- November 24, 2024
Palestine/Israel
Israel is Afraid of Khalida Jarrar because She Shatters Its False Democratic Image
By Ramzy Baroud When Israeli troops stormed the house of Palestinian parliamentarian and lawyer Khalida Jarrar on April 2, 2015, she was engrossed in her research. For months, she had been leading a Palestinian effort to take Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Her research on that very evening was related directly to the […]
‘A Cruel Choice’: Why Israel Targets Palestinian Schools
By Ramzy Baroud Several Palestinian students, along with teachers and officials, were wounded in the Israeli army attack on a school south of Nablus in the West Bank on 15 October. The students of Al- Sawiya Al-Lebban Mixed School were challenging an Israeli military order to shut down their school based on the ever-versatile accusation […]
The UN ‘Sheriff’: Nikki Haley Elevated Israel, Damaged US Standing
By Ramzy Baroud US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, has made her post a “more glamorous” position than her predecessors – as President Donald Trump described Haley’s 2-year term at the UN, following her resignation announcement. We may never know the nature of Haley’s purported ‘glamour’ at the UN, but we certainly know that, […]
That Single Line of Blood: Nassir al-Mosabeh and Mohammed al-Durrah
By Ramzy Baroud As the frail body of 12-year-old Nassir Al-Mosabeh fell to the ground on Friday, September 28, history was repeating itself most tragically. Little Nassir was not just another number, a ‘martyr’ to be exalted by equally poor refugees in Gaza, or vilified by Israel and its tireless hasbara machine. He was much […]
Latest US-Israel Attack on Palestinian Refugees Will Prove Futile
By Ramzy Baroud The US government’s decision to slash funds provided to the UN agency that cares for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, is part of a new American-Israeli strategy aimed at redefining the rules of the game altogether. As a result, UNRWA is experiencing its worst financial crisis. The gap in its budget is estimated at […]
The Last Earth: a Palestinian Story – Book Review (VIDEO)
By Jim Miles (Ramzy Baroud. The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story. London: Pluto Press, 2018. Order it now) The Last Earth is a masterful weaving of personal stories into the full tapestry of a people, of individuals, torn from their homes and homeland. It is the kind of history not bound up in sequential dates, political […]
Baroud in Al Jazeera – Palestine: Diary on an UNRWA Kid
Maintaining one’s dignity while living a dismal existence in a refugee camp is not an easy feat. My parents fought hard to spare us the daily humiliations that come with living in Nuseirat – Gaza’s largest refugee camp. But when I turned six, and joined the UNRWA-run Nuseirat Elementary School for Boys, there was no […]
Why Israel Demolishes: Khan Al-Ahmar as Representation of Greater Genocide
By Ramzy Baroud Like vultures, Israeli soldiers descended on Khan Al-Ahmar, on Sep. 14, recreating a menacing scene with which the residents of this small Palestinian village, located East of Jerusalem, are all-too-familiar. The strategic location of Khan Al-Ahmar makes the story behind the imminent Israeli demolition of the peaceful village unique amid the ongoing […]
The Veiled Danger of the ‘Dead’ Oslo Accords
By Ramzy Baroud Yossi Beilin is back. This unrepentant Israeli ‘peacemaker’ is like the mythical phoenix, continually resurrecting from its ashes. In a recent article in Al-Monitor, Beilin wrote in support of the idea of a confederation between Israel and Palestine. A confederation “could prevent the need to evacuate settlers and allow those interested to live in […]
What Lies Beneath: The US-Israeli Plot to ‘Save’ Gaza
By Ramzy Baroud Israel 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 US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy has, thus far, been erratic […]
When Illness Is a ‘Death Sentence’: The Victimization of Gaza Women
By Ramzy Baroud Hanan al-Khoudari resorted to Facebook in a cry for help when Israeli authorities rejected her request to accompany her three-year-old son, Louay, to his chemotherapy treatment in East Jerusalem. The boy is suffering from an ‘aggressive soft tissue sarcoma’. Israeli authorities then justified their decision based on a vague claim that one […]
Mission Accomplished: Why Solidarity Boats to Gaza Succeed despite Failing to Break the Siege
By Ramzy Baroud When Mike Treen, the national director of the Unite Union in New Zealand, arrived at the airport in the capital, Auckland, on 1 August, a group of people was anxiously waiting for him at the terminal with Palestinian flags and flowers. They hugged him, chanted for Palestinian freedom and performed the customary native […]
Mahmoud Abbas: Stop Exploiting Ahed Tamimi for Personal Gain
By Ramzy Baroud The father of 11-year-old, Abdul Rahman Nofal contacted me, asking for help. His son was shot in the leg during Gaza’s ‘Great March of Return’ protests. The Strip’s dilapidated health care system could not save the little boy’s leg, as it was later amputated. His father, Yamen, himself a young man from the Buraij […]
Jewish Nation-State Law: Why Israel Was Never a Democracy
By Ramzy Baroud The head of the Arab Joint List Alliance at the Israeli Knesset (Parliament), Aymen Odeh, described the passing of the racist Jewish Nation-state Law as “the death of our democracy.” Did Odeh truly believe that, prior to this law, he had lived in a true democracy? 70 years of Israeli Jewish supremacy, genocide, ethnic cleansing, […]
The Massacre of Inn Din: How Rohingya Are Lynched and Held Responsible
By Ramzy Baroud “In my four years as High Commissioner, I have heard many preposterous claims. That claim is almost in its own category of absurdity. Have you no shame, sir, have you no shame? We are not fools.” These were some of the remarks made by outgoing United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, […]
‘Deal of the Century’ is Not New and the PA Leadership is Not a Victim
By Ramzy Baroud Donald Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ will fail. Palestinians will not exchange their 70-year long struggle for freedom for Jared Kushner’s cash; nor will Israel accept even if there is a demilitarized Palestinian state in the West Bank. The order of that anticipated failure is likely to go something like this: the […]
Did Israel Inspire Trump’s Family Separation Policy?
By Ramzy Baroud This past May, the United States Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, announced the government’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy at US border crossings. It was a matter of weeks before the new policy began yielding tragic outcomes. Those attempting to unlawfully cross into the US were subject to federal criminal prosecution, while their children were […]
The International Community Should Not Stand by as Israel Abuses Palestinians
By Ramzy Baroud What is taking place in Palestine is not a ‘conflict’. We readily utilize the term but, in fact, the word ‘conflict’ is misleading. It equates oppressed Palestinians with Israel, a military power that stands in violation of numerous United Nations Resolutions. It is these ambiguous terminologies that allow the likes of United […]
Palestine is Not occupied, It is Colonized
By Ramzy Baroud June 5, 2018, marks the 51st anniversary of the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. But, unlike the massive popular mobilization that preceded the anniversary of the Nakba – the catastrophic destruction of Palestine in 1948 – on 15 May the anniversary of the occupation is hardly generating equal mobilization. The unsurprising death of the ‘peace […]
8 Things I learned about Palestine While Touring 8 Western Nations
By Ramzy Baroud On 20 February, I embarked on a global book tour that has, thus far, taken me to eight nations. The main theme of all my talks in various cultural, academic and media platforms was the pressing need to refocus the discussion on Palestine on the struggle, aspirations, and history of the Palestinian […]
Israel’s Premature Celebration: Gazans have Crossed the Fear Barrier
By Ramzy Baroud 60 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on May 15, simply for protesting and demanding their Right of Return as guaranteed by international law. 50 more were killed since March 30, the start of the ‘Great March of Return’, which marks Land Day. Nearly 10,000 have been wounded and maimed in between these […]
My Home is Beit Daras: our Lingering Nakba
By Ramzy Baroud When Google Earth was launched in 2001, I rushed immediately to locate a village that no longer exists on a map, which now delineates a whole different reality. Although I was born and raised in a Gaza refugee camp, and then moved to and lived in the United States, finding a village […]
Ramzy Baroud, Al Jazeera: My Palestinian Right of Return is Sacred
This is the story of four Palestinian peasants who have been dead and buried for many years, but whose legacy continues to define the collective aspirations of a whole nation. It is also the story of a village that was erased from existence 70 years ago. The peasants are my grandparents, and the village of […]
Eclipsing Factionalism: The Missing Story from the Gaza Protests
By Ramzy Baroud The 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 that has, for decades, […]
Gazan Gandhis: Gaza Bleeds Alone as ‘Liberals’ and ‘Progressives’ Go Mute
By Ramzy Baroud Three 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 over 5,500 wounded – the deafening silence also continues. Tellingly, many of those who long […]
The Ghost of Herut: Einstein on Israel, 70 Years Ago
By Ramzy Baroud Albert Einstein, along with other Jewish luminaries, including Hannah Arendt, published a letter in the New York Times on December 4, 1948. That was only a few months after Israel had declared its independence and as hundreds of Palestinian villages were being actively demolished after their inhabitants were expelled. The letter denounced Israel’s newly-founded […]
Media Cover-up: Shielding Israel is a Matter of Policy
By Ramzy Baroud The term ‘media bias’ does not do justice to the western corporate media’s relationship with Israel and Palestine. The relationship is, indeed, far more profound than mere partiality. It is not ignorance, either. It is a calculated and long-term campaign, aimed at guarding Israel and demonizing Palestinians. The current disgraceful coverage of […]
Why Israel Feels Threatened by Popular Resistance in Palestine
By Ramzy Baroud Why did Israel kill many unarmed Gaza protesters and wound over 2,000 on Friday, March 30 and on the following days, when they clearly posed no threat to Israeli soldiers? Hundreds of Israeli soldiers, many of them snipers, were deployed to the deadly buffer zone that the Israeli army has created between […]
Rim Banna and the Cultural War that Palestinians Must Win
By Ramzy Baroud Rim Banna passed away at the age of 51. Her death on March 24, after a decade-long battle with cancer, brought grief to Palestinians everywhere. Rim, a Palestinian Christian from Nazareth, united the Palestinian people across political and geographic divides. When she sang for the Homeland, nothing mattered but Palestine. Christians and […]
Ramzy Baroud – The Last ‘Peace Process’ Warrior: Abbas Hanging by a Thread
By Ramzy Baroud The “deal of the century” is a farce. We suspected that, of course, but, upon his return from Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed in more detail why the long-anticipated plan of the administration of US President Donald Trump has no basis in reality. Netanyahu told his Cabinet that there are […]
