Mahmoud Abbas called for the first general elections in 13 years. However, many analysts and Palestinian citizens remain skeptical fair elections will be held any time soon.
Half of Americans believe politicians use Israel as a “political tool,” a new poll says. A video of Cory Booker likening Gilad Shalit, a former Israeli prisoner of Hamas, to Nelson Mandela would seem to fulfill that cynicism.
Security forces of the Interior Ministry in Gaza have arrested ten persons who are believed to be members of the cell that carried out the two bombings on Tuesday evening that killed three security officers, a Hamas spokesperson say.
Grey smoke and fire plumes erupted for the second day in Gaza and nearby Israeli communities after a cross-fire of deadly rocket strikes launched by both Israeli military and Gaza militants. The death toll rose to 21 in Gaza and four in Israel.
What is largely missing from the discussion on Gaza’s Great March of Return is why it is essential for hundreds of thousands of besieged people to rediscover their power and understand their true position, not as hapless victims, but as agents of change in their society.
After rockets fired from Gaza landed near Tel Aviv Friday morning, Israel launched 100 raids on the enclave. And the organizers of the Great March of Return suspended the demonstrations in their 51st week out of concern for safety of protesters.
The Gaza protests will mark their one-year anniversary in 2 weeks, with real political potential for the Palestinian struggle. Gaza has always been a crucible for political movements in part because its population has such a high percentage of refugees of the Nakba in 1948. Helena Cobban traces the history.
After nearly two months of arbitrary detention, brutal interrogations, a hunger strike, and sexual harassment, 31-year-old Suha Jbara is expected to be released from Palestinian Authority custody in the next two days. Jbara, a Palestinian activist with American and Panamanian citizenship, was arrested by PA security forces on November 3rd over accusations that she collected and distributed money through “illegal methods,” a claim herself and her family vehemently deny. Her father spoke to Mondoweiss about the “nightmare” that his daughter and family have experienced over the past two months.
Ahmad Kabariti reports from Gaza on how the unfolding crisis in the Gulf around Qatar could move Hamas closer to Iran, or cripple the group in its power struggle with the Palestinian Authority.
In a recent video, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu slammed the new Hamas charter saying, “[Hamas] brainwashes kids inside suicide camps,” before throwing the document in a trash can. But Jonathan Ofir asks – what about the ways Israeli institutions are brainwashing children to hate Palestinians?