A remarkable article, entitled “Stand Firm, John Kerry”, signed by several very senior US officials, including Zbegniew Brezinski (former National Security Advisor to Jimmy Carter), has been circulated widely.
Subtitled “Its time for the secretary of State to insist on America’s position on Middle East peace”, it is the sharpest criticism of Israel from high US sources in recent years.
(more…)
Longtime activist Norman Finkelstein is alarmingly pessimistic about the situation of the Palestinians.
In a recent article in the Newleft project (and in a series of speeches at UK universities), Finkelstein argues that if there is a Kerry mediated peace deal, it is likely to be a catastrophe for the Palestinians.
(more…)
This is an issue that has been bothering me for some time, so I might as well come right out with it.
I think its a bad idea to claim that Israel is an “apartheid state” unless you really know what you are talking about.
(more…)
Almost everyone I know likes “Omar”, the Palestinian drama film directed by Hany Abu-Assad currently showing across Canada.
The critics certainly liked it. It won the Jury Prize in 2013 at Cannes. It was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and was the Palestinian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards.
(more…)
I recently received an email from a thoughtful Palestinian/Canadian friend, who raised concerns about what he thinks is a worrying trend concerning the BDS campaign. (See his email is at the end of this post).
He is concerned that the BDS call from Palestinian civil society is being sidetracked – or in his words “hijacked” – by those who focus primarily on “ending the occupation” and minimise (or even ignore) the other 2 demands articulated in the 2005 call (i.e. “right of return for refugees”, and “civic rights” for Palestinians inside Israel).
(more…)
Canada Talks Israel/Palestine 