Palestine Think Tank

WRITTEN BY IBRAHIM HEWITT – ALSO IN SPANISH BELOW!
A leader writer in the Observer newspaper (“Israel can accelerate peace by exercising restraint” http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/21/observer-editorial-israel-palestine , 21 February) really must be taken to task over the language that was used in the column. In seeking to analyse the Israel-Palestine situation the writer slipped into the sort of [...]

A contribution to Palestine Think Tank's and Tlaxcala's First Word War
Numerous books and articles have been written, guided by the main thesis that the reason for the prolonged and intractable conflict between Israel and Palestine, and which is constantly at an impasse, is that there are two “contested” histories (of Jews and Arabs in Palestine!), [...]

The paranoid and pathological-to-the-core line of the neoconservative ideologues reappears on the lips of this champion of U.S. liberalism: the ever-present threat to the well being and security of the American people, whether coming from Communists, populism, drug trafficking, Islamic fundamentalism or international terrorism. But these threats, more imaginary than real, are a necessary ingredient in justifying the unlimited and ceaseless expansion of military spending and the enormous profitability that this provides to the giant oligopolies that depend on the immense business of war.

 
WRITTEN BY ATENEA AVECEDO
Aminetu Haidar was arrested at the El Aaiun Airport (former capital of Western Sahara, a country under Moroccan military occupation since 1975) because in filling out the corresponding entry form she wrote "Western Sahara" as her country of origin instead of "Morocco". The Moroccan authorities confiscated her passport and forced her aboard another aircraft [...]

A response to the first entry in Palestine Think Tank and Tlaxcala's First Word War:
“Logos", plural “Logoi” is Greek , meaning “Word” or “Reason”. In Arabic “Kalimah” means “Word”, Plural “Kalaam” Hence, “’Elmul-Kalam” means “Science of word” which means “Linguistics”. It is also worth mentioning that the “word” is sharper than a mighty sword.
Well, linguistically [...]

Allow me to start with a correction. How impolite, you'd rightly think, but anyway, we Israelis are being forgiven for much worse than impoliteness.
What is so  generously termed today by the International Women's Media Foundation as my lifetime achievement  needs to be corrected.  Because it is Failure.  Nothing more than a  failure.   A lifetime failure.
Come to [...]

New entry in the PTT and Tlaxcala intitaive: First Word War (Translated by Tlaxcala in English, German and Spanish) Piracy on the Somali coasts, armed violence in the East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the explosive situation in Darfur, and the harmful impact all these matters have on neighbouring countries fill the news headlines. But the media merely describe the phenomena without analysing the real causes.

One of the most misleading terms used by the media, and which can also be found in certain academic publications, is that of “armed conflict”. It is even alternated with the term “war”. However, when referring to conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa, the media use adjectives such as “ethnic conflict”, “civil war”, etc. But where military operations take place in other places and the United States of America is an actor, such as Afghanistan or Iraq, the term “war” is used.
So where is the difference? Aside from the technological, military or legal aspects, the difference lies in the ideological assumptions which try to justify the presence of the Empire in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Our next entry in the First Word War, the intitiative by Palestine Think Tank and Tlaxcala to declare war against disinforamation, presents two writers who deconstruct the Israeli and Zionist lexicon. We are asked to stop calling Palestinians who live within Israel "Israeli Arabs", when they were, are and always will be Palestinians. The second intervention explains why Israel's use of the word "self-defense" is an abuse of the concept.
Translations into Italian by Mary Rizzo and Spanish by Manuel Talens

What peace, Mr. Nobel for Peace, if you cannot stop settlements? What peace when the British Foreign Secretary considers the Israeli war a democratic decision by a democratic state? What peace when European Union countries have refrained from voting to form an investigation delegation, a mere delegation to investigate the murder of 1,400 Palestinians, three quarters of whom were civilians? We are before a western ethical crisis. These countries, which teach daily lessons on the independence of the judiciary and human rights and the importance of accountability, stand naked at Israeli checkpoints, incapable of demonstrating even minimal credibility. International justice in Belgium retreated before Sharon. In Spain, it retreated before the generals of “Operation Cast Lead”. We have no idea where else in the aging continent (as Rumsfeld calls it) it will retreat. Has the Israeli war criminal become stronger than judicial buildings that are over two centuries old? This is the question before judicial, national, regional and international institutions today.

UPDATE! NEW ADDITIONS IN SPANISH AND ARABIC. FIRST WORD WAR – PALESTINE THINK TANK AND TLAXCALA DECLARE WAR ON DISINFORMATION.  (Original art for PTT and Tlaxcala by Carlos Latuff). Our second instalment features Nahida Izzat, Adib S. Kawar and Issa OnLine. Translations into Spanish, English and Arabic by Manuel Talens, Victoria Blanco, Atenea Acevedo, Mary [...]