, Israeli banks have cut business ties with Gaza’s banks, Palestinian students are unable to continue their studies outside of Gaza, human rights workers are refused permission to [...]
- Comment: No Conversation Without Representation
The Israeli-Palestinian peace process is not a zero-sum game, but it often seems that politicians treat it that way. Increasingly, the discourse in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has revolved around the demands Palestinians should accept to achieve peace and very rarely does Israel discuss concessions at all. Yet this has become entirely acceptable as framed by [...]
- Stateless In Gaza
In 1986, a great deal had already been written about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, though most of this work was primarily concerned with the West Bank… and Gaza was almost an afterthought. As far as I know, Paul Cossali and Clive Robson’s Stateless In Gaza (Zed Books, 1986) was one of the first books to deal [...]
- Mona El-Farra
Mona El-Farra is an inspiring individual. This modest and unassuming woman seems to have innumerable projects up her sleeve, ranging from her physician work at the Gazan branch of the Palestine Red Crescent Society to her role as Health Development consultant with the Union of Health Workers Committee. On her website profile, Ms. El-Farra writes [...]
- Khalil Abu Shammala
In Gaza it seems that everyone carries with them a well-honed set of opinions ready to blurt out for international journalists and other interested foreigners. Of course, I don’t doubt their substance but I must confess that, despite the horrors of military occupation and the terrible life in Gaza, many stories begin to sound the [...]
