Archive for the ‘Palestine/Israel’ Category

Book review: Gideon Levy and the Western media elite

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Originally published on Electronic Intifada. Asa Winstanley, The Electronic Intifada, 26 July 2010 The small volume The Punishment of Gaza is a selection from Gideon Levy's columns on Gaza in Israeli daily Haaretz since 2006. The dissident Israeli journalist reminds us that the brutal Israeli assault on Gaza has not ...

EI exclusive: Leaked documents show PA undermined Turkey’s push for UN flotilla probe

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Originally published on Electronic Intifada Asa Winstanley, The Electronic Intifada, 22 June 2010 A document sent to Ibrahim Khraishi, Palestinian Authority representative at the UN in Geneva, proves that the PA attempted to undermine Turkey's push for a UN Human Rights Council investigation in to Israel's attack ...

Boycotting Israel – It’s Working

Monday, May 17th, 2010

Originally published at the New Left Project By Asa Winstanley The global boycott divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel’s apartheid system in Palestine has achieved many victories since it was launched by a broad coalition of Palestinian civil society in 2005. BDS victories seem to have flowed ...

Sailing into trouble: “To Gaza with Love” reviewed

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Originally published on Electronic Intifada. Asa Winstanley, The Electronic Intifada, 4 January 2010 A scene from To Gaza with Love. To Gaza with Love is a documentary by Aki Nawaz for Iran's English-language channel Press TV. It is an account of the first boats that successfully broke the siege of Gaza in August 2008. The ...

Book review: Palestinian views on suicide operations

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Originally published on Electronic Intifada. Asa Winstanley, The Electronic Intifada, 13 October 2009 In his new book The Making of a Human Bomb: An Ethnography of Palestinian Resistance, Nasser Abufarha examines the phenomena of Palestinian suicide operations. It is based on extensive fieldwork conducted in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, mostly in and ...

Boycott movement takes hold in British unions

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

Originally published in Electronic Intifada. By Asa Winstanley, The Electronic Intifada, 14 August 2009 The international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel has won several important victories in recent months. At this summer's trade union conferences in Britain, BDS activists have made significant progress. While the campaign ...

Review: “Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide” by Ben White

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

This book is an excellent "guide for the perplexed". It is perfect for those new to the subject. I personally will be buying copies and foisting it on friends and relatives. At the same time I was surprised how much a learned from it (particularly about the Palestinian citizens of ...

“Security threat”: An attempt to visit family in Ramallah

Monday, June 15th, 2009

Originally published in Electronic Intifada. Asa Winstanley writing from the United Kingdom, Live from Palestine, 12 June 2009 Taking the first bus of the day, my wife and I arrived on the Israeli side of the King Hussein bridge crossing into the West Bank from Jordan. We explained that we were ...

Liberal arrogance and some Palestinian non-violent martyrs

Monday, April 6th, 2009

Guardian America editor Michael Tomasky thinks he's being clever and original by asking: "why don't the Palestinians just imitate Ghandi?". Self-satisfied liberals ask this from time to time. From Michael Moore in "Stupid White Men" to occasional Haaretz editorials. It seems every liberal who asks this thinks they are the ...

Review: “US policy towards Jerusalem and the Occupied Arab Territories, 1948 and 1967″ by Candace Karp

Monday, March 9th, 2009

A pretty dry, academic account of (surprise surprise) US policy towards the Israeli occupation of Palestinian and other Arab lands in 1948 and 1967 (with a focus on the status of Jerusalem in 1948). It's a sound summary of the official US documentary record, supported by various memoirs etc. Its ...

Review: “The Road Map to Nowhere: Israel/Palestine Since 2003″ by Tanya Reinhart

Monday, March 9th, 2009

An excellent sequel to "Israel/Palestine: How to End the War of 1948". Here Reinhart argues that the correct way to understand the 2005 Israeli redeployment from Gaza (the much vaunted "disengagement") is in the context of massive US pressure behind the scenes, even rising to the level of military sanctions. ...

Review: “Israel/Palestine: How To End The War Of 1948″ by Tanya Reinhart

Monday, March 9th, 2009

The late and much missed Tanya Reinhart wrote this 2002 analysis at height of the second intifada during the darkest days of the violence. It is extremely solid and many of her arguments here have been borne out by more recent events. Although one should always be wary of making ...