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Dear Friends and Readers, For 15 years the Palestine Chronicle has maintained a stance of broadcasting news from and about Palestine. This stance has been maintained with no political or ideological affiliation. It is this stance that has allowed the true suffering of the oppressed and marginalized Palestinian people to be broadcast to the world. The role of sponsors in the continuation of the Palestine Chronicle cannot be over stated. It is only through such sponsors that the work of the Chronicle can continue as it exposes the atrocities occurring in besieged Palestine. Currently, the Palestine Chronicle operates on a limited budget and a highly committed team. It is in need of funding in order to be maintained and to continue its necessary coverage of the siege in Gaza, the intifada in the West Bank and Jerusalem, the BDS effort, the prisoners, and more. Your funding will allow these stories and more to be broadcast to the world. We thank those who have committed to this cause and appeal to those who have not yet. Thank you for your solidarity The Palestine Chronicle Team
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| FEATURED | A Bygone Era when Jews Viewed Israel as the Anti-semite's Homeland Before the rise of the Nazis, most Jews opposed a future in which they were consigned to Palestine. (File) By Jonathan Cook - Nazareth It was an assessment no one expected from the deputy head of the Israeli military. In his Holocaust Day speech last week, Yair Golan compared current trends in Israel with Germany in the early 1930s, when Nazism took hold. Today, he said, Israel could be recognized as "the revolting processes that occurred in Europe ... There is nothing easier than hating the stranger, nothing easier than to stir fears and intimidate." The furor over Golan's remarks followed on the heels of a similar outcry in Britain at statements by former London mayor, Ken Livingstone. He observed that Hitler had in practice been "supporting Zionism" in 1933 when the Nazis signed a transfer agreement, allowing some German Jews to emigrate to Palestine. In their different ways both comments refer back to a heated argument among Jews that began a century or more ago about whether Zionism was a blessing or a blight. Although largely overlooked today, the dispute throws much light on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Those differences came to a head in 1917 when the British government issued the Balfour Declaration, a document promising for the first time to realize the Zionist goal of a "national home" for the Jews in Palestine. Only one minister, Edwin Montagu, dissented. Notably, he was the only Jew in the British cabinet. The two facts were not unconnected. In a memo, he warned that his government's policy would be a "rallying ground for anti-Semites in every country". He was far from alone in that view. Of the 4 million Jews who left Europe between 1880 and 1920, only 100,000 went to Palestine, in keeping with Zionist expectations. As the Israeli novelist, A.B Yehoshua once noted: "If the Zionist party had run in an election in the early 20thcentury, it would have received only 6 or 7 percent of the Jewish people's vote." What Montagu and most other Jews feared was that the creation of a Jewish state in a far-flung territory dovetailed a little too neatly with the aspirations of Europe's anti-Semites, then much in evidence, including in the British government. According to the dominant assumptions of Europe's ethnic nationalisms of the time, the region should be divided into peoples or biological "races", and each should control a territory in which it could flourish. The Jews were viewed as a "problem" because - in addition to lingering Christian anti-semitism - they were considered subversive to this national model. Jews were seen as a race apart, one that could not - or should not - be allowed to assimilate. Hence, from this perspective, it would be far better to encourage their emigration from Europe. For British elites, the Balfour Declaration was a means to achieve that end. Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism, understood this trenchant anti-semitism very well. His idea for a Jewish state was inspired in part by the infamous Dreyfus affair, in which a Jewish-French army officer was framed by his commanders for treason. Herzl was convinced that nti-semitism would always prevent Jews from true acceptance in Europe. It is for this reason that Livingstone's comments - however clumsily expressed - point to an important truth. Herzl and other early Zionists implicitly accepted the ugly framework of European bigotry. Jews, Herzl concluded, must embrace their otherness and regard themselves as a separate race. Once they find a benefactor to give them a territory - soon Britain would oblige with Palestine - they could emulate the other European peoples from afar. For a while, some Nazi leaders were sympathetic. Adolf Eichmann, one of the later engineers of the holocaust, visited Palestine in 1937 to promote the "Zionist emigration" of Jews. Hannah Arendt, the German Jewish scholar of totalitarianism, argued even in 1944 - long after the Nazis abandoned ideas of emigration and embraced genocide instead - that the ideology underpinning Zionism was "nothing else than the uncritical acceptance of German-inspired nationalism". Israel and its supporters would prefer we forget that, before the rise of the Nazis, most Jews deeply opposed a future in which they were consigned to Palestine. Those who try to remind us of this forgotten history are likely to be denounced, like Livingstone, as anti-semites. They are accused of making a simplistic comparison between Zionism and Nazism. But there is good reason to examine this uncomfortable period. Modern Israeli politicians, including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, still regularly declare that Jews have only one home - in Israel. After every terror attack in Europe, they urge Jews to hurry to Israel, telling them they can never be safe where they are. It also alerts us to the fact that even today the Zionist movement cannot help but mirror many of the flaws of those now-discredited European ethnic nationalisms, as Golan appears to appreciate. Such characteristics which are all too apparent in Israel, include: an exclusionary definition of peoplehood; a need to instill fear and hatred of the other as a way of keeping the nation tightly bound; an obsession with and hunger for territory; and a highly militarized culture. Recognizing Zionism's ideological roots, inspired by racial theories of peoplehood that in part fueled the Second World War, might allow us to understand modern Israel a little better, and why it seems incapable of extending a hand of peace to the Palestinians. - Jonathan Cook won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His latest books are "Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East" (Pluto Press) and "Disappearing Palestine: Israel's Experiments in Human Despair" (Zed Books). He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Visit: His website is www.jonathan-cook.net.
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| FEATURED NEWS | Only 3% of Gaza's Water is Fit for Human Consumption (PHOTOS) Palestinians in Gaza have 3% of water fit for human consumption. (CMWU, supplied) By Yousef M. Aljamal - Gaza The Gaza Strip, a 365-square-kilometer-costal enclave, is home to one of the most densely populated communities in the world, where water has become a sacred source. The nearly two million Palestinians in Gaza have 3% of water fit for human consumption, according to the latest statistics. The future of water, and the reality for Palestinians seems dim. Mazin Gunaim, head of the Palestinian Water Authority said in a press conference held in Ramallah on May 5 2016 that "the aquifer in the Gaza Strip will not be fit for human use at the end of 2016. The portion of water per person per day is 90 liters, which does not meet international standards, and much of it is polluted."  Water network repairs in Gaza City. (CMWU, supplied) The United Nations' report, Gaza in 2020: A liveable Place, published in August 2012 stated: "Today 90% of water from the aquifer is not safe for drinking, without treatment. Availability of clean water is thus limited for most Gazans with an average consumption of 70 to 90 litres per person per day (depending on the season), below the global WHO standard of 100 litres per person per day." According to the Palestinian Water Authority, some 10,000 Gaza residents do not have taps in or near their homes, and about one million people do not have continuous access to water. "The whole water system needs to be improved. There is a serious lack of water which is undrinkable in most cases," Bisan Aljadili, a student at the Islamic University of Gaza, from Alnusierat refugee camp, told the Palestine Chronicle.  Workers attempt to fix damaged water tank near Khozaa, Khan Younis. (CMWU, supplied) The Israeli occupation also denies entry of equipment and supplies needed for the construction, maintenance and operation of water and sanitation facilities to the besieged Gaza Strip. The lack of water supply is one more tragedy the Palestinian people suffer. Yet, they have no choice but to adapt to the situation in order to survive, amid the tough conditions in the Gaza Strip. "There are three major problems: the scarcity of water and the over use of the aquifer, the pollution of water by nitrates, and the seawater intrusion to the groundwater," Bilal Alqidra, a water engineer from Khan Younis, told the Palestine Chronicle.  Some 10,000 Gaza residents do not have taps in or near their homes. (CMWU, supplied) "We don't have water desalination; sewage water is not treated, in addition to the issue of lack of electricity. Even clean water which people purchase is not well monitored by the relevant authorities. Vehicles used to distribute clean water is not clean enough," he added. The Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, which runs several water projects across the Gaza Strip, has a message to share with the world: "Remove the blockade imposed on the water sector and improve energy provided to feed the water system. The blockade and power cuts negatively impact the implementation of water projects needed to improve water quality in the Gaza Strip." (All photos are supplied by the The Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, CMWU.) - Yousef M. Aljamal is the Correspondent of the Palestine Chronicle in the Gaza Strip. |
| SELECTED |  By Yousef M. Aljamal - Gaza 14 years ago, a deal was reached between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, which stated that 26 Palestinian fighters, who joined some 200 Palestinians who sought refuge in the Church of Nativity, be deported to the Gaza Strip. 13 others were deported to Europe. Palestinians who sought refuge in [...]  Israeli authorities refused to renew the travel documents of the co-founder for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Omar Barghouti, on Tuesday. This is seen as a direct attack on human rights. It also shows the extent to which the Israeli government feels threatened. Barghouti regularly travels internationally to speak at events aimed at [...]  By Palestine Chronicle Staff Hundreds of desperate Gazans eager to cross into Egypt from besieged Gaza Strip, as border opens for first time in 87 days. The Rafah border has been opened for the first time since December 2016. More than 25,000 Palestinians in dire need have requested to travel through this crossing. Thousands, mainly [...]  By Jonathan Cook - Nazareth It was an assessment no one expected from the deputy head of the Israeli military. In his Holocaust Day speech last week, Yair Golan compared current trends in Israel with Germany in the early 1930s, when Nazism took hold. Today, he said, Israel could be recognized as "the revolting processes [...]  Israeli forces stormed the central West Bank town of Birzeit north of Ramallah overnight on Sunday, targeting two female students and detaining at least 24 other Palestinians during raids across the occupied Palestinian territory. Locals told Ma'an that Israeli forces detained a female engineering student, Alaa Assaf, from Birzeit University. Israeli forces stormed the Assaf [...]
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| MORE ARTICLES |
 By Aida Qasim I knew you long before the planets determined their order Awakening a higher purpose in me And unearthing a consciousness of a noble cause Patiently you listened as I explored my relationship with the world A Sufi silence and measured calmness tamed my wild spirit But now there is a different silence [...]  Riyad al-Maliki, the Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Minister, said on Sunday that Israel's decision to build a new settlement in the occupied West Bank is an attempt to "legalize settlements and destroy the two-state solution", Anadolu reported. Al-Maliki, along with Belgian counterpart, Didier Reynders said in a press conference in Ramallah that, "The decision of [...]  By Yousef M. Aljamal - Gaza The Gaza Strip, a 365-square-kilometer-costal enclave, is home to one of the most densely populated communities in the world, where water has become a sacred source. The nearly two million Palestinians in Gaza have 3% of water fit for human consumption, according to the latest statistics. The future of [...]  Two Palestinian female engineers made what could be a breakthrough discovery. Majd Almashharawi and Rawan Abdullatif developed a new bricks-mixture, adding coal ashes to it. According to a report by Aljazeera Arabic, the two engineers have been testing their new discovery for the last year and a half. The drive behind their project was the [...]  It is 68 years since the Nakba of 1948. The one undemocratic state reality in Palestine - under exclusion of the 6 or 7 million Palestinians in exile - is intolerable. Every day sees new bad news from the ethnically-cleansed apartheid state of Israel. One Democratic State (ODS) in re-unified Palestine is a positive solution. [...] |
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 Reviewed by Vacy Vlazna (Salman Abu Sitta, Mapping My Return: A Palestinian Memoir. Publisher: The American University in Cairo Press; 2016) "I spent the rest of my life on a long, winding journey of return, a journey that has taken me to dozens of counties over decades of travel, and turned my black hair to [...]  By Noor Salha - Gaza It was a memorable and a tragic night at the same time. I wish I could forget those moments and everything that happened to us on that day. But I can't. I cannot forget that day because of the fearful, chaotic, destructive, and deadly atmosphere my family had experienced. We [...]  By Ramzy Baroud I had mixed feelings when I learned that Palestine has erected a statue of Nelson Mandela, the iconic South African anti-Apartheid leader. On the one hand, I was quite pleased that the unmistakable connection between the struggles of Palestinians and South Africans is cemented more than ever before. On the other hand, [...] |
| NEWS |
By Yousef M. Aljamal - Gaza 14 years ago, a deal was reached between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, which stated that 26 Palestinian fighters, who joined some 200 Palestinians who sought refuge in the Church of Nativity, be deported to the Gaza Strip. 13 others were deported to Europe. Palestinians who sought refuge in [...] Israeli authorities refused to renew the travel documents of the co-founder for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Omar Barghouti, on Tuesday. This is seen as a direct attack on human rights. It also shows the extent to which the Israeli government feels threatened. Barghouti regularly travels internationally to speak at events aimed at [...]  An Israeli court on Tuesday convicted a Palestinian minor of "attempted murder" and possession of knife, a family member has said. An Israeli district court convicted Ahmad Manasrah, 14, of attempted murder related to an alleged knife attack in East Jerusalem last year. "My son did not try to stab anyone; the charges are fabricated," [...] By Palestine Chronicle Staff Hundreds of desperate Gazans eager to cross into Egypt from besieged Gaza Strip, as border opens for first time in 87 days. The Rafah border has been opened for the first time since December 2016. More than 25,000 Palestinians in dire need have requested to travel through this crossing. Thousands, mainly [...] Israeli forces stormed the central West Bank town of Birzeit north of Ramallah overnight on Sunday, targeting two female students and detaining at least 24 other Palestinians during raids across the occupied Palestinian territory. Locals told Ma'an that Israeli forces detained a female engineering student, Alaa Assaf, from Birzeit University. Israeli forces stormed the Assaf [...]  A lawyer for the Palestinian Authority's committee for prisoners's affairs said Monday that Israel's Ofer military court has sentenced a young Palestinian woman from the southern occupied West Bank district Bethlehem to 45 days in prison over charges of incitement on her Facebook account. Jamil Saadah told Ma'an that Majd Yusif Atwan, 22, was detained [...] Riyad al-Maliki, the Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Minister, said on Sunday that Israel's decision to build a new settlement in the occupied West Bank is an attempt to "legalize settlements and destroy the two-state solution", Anadolu reported. Al-Maliki, along with Belgian counterpart, Didier Reynders said in a press conference in Ramallah that, "The decision of [...]  A group of extremist Israeli settlers on Saturday attacked two Palestinian human rights activists in the Tel Rumeida area in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron, video footage showed. Human Rights Defenders spokesperson Badee Dweik told Ma'an that settlers attacked Emad Abu Shamsiya and Yasser Abu Markhiya, who work with the group's Hebron [...] It is 68 years since the Nakba of 1948. The one undemocratic state reality in Palestine - under exclusion of the 6 or 7 million Palestinians in exile - is intolerable. Every day sees new bad news from the ethnically-cleansed apartheid state of Israel. One Democratic State (ODS) in re-unified Palestine is a positive solution. [...]
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The Palestine Chronicle is an independent online newspaper that provides daily news, commentary, features, book reviews, photos, art, etc, on a variety of subjects. However, it's largely focused on Palestine, Israel, and the Middle East region. The Palestine Chronicle is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization. To contact the editor, submit an article or any other material, please write to: editor@palestinechronicle.com. For other inquiries write to: info@palestinechronicle.com. |
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