Against all odds, The Palestine Chronicle amplifies Palestinian voices and reports the truth about Gaza. But we can't do it without you. Your support sustains our powerful, independent model of journalism.
Month: September 2013

Edward Said and His Quest for a Just Peace
By Sandy Tolan Edward Said died ten years ago – in September 2003, after a twelve-year battle with leukemia. One of the 20th century’s great intellectuals, Said, author of the masterworks Orientalism and Culture and […]

Stranded Travelers Storm Gaza Crossing
Stranded travelers tried to storm through the gates of Gaza’s Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border on Sunday to protest delays at the terminal. Travelers including students denounced Egypt’s closure of the crossing and demanded […]

Palestinians Smash Hole in Israel’s Separation Wall
Dozens of Palestinian youths on Tuesday smashed a hole in Israel’s separation wall in Abu Dis, near Jerusalem, locals said. The youths managed to open a 60-cm hole in the wall separating the village from […]

South Africa’s Solomon Makes Comeback
By Iqbal Jassat – Johannesburg True to form, South Africa’s controversial Israeli-linked and self-styled “Islamist Terror Expert” Hussein Solomon, has made a shameless re-entry to claim his “I told you so” moment in the wake […]

The Unresolved Egyptian Crisis
By Ibrahim Vawda The latest Russian-American truce in Syria does not mean that the crisis is over. Far from it. The insurgency in Syria seems to have overshadowed another crisis in the region. The overthrow […]

More Oslos: The Two State Solution Died over a Decade Ago
By Ilan Pappe The recent attempt to revive the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians is not likely to produce more meaningful results than that of any of the previous attempts. It comes 20 […]

Israel’s Allies Deliver A Cost-free Victory
By Jeremy Salt Until joined by the Islamic government in 1979 and then by Hizbullah in the 1980s, Syria was Israel’s most visceral enemy. This enemy is now being destroyed but not by Israel. So-called […]

New York Times Fiction: On Obama’s Letter to Rouhani
By Ramzy Baroud Mark Landler is a White House correspondent for The New York Times. Under the title “Through Diplomacy, Obama Finds a Pen Pal in Iran”, Landler wrote of President Barack Obama’s deep “belief […]

Egypt Warns Hamas of ‘Harsh’ Response if Security Threatened
Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy has warned Hamas of a “harsh response” if the Islamist movement that rules the neighboring Gaza Strip threatened Egypt’s national security. The response “will be harsh if we feel that elements […]

Is Human Rights Watch Manipulating Facts about Syria?
By Richard Lightbown On 21 August 2013 a series of chemical attacks were perpetrated in the Ghouta suburbs of eastern Damascus. Sources say that between 281 and 1,729 civilians were killed, while Medcins Sans Frontiers […]

Palestine: Give Democracy A Chance
By John V. Whitbeck In an opinion article entitled “Israel Should Annul the Oslo Accords” which was published on September 21 in the New York Times, Danny Danon, Israel’s deputy defense minister, offered his own […]

Feast of Tabernacles Conference: The Christian Zionists Lobby Has Returned
By Tristan Sturm Jerusalemites have no doubt witnessed an increased Christian Zionist presence on the streets in the last few days. Indeed, more than 6,000 Christian Zionists have returned to Israel for their annul “Feast […]

Abbas Reluctant to Speak on Peace Talks
Since peace talks between Israel and the PLO resumed two months ago, President Mahmoud Abbas has maintained a no-comment policy on the political situation and potential compromises. Abbas, who arrived in Washington Saturday, seemed more […]

Hundreds of Israeli Rightists Enter Aqsa under Guard
Over 300 Israeli rightists entered the al-Aqsa compound on Sunday, a local foundation said. The al-Aqsa foundation said that four groups consisting of rabbis, families and rightists entered the mosque compound via the Mughrabi Gate […]

Report: Israeli Shot Outside Hebron Mosque
A Palestinian sniper shot and injured an Israeli national outside Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque in the occupied West Bank, Israeli media reported Monday. Israel’s Ynet news site reported that the unnamed man sustained serious wounds in […]

Hamas since June 30th: A To Do List
By Somdeep Sen Already burdened by a crippling political and economic blockade, Hamas and its domain of influence, namely the Gaza Strip, are reeling under the pressure of yet another fit of border closure initiated […]

Iraq: The Beats and the Bedouins
By Hussein Al-alak I was recently reading the Selected Letters of Jack Kerouac, when a number of thoughts crossed my mind, about the amazing and unique characters, which made up the American Beat Generation. What […]

Egypt Sentences 5 Fishermen to Year in Jail
An Egyptian military court sentenced five Palestinian fishermen on Wednesday for one year in jail. The fishermen were convicted of breaching territorial water off the Rafah coast near the maritime borders between Egypt and the […]

Tormenting the Souls of Religious Arabs: ‘Arab Spring’ Degrades into Sectarian Counterrevolution
By Nicola Nasser The blind sectarian rampage, which has been waging a war on worship mosques, churches and religious shrines have become a modern Arab trade mark phenomenon, since what the western media called from […]

Crisis in Gaza following Rafah Tunnel Closures: Police Called in to Transport Public
By Julie Webb-Pullman The Gaza Strip is facing a humanitarian crisis, with such a critical shortage of gasoline that police have been ordered to transport students and workers to schools, universities and workplaces, the local […]

Israel’s BDS Harassflies
By Vacy Vlazna Israel, a leading innovative armament designer, producer and exporter has released worldwide, against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS), a new weapon – a mutation of the pesky and potentially lethal […]

Israel’s Stolen Wars
By Uri Avnery If somebody steals something precious from you, say a diamond, you may be angry. Even God himself said so. When He sent a worm to kill the gourd which provided shade for […]

A Palestinian Day of Remembrance (that of Sabra and Shatila) – A Poem
By Nasser Barghouty In the eleventh hour of their day I am reminded of your day eleven primes ago when hatred and steel blinded them and the sun gray and halted your time your smile […]

Syria’s New Game: The Russian Factor
By Ramzy Baroud Many US media commentators were fairly accurate in labeling some of the language used by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a New York Times article as “hypocritical”. But mainstream US media should […]

Red Lines, Green Lights: Israel Still Angling for Attack on Syria and Iran
By Jonathan Cook – Nazareth President Barack Obama may have drawn his seemingly regretted “red line” around Syria’s chemical weapons, but it was neither he nor the international community that turned the spotlight on their […]

Egyptian Border Restrictions Create Misery in Gaza
By IRIN Residents and officials in Gaza say the repeated closures of the border crossing into Egypt, a key lifeline for Palestinians in the occupied territories, is destroying livelihoods, harming health and lowering basic living […]

Jenin Man Killed in ‘Cold Blood’, Family Says
A man killed by Israeli forces in Jenin on Tuesday was executed in cold blood after confirming his identity to soldiers, family members said. Islam al-Tubasi, 22, died from gunshot wounds during an Israeli raid […]

Hamas: Egypt Arrests 2 Gaza Fishermen
Egyptian naval forces opened fire at Palestinian fishermen off the Gaza Strip’s southern coast and arrested two of them, the Hamas movement said. Hamas “condemns the fire from Egyptian gunboats toward Palestinians within Palestinian waters, […]

Syria Tops Agenda as Kerry Arrives in Jerusalem
Washington’s top diplomat arrived in Jerusalem on Sunday for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over plans to destroy Syria’s chemical arms and peace talks with the Palestinian Authority. After landing at Ben Gurion […]

Drones and Gadflies: Framing the Debate on War by Remote Control
By Brian Terrell On May 23, President Obama gave a major address from the National Defense University, ON THE FUTURE OF OUR FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM, in which he acknowledged for the first time the US […]