“Since its inception, the peace process is owned by the Israeli lobby,” Hanan Ashrawi says. And that process “became a tool for Israeli power and expansionism…cover for the occupation.” So maybe it’s time to give up trying to Zionize Palestinians and de-Zionize Israel.
Jewish students from Williams College are condemning Hillel for ousting an LGBTQ student group that signed up to co-sponsor an event on LGBTQ refugees, along with Jewish Voice for Peace in March. Open Hillel, a campaign that seeks to reform Hillel’s policy against working with organization’s that mention Israel’s occupation, posted in an action alert, “When OSU Hillel expelled B’nai Keshet, they pulled staff advising, funding, and access to the Hillel building and student list-serve from the group. They also pulled a paid Hillel internship from one of their student leaders.”
Thousands of Palestinians gathered in Mandela Square in Ramallah on Wednesday to support the more than 1,000 Palestinian political prisoners who have been on hunger strike for 17 days in Israeli jails. Demonstrators took to the street while Mahmoud Abbas was meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. According to Haaretz, the Trump administration has asked Abbas to end government payments to the families of prisoners in Israeli jails. Palestinians will strongly disapprove if Mahmoud Abbas concedes to Trump’s request. Ahmad Al Akra, a demonstrator in Ramallah, said, “[Abbas] has been compromising more of our freedom and so far nothing has been accomplished. And I think this might be the final straw.”
I., a European living in Israel, explains why she decided to keep her kindergarten-aged daughter home from school when Israeli schools are mandated teach about the Holocaust to children as young as three years old: “Because of the decision other people made about when and how it is appropriate for our child to learn about genocide, we chose to keep her at home yesterday and today. We want our child to learn about injustice; moral, critical thinking; and courage. We want her to grow up to be strong, fair, kind and safe. And, we think that learning about blurry dangers in a distant past does not teach her that.”
Uri Avnery and Salman Abu Sitta first met during a debate in Paris hosted by the United Nations, “years ago.” Since then the have maintained a correspondence, pieces of which have already been published by Avnery in his column. In the exchange Abu Sitta writes, “I realize you did not wish to reply to my letters. They are either painful or could not be rebutted. Certainly they are not irrelevant. I keep writing to you since we met in Paris over a decade ago because I think you have unique characteristics. You have been a terrorist. You witnessed al Nakba, so you cannot deny it. You tried to forge peace with Palestinians (only on Zionist terms). You have a grasp of all the facts. So you cannot claim ‘I did not know’. Then WHY you are still in a Denial Bubble?”
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Gaza’s libraries have been attacked, there are only 70,000 books available for 1.8 million people. Mosab Abu Toah, a young intellectual who loves English language books, wants to change that with a crowdfunding appeal. Noam Chomsky has gotten behind it.
“I find myself incapable of bowing to fearmongering and threats, and not because of my role as an employee of the United Nations, but simply as a sane human being” — Rima Khalaf, former executive sec’y of UN ESCWA, after being forced to withdraw report labeling Israel an apartheid regime.
In an open letter to progressive Jews, Jewish activists says this moment calls for a strong, broad, united front against the Trump administration’s agenda but there are groups within the Jewish community that progressives should not stand beside: “Specifically, we refer to the February 12 rallies in support of refugees in which Jewish social justice groups cosponsored the action with, among others, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC), two organizations that have toxic anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian policies.”
Israeli police evacuated more than 200 Israeli settlers Wednesday from the West Bank outpost of Amona, dragging families with young children out of the illegal community that was built more than a decade ago. It may seem that justice prevailed in favor of the original Palestinian landowners, but for many it is not a victory. Amona residents will ultimately be relocated in adjacent plots of land, which also belong to Palestinians.