My following article appears in today’s Crikey: I attended the Gaza Freedom March (GFM)… in late December to generate publicity for the disastrous Western-led policies towards Palestine. 1400 people from 43 countries descended on Cairo on December 27 and aimed to travel into Gaza to “break the siege”. Palestine has become a truly globalised issue…
Showing all posts tagged Hamas
Hamas is changing, are we listening?
Fawaz A. Gerges, The Nation, 25 January: Like it or not, Hamas is the most powerful organization in the occupied territories. It is deeply entrenched in Palestinian society. Neither Israel nor the Western powers can wish it away. The good news, if my reading is correct, is that Hamas has changed, is willing to meet…
How the Gaza Freedom March managed Hamas
Haaretz journalist Amira Hass, who I saw in Cairo for the Gaza Freedom March, writes in her newspaper about the restrictions imposed on the brief visit by Hamas: The march was not what the organizers had dreamed of during the nine months of preparation. The day before the trip to Gaza, they already knew that…
If America wants to push partition in Palestine, they’ve got a problem
US Middle East envoy George Mitchell talks to American interviewer Charlie Rose and implies that indefinite occupation is bringing Israel to disaster (if one believes in a two-state solution, that is). “Jewish democracy” in Israel can only be achieved at the barrel of a gun: Charlie Rose: And how much incentive is there to do…
Israelis may have to avoid their favourite luxury spots
The recent story of Tzipi Livni and her possible arrest in Britain over war crimes continues to play out: Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon on Tuesday met Tuesday with British Attorney General Baroness Patricia Janet Scotland to protest the slew of arrest warrants issued against senior Israeli officials in the United Kingdom. A delegation of…
Egypt continues its sordid role in tightening the siege on Gaza
One of the key points of the protests during the Gaza Freedom March was the role played by Egypt in sealing Gaza from the world. This Associated Press story provides some more details (a few friends who recently crossed into Gaza via the Rafah crossing tell me that it was impossible to determine the current…
Gaza’s suffering is Israel’s shame
My following article is published today by the Sydney Morning Herald/The Age: The 85-year-old Jewish, anti-Zionist, Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein is a sturdy looking woman. Her slightly hunched frame hides the determination to continue a life-long dedication to social justice. This week in Cairo she joined close to 1400 international delegates on the Gaza Freedom…
How the Gaza Freedom March brought the assembled crowd together
The last days of the Gaza Freedom March here in Cairo were hectic, inspiring, frustrating and energising. The collective goal was to enter Gaza, but alas, that wasn’t to happen. I’m currently sharing a room with a girl who just returned from Gaza, and was quoted in the New York Times, and she tells of…
Sydney Morning Herald covers Gaza Freedom March
The following article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 2 January: Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on either side of the Israeli-Gazan border to mark a year since Israel’s three-week war in Gaza and to call for an end to the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt. About 85 demonstrators in Gaza were foreigners, part…
We can kill Palestinians with impunity, says Israeli
The depth of depravity in certain sections of the Israeli elite is stripped bare with this shocking piece published in Yediot. It doesn’t really need an introduction, except to say that such rhetoric will simply continue to isolate Israel even further. And they deserve it: A year has passed since Operation Cast Lead. The Gaza…