October 31st, 20220U.S. President Donald Trump’s so-called "Deal of the Century" was meant to represent a finality of sorts, an event reminiscent of Francis Fukuyama’s premature declaration of the ‘End of History’ and the uncontested supremacy of western capitalism. In effect, it was a declaration that ‘we’ – the U.S., Israel and a few allies...
October 21st, 20220SYDNEY — On Tuesday, Australia reversed a decision of the previous government to recognize West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, saying the status of the city should be resolved through peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian people.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said Australia "will always be a steadfast friend...
October 6th, 20220BEIRUT — Lebanon said U.S.-brokered talks to demarcate its maritime border with longtime foe Israel were at a "make or break" point on Thursday after Israel rejected revisions to a draft deal requested by Beirut, throwing years of diplomatic efforts into doubt.
The draft, which has not been made public, had a warm preliminary...
July 28th, 20220To judge U.S. President Biden’s recent visit to Israel and Palestine as a “failure” in terms of activating the dormant “peace process” is simply a misnomer. For this statement to be accurate, Washington would have had to indicate even a nominal desire to push for negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian...
June 29th, 20220JERUSALEM — Rabeha Rajabi did not think she would be holding her wedding celebrations in the rubble of her own home in Occupied East Jerusalem, until Israeli authorities destroyed it.
"Before any blow hit the house, it hit our hearts," said Rajabi, a Palestinian, speaking among the debris and donning a traditional Palestinian thobe...
October 29th, 20211PALESTINE — Despite objections from the otherwise-aligned U.S. government, and condemnation from Palestine-rights groups, Israel moved forward on Wednesday with plans to build some 3,000 homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.
The move does stand in defiance of the Biden administration's strongest criticism to date of...
October 26th, 20210JERUSALEM — Jerusalem's mayor dismissed media speculation on Tuesday that a U.S. consulate for Palestinians in the city would be denied municipal services if the Biden administration reopens it despite Israeli opposition.
The rightist mayor, Moshe Lion, also said Washington's plan to reverse the Trump administration's subsuming of...
October 13th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. will push ahead with the reopening of its Palestinian diplomatic mission in Jerusalem, despite repeated objections from top Israeli officials over the development.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that the reopening, which is opposed by Israel’s new cross-party power-sharing...
June 5th, 20210DEARBORN - Organizers and community members will gather this Saturday, June 5th, at Ford Woods Park in Dearborn, to commemorate the 54th anniversary of Al-Naksa (or "the setback") marking 54 years since the second major land loss and mass expulsion of Palestinian people from their homeland.
The event will include a march and a...
June 5th, 20210The ceasefire on May 21 has, for now, brought the Israeli war on Gaza to an end. However, this ceasefire is not permanent and constant Israeli provocations anywhere in Palestine could reignite the bloody cycle all over again. Moreover, the Israeli siege on Gaza remains in place, as well as the Israeli military occupation and the rooted...
May 15th, 20210On Sunday, March 16 at 1 p.m., we will be gathering outdoors at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in Dearborn for an important event, "the March for Jerusalem." This event will be sponsored by New Generation for Palestine, The Arab American News, Students for Justice at Wayne State University and many other...
May 13th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — The latest escalation of Israeli violence against Palestinians has seen mixed reactions in the Washington D.C. political world.
Staunch supporters of Israel on the Republican side made predictable appeals to Israel's security.
"Here in Washington, street protesters screamed — listen to this — 'Israel is a...
May 12th, 20210PALESTINE — Israel’s assault on Gaza continued on Wednesday, leveling a third high rise, the 16-story al-Shorouk tower, which housed local and foreign media outlets as well as shops and apartments.
Israeli authorities said Hamas members were using each of the three buildings it has so far targeted for military purposes, though...
May 12th, 20211There are two separate Sheikh Jarrah stories. One is read about and watched on the news, the other receives little media coverage or due analysis.
The obvious story is that of the nightly raids and violence meted out by Israeli police and Jewish extremists against Palestinians in the devastated East Jerusalem neighborhood. For...
May 10th, 20210PALESTINE — Israel directed military operations to Gaza, killing 20 Palestinians, including nine children, in airstrikes as violence and crackdowns by Israeli forces continued on Palestinians over protests stemming from threatened eviction of families from Sheikh Jarrah.
Days of violence in Jerusalem, including the multiple raids...
April 27th, 20210NEW YORK — On Tuesday, an international rights watchdog accused Israel of pursuing policies of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians — and against its own Arab minority — that amount to crimes against humanity.
New York-based Human Rights Watch published a 213-page report, which it said was not aimed at comparing...
April 22nd, 20210JERUSALEM — Nightly clashes and other violent incidents between Palestinians and Israelis in Jerusalem during Ramadan have laid bare simmering tensions in the holy city.
Palestinians have clashed with Israeli police amid a dispute over evening gatherings at Damascus Gate after iftar, the breaking of the daytime fast during the...
April 15th, 20210Australia’s Labor Party’s recognition of Palestine as a state on March 30 is a welcomed position, though it comes with many caveats.
Pro-Palestinian activists are justified to question the sincerity of the ALP’s stance and whether Australia’s Labor is genuinely prepared to fully adopt this position should they form a...
April 8th, 20210If imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti becomes the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), the status quo will change substantially. For Israel, as well as for the current PA president, Mahmoud Abbas, such a scenario is more dangerous than another strong Hamas showing in the upcoming Palestinian parliamentary...
April 5th, 20210JERUSALEM - An Israeli prosecutor told a court on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had helped a business couple to clinch deals worth hundred of millions of shekels in exchange for favourable coverage of him on a news website they controlled.
Speaking at the opening of Netanyahu’s corruption trial, state prosecutor Liat...
January 14th, 20210Israel’s decision to exclude Palestinians from its COVID-19 vaccination campaign may have surprised many. Even by Israel’s poor humanitarian standards, denying Palestinians access to life-saving medication seems extremely callous.
Amnesty International, among many organizations, condemned the Israeli government’s decision to bar...
January 12th, 202102020 will go down in history as the year that terminated the American-sponsored “peace process.” While 2021 will not reverse the monumental change in the U.S. attitude and objectives in Palestine, Israel and the Middle East, the new year presents Palestinians with the opportunity to think outside the American box.
The previous...
January 11th, 20210JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered construction plans advanced on Monday for some 800 Jewish settler homes in the occupied West Bank, anchoring the projects in the final days of the pro-settlement Trump administration.
Palestinians condemned such construction as illegal. The timing of the move appeared to be...
December 15th, 20200JERUSALEM — For Nabil al-Kurd, being forced out of the East Jerusalem home he has lived in since the 1950s would be a fate worse than death.
But the 76-year-old and his wife and children are among dozens of Palestinians under threat of eviction from two districts of the disputed city, after an Israeli court ruled their properties are...
November 14th, 20200“If we are going to live another four years with President Trump, God help us, God help you and God help the whole world.”
These were the words of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh during a virtual meeting with European legislators on November 3. While some may agree with Shtayyeh’s assessment, such...
October 14th, 20200“International law” remains one of the most discussed terms in the context of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. It is almost always present, whether the discussion pertains to the Israeli wars and siege on Gaza, the expansion of illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank or the encroaching apartheid throughout Israel and the...
January 28th, 20201WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Trump and his hard-line, right-wing ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, unveiled Trump’s long-awaited Middle East peace plan on Tuesday. The plan has been preemptively rejected by Palestinians, who see no signs in the plan of an end to Israeli occupation and illegal settlements. Netanyahu, on...
January 24th, 20200WASHINGTON, D.C. — The White House said in a statement on Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House next Tuesday to meet with President Trump about Trump’s long-awaited Middle East peace plan. Trump confirmed the news, telling reporters on Air Force One that he will release the details of the...