Palestine Think Tank

For many years since the early days of the Reagan and Bush administration continuing with Clinton and now Obama administrations, everytime there is visit by a high ranking American official, Israel announces either expansions of Jewish settlements, expulsions of Palestinians from East Jerusalem, expansions of security checkpoints, expanding the Apartheid Wall, committing targeted assassinations or attacking neighboring countries. This is the message American officials get from Israel every time they can pretend they are on a “peace mission”.

Khalid Amayreh (*) is a journalist who lives in Hebron, a city brutalized and bloodied daily by armed Jewish settlers who are driving the authentic inhabitants by force. He is what might be called a true Palestinian; a man of integrity who was never seduced by financial rewards and prestige; a man standing who has [...]

The assassination of Mohammed Mabhouh in Dubai was not the first International crime which Mossad death squads committed by using the fake or stolen European passports. There is a long record full of assassinations which were carried out by the Israeli death squads in Europe and in many other countries. The latest crime, the assassination [...]

From The Nation – WRITTEN BY FAWAZ A GERGES
Something is stirring within the Hamas body politic, a moderating trend that, if nourished and engaged, could transform Palestinian politics and the Arab-Israeli peace process. There are unmistakable signs that the religiously based radical movement has subtly changed its uncompromising posture on Israel. Although low-key and restrained, [...]

A Palestine Think Tank Editorial
WRITTEN BY  Yousef Abudayyeh, Mohamed Khodr, Mary Rizzo, Haitham Sabbah and Saja 
Activism and activists for Palestine have been getting some media attention recently. This is absolutely great news. It is an opportunity that we need to take advantage of, especially since Palestinians themselves are denied space in almost all mainstream mass [...]

GAZA, (PIC)– Palestinian premier Ismail Haneyya on Friday called for having a new Arab strategy based on the rehabilitation of the historic axis of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria in order to create a kind of power of balance in the face of Israel.
 
During the weekly Friday khutba (sermon), Haneyya called on this axis to [...]

PFLP Member of the Central Committee, Jamil Mizher, warns against bowing to pressure from the Arab and International pressure to return to "negotiations". He calls on Arab countries to support restoration of Palestinian National Unity, not to pressure Palestinians to serve the interests of Israel. The PFLP emphasises the need to develop a united national strategy and unify the Palestinian house on the basis of democracy, comprehensive national dialogue and rebuilding the PLO on the basis of national principles: protecting the inalienable rights of the Palestinians to freedom, self-determination and return.
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The Palestinian political situation now is somehow vague and it is unclear whether there will be elections in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, or separate elections in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The Palestinians and the international community may ask on the optimal means behind reaching an acceptable government with [...]

It is hard to think how Abbas can redeem and rectify some of his blunders. Some of his sins, such as the security coordination with Israel, can never be forgiven.

But Abbas can still embark on some daring steps to salvage things before it is too late.

At the top of these steps should be the orderly dismantling of the Palestinian Authority under whose rubric the national Palestinian cause is being liquidated.

Failure to do so, under whatever pretexts and excuses, would only mean legitimizing the colonial Israeli scheme and capitulating to the status quo.

Let us get rid of the big lie and confront ourselves with the all too-clear fact that the colonialist Zionist occupation of our country never really receded and that the Oslo Agreement was a deception from A to Z. We must tell our people that the PA is not a phase toward liberation from Zionist tyranny, as we have been told, but is rather an instrument for the liquidation of the Palestinian cause.

WRITTEN BY Sami Jamil Jadallah
The issue of continuing and expanding Jewish settlements came back to haunt the Palestinian leadership that negotiated Oslo and continued to negotiate with Israel for the last 16 years while Israeli continued to build and expand its settlements, not to mention building the Apartheid Wall.

Now 16 years later finally the Palestinian [...]