Palestine Think Tank

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 [...]

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."

At a time when extreme and even unthinkable measures are being taken to completely sever the few remaining passageways of life into Gaza through Rafah's underground tunnels into Egypt, other tunnels of a different kind and a different purpose are being dug elsewhere everyday in broad daylight for all the world to see in occupied [...]

"I had prayed Samer, prayed that I would not have to witness bloodshed at their hands because I would go for the kill.. period – and I can and I would, I was not worried about my dying.. that would have been fine.. lovely actually. I would rather die there so it made no difference, but I would not stand by and let any of my brothers or sisters lie hurt and bleeding.. because it is our blood.. all of us, our blood."

We must reclaim the struggle as our own, by regaining our Palestinian popular voice, making sure it gets heard, and speaking up loudly and clearly for Palestinian unity and liberation. We also should always give priority to Palestinian speakers and writers, instead of rushing only to forward the articles of Amira Hass and Gideon Levy to our mailing lists, and barely giving any interest to the writings of our own people. Have you caught yourself doing this? Let us change it. We are not in a position to compete against each other – we should empower each other. Our own Palestinian voice is irreplaceable – if we let others speak for us, we have already killed our independence before it is even born.

Arabs — both Muslims and Christians — have been the target of a ferocious propaganda campaign in this country. Responding to this onslaught is more than enough to keep them busy without having to contend with a contingent of self-hating Arabs and religious agitators in their midst. As an Arab who happened to be born into a Christian family, I cannot remain silent as individuals on the margins of the Arab American community are enlisted in this demonization campaign as representatives of Christian Arabs. For Christian Arabs their Christianity is an indigenous religion, and Islam is their indigenous civilization.

The Palestine Strategy Study Group strongly urges fellow Palestinians to seize their destiny in their own hands by refusing even to enter these other discourses until it is appropriate to do so and to focus all their energies on explaining and promoting the prior Palestinian discourse. The appropriate discourse uses the language, not of peacemaking or statebuilding, but of national self-determination, of liberation, of emancipation from occupation, of individual and collective rights, of international law. This must be the primary discourse. Only when the priorities defined within the primary Palestinian discourse of emancipation are recognised can the hitherto rightly subordinated discourses of peacemaking and statebuilding move properly into the foreground.

It is essential in strategic thinking to take constant account of how the chessboard
looks from the perspective of the opponent. This is fundamental. A player who does not do this – who only looks at the board from its own perspective – will never be a grandmaster. Such a player will lose. The strategic purpose is to exert mounting pressure on the opponent to act as we want. This can only be done if we understand what the opponent desires and fears, and the sources and limits of the opponent’s power. The same applies to inducing third parties to behave in the ways we want them to.

The Partition of Palestine was an illegal act imposed on our weak and defenseless people by the force of zionist lobbying and American bribery of nations whose votes were necessary to create a Zionist entity in our midst. If that Partition is a reality by virtue of a UN vote, why should our people accept what the rest of the world takes for granted: 1967.
Hamas leaders or Palestinian Authority leaders cannot bestow legality on an act which has never been ratified by the Palestinian people. Individuals do not speak for the masses without a vote.

Not since World War II has one western leader, not even one, ever been charged or prosecuted for war crimes against humanity. While Holocaust museums are being erected around the world, often at taxpayers’ expense, not one single museum in a western capital, with the exception of Latin America, has ever been built to memorialize the genocides against African Americans, Latinos, Africans, Arabs, Muslims, Asians and Aborigines – all victims of imperial holocausts.

Let Me Draw This Picture For You
Have you ever noticed that almost nothing the Palestinians and their resistance factions do is acceptable by the Palestine solidarity groups and Peace and Justice movements in the West?
Here are some of what some of this solidarity and anti war, peace organizations keep saying so they can get out [...]