Fatah

The single demand that can unite the Palestinian people

by News Sources 03.30.2011

Karma Nabulsi writes: After another week of breathtaking demonstrations from Jordan to Yemen heralding dramatic revolutionary change, in occupied Palestine things appear much the same. The repetitions of bombing, air attacks on civilians, muted international protests, and dubious gestures towards a bankrupted peace process: all lend an air of futility and hopelessness to the trajectory [...]

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Why Palestinians will protest on March 15

by News Sources 03.14.2011

Rawan Abu-Shahla writes: We are a group of Palestinian youths who have come together for the sole purpose of leaving behind our political identities and affiliations, and deciding to put our best interests above all else, united under our Palestinian flag. We have called for peaceful demonstrations on Tuesday, 15 March across the Palestinian nation [...]

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Gazan youth’s manifesto for change

by News Sources 01.03.2011

The Guardian reports: The meeting takes place in a bare room in a block of flats in the centre of Gaza City. No photographs, no real names – those are the conditions. This is the first time that a group of young Palestinian cyber-activists has agreed to meet a journalist since launching what it calls [...]

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Cables reveal Israel welcomed Hamas takeover of Gaza

by Paul Woodward 12.21.2010

If mainstream media reports and government statements could be relied upon, the Bush administration and the Israeli governments led by Ariel Sharon and then Ehud Olmert were perpetually of one mind — Washington simply mirrored Jerusalem. But newly-released cables indicate that when it came to views about Hamas’ control of Gaza, there was in 2007 [...]

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West Bank turning into a police state where torture is frequently used

by Paul Woodward 11.24.2010

American officials and journalists visiting the West Bank, if they are eager to boost the credibility of its unelected political leaders, like to speak about the professionalism of the Palestinian Authority’s security services. For instance, an aide to Hillary Clinton was recently quoted by Roger Cohen, saying: [A]s we approached Ramallah there were these troops [...]

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Who does Mahmoud Abbas represent?

by News Sources 09.18.2010

Mark Perry reports on the latest incident in the West Bank which indicates that the Palestinian acting president, Mahmoud Abbas, can now only impose his authority by force. On Aug. 25, one week prior to the opening of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, a group of Palestinians held a conference in Ramallah to discuss – and protest [...]

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Terrorism is like advertising — it short-circuits the rational mind

by Paul Woodward 09.01.2010

Update below If there’s just one lesson we can draw from the last decade it is this: utter the word “terrorism” and thought grinds to a halt, perceptions become blinkered and the power of human intelligence is suddenly put on hold. Consider the attack near Hebron in the West Bank yesterday in which four Israelis [...]

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Time for a free and independent Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip

by News Sources 07.30.2010

Geoffrey Aronson writes at Foreign Policy: Prime Minister David Cameron during his recent visit to Turkey warned that the Gaza Strip “cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp.” Britain, however, along with the rest of the European community, and of course, Washington, are ambivalent guardians of the self-described prison camp run [...]

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Hamas says rocket attacks are helping Israel

by Paul Woodward 03.21.2010

Once a strongman, always a strongman… I don’t remember Ariel Sharon — or any other Israeli leader — being referred to as a “strongman”. I guess it’s a term reserved for men on the other side. Still, it’s funny (yet predictable) that a Hamas leader such as Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar will be referred to as [...]

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Netanyahu faces double intifada from Palestinians and settlers

by Paul Woodward 02.23.2010

In Haaretz, Aluf Benn writes: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is busy day and night, preparing Israel for a fateful confrontation with Iran. But his real problem may occur elsewhere. The territories are heating up, with the Palestinians escalating their protests against the settlements and the separation fence. The settlers, meanwhile, can smell Netanyahu’s weakness and [...]

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The Dahlan connection – Updated

by Paul Woodward 02.18.2010

Update – Ayman Taha, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, was reported saying: “These statements concerning PA [Palestinian Authority] involvement [in Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's murder] are too hasty. This is not the official position of the movement, that the PA was involved. When the investigation is finished, we will announce who is behind the killing.” His statement [...]

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Free Barghouti now

by Paul Woodward 01.04.2010

Free Barghouti now By Bradley Burston, Haaretz, January 4, 2010 Now, more than ever, Palestinians need Barghouti. But Israel needs Barghouti as well. He is the key to the future of the two-state solution, and therefore, to an Israel which is democratic without qualification, peaceable without biennial war, demographically Jewish without apartheid, a true neighbor [...]

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Barghouti’s release a wild card in Mideast

by Paul Woodward 12.06.2009

Barghouti’s release a wild card in Mideast By Joshua Mitnick, Washington Times, December 6, 2009 Amid swirling speculation about an imminent Israel-Hamas prisoner swap, the possible release of Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti could change the political dynamic in stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. More than any other of the hundreds of Palestinians that are expected to [...]

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Abbas is advised to cancel January vote

by Paul Woodward 11.14.2009

Abbas is advised to cancel January vote By Charles Levinson, Wall Street Journal, November 13, 2009 Palestinian election officials said they can’t hold planned elections in January, which could give President Mahmoud Abbas a way to stay in office despite his threat to stand down — but could further roil Palestinian and Israeli politics. Mr. [...]

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Mofaz seeks meeting with senior Hamas officials

by Paul Woodward 11.09.2009

Mofaz seeks meeting with senior Hamas officials By Mazal Mualem, Haaretz, November 10, 2009 Opposition MK Shaul Mofaz is planning to meet with senior Hamas officials, the Channel 10 website reported late Monday. On Sunday, Mofaz presented his peace plan, which calls for the establishment within a year of a Palestinian state with provisional boundaries [...]

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Palestinians may need to pursue “one-state solution”

by Paul Woodward 11.05.2009

Palestinians may need to pursue “one-state solution” By Mohammed Assadi, Reuters, November 4, 2009 Palestinians may have to abandon the goal of an independent state if Israel continues to expand Jewish settlements and the United States does not stop it, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Wednesday. It may be time for Palestinian President [...]

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Hamas rejects Abbas’ decree over holding Palestinian elections on Jan. 24

by Paul Woodward 10.23.2009

Hamas rejects Abbas’ decree over holding Palestinian elections on Jan. 24 By Saud Abu Ramadan and Emad Drimly, Xinhua, October 24, 2009 Gaza Strip ruling Islamic Hamas movement rejected on Friday the decree of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who called on the Palestinians to go for general elections on Jan. 24, 2010. In a written [...]

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Our shame near complete

by Paul Woodward 10.16.2009

Our shame near complete By Ramzy Baroud, Al-Ahram Weekly, October 15, 2009 … he post-Oslo culture has espoused a class of contractors. These are businessmen who are either high-ranking officials in the PA and the Fatah Party, or both, or closely affiliated with them. Much of the billions of dollars of international aid that poured [...]

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U.S. to Egypt: Fatah-Hamas deal undermines Israel-PA talks

by Paul Woodward 10.13.2009

U.S. to Egypt: Fatah-Hamas deal undermines Israel-PA talks By Barak Ravid and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz, October 13, 2009 The United States sent a message to Egypt stating it does not support the proposed reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas as it would undermine negotiations with Israel, Haaretz has learned. George Mitchell, the U.S. envoy to [...]

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The pieces are in place, but no one wants an intifada

by Paul Woodward 10.11.2009

The pieces are in place, but no one wants an intifada By Tony Karon, The National, October 11, 2009 Nowhere is Israel’s defiance of Mr Obama’s demand for a settlement freeze more dangerous than in Jerusalem, and it is activists inside Israel (particularly Raed Salah of the Islamic Movement of the North) who are rallying [...]

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Give peace a chance, says Mitchell. Fat chance, says Lieberman.

by Paul Woodward 10.08.2009

No chance of peace for years, says Israel’s Foreign Minister By Amy Teibel, The Independent, October 9, 2009 There is no chance of an early solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and people must “learn to live with it”, the Israeli Foreign Minister warned yesterday. “Anyone who says that within the next few years an agreement [...]

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Obama’s Middle East mess

by Paul Woodward 10.06.2009

Obama’s Middle East mess Paul Woodward, War in Context, October 6, 2009 As Abbas falls, have no doubt that he got pushed by an inept administration that similarly gets weak-kneed whenever it feels pressure from either the Israel lobby or the Israeli government. Yesterday, State Department spokesman, Ian Kelly, was asked: “What role specifically did [...]

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Hamas, not Abbas, is the Palestinians’ real leader

by Paul Woodward 10.05.2009

Hamas, not Abbas, is the Palestinians’ real leader By Amira Hass, Haaretz, October 5, 2009 In a single phone call to his man in Geneva, Mahmoud Abbas has demonstrated his disregard for popular action, and his lack of faith in its accumulative power and the place of mass movements in processes of change. For nine [...]

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A hostile takeover of Zionism

by Paul Woodward 09.30.2009

A hostile takeover of Zionism By Patrick Martin, Globe and Mail, September 29, 2009 One Haredi leader who almost won Jerusalem’s mayoralty race last fall, boasts that, within 20 years, the ultra-Orthodox will control the municipal government of every city in the country. And why not? Of the Jewish Israeli children entering primary school for [...]

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