Will Gaza Gas Serve as Israel’s Trojan Horse?
In a perplexing about-face, there has been a revival of efforts to permit the exploration of Gaza Marine, the gas reserves located off the coast of Gaza. The development of this gas field is inarguably advantageous, as it could allow Palestinians to create an independent and competitive energy sector. Yet this push for exploration must be seen within its wider context, as part of a quid pro quo arrangement which reinforces Israel’s continuing colonization of Palestinian resources.
Resetting Palestine’s political system
Today, Palestinian political strategy is being driven in the total absence of a functioning political system. Israel’s forced fragmentation of our geographic reality mixed with internal political party divisions, disgust, despair and incompetence, the status quo tears apart Palestine’s societal fabric. If it remains on its current course, the train of national liberation is bound to derail, resulting in serious, if not permanent, damage to our bid for freedom and independence.
Abbas, Who’s Tried to Keep the Peace, Now Must Pay for Violence
The jury’s verdict comes at one of the weakest points for the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority. Israel is yet again withholding $127 million in tax revenues it collects on “behalf” of the authority to punish the P.L.O. for joining the International Criminal Court. Israel’s electricity company just cut power to two West Bank districts over an alleged $490 million debt.
Abbas persists with doomed negotiations
Buttu writes, “Abbas’s term has taught Palestinians that liberation will never come through backroom channels or by appealing to the oppressor. One can only hope that the damage caused by his term will not be irreparable.”
Palestine and the ICC: what’s next?
Victor Kattan discusses the reasons for and consequences of Palestine’s accession to the International Criminal Court and considers possible scenarios for developments around the Palestine question.
‘You are part of the problem, not the solution’: Open letter to the editors of The New York Times
Palestinians of Gaza have been “unreasonably reasonable” given what has fallen upon them, writes Al-Shabaka advisor Sam Bahour in this open letter to the New York Times shaming Roger Cohen and his “Gaza is Nowhere” editorial as “part of the problem.”
Analysis: The customs union and the Israeli no-state solution
Ma’an News Agency republishes our policy brief by Amal Ahmad on the Israeli-Palestinian customs union. Since it occupied the Palestinian territory in 1967, Israel has had a consistent strategy: To contain Palestinians by rejecting final status arrangements, whether Palestinian sovereignty in two states or equal rights in a single bi-national state. The customs union illustrates this often ignored reality.
Toothless ‘threats’ won’t deter Israel
The PNA should invest all its efforts to demand Israeli accountability and ostracise Tel Aviv from the world community.
Under Siege: From Leningrad to Gaza
Tikkun’s short summary of our roundtable on the impact of the siege of Gaza in contrast and comparison to Leningrad. Jews and others under Leningrad’s 2.5-year siege ate wallpaper for its potato starch glue. In Gaza’s siege with no end, Palestinians die quickly under Israel’s bombs or slowly under its tight controls on food, services and even books.
