gaza

For 50 years, the US superpower has backed Israel against the Palestinians. Now another global power – China – is cautiously getting involved. What will that mean?

China’s President Xi Jin Ping met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas when they were both in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in early December for a China-Arab summit. China has diplomatic relations with both Israel and Palestine and it backs a 2 state solution. But it has recently become more openly supportive of the national aspirations of the Palestinian people and critical of some of Israel’s actions. This must be unsettling for Israel’s American patron. Read more.

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Israel is pounding Gaza again. Why don’t the Palestinians in Gaza just give up? G&M columnist Eric Reguly was there in May. His column gives a hint.

Neither Hamas nor Islamic Jihad can match the strength of the Israeli military. In the last 2 days, Israel has killed over 40 Palestinian civilians and injured scores more. There are no reports of any Israeli casualties. So why do those movements keep on fighting and why do they still have any support in Gaza? Globe and Mail columnist Eric Reguly visited Gaza recently and reported on a generation that sees little hope for the future. Until they are allowed out they see little option but to resist. Read more.

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The “nakba” uprooted the lives of 750,000 people – we talk to ten of them

For many Palestinians, the key is the only tangible remnant they have of the homes they were driven out of in 1947/48 by Zionists making a new “Jewish” state. Expelling the non-Jews from Palestine was the key to creating a Jewish majority. Many of those Palestinians are now dead. But the ones who still live, and their children and grandchildren have not forgotten… Read more…

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This month the UN General Assembly will be condemning Israel – again – on the issue of Palestinian rights. Why?

un-partition-1947On November 29th, 1947, exactly 74 years ago, the UN took a dramatic decision to “partition” historic Palestine into a “Jewish State” and an “Arab State”. What do you know about that decision and Canada’s role in it? First, try our test. Then register for the Ottawa Forum on Israel/Palestine webinar on  December 7th: “Why is the UN so critical of Israel?“with UN Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk. Read more… (more…)

“It’s not enough to say the 2 state solution is dead – you need to propose an alternative”, argue co-chairs of the One Democratic State Campaign

Jeff Halper (l.) and Awad Abdulfatteh (r) made a presentation and took questions from a large Canadian audience at a webinar organized by OFIP on May 9th on the “One Democratic State Campaign” of which they are the co-chairs. Halper is a Jewish Israeli and the founder of the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions. Abdulfattah is a Palestinian citizen of Israel and the former General Secretary of the National Democratic Assembly (NDA), one of four parties in the Israeli Knesset. CTIP has preserved a video recording. See more: (more…)