When journalists ask, Will Palestinians turn to violence? they express the belief that Israelis are peaceful. And they ignore the fact that the occupation in many dimensions is a form of violence: functionally, institutionally, politically, emotionally.
We must translate all this anger worldwide over Trump’s Jerusalem announcement into a plan of action, writes Haidar Eid. It is time to get rid of the racist two state solution, renounce the Oslo Accords, and come up with a democratic alternative. We must use BDS, Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions as the leading torch towards peace with justice in Palestine.
Political analysts Mark Shields and E.J. Dionne say Trump decided to call Jerusalem Israel’s capital to sway evangelical voters in Alabama to vote for Roy Moore on Tuesday. Both leave out the name Sheldon Adelson. But there is endless evidence that Trump’s biggest donor pushed for the move. These reporters are dishonest about the role of the Israel lobby.
Protests came to a head across the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip on Friday, as Palestinians took the streets against U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. One youth leader tells Mondoweiss they would have been much larger if the Palestinian Authority had not been involved: “The people are not happy with Abbas right now, and if the protests were not being launched by the PA and Fatah I think we would see massive participation, but right now people are feeling angry and a bit lost as to how we should be reacting.”
Susie Day writes, “Before this sex-scandal wave ends – and it will – we need to realize that, though media can take down a few powerful men, they’re not the keyhole through which we can peep the real power in Trump’s America. The thugs now annihilating Palestine, net neutrality, immigrants’ rights, healthcare, environmental protections, safeguards to nuclear war, and what’s left of the New Deal, are impervious to media news, “fake” or not. The thing is, beneath the hopeful social-change discourse we create in the media and on Facebook and Twitter, we are losing everything.”
Tamam Abusalama left Gaza when she was a teenager to study in Europe, and escape the Israeli siege. Here she writes about what this has meant for her family: “I still remember as if it happened now how startling it was to see dad’s tears falling on his cheeks while hugging me when I left Gaza 6 years ago. It seems that he felt that it was our last hug and would be difficult to meet again in Gaza. And I am still unable to believe how can oppressing authorities have the power to deprive me of my right of hugging my favorite man on earth.”
On November 14 CNN shocked the world with its video news report of Black African migrants being sold into slavery in Libya. Eight days later the Rwandan government issued a press release headlined “Rwanda’s door is open for migrants held captive in Libya.” Rwandan President Paul Kagame is grandstanding on the world stage, but nothing could be further from the truth or more preposterous than his proposal. Ann Garrison and Bénédicte Kumbi Ndjoko give four reasons why.
Rana Askoul reflects on grieving and loss after her cousin Nadya dies unexpectedly a week before Donald Trump’s announcement on Jerusalem: “And 9 days after her passing, it’s time to sit amidst yet another loss. On the long Palestinian timeline of pains and losses, today, yet again, is Jerusalem’s turn. And just like in my cousin’s passing, I can’t help but notice the grounding that this loss stirs in me. I don’t despair today. I am not angry or surprised or disappointed. Simply because belonging can’t be given or taken away.”
By recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Donald Trump gave a license to Israel to ethnically cleanse more areas of the city and finish off the peace process. Liberal Zionists of conscience understand the seriousness of this moment. It is time for liberal American Jews to come out for equal rights, and to reject the rightwing nationalism that Zionism has produced.
Nada Elia writes, “Trump’s declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel did not kill the two-state solution. That ‘solution’ never had a chance. Palestine, like justice, is indivisible. Trump’s declaration merely pushed aside any pretense at objectivity, neutrality, fairness, or ‘process.'”