Dive into the archives.
- Israel’s Proxy Regime
The Palestinian Authority on Saturday dissolved the Hamas-controlled municipal council in Kalkliya, in a move that has drawn strong condemnation from the Islamist movement. (more…)
- Egyptian Hypocrisy
Egypt on Tuesday condemned the Hamas move to ban Fatah members from traveling to a key party convention in the West Bank, saying the decision was “unacceptable.” (more…)
- Neither Fatah Nor Hamas
“We don’t have a police state here in Palestine. We have two police states. One in Gaza and one in the West Bank,” says Rabie Latifah from the Palestinian human rights organization Al Haq. “The abuse of Palestinian civilians by both Fatah and Hamas security forces has become systematic and is no longer the exception [...]
- Cheap Laughs
According to Abu Aita and the Martyrs Brigade, Abu Aita is not a member of the organisation, although he reportedly has had links in the past. He is a political representative for the Fatah party in Bethlehem and a board member of the Holy Land Trust, a non-governmental organisation promoting Palestinian rights with a commitment [...]
- Friedman Pulls Facts Out of Thin Air (Again)
Hamas is facing an energized Fatah in the West Bank and is increasingly unpopular in Gaza. (more…) I know it may come as a surprise to Thomas Friedman but unpopular as Hamas may be, Abu Mazen and Fatah are even more unpopular. Friedman’s use of the word “energized” simply means “U.S./Israeli-trained proxies”. But that doesn’t [...]
- Israel’s Palestinian Proxy, Hard At Work
A Hamas operative died in a Hebron prison overnight Monday after being interrogated by Palestinian Intelligence personnel. (more…)
- Israel, Fatah & Hamas: Enemies of the Palestinian People
However, a power struggle between Fatah and Hamas over the issuance of exit permits for patients, and Israel’s reluctance to issue visas for Gazans on the basis of alleged security, means Mohammed has to now wait for a new permit to return to the Israeli hospital. (more…)
- This is Zionism
Three years ago in Jerusalem, I met a very bright couple in their late 40s, who had emigrated from Russia a decade earlier. When we began to speak of the Palestinians, the husband said: “In my Russian village in 1920, there was trouble with guerrillas. Budenny’s Cossacks came. They burnt the village from which the [...]
- The PA Has Zero Legitimacy
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans to ask his prime minister within the coming week to form a new government without the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers, signaling a breakdown in unity talks with the Islamic militant group. (more…)
- The U.S. Stands For Democracy
Shortly after Hamas’s 2006 electoral victory, the U.S. cooperated with Israel to arm and train Fatah elements in preparation for a violent coup against the Hamas leadership in Gaza, which then ruled Gaza jointly with Fatah. The scheme, later known as the Dayton Plan, was reportedly managed by Dahlan in coordination with U.S. Lieutenant-General Keith [...]
- Hamas… Shiites?
“Even the lure of billions of dollars in aid has not brought Fatah Sunnis in Judea and Samaria, i.e., the West Bank, any closer to Shiite supporters of Hamas in Gaza. These are two parallel lines that cannot meet, and this division will persist.” (more…) This statement just reveals the deep knowledge possessed by so [...]
- Punishing the Victims
It is hard to think of another place in the world where life is ruled by such cruel absurdities. Hamas, Israel and Fatah are all playing with the lives and well-being of these patients, including 57 children from Gaza who need to complete complex, expensive treatments at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. Their health is now [...]
- The Puppet Government
“It is unbelievable that, all over the world, people were supporting Gaza,” Yazid Khader, a spokesman for the movement, said last week. “Yet here on the West Bank people were unable to do so. We ask: will the blood spilled in Gaza be enough for the Palestinian Authority to move towards reconciliation with us?” (more…)
- Angry Arab on Obama
Well, it took two longs days before Obama dispelled any notions of a change in US Middle East policy. For some reasons, many Arabs and many American leftists I know (you know yourselves) have wanted to believe so bad that Obama will deviate from the Zionist path of US foreign policy. I knew that it [...]
- Bill Fletcher on the Massacre in Gaza
The media continued to make excuses around the Israeli operations in Gaza. What was striking was the attacks on the United Nations facilities, which under other circumstances would have brought outrage in the major media in the United States; certainly if Hamas had accidentally hit a United Nations facility, there would have been charges of [...]
- Victims of Zionism
“Two soldiers were on the tank eating chips, then one man came out of the tank with a rifle and started shooting the kids,” Mr Abed Rabbo, who receives a salary as a policeman from the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in Ramallah said. (more…)
- Mark LeVine on the Massacre in Gaza
Who Will Save the Palestinians?
- Chomsky on the Puppet Government
Fatah by now is more or less functioning as Israel’s police force in the West Bank. (more…)
- The Puppets in Ramallah
Fatah is keeping a lid on protests, not letting West Bankers draw it into Israel’s war on Hamas. Senior voices in the secular party that runs the Palestinian Authority (PA) see restraint as key to its quest for statehood. Getting entangled in Gaza, they say, would only embolden Hamas. (more…)
- Crossing the Line
I don’t feel encouraged — not by the putative Ross-redux team, nor by the nonbinding resolutions passed last week in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The former offered “unwavering commitment” to Israel. The latter recognized “Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza.” Neither criticized Israel. It seems that among liberal democracies, [...]
- Puppets of Israeli Occupation
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on condition of anonymity, the Fatah official denounced Hamas as a “black and bloody militia” that was responsible for the “catastrophe” in the Gaza Strip. (more…)
- Voting the ‘Wrong’ Way
A million and a half Palestinians are learning the hard way that democracy isn’t so good if you vote the wrong way. In 2006, they elected Hamas when the US and Israel wanted them to support the more-moderate Fatah. As a result, having long ago lost their homes and property, Gazans have endured three years [...]
- Dahlan’s Thugs and the Puppet Government
Ramallah residents were shocked on Friday when a protest against the Israeli offensive in Gaza was forcibly dispersed by Palestinian Authority security forces using tear gas and clubs. Youth from the Fatah movement assisted security forces in breaking up a rally of solidarity with the Palestinian faction’s rival Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (more…)
- Recognizing Hamas Could Help Peace
Eighteen months after Hamas evicted Fatah forces from Gaza, the prospects for restoring Palestinian unity are more elusive than ever, with both factions believing that time is on their side, according to a new report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) released Wednesday. (more…)
- Fatah & Hamas—Neither Deserve To Rule
The old colonial law of divide and conquer also strengthens Israel’s position as Hamas, which controls Gaza, and PA affiliate Fatah focus their weapons and animosity on each other as opposed to their common enemy and occupier Israel. (more…)
- Donald Macintyre: Joy is in Short Supply for Eid
Ironic text messages of goodwill for the great festival of Eid Al Adha – easily as central to the Muslim calendar as Christmas is in the West – became the vogue in Gaza this week. “Despite there being no salaries, the money we don’t have to give to our children, the high price of Egyptian [...]
- EI: PA Blocks Website Reporting Corruption
The Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah has blocked access to a popular news website because of the site’s reporting on widespread corruption among the entourage of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. For several days, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been unable to view the website Donia al-Watan (http://www.alwatanvoice.com) as access has been [...]
- What’s Wrong With the American “Left”?
Reading Eric Alterman’s recent article in The Nation magazine recently (Israel at 60: The State of the State), I began to consider the significant gulf that exists between ideology and practice among those on the American “left”. I have been an avid reader of Alterman’s for some time, regularly visiting his website (Alternet.org), following his [...]
- Eyad Sarraj
In the Gaza Strip, there are a vast number of inspiring individuals prepared to put their personal reputation (and even their own physical well-being) on the line for matters of conviction. Dr. Eyad Sarraj is one of the more prominent of these figures and I was fortunate enough to speak with him on several occasions [...]
- Jimmy Carter To Meet With Hamas Leader
At a time when a majority of Israelis support an open dialog with Hamas, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is on his way to Damascus to meet with exiled Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal. Now don’t get me wrong: I am not at all impressed by Carter’s lukewarm criticism of the Israeli occupation (yes, I read [...]
- David Rose: The Gaza Bombshell
The Al Deira Hotel, in Gaza City, is a haven of calm in a land beset by poverty, fear, and violence. In the middle of December 2007, I sit in the hotel’s airy restaurant, its windows open to the Mediterranean, and listen to a slight, bearded man named Mazen Asad abu Dan describe the suffering [...]
- The Answer To Peace Talks? Bomb Gaza!
I am always interested to read the Gaza security briefings I receive daily. Today I read that the Erez checkpoint has been closed until at least January 21 for all but the most exceptional cases (and we all know that even then, it’s incredibly hard to get in or out of Gaza). Apparently the order [...]
- Annapolis, Ramallah and the Siege on Gaza
I wanted to wait for a few days before jumping to conclusions about the Annapolis Summit (they seem to have finally stuck to a name). Now that I have had some time to sniff around (i.e. sit in front of the TV flipping between the news networks), I have reached two conclusions and some predictions [...]
- Disengagement, Two Years On
Two years ago, Israel completed a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. We all remember the intense media campaign shamelessly portraying the settlers as dispossessed victims of a bold move for peace. Among others, Harvard economist Sara Roy argued that Israel’s version of disengagement would bring disaster to an already desperate Gaza. Today, we are [...]
