“Posters of the world’s cinema heroes are pasted on the walls outside Gaza, but the martyrs of the March of Return have become the heroes of our real life cinema here in Gaza,” explains 16-year-old Jamil al-Baz, who has drawn the portraits of dozens of the protesters who has been killed in the 66 weeks of the protest in Gaza so far.
For our summer fundraising drive, “One Story At A Time,” Mondoweiss staffers are sharing stories we’ve published that inspire their work to share the truth about Palestine. Today’s message is from Olivia Katbi Smith, a dedicated activist who joined our team just last month. Read on to learn what keeps Olivia fighting for solidarity — and please give now. A loyal donor has pledged $20,000 if we can raise $60,000 by August 1.
A retired Israeli general commits crimes in Africa, and his government does nothing. Israel Ziv has sold $150 million of weapons to the South Sudan gov’t, and the US gov’t says he stoked the conflict so as to get even more business.
In June Israel’s high court rejected an appeal to stop the sale of properties in Jerusalem that the Greek Orthodox church unknowingly signed over to an Israeli settler organization, Ateret Cohanim.
Qatar first began funding Gaza in 2012, in conjunction with the rise to power of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and has since sent more than $1 billion. But the Gaza Strip suffers from the world’s highest rate of unemployment and poverty, and Qatari money hasn’t reduced the decline. “To really address the humanitarian crisis, we need to find solutions, not just temporary relief,” says Yahya Qaoud, a political researcher with the Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies.
Dozens of Palestinian homes in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood Sur Bahir are under threat of demolition by Israel. While home demolitions are a common occurrence in East Jerusalem, these homes in Sur Bahir lie in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. International and local officials fear that if Israeli carries out the demolitions, it could pave the way for the destruction of hundreds of homes in PA-controlled areas of the West Bank.
Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar has introduced a bill affirming that Americans have the right to participate in boycotts. Although the legislation doesn’t specifically mention the BDS movement, it coincides with an anti-BDS resolution that is currently being pushed by many Democrats.
Donald Trump’s charge that four congresswomen are Israel haters is a political tactic aimed at taking pro-Israel donors away from the Democratic Party. Liberals set the table for Trump’s racist comments by roundly condemning Rep. Ilhan Omar as anti-semitic, when she was addressing an important issue in US politics: the role of the Israel lobby in setting foreign policy in the Middle East.
When Trump called Ilhan Omar a “terrorist,” he was echoing an Israeli tactic against Palestinian dissenters. The charge has been used against sitting lawmakers, like when former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman called Hanin Zoabi a terrorist, and against poet Dareen Tatour and anti-occupation activist Ahed Tamimi.
The two-state solution is dead, but what comes next? Jeff Halper outlines the process for transforming the current colonial apartheid regime to a state of equal rights for all its citizens.