October 13th, 20230
Under a barrage of more than 3,000 rockets, hundreds of Hamas gunmen stormed into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Oct. 7, on motorbikes, paragliders and four-wheel drives, unleashing unprecedented attacks on nearby towns and villages of Jewish settlers.
Hundreds of trained Palestinian militants appeared...
October 13th, 20230The deep divisions among Michigan Democrats about the war between Israel and Hamas, Gaza's governing entity, have prompted the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate to so far block action on resolutions offering symbolic support to Israel in the wake of Hamas' attack on Israeli settlements near the Gaza borders.
In the House,...
October 13th, 20230DEARBORN – Chanting "Free Free Palestine", more than 1,200 Arab Americans jammed an auditorium at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn on Tuesday evening to show their support for Palestinians as the death toll increased in Gaza after Israeli strikes.
Speakers at the Dearborn rally focused on decades of...
October 13th, 20230 On Thursday Israel and the White House condemned remarks by Donald Trump in which he praised the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah and criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over an attack by Palestinian Hamas militants that killed more than 1,300 people in Israel.
Trump, a former Republican president who is the front...
October 11th, 20232Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had often boasted about the readiness of his army to deal with, and to eliminate all threats to Israel's “security.”
The Israeli military, too, has contributed to the Israeli hasbara that Tel Aviv would be able to face several threats at all fronts, from Gaza, to the West Bank, to Lebanon...
February 4th, 20230After bloodshed in Jerusalem and the West Bank and a month since Israel's most right-wing government took office, Israel and the Palestinians risk sliding into a cycle of wider confrontation with pressure on both sides for retaliation, analysts say.
A Palestinian gunman shot dead seven people near a synagogue in Jerusalem's outskirts on...
August 20th, 20220For years, Palestinians, as well as Israelis, have labored to redraw the battle lines. The three-day Israeli war on Gaza, starting on August 5, clearly manifested this reality.
Throughout its military operation, Israel has repeatedly underscored the point that the war was targeting the Islamic Jihad Movement only, not Hamas or anyone...
October 3rd, 20210The political division in Palestinian society is deep-rooted and must not be reduced to convenient claims about the “Hamas-Fatah split”, elections, the Oslo accords and subsequent disagreements. The division is linked to events that preceded all of these, and not even the death or incapacitation of the octogenarian Mahmoud Abbas will...
June 11th, 20210WASHINGTON D.C. — U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) clarified earlier remarks regarding open investigations by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into war crimes committed by Israel, the U.S., Hamas and the Taliban, after backlash from both Democrats and Republicans.
On Monday, Omar questioned U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken...
June 3rd, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz arrived in Washington D.C. to visit the Pentagon and the White House on Thursday and ask for $1 billion to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome after the latest, multi-week, bombing campaign on Gaza, which killed more than 250 Palestinians, including 67 children, displacing more than...
May 27th, 20211GENEVA — In remarks to the Human Rights Council on Thursday, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said Israeli forces may have committed war crimes in their 11-day assault on the Gaza Strip.
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 248 in Gaza, including 66 children and 39 women, before a ceasefire was announced last...
May 13th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — The latest escalation of Israeli violence against Palestinians has seen mixed reactions in the Washington D.C. political world.
Staunch supporters of Israel on the Republican side made predictable appeals to Israel's security.
"Here in Washington, street protesters screamed — listen to this — 'Israel is a...
May 12th, 20210PALESTINE — Israel’s assault on Gaza continued on Wednesday, leveling a third high rise, the 16-story al-Shorouk tower, which housed local and foreign media outlets as well as shops and apartments.
Israeli authorities said Hamas members were using each of the three buildings it has so far targeted for military purposes, though...
April 27th, 20210NEW YORK — On Tuesday, an international rights watchdog accused Israel of pursuing policies of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians — and against its own Arab minority — that amount to crimes against humanity.
New York-based Human Rights Watch published a 213-page report, which it said was not aimed at comparing...
April 8th, 20210If imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti becomes the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), the status quo will change substantially. For Israel, as well as for the current PA president, Mahmoud Abbas, such a scenario is more dangerous than another strong Hamas showing in the upcoming Palestinian parliamentary...
July 22nd, 20200For the first time since the Israeli war on Gaza in 2014, the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is signaling its willingness to engage in negotiations regarding the release of the bodies of two Israeli soldiers believed to be held by resistance groups in Gaza. But will another prisoner exchange similar to that of...
June 22nd, 20190GAZA - Palestinian officials on Saturday dismissed proposals unveiled by President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner for big money projects to form the first economic portion of the Trump administration’s long-awaited Middle East peace plan.
Senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official Hanan Ashrawi said Kushner’s...
May 31st, 20190Palestinian groups Fatah, Hamas and others should not confine themselves to simply rejecting the Trump administration's so-called “Deal of the Century.” Instead, they should use their resistance to the new American-Israeli plot as an opportunity to unify their ranks.
Leaked details of the “Deal of the Century” confirm...
May 6th, 20190GAZA - After two sleepless days and nights of Israeli shelling and Palestinian rocket fire, Gazans on Monday faced a first day of Ramadan overshadowed by funerals and the grim task of pulling bodies from collapsed buildings.
As dawn brought a ceasefire of uncertain duration, few Palestinians in the impoverished coastal enclave were...
December 7th, 20180UNITED NATIONS — A U.S. attempt to get the United Nations to condemn the Palestinian militant group Hamas for the first time failed on Thursday because the draft resolution fell short of votes needed in the General Assembly.
The resolution required two-thirds support and while Assembly resolutions are non-binding, they can carry...
November 16th, 20180GAZA — Ahmed Abu Saif struggles to maintain a straight face as he looks at the amorphous pile of rubble of what used to be a five-story building he owned.
The structure is one of the several civilian sites that have been flattened over the past 24 hours in Gaza as Israeli jets pounded the besieged and densely-populated coastal...
September 28th, 20180UNITED NATIONS — On Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the United States to reverse its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and cuts in aid to the Palestinians, saying these had undermined the two-state solution to the conflict.
“With all of these decisions, this administration has reneged on all...
September 10th, 20180The Israeli government wants to change the rules of the game entirely. With unconditional support from the Trump administration, Tel Aviv sees a golden opportunity to redefine what has, for decades, constituted the legal and political foundation for the so-called "Palestinian-Israeli conflict."
While President Trump’s foreign policy...
August 26th, 20180On Sunday August 12, news from Gaza was distressing: The Ministry of Health announced that it would no longer be able to treat cancer patients in the Israel-besieged Strip.
"Colon and lung cancer, as well as lymphoma patients, cannot be provided with the necessary therapy now," said Dr. Mohammed Abu Silmiya, director of Abdulaziz...
May 11th, 20180The Gaza border protests must be understood in the context of the Israeli occupation, the siege and the long-delayed “Right of Return” for Palestinian refugees. However, they should also be appreciated in a parallel context: Palestine’s own factionalism and infighting.
Factionalism in Palestinian society is a deep-rooted ailment...
May 4th, 20180RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was re-elected as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Executive Committee on Friday, as the veteran leader sought to renew his legitimacy while installing loyalists who he hopes will eventually continue his mission.
The expected reappointment...
May 4th, 20180Three more Palestinians were killed and 611 wounded last Friday, when tens of thousands of Gazans continued their largely non-violent protests at the Gaza-Israel border.
Yet as the casualty count keeps climbing — nearly 45 dead and more than 5,500 wounded — the deafening silence also continues. Tellingly, many of those who long...
April 27th, 20180WASHINGTON, D.C. — Foreign corporations cannot be sued in American courts for human rights abuses committed overseas, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, refusing to revive a lawsuit claiming Jordan-based Arab Bank helped finance militant attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The 5-4 decision ended a lawsuit by some...