Palestine Think Tank

We are asking for your endorsement and that of your organization to the below letter, inspired by the hunger strike of imprisoned Palestinian national leader Ahmad Sa'adat, calling upon United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to uphold his responsibilities and take action to protect the rights, health and lives of Palestinian prisoners and demand the freedom [...]

Western Sahara remains under the illegal occupation of Morocco. The efforts employed so far by the United Nations with a view to finalising the decolonisation of the Territory have not been successful due to Morocco’s current rejection of the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence.

For more information contact: Greta Berlin (English) tel: +357 99 081 767 / friends@freegaza.org  Caoimhe Butterly (Arabic/English/Spanish): tel: +357 99 077 820 / sahara78@hotmail.co.uk  www.FreeGaza.org  [23 miles off the coast of Gaza, 15:30pm] - Today Israeli Occupation Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, abducting 21 human rights workers [...]

Hagada Hasmalit, 17 June 2009
Translated from Hebrew by George Malent 

Netanyahu’s speech [of 14 June 2009] was perceived in Israel and the world as a reply to Obama’s speech in Cairo, and as such it has provoked a great deal of interest. 
The content of the speech itself was fairly typical of those given by previous prime [...]

There is a picture circulating on the web, framed perfectly. It depicts an Iranian girl doing an unlikely American gesture, a striking parallel to the picture of a solitary Chinese youth standing in front of tanks at Tienanmen Square in Beijing. We can expect to see this picture soon everywhere on Internet.
None other than Corriere [...]

In the Guardian, musicans from across the popular music spectrum were asked this question:
So who is top of the pops?
Name the best working band or singer in the world today.
That was the simple question they put to scores of musicians. Some chose legends, cult heroes, and Robert Wyatt (looking a bit Vermeerian in the picture!) chose Gilad Atzmon.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jun/26/best-band-rock-pop
Robert Wyatt [...]

Israel in May of 2009. 
Just over a week ago, I visited Israel and Palestine. I was a part of a delegation of authors consisting of representatives from different continents. We were supposed to participate in a Palestinian literary conference. The inauguration was supposed to take place at the Palestinian National Theatre in Jerusalem. Just as [...]

A special political vocabulary prevents us from being able to recognize what's going on in the Middle East. 

On Sunday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech that — by categorically ruling out the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state — ought to have been seen as a mortal blow to the quest for [...]

If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other.
Carl Shurz - US politician (1829 - 1906)

Why should the Arabs hope for anything new from the new US president with regard to Palestine, having agreed so enthusiastically to Bush’s roadmap and having fixed their demands on Israel’s fulfilling its obligations under the plan after the Palestinians had carried out theirs? That they should not hope for much was clearly demonstrated during [...]