Mazin Qumsiyeh: 68 Ways To Support Peace And A Free Palestine

By 11 Comments

A very important interview with the Palestinian writer and scientist Mazin Qumsiyeh, born in Beit Sahour in 1957, director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History. You can find a lot of interesting material on his website for further reading.

He is famous for his brave words. There is only a one-state-solution, he says in his books about the liberation of Palestine from Zionist occupation because ressources and people cannot be split. So we have to start living together in peace and justice. He focuses on the importance of resistance against injustice, militarism, colonialism, apartheid. There is no peace without justice. And Israel as Zionist State must be dismantled.
And Palestine is not a local problem. It is a problem of us all together. So the solution can only be a cooperative one. But resistance is the key. And BDS the second key.

We can all help Palestine. Mazin gives us a list of 68 ways to be an activist for Palestine, even by doing a street theater.

Connecting The Dots: Hillary Clinton, Zionism, And Haim Saban

By 17 Comments

Recently, in a letter written to wealthy capitalist Haim Saban, which was released online, Hillary Clinton declared her full-throttled opposition to the BDS movement.

Numerous news outlets ranging from Politico, Jewish Daily Forward, Haaretz, and Mondoweiss wrote about this letter, each having their different perspective. One thing is clear: Puder PR, Saban’s PR agency, released the letter possibly with the coordination of the Clinton campaign. This firm bills itself as “the only communications firm specializing in Jewish affairs” that operates in Israel and the US, on its LinkedIn, and has clients ranging from the Jewish Federation, Friends of the IDF, and the World Jewish Congress to and the Israeli American Council, putting it squarely within the realm of Zionism. [1] Beyond this, it is important to connect the dots between Clinton, Saban, and Zionism itself.

While the letter seems to have a PR-tone to it, reminding me of the form letters I would receive from congresspeople when I sent them emails about certain issues, I still think a critical viewpoint can be helpful. In the letter, Clinton expresses “alarm” about the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement and calls it “a global effort to isolate the State of Israel.”

The New York Times Helps Israel Attack BDS Movement, Promote War

By 5 Comments

The New York Times ran two very different stories recently related to Israel. An analysis of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement titled “Campus Debates on Israel Drive a Wedge Between Jews and Minorities,” portrays the nonviolent campaign to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law as a cause of tensions between ethnic groups. Several days later, the Gray Lady printed “Israel Says Hezbollah Positions Put Lebanese at Risk,” uncritically repeating Israeli propaganda justifying a future violent, illegal invasion that would likely kill thousands of civilians.

In the article on BDS, the Times pursues a biased preconceived narrative that BDS is sparking a conflict between ethnic groups. In reality, to the extent there is a conflict, it is between two different political groups — Zionists and anti-Zionists. It has nothing to do with one’s race or religion, but with their political views on whether all people enjoy equal rights or not.

Writing in Salon, David Palumbo-Liu calls the piece “race-baiting.”

The file does not exist View/Post/small_loop.php