Despite “60 Minutes” pipedream report on the Palestinian city of Rawabi, the development has only 5,000 residents, out of a planned 40,000. And nearby in four Israeli settlements, almost 200,000 Israeli settlers live comfortably, yet illegally, on stolen Palestinian land.
Four years after working on the feature documentary project “Gaza,” Mondoweiss’ Walaa Ghussein interviews directors Andrew McConnell and Garry Keane. McConnell tells her, “we both agreed that the best way to tell people about Gaza is to let the people of Gaza tell the story for themselves because we rarely see that.”
On December 3rd Abdalhadi Alijla woke up to learn over social media that his father had passed away. Alijla had not seen him in 12 years due to Israeli restrictions: “Since I left Gaza in 2007, Israel has denied my entry back into Gaza and has revoked my registry for no obvious reason, other than my being from Gaza. My father died with sorrow and pain because of the actions of Israel and I myself will live with sorrow and pain, forever remembering how the settler colonial Israel inflicted this pain on myself, my father and my people by building virtual and physical walls between loved ones.”
Steven Salaita: “I am happy, eager even, to affirm the right of Jewish people to live in peace and security, wherever that may be, a right all humans deserve in no particular order of worthiness. But I won’t ratify Israel’s bloody founding or its devotion to racial supremacy. Ultimately, when Zionists demand that you affirm Israel’s right to exist, what they really seek is affirmation of Palestinian nonexistence.”
Helena Cobban reviews, “The Movement and the Middle East,” Michael R. Fischbach’s look at the roots of the politically progressive Palestinian-rights activism we see in today’s United States.
“In terms of Bernie and others who talk about dealing with Zionism, I strongly support Israel as an independent Jewish state,” said Biden, “The idea that I’d withdraw military aid, as others have suggested, from Israel, is bizarre. I would not do that. It’s like saying to France, ’Because you don’t agree with us, we’re going to kick you out of NATO.”
The Mondoweiss holiday gift guide is here! From our favorite books, to dresses with hand-stitched embroidery, ethically produced Hanukkah candles, hand-crafted olive wood nativity sets, and of course Mondoweiss swag we’ve pulled together some of our favorites for your end of the year gift giving.
Donald Trump says his chief negotiator for Israel/Palestine, Jared Kushner, “loves” Israel but some American Jews don’t love Israel enough and Democratic radicals want to “bully” Israel. He spoke before largest donors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson in Florida Saturday night at the Israeli American Council.
The vote last week on H.Res.326 reveals Congress to be more divided than ever in its approach to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Almost all Republicans now back Israel’s one-state apartheid rule over the Palestinian people, whereas most Democrats still give lip-service to Palestinian statehood without being willing to pressure Israel toward this end. However, Josh Ruebner writes that things are changing for the better within the Democratic caucus as a few Representatives bravely challenge the two-state paradigm and test the waters for conditioning aid to Israel.
At 11:15 p.m. on Nov. 13, Hamoud Abu Amra got a call from Israeli security warning him to evacuate his house in Gaza, the Israeli army was about to bomb it. He lives 500 meters from the Israel border, and this has now happened to him four times. He vows to rebuild. A refugee from Dimona, nothing will make him leave his land.