- February 24, 2025
Palestine/Israel
Should Hamas Rewrite the Past?
By Ramzy Baroud Now that the Palestinian Islamic Movement, Hamas, has officially changed its Charter, one should not immediately assume that the decision is, in itself, an act of political maturity. Undoubtedly, Hamas’ first Charter, which was released to the public in August 1988, reflected a degree of great intellectual dearth and political naïveté. “Allah […]
The Prisoners’ Revolt: The Real Reasons behind the Palestinian Hunger Strike
By Ramzy Baroud Gaza is the world’s largest open air prison. The West Bank is a prison, too, segmented into various wards, known as areas A, B and C. In fact, all Palestinians are subjected to varied degrees of military restrictions. At some level, they are all prisoners. East Jerusalem is cut off from the […]
Palestinian and Jewish Voices Must Challenge Israel’s Past Together
By Ramzy Baroud Israel has resorted to three main strategies to suppress Palestinian calls for justice and human rights, including the Right of Return for refugees. One is dedicated to rewriting history; another attempts to distract from present realities altogether and a third aims at reclaiming the Palestinian narrative as essentially an Israeli one. The […]
Palestine Retold: Palestine’s Tragic Anniversaries Are Not Only about Remembrance
By Ramzy Baroud For Palestinians, 2017 is a year of significant anniversaries. While historians mark May 15th as the anniversary of the date on which Palestinians were expelled from their historic homeland in 1948, the fact is the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians began in earnest in 1947. In strict historical terms 1947 and ‘48 […]
Normalization under Occupation: How Israel Understands the Arab Peace Initiative
By Ramzy Baroud Once more, the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 is taking center stage. Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas insisted during his speech before the recently-concluded Arab League Summit in Jordan, that the Initiative is the only solution on the table; asserting that it will not be changed or even tweaked. But why […]
The Next Phase in the War on BDS: Why Israel Detained Omar Barghouti
By Ramzy Baroud The Israeli state has violated international law more than any other country, yet has rarely, if ever, been held accountable for crimes and misconduct. Israel’s successful public relation campaigns through the ever-willing western media partners, coupled with the relentless work and pressure carried out by its powerful backers in Washington DC, London, […]
US and Israeli Codependent Relationship is Not Just about Money
By Ramzy Baroud “We must look back twenty-five years to realize how far Israel has fallen in world support,” wrote famed Jewish scholar, Harvard sociologist, Nathan Glazer in 1976. In the last forty years since Glazer wrote his piece, which was uncovered and transmitted by Philip Weiss, Israel’s global support has fallen much further. The […]
Baroud in Al Jazeera: How America Became Pro-Israel
By Ramzy Baroud Mere days after Donald Trump won the US presidential election, American Zionists moved quickly to ensure that Israeli interests were fully guarded by the new administration. The Zionist Organization of America wasted no time, hobnobbing with notorious racists, also known for their anti-Jewish agendas. ZOA’s annual gala on November 20 hosted none other […]
Only the Israeli Dead Matter: Israel’s Failure at Investigating Its Bloody Wars
By Ramzy Baroud At a glance, Israel appears a true democracy. Take a closer look and that facade of democracy will soon dissipate, turning into something else entirely. Tuesday 28 February was one of those moments. The chain of events was as follows: An official Israeli State Comptroller issued another report on the Israeli government’s […]
Palestinians See More of the Same: Interview with Ramzy Baroud
President Trump has offered mixed signals about precisely what his attitude toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be, but Palestinians see little prospects for meaningful improvement, reports Dennis J Bernstein. By Dennis J Bernstein Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent visit to Washington reaffirmed one thing in terms of U.S./Israeli relations: that not much will change […]
The Trump-Netanyahu Circus: Now, No One Can Save Israel from Itself
By Ramzy Baroud The President of the United States can hardly be taken seriously, saying much but doing little. His words, often offensive, carry no substance, and it is impossible to summarize his complex political outlook about important issues. This is precisely the type of American presidency that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers. However, […]
Israel Rejoices in Unbridled Colony Expansion amid Trump’s Havoc
By Ramzy Baroud Within days of US President Donald Trump being sworn in, the Israeli government announced the approval of around 2,500 new housing units. Within the first two weeks of Trump’s presidency, the number of new housing units, all to be built illegally on Palestinian land, was raised to 5,500, including the first brand […]
Operation Chaos: Trump Will Ignite a Powder Keg in the Middle East
By Ramzy Baroud Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump is about to do just that, reversing an historical course that has been in the making for one hundred years. The inexperienced, demagogic politician hardly understands the danger that lies in his decision to move […]
Paris and the End to a Western-dominated Era in the Middle East
By Ramzy Baroud No, it was not just ‘another Middle East peace conference,’ as a columnist in Israeli ‘Jerusalem Post’ attempted to depict the Paris Peace Conference held on January 15, with top official representations from 70 countries attending. If it was, indeed, just ‘another peace conference’, representatives from the Israeli government and the Palestinian […]
Baroud in Al Jazeera: Trump’s Embassy Move to Jerusalem ‘Self-Destructive’
By Ramzy Baroud – Al Jazeera Newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump is about to reverse an historical course that has been in the making for 100 years. The inexperienced, demagogic politician hardly understands the danger that lies in his decision to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. If he goes through […]
Azaria Case Leaves Israel Exposed
By Ramzy Baroud For a long time, the Israeli hasbara (propaganda) machine proved to be the best in the world. It had no real competition as the official Israeli discourse presented the world with a highly inaccurate version of reality and in doing so, managed to sustain and feed misconceptions for decades. These efforts worked […]
The Balancing Act is Over: What Elor Azaria Taught Us about Israel
By Ramzy Baroud For some, the ‘manslaughter’ conviction – following the murder by Israeli army medic, Elor Azaria, of already incapacitated Palestinian man, Fattah al-Sharif – is finally settling a protracted debate regarding where Israelis stand on Palestinian human rights. Nearly 70 percent of the Israeli public supports calls to pardon the convicted soldier, […]
Why the Fear-mongering? Only One Democratic State is Possible in Palestine and Israel
By Ramzy Baroud Long before December 28, when Secretary of State, John Kerry took the podium at the Dean Acheson Auditorium in Washington DC to pontificate on the uncertain future of the two-state solution and the need to save Israel from itself, the subject of a Palestinian state has been paramount. In fact, unlike common […]
A Blessing in Disguise? The Trump Presidency May be Better for Palestine
By Ramzy Baroud Israel is dizzy. January 20th has been like another Christmas Day and Donald Trump is jolly old Santa Claus bearing gifts. The writing is already on the wall as President-elect Trump has appointed an extremist, David Friedman, as the next US Ambassador to Israel who intends to relocate the US Embassy from […]
Palestine 2017: Time to Bid Farewell to Washington and Embrace the Globe
By Ramzy Baroud There is no doubt that the UN Security Council condemnation of Israel on Friday was an important and noteworthy event. True, the United Nations’ main chambers (the Security Council and the General Assembly) and its various institutions, ranging from the International Court of Justice to the UN cultural agency, UNESCO, have repeatedly […]
For Palestinians, Zionism only Means One Thing
By Ramzy Baroud On 12 December, the British government officially adopted a new definition of anti-Semitism that includes legitimate criticism of Israel. The definition was adopted earlier in the year by pro-Israeli group IHRA, although it was considered but abandoned by the European anti-racism agency in 2005. It is a rather dangerous move which will […]
Where is Fatah Headed after Its Seventh Congress?
By Ramzy Baroud After years of holding the Palestinian struggle hostage to their factional-feud, the current enemy of Palestinian unity today is not just the Fatah-Hamas dispute. According to Mouin Rabbani, writing in Al Jazeera, another pressing problem is the power struggle within Fatah itself. It is unfortunate that the Palestinian leadership often substitutes its failure […]
Hold Your Applause, Fatah, the Palestinian Body Politic is Rotten to the Core
By Ramzy Baroud In July 2003, the then Palestinian Authority Chairman, Yasser Arafat, described Mahmoud Abbas as a “traitor” who “betrayed the interests of the Palestinian People.” Arafat loathed Abbas to the very end. This particular outburst was made during a meeting with United Nations envoy Terje Larsen. The meeting took place a few months after […]
Less Symbolism, More Action: Towards Meaningful Solidarity with Palestine
By Ramzy Baroud The Palestine Solidarity Campaign has designated the week, November 25 to December 3, as the ‘biggest-ever campaign’ aimed at boycotting Israeli products and those of companies that contribute to the Israeli military occupation of Palestine. In a recently issued press release, the civil society-led group highlighted “99 actions that will take place […]
Baroud in Al Jazeera: Time to Reclaim International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
Palestinian author and journalist, Ramzy Baroud argued in a piece published today in Al Jazeera that the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People must be reclaimed by civil society and people everywhere. “Although November 29 has galvanized pro-Palestinian communities around the world for decades, a few facts and problems about this day must […]
On Palestine, Obama and Trump Are All the Same
By Ramzy Baroud There are only a few weeks standing between us and January 20, when United States President-elect Donald Trump becomes ‘President Trump’. But many are still clinging onto some hope, however desperate, that this period of time, albeit rather short, will bring about a sea change. One of these persisting hopes is that […]
What Should Palestinians Expect – Can Trump Be Any Worse?
By Ramzy Baroud Fear and trepidation are slowly building up, as US President-elect, Donald Trump, is fortifying his transitional team with people capable of bringing about a nightmare scenario, not only for Americans but for the rest of the world, as well. For Palestinians, however, the signs are even more ominous. From former New York […]
Israel Cannot Silence Prayer Calls
By Ramzy Baroud In a succession of events that indicated major coordination between various Israeli government offices, Jewish settler groups and the municipality of Jerusalem, Israel recently moved to outlaw the Muslim call for prayer, first in Jerusalem, then in other Arab areas inside Israel. This move was clearly aimed at literally and figuratively silencing […]
Praying for Freedom: Why Is Israel Silencing the Call for Prayer in Jerusalem?
By Ramzy Baroud As I was growing up, I was always reassured by the sound of the ‘Muadhin’ making the call for prayer in our refugee camp’s main mosque in Gaza. Whenever I heard the call very early in the morning, announcing in a melodic voice that the time for the ‘Fajr’ (dawn) prayer was […]
The Infamy of the Palestinian Elites: An Imminent Split within Fatah?
By Ramzy Baroud The Fatah movement is involved in a massive tug-of-war that will ultimately define its future. Though the conflict is between current Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and once Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan is in no way motivated by ending the Israeli occupation, their war will likely determine the future political landscape of […]
