Palestine Think Tank

Free Minds for a Free Palestine

Author Archive

cartoon of the day

By Mary Rizzo • Sep 29th, 2009 • Category: Cartoon of the day

"One day the Israelis and Palestinians will live together in the same land"
"One on top and the other underground"



Saleh Al-Naami – Devil in the details

By Mary Rizzo • Sep 25th, 2009 • Category: Analysis, Israel, Mary's Choice, Newswire, Palestine, Resistance, Zionism

In Gaza, Saleh Al-Naami finds the latest ideas coming out of Cairo for Palestinian reconciliation miss the core problems
Perhaps the common denominator in the special night prayers at West Bank mosques during Ramadan is a plea for Palestinian unity and an end to internal divisions that constitute a national crisis. It appears that the Palestinians [...]



cartoon of the day

By Mary Rizzo • Sep 24th, 2009 • Category: Cartoon of the day, Israel, Maps

This is not a cartoon.  It is the map used by the early Zionists to show where "Israel" should be… from river to river (Euphrates to Nile).



Khalid Amayreh Interview: "the mental landscape of every Palestinian man, woman and child is overwhelmed with the Israeli nightmare"

By Mary Rizzo • Sep 24th, 2009 • Category: Analysis, Counter-terrorism, No thanks!, Culture and Heritage, Interviews, Israel, Newswire, Our Authors, Palestine, Religion, Resistance, Somoud: Arab Voices of Resistance, War, Zionism

Those who seek information about Palestine often tend to be attracted to particular writers and journalists for the special insights and gifts that seem to be uniquely their own. “The Middle East Crisis” is an issue having a profound, complex and multi-faceted dimension of interpretation, that for however long there has been a crisis (and worse), and despite the great abundance of written material available, more than we can ever realistically confront, the reader is driven to seek the voices that can analyse any aspect of the situation clearly. There really are far fewer with this talent than one would expect. The characteristic of this type of writer is that there is a distinctive voice or style, and more than that, there is a strong sense that the coherent and authentic ethics of this person are part of the message. It is not just reporting facts and intelligent analysis, but creating within us a consciousness of the moral situation that underlies the events. Khalid Amayreh is one such “source”. He is a very prolific author, and he is often able to correctly analyse the event of the day and place it into its overall context. This makes his work almost a diary of Palestinian events. However, as useful as it would be if he limited himself to reporting, Khalid Amayreh is far more important as a writer. He is concerned with the human condition and knows that the reader should not be left only with a cold reportage, because that would be telling only half of the story, and the less important half at that. His voice is the one speaking to the human heart, to the reader who sees the oppression that Palestinians are living under, and is mystified at they are no nearer to the end of their suffering. Khalid does not talk about “indiscriminate masses”, his work is almost a passion play, where there are names, identities, human stories behind all of the events narrated. In this interview, he touches on many issues in his intimitable way.



Italian-Palestinian Concert in Gaza

By Mary Rizzo • Sep 23rd, 2009 • Category: Culture and Heritage, Grassroots Activism, Music, Poetry, Events, Newswire, Palestine, Resistance

In March 2009, at Theatre Shawa, Italian Tenor Joe Fallisi, arriving in Gaza on one of the Free Gaza boats, performs with a group of Palestinian musicians. Here is a bit of the concert.



Paul J Balles – The Israel Lobby's Global Propaganda Manual

By Mary Rizzo • Sep 16th, 2009 • Category: Analysis, Counter-terrorism, No thanks!, Education, Israel, Mary's Choice, Newswire, Zionism

Paul J. Balles views a major public relations manual for Israel lobbyists. Written by Dr Frank Luntz, a US Republican political consultant and pollster, on behalf of The Israel Project, a US media advocacy group, it teaches pro-Israel propagandists how to hoodwink people about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, how to silence critics and how to avoid [...]



thinking quote

By Mary Rizzo • Sep 16th, 2009 • Category: Quotes, Thinking

The most important ingredient we put into any relationship is not what we say or what we do, but what we are. And if our words and our actions come from superficial human relations techniques (the Personality Ethic) rather than from our own inner core (the Character Ethic), others will sense that duplicity. We simply [...]



falastin quote

By Mary Rizzo • Sep 16th, 2009 • Category: Falastin, Quotes

On Palestine it is equally important to remember that double standard holds there as well. The freely elected government of Palestine was summarily ostracized by the United States and Europe, by people who take every opportunity to lecture us about espousing democratic practices. 
America even waged war to impose democracy on Iraq. How does that make [...]



Hany Abu Assad – Short Film: "A Boy, A Wall and a Donkey"

By Mary Rizzo • Sep 16th, 2009 • Category: Artwork, Ideas and Projects, Israel, Music, Poetry, Events, Newswire, Palestine, Resistance, Video, Zionism

This beautiful short film was produced in the series sponsored by the EU commission on Human Rights.
A must watch clip.



Barack Obama to Cindy Sheehan: Get Lost. PLUS: Obama's strategy for the "War on Terror"

By Mary Rizzo • Sep 6th, 2009 • Category: Analysis, Biography, Counter-terrorism, No thanks!, Mary's Choice, Newswire, War

PLUS, AFTER THIS ARTICLE, "TALKING POINTS ON THE NOW HISTORICAL CAMP LE JEUNE SPEECH" DON'T MISS IT!!!
WRITTEN BY John Walsh
At Obama’s Summer Place with Cindy: “Leadership” of Peace Movement, MIA
I spent but a short time with Cindy Sheehan as she carried her antiwar protest from an earlier time at Crawford, TX, to Martha’s Vineyard, vacation spot [...]