Palestine Think Tank

It was hard to say goodbye to my wife and friends in the US.  The last night was very meaningful as we were in New York seeing the performance of Najla Said, daughter of my friend and mentor, the late Professor Edward Said (for an earlier statement from Najla, see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEMrmRCbvA0 ). I cried while she [...]

Reading Rifat Kassis's Opinion: Moment of truth (e.i. 4 March 2010) we are inspired to put a halt to the arguments that call for a selective boycott of Israel, and to defy those voices which warn us Palestinians (and many internationalists, for that matter) who criticise Israel for fear of being labelled 'anti-semites' (although we [...]

Petitioners request that the Government of Switzerland, in its capacity as depository of the Fourth Geneva Convention, consider this issue in the context of resuming the High Contracting Parties’ Conference to the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Please sign this important Petition and pass it on to others to prevent Israel from continuing its ethnic cleansing not only [...]

To work strategically on our liberation process, we need to instill an appropriate discourse that embodies our future strategic vision. This discourse should start by purging itself from the language of “two-state solution”, “two states for two people”, “West Bank and Gaza”, “East Jerusalem”, “peacemaking”, “direct or indirect negotiations”, “state building”, “legal or illegal settlements”, etc. Our language should focus on means of resistance to achieve our liberation towards living in a free, non-racist, secular country in the entire land of historical Palestine; on emancipation from occupation and economic dependency; on individual and collective rights; on international law; on responsive and accountable leadership; on self-reliance and productivity; and on the right of all the refugees and displaced persons, who were ethnically cleansed from their homes and country by the Zionist colonial movement, to return to Palestine.

Although people in our modern times have been educated to believe that having the 'right' ideas, methods or ideologies is what causes revolutions, history teaches us that drastic changes usually happen when the majority of the people rally behind a certain leader, more than behind an ideology. While Palestinian society continues to be torn apart [...]

While the Palestinian Authority (PA) seems prone to agree to "indirect talks" with Israel without the latter undertaking any meaningful freeze of Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank, the Israeli government is making only provocations, rendering the resumption — let alone success — of peace talks more unlikely, especially in the near future.
Israel lately [...]

When American historian Howard Zinn passed away recently, he left behind a legacy that redefined our relationship to history altogether. 
Professor Zinn dared to challenge the way history was told and written. In fact he went as far as to defy the conventional construction of historical discourses through the pen of victor or of elites who [...]

I was 12 years old when my family forced to move from Hebron, on 1977. I don't know if I was lucky or not, as I was born in this historical holy city, which is located in the south of the West Bank (WB).
I was born in the old city, very close to the Abraham [...]

The Nakba law is coming up again for consideration in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, in a more moderate version than before but with the same motivation:  to frighten everyone who wishes to commemorate the human and political tragedy that occurred in 1948, in which the Zionists expelled most of the Palestinian inhabitants [...]

Interview with Palestinian Musician (and Surgeon) Doc Jazz
"I want the people to believe in themselves again, in the same spirit as that of the first Intifada that started in 1987. They seem to be increasingly depending on others, and leaving their fate to be decided by others than themselves. But my message to them is: independence cannot be given to you, it can only start by acting independently. Otherwise you are only on the road to a new 'dependence'. This is the motto of my 'come-back'. And I hope that in some way or other, my music relays that message."