11-25-2016 Are Palestinians Ready for Trump? – Omar Karmi Electronic Intifada

https://electronicintifada.net/content/are-palestinians-ready-trump/18651

 

…Palestinians are uniquely unprepared for this moment, mostly as a result of a lack of direction and leadership.  This is as true of Fatah in the occupied West Bank under Mahmoud Abbas' increasingly autocratic ways, as it is of Hamas, boxed in on all sides in the Gaza Strip.  But where Fatah's leadership succession is causing a host of problems for the party of the late Yasser Arafat, at least Hamas seems on track for a smooth process to replace Khaled Meshaal. .… A renewed role for the PLO is vital to include Palestinians in the diaspora, who, after all, make up a majority of all Palestinians yet have found themselves with almost no say in Palestinian decision-making.  It could also see Palestinian political leaders take advantage of and lend their weight to global initiatives like the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, BDS, that are gaining in momentum…Something certainly needs to change. Traditional political factions already face being consigned to irrelevancy.  "There is a huge number of Palestinians who are now independent, a bigger proportion than those who support Hamas and Fatah," veteran observer Abdel Bari Atwan said. "Whoever wins those independents can unify Palestinians."  "As long as things stay the same – Hamas is losing a lot of support in Gaza, Abbas is hated in the West Bank – we are in a deep crisis."

 

Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

11-17-2014 This is not yet an intifada, Palestinians say - Philip Weiss Mondoweiss

11-17-2014 This is not yet an intifada, Palestinians say - Philip Weiss Mondoweiss http://mondoweiss.net/2014/11/netanyahus-intifada?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=3819b326ea-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b86bace129-3819b326ea-398495333 There is not yet a third intifada, Palestinians in East Jerusalem say. But there could be an organized uprising if Jewish zealots' incitements about the Al Aqsa mosque continue. In interviews, these Palestinians say that Israel's escalation of violence in East Jerusalem has isolated and terrified neighborhoods. "There is no security. You are afraid economically, politically, and physically." And the individual acts of violence by maddened Palestinians who feel they have nothing to lose reflects the universal demand for human dignity…   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member
Read more

2-6-2014 On the Ugly Side of the Wall - Bill Fletcher, Jr. Tavis Smiley Show

http://www.tavissmileyradio.com/bill-fletcher-jr-traveling-through-palestine/   Last month, a small delegation of African American artists traveled through Israel and Palestine to get a firsthand look at the daily lives of Palestinians. What they saw shocked and angered them, and their eyewitness accounts are sure to spark debate here as heated as any confrontation in the Middle East. Bill Fletcher Jr., senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, led the delegation and shares his perspective on the region. Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member
Read more

10-22-21015 Israel’s descent into unmasked, right wing extremism: A new generation rises to fight occupation, settler-colonialism, apartheid - Omar Barghouti Salon

http://www.salon.com/2015/10/22/israels_descent_into_unmasked_right_wing_extremism_a_new_generation_rises_to_fight_occupation_settler_colonialism_apartheid/     This Palestinian resistance is a spontaneous reaction to the most racist, far-right government in Israel's history…The question of Palestine is one of resistance against a colonial, apartheid regime.… Concerted, widespread, sustained nonviolent pressure that is anchored in international law and universal principles of human rights is needed, particularly in the form of boycott, divestment and sanctions, or BDS [and perhaps] a military embargo, for instance, similar to the one imposed on apartheid South Africa,…After such a "de-escalation," perhaps we can pursue the goal of freedom, justice and equality... Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member
Read more