All posts tagged: Palestinian

In Connecticut, A Museum of Palestinian Dreams

In Connecticut, A Museum of Palestinian Dreams

Published by skeptic

“We can stand shoulder to shoulder with the world’s greatest artists.” So says Faisal Saleh, founder of the Palestine Museum US. Since 2018, he has directed the space. He also owns the building—an office complex in Woodbridge, Connecticut—and so is free from worry over upsetting the various bureaucracies who might hesitate to showcase Palestinian art. A soft ban on Palestinian artists is, and has been, all too pervasive. (Saleh tells me: “The name ‘Palestine’ is radioactive right now.”) This year’s Venice Biennale, with its theme “Foreigners Everywhere,” panders to an idea of inclusivity. But when the Palestine Museum proposed the exhibition “Foreigners in their Homeland” as a collateral event, the proposal was rejected. Palestine also does not have a national pavilion, since Italy does not recognize it as a sovereign nation. Besides, according to Saleh, any art from Palestine is instantly tagged as Political with a capital-“P.” Thus, art and expressions are swept away to escape a boogeyman controversy. What gets left behind? Tough-minded work that deals with the struggle of love, anger, jealousy, fear, …

The DNC Should Have Had a Palestinian American Speaker

The DNC Should Have Had a Palestinian American Speaker

Published by Sam

Produced by ElevenLabs and News Over Audio (NOA) using AI narration. Palestinians have, since the start of Israeli retaliation for Hamas’s massacre on October 7 last year, been living through one of the worst calamities in an already tragic history. Attacks by the Israeli military have killed tens of thousands Palestinians in Gaza, and much of the region’s population of 2 million has been displaced—repeatedly—and remains at risk of starvation and illness. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli extremists have launched more than 1,000 attacks against Palestinians in recent months. Supporters of the Palestinian cause have been left with few options politically. The next occupant of the White House will come from one of the two major parties. On the Republican side, Donald Trump, the obvious favorite of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has vowed to deport pro-Palestinian protesters and uses the word Palestinian as a racial epithet akin to an old southern slur. On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden has sought a cease-fire but has been unable or unwilling to bring the necessary …

Palestinian allies make last-ditch push for speaker on the DNC stage

Palestinian allies make last-ditch push for speaker on the DNC stage

Published by skeptic

(RNS) — Arab Americans, Muslim Americans and their interfaith allies spent much of Thursday (Aug. 22) pushing Democratic officials to allow a Palestinian American to speak from the party convention’s main stage, to convey a message of solidarity despite the party’s so-far consistent support for Israel in its prosecution of the war in Gaza. The push was accompanied by an all-night sit-in outside Chicago’s United Center at which members of the “uncommitted” movement also made speeches pressing the Democratic National Convention to feature a Palestinian speaker. The uncommitted — so-called because members of the movement wrote in “uncommitted” on their ballots rather than vote for President Joe Biden in this year’s Democratic primaries — want the DNC to recognize the suffering of Palestinians, 40,000 of whom have been killed by Israel’s massive Gaza assault of the past 10 months, an assault backed by U.S. bombs and munitions that has flattened the Gaza Strip and left tens of thousands homeless.  In an emotional speech from the stage of the convention on Wednesday, Israeli Americans Rachel Goldberg-Polin …

Israel air raid on Gaza clinic kills senior Palestinian health official | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Israel air raid on Gaza clinic kills senior Palestinian health official | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Published by Sam

Palestinian medics and rights advocates have denounced the killing of a top medical official in Gaza by the Israeli military, accusing Israel of systematically targeting the health system in the besieged enclave. Israel bombed a clinic in Gaza City late on Sunday, killing Hani al-Jaafarawi, Gaza’s director of ambulances and emergency, and four other people. The targeted clinic, which offered general health, paediatric and dental services, was also put out of commission by the Israeli attack. “The Israeli war jets bombed the clinic and destroyed its rooms completely,” said Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Ismail Algoul, reporting from Gaza City. “The blood of the people who were targeted is still on the floor, while now, thousands of patients are in danger after the clinic lost all of its facilities as a result of the Israeli raid.” Eyad Zaqout, director of the emergency department at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, told Al Jazeera on Monday that by killing al-Jaafarawi, Israel removed “a pillar” from the territory’s collapsing health system. “It is clear that the Israeli forces are …

What We Know About the U.N. Report on Israeli and Palestinian War Crimes

What We Know About the U.N. Report on Israeli and Palestinian War Crimes

Published by Sam

A commission at the United Nations published a report on Wednesday detailing acts of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, accusing both sides of war crimes and arguing that the immense loss of life in the Gaza Strip amounted to a crime against humanity. The report consisted of two parallel investigations, one focused on the Oct. 7 attack on Israel led by the armed Palestinian group Hamas, and the other on Israel’s military response. It is one of the most detailed examinations thus far of the conflict and provides legal analysis that is likely to be used in future criminal proceedings related to the war in Gaza. Here is a closer look at the commission’s findings. What did the report find? According to the report, 800 civilians were among the more than 1,200 killed by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. More than 250 additional people — including 36 children — were taken hostage, the commission said. The commission accused Israeli forces of responding to …

‘Sometimes I wonder if I’ll come back’: Palestinian birdwatchers defy danger to scan the skies | Palestinian territories

‘Sometimes I wonder if I’ll come back’: Palestinian birdwatchers defy danger to scan the skies | Palestinian territories

Published by skeptic

Sitting in the shade of an olive tree in the valley of Ein Qiniya, north-west of Ramallah, the wildlife photographer and birdwatcher Mohamad Shuaibi starts to enumerate the birds he can spot. Swifts and swallows flit and swoop, a short-toed eagle hovers in the distance, a jay perches on an olive branch and a kestrel returns to its nest in the limestone cliffs. He also starts counting the times he has been stopped by Israeli soldiers or police out in the field with his camera. “I was detained four times already since October, and each time was worse,” he says. He now avoids going out at certain times: “To watch birds we need to go out very early in the morning. But most of the military operations are in the early hours, so you can be shot if you’re out around this time.” Spring sees millions of birds fly over the occupied territories of Palestine, part of the world’s second-busiest corridor for bird migration. “The migration hasn’t stopped,” says Shuaibi. “These birds, despite the war, …

Hamas signals post-war ambition in talks with Palestinian rival Fatah

Hamas signals post-war ambition in talks with Palestinian rival Fatah

Published by Sam

RAMALLAH: Deep divisions will limit progress at reconciliation talks between Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah this month, conversations with five sources in the groups indicate, but the meetings highlight that the militant group is likely to retain influence after Israel’s war in Gaza. The talks between Hamas and the Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will be held in China in mid-June, according to officials from both sides. They follow two recent rounds of reconciliation talks, one in China and one in Russia. China’s foreign ministry declined to comment. The next meeting will be held amid attempts by international mediators to reach a ceasefire deal for Gaza, with one of the key sticking points being the “day-after” plan – how the enclave will be governed. Considered a terrorist organisation by many Western nations, Hamas was shunned long before its Oct 7 attacks killed 1,200 people in Israel, with more than 250 hostages taken, triggering the war in Gaza. But even as it is pummelled militarily, the meetings of Hamas politicians with officials from the Fatah …