Archive for the Palestine Category

Shakespeare in the West Bank

Shakespeare in the West Bank

There are far better things to send to the Middle East than arms, politicians, missionaries threats or ambassadors that will foster integration and cross cultural understanding, Horatio It was, said the director, an Elizabethan atmosphere. People came and went throughout the play. There was cha

09.9.2011 | Middle East, Palestine |

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Israel –Palestine Peace talks just theater and rhetoric

Israel –Palestine Peace talks just theater and rhetoric

The way the US media is over-hyping the so called direct peace talks brings  a twinkle to the eye of the rather mislead American readership.  It as if this posturing isn’t another round of theater that has accompanied gentle US pressure for decades. Israel goes through the motion of negotiat

09.3.2010 | Israel, Middle East, Palestine |

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Palestinian-Lebanese

Palestinian-Lebanese “Shooting Hope” youth photography video

I am always a little dubious of those who hold strong opinions but seem absent the evidential underpinnings to support them. I talk to many people who seems absolutely sure about who is in the right in relation to the Palestine-Israel situation. These people often also opine about how Palestine's

05.22.2010 | Israel, Middle East, Palestine |

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Palestinian populist campaign to boycott Israeli settlement produce

Palestinian populist campaign to boycott Israeli settlement produce

To understand international events more intimately, it helps if one focuses on the commonality of the human experience rather than the differences of creed and culture. There is a huge apparent divide between the average American and their counterpart in Palestine, but if you look at the issue m

05.20.2010 | Israel, Middle East, Palestine |

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Harvard fellow, Martin Kramer, calls for curbing births in Gaza to combat terrorism

Harvard fellow, Martin Kramer, calls for curbing births in Gaza to combat terrorism

Martin Kramer has stunned many observers in the Middle East by claiming radical Islam is not a response to Western foreign policy, poverty or domestic governance frustration. Instead he states “…that it was inherent in the demography of Muslim societies such as Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan and t

03.4.2010 | Middle East, Palestine |

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Gaza Zoo for sale - can’t afford to feed animals

Gaza Zoo for sale – can’t afford to feed animals

The Gaza zoo briefly gained notoriety when several of its animals died of starvation during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead. The situation became so dangerous that the owners couldn’t reach the zoo during the campaign as it was too dangerous. The enterprising owners subsequently painted two don

02.14.2010 | Middle East, Palestine |

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Al Qaeda and the next Gaza War

Al Qaeda and the next Gaza War

There are many that demonize Hamas’ governance of the Gaza; however, they fail to realize things may well be catastrophic if the Hamas falls. Hamas has so far kept the more extreme jihadists in check that have snuck into the territory as well as home grown extremists. There is no doubt that Al

12.29.2009 | Middle East, Palestine |

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UN funds mud-brick houses for Gaza to circumvent blockade

UN funds mud-brick houses for Gaza to circumvent blockade

Israel won't allow concrete and other construction materials into blockaded Gaza. This raises problems for the many Palestinians made homeless there in the wake of Operation Cast Lead.  Israel says raw materials could be seized by Hamas to make weapons or fortify their military structures, but

12.24.2009 | Middle East, Palestine |

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Another illiterate generation of Palestinian refugees

Another illiterate generation of Palestinian refugees

The statistics for the education levels of young Palestinians refugees are shameful, and to some extend explain why such youngsters form a fertile recruiting ground for those who would radicalize their world view. This sampling from the Palestinian population resident in Lebanese refugee camps is a

11.27.2009 | Lebanon, Middle East, Palestine |

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Environmental impact of the Gaza blockade

Environmental impact of the Gaza blockade

In addition to the human and psychological impacts produced by the blockade of the Gaza, there are environmental ramifications too. People denied access to basic foodstuffs will, as a necessity, search for options that surround them.  Traditional ethnic groups with a close tie to their environs

11.5.2009 | Middle East, Palestine |

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“I heart Hamas” – performance art and the beauty of pluralism

I recently had the opportunity to see a one-woman play performed ‘off -Market’, as they say in San Francisco, entitled “I heart Hamas”. The play is written and performed by an American-Palestinian (or a Palestinian-American depending on your perspective) actor, Jennifer Jajeh. "I heart Ham

11.2.2009 | Americas, Editorials, Middle East, Palestine |

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Why ignoring Goldstone's report is an error

Why ignoring Goldstone’s report is an error

In the face of complex policy choices and increasingly rancorous clamoring from the opposition, it is worthy of repeating that a calculated response in foreign policy is not necessarily a bad thing. A country is not just judged in the world’s eye by what it does, but also by the subtler nuances of

10.26.2009 | Editorials, Israel, Middle East, Palestine |

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