Tag: Hamas

Palestine/Israel: Edward Said on ‘The One-State Solution’

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For nearly three years, Israel has been waging war against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank, with no end in sight. It is a war that has engulfed other parts of the Middle East, with repeated invasions and massive bombings of Lebanon — including the current one launched at the end of February as part of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Palestinians face abysmal conditions of massacres and colonization, particularly in Gaza, and land grabs, home demolitions, and growing dispossession in the West Bank. The Palestinian national movement is facing its “darkest day” since the 1948 Nakba, as Palestinian American scholar Rashid Khalidi has put it. In this context World-Outlook is re-publishing an essay by another Palestinian leader, Edward Said, who in 1999 described the “two-state” perspective as a dead end and argued that sustainable peace can only be achieved through a binational, democratic, secular state in Palestine/Israel with equal rights for all its citizens. At a minimum Said’s assessment deserves re-examination and discussion today.

Gaza and the West Bank: Dispatches from Catastrophe (II)

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This is the second of two parts of a Jewish Currents dispatch. At the end of 2025, Jewish Currents reached out to about two dozen Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank — all of whom the magazine had previously interviewed after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 — to ask them how their lives had changed since they last shared their stories.“ The resulting testimonies are difficult to read,” says the introduction to these stories. “They show the effects of years of industrialized, live-broadcast massacres and colonization, particularly in Gaza, where more than 10% of the population is estimated to have been killed or injured in the last two years.“

Gaza and the West Bank: Dispatches from Catastrophe (I)

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At the end of 2025, Jewish Currents reached out to about two dozen Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank — all of whom the magazine had previously interviewed after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 — to ask them how their lives had changed since they last shared their stories. “The resulting testimonies are difficult to read,” says the introduction to these stories. “They show the effects of years of industrialized, live-broadcast massacres and colonization, particularly in Gaza, where more than 10% of the population is estimated to have been killed or injured in the last two years.” This is the first of two parts.

End the Bombing of Iran; No Blood for Oil!

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U.S., Israel Hands Off Iran

The massive bombing of Iran unleashed by the U.S. and Israeli governments on February 28, 2026, has thrust the Middle East into a regional war. This is an imperialist war shaking the Mideast and threatening world peace. It has set back prospects for the Iranian people to eventually rid themselves of the oppressive regime in Tehran. It is a war for oil. Ranked third after Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, Iran sits atop one of the largest oil reserves in the world. Taking control of these enormous assets would put the U.S. military in a better position to face a future war with China — Washington’s top competitor. All this is done at the expense of working- and middle-class people in Iran and across the region.

The Trump Mandate: Who Needs Palestinians to Run Their Own Lives in Gaza?

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On January 16, U.S. president Donald Trump announced with imperial arrogance a “Board of Peace,” naming himself as its chairman, to oversee the governance of Gaza. This board is composed primarily of top U.S. diplomats, including his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. “Trump’s announcement of the official creation of the Gaza Board of Peace is not merely a new diplomatic initiative,” Israeli Palestinian journalist Jack Khoury points out in the article published here. “It is a declaration with far deeper meaning: the restoration of an international — and above all American — protectorate over the Palestinian people.”

How Gazans See Their Future With or Without Hamas

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This article is authored by two Palestinian Israeli journalists working for the Israeli daily Haaretz. It is largely based on many interviews with Palestinians in Gaza. The authors provide a thoughtful, detailed, and convincing account of how Palestinians in the embattled territory see their future with or without Hamas. “Gazans describe an organization that still enjoys a chunk of support as it terrorizes the populace, provides services, and is not yet challenged by a Palestinian alternative,” they say.

Extreme Right Has Seized Control of Israel

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This was the lead article in the Israeli daily Haaretz on August 7, 2025. In an expansive interview reported in this essay, Assaf David provides a glimpse of the destructive impact on Israeli society from Israel’s ongoing slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. Through the accounts of many Gazans he is in direct contact with, David describes the Israeli-caused starvation epidemic in Gaza and calls for an immediate end to Israel’s onslaught. His account is more compelling given David’s biography. He grew up in a religious Zionist home in the urban settlement of Kiryat Arba, abutting Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, later served in the Israeli army for 11 years, was seriously wounded in one of Hamas’ first suicide attacks, and for years was an adviser for the Israeli prime minister’s office.

Those Attacking Pro-Palestinian Student Protests Endanger Jews

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This article explains that, far from “protecting” Jewish students, those attacking pro-Palestinian student protests are the ones endangering Jews. Its author, Elijah Kahlenberg, is the president and founder of Atidna International, a university-based peace group uniting Jewish and Arab students. Kahlenberg, who is Jewish, graduated this spring from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin. Last year, he took part in UT student protests condemning Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and demanding the school divest from entities that do business with Israel.

Author Adam Shatz on ‘The World since October 7’ (II)

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In this essay, author Adam Shatz raises important issues that deserve further discussion in light of the gruesome October 7, 2023, attack led by Hamas that targeted civilians in Israel, the genocidal war Israel unleashed in retaliation on the entire population of Gaza, and a new wave of violence by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Zionist settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. Shatz also examines political developments in the Mideast and beyond after the recent U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. He spells out the implications of last year’s Israeli invasion of Lebanon, which decimated the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and caused a substantial death toll among the broader civilian Lebanese population, and of the overthrow of the Assad dictatorship in Syria. This is the second of two parts.

Author Adam Shatz on ‘The World since October 7’ (I)

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In this essay, author Adam Shatz raises important issues that deserve further discussion in light of the gruesome October 7, 2023, attack led by Hamas that targeted civilians in Israel, the genocidal war Israel unleashed in retaliation on the entire population of Gaza, and a new wave of violence by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Zionist settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. Shatz also examines political developments in the Mideast and beyond after the recent U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. He spells out the implications of last year’s Israeli invasion of Lebanon, which decimated the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and caused a substantial death toll among the broader civilian Lebanese population, and of the overthrow of the Assad dictatorship in Syria. This is the first of two parts.

‘We Live and Die Together’: Gazans Protest with Photos of Israeli Children Killed by Hamas

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This article describes protests by supporters of the Gaza Youth Committee, a group of Palestinians in Gaza opposing the gruesome character of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel that killed about 1,200 Israelis, including children. The Gaza Youth Committee is collaborating with Standing Together, a peace organization of Jews and Palestinians in Israel promoting an end to the genocidal war by the Zionist state. These actions are a much-needed antidote to the brutality of Israel’s unrelenting war on the Palestinian people in Gaza and to the reactionary character of Hamas and its October 7 assault on Israel, which provided an opening to Israel’s right-wing government to launch the devastating war on Gaza.

Gaza Ceasefire: Israel Emerges Stronger; War Not Over

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After 15 months of a genocidal war Israel launched on Palestinians in response to the grotesque October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks, the first phase of a ceasefire went into effect in Gaza on January 19. It is now clear that Israel has made strategic gains, emerging from this war in a stronger position than when it began. It has substantially weakened its main adversaries in the region, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the regime in Iran. With ceasefires in place in both Lebanon and Gaza, Israel is now refocusing its military might in dealing new blows to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian people, meanwhile, face the bleakest prospects in decades in their quest for national self-determination.

‘Israel Kills Us, and Hamas Exploits Our Deaths’

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Just over a year since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks, the war launched on Gaza by Israel in response is unrelenting: more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed, over 100,000 injured, nearly all of Gaza’s entire prewar population of 2.3 million has been displaced, and much of the territory reduced to rubble. Most Gazans blame Israel for this devastation. But a growing number also blame the leadership of Hamas for giving Israeli authorities the opening to unleash this onslaught. In addition, some Gazans point to the often-brutal punishment Hamas metes out to Palestinians who voice any criticism of the organization. Such opinions are expressed in this column written by a Palestinian in northern Gaza, and corroborated by other similar reports.

Rashid Khalidi on U.S. Support to Israel, Palestinian National Movement (II)

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This is the second part of an interview with Rashid Khalidi, the Palestinian American author of “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine.” In the interview, Khalidi discusses two key points — among other important ideas. The first concerns the U.S. role in enabling Israel’s brutal war in the region that has now spread far beyond the Gaza Strip. The second is about the state of the Palestinian national movement.

Gazan Anger at Hamas Grows as War Drags On

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This article was first published on August 6, 2024, by +972 Magazine, “an independent, online, nonprofit magazine run by a group of Palestinian and Israeli journalists,” as its website says. The author, Mahmoud Mushtaha, is a Palestinian journalist from Gaza who was forced to flee his home and now resides in Cairo, Egypt. Mushtaha is also affiliated with We Are Not Numbers (WANN), “a youth-led Palestinian nonprofit project in the Gaza Strip,” per the organization’s website, which also says that WANN “tells the stories behind the numbers of Palestinians in the news and advocates for their human rights.”

Rashid Khalidi on the War in Gaza, Perspectives for Palestinian Liberation

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Palestinian American Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University. He is also the author of “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine” and other books. In this interview, he explains the causes of the current war in Gaza and outlines his views on how the conflict in Israel and Palestine can be resolved. He also answers the smears of “antisemitism” leveled against the student protests demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.

Iran-Israel Shadow War: Its Role in Mideast Conflict (I)

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Iran and Israel traded direct airstrikes on each other’s territory, for the first time, in a confrontation in April that raised the danger of a full-blown regional war. Both governments, however, stepped back from the brink after Israel chose to launch a limited strike in response to Iran’s large but ineffective rocket barrage aimed at Israel. Having avoided further direct military conflict, both countries returned to their long-running shadow war, in which Iran’s strategy is to arm and direct allied militias such as Hezbollah. These developments also shed light on Tehran’s pretentious “support” for the Palestinian liberation struggle. The clerical regime uses such posturing to prop up its dictatorial hold on power in Iran and its reactionary reach through proxy armies across the Mideast. Many Palestinians in the occupied territories, as well as working people and others in Iran, are beginning to see through such grandstanding and now openly oppose it.

Open Letter to Israeli & U.S. Governments on Issue of Rape

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This open letter was initiated by U.S.-based anti-Zionist Jewish feminists. It has since gained support across the United States and internationally. As its preamble notes, the signatories “believe we have a particular responsibility to speak out in support of Palestinian rights and against the current genocide.”It also states clearly, “We support the investigation initiated by the highly-qualified members of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry into the entire range of war crimes committed during both the October 7 Hamas attack and the Israeli state’s subsequent assault on Gaza.” The letter is a response to efforts to discredit supporters of women’s rights who speak out against rape but also oppose Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza.

In Defense of Free Speech

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In the wake of the October 7 Hamas-led attack and Israel’s brutal retaliatory invasion of Gaza, new challenges have been raised to the right to free speech. Across the United States, restrictions on the democratic right to express one’s views on the conflict in the Middle East center today on college campuses. But precedents set there will be extended, with dangerous consequences for free speech, if they are not answered and opposed.

Can Jews and Palestinians Stand Together in Opposing Israel’s War?

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This article, originally published in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz, reports on a debate among those who oppose the decades-long Zionist occupation of Palestinian territories and Israel’s current genocidal war on Gaza, launched in response to the gruesome October 7 attack led by Hamas. It refers to the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. One of the organizations affiliated to this international effort, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), issued a statement on January 25, titled “Standing Together: Serving Apartheid Israel’s Propaganda.” The statement attacked Standing Together, the most prominent organization in Israel — made up of Jews, Palestinians, and others — that has been campaigning against Israel’s war on Gaza, and calling for a ceasefire and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. The Ha’aretz piece reports on Standing Together’s response.

Protesters March in Tel Aviv, Demand Ceasefire in Gaza

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This is an article originally published in the January 18, 2024, edition of the Israeli daily Ha’aretz. It reports on an important action that day in Israel’s capital, Tel Aviv, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Israeli government launched its war on Gaza with substantial domestic popular support. The war is coupled with extreme Zionist rhetoric, police and mob attacks on many of those who dare to question any aspect of Tel Aviv’s conduct of the war, and a crackdown on the democratic rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel that includes arbitrary firings and indiscriminate arrests. Under these conditions, public protests involving Israeli Jews and Palestinians calling for a ceasefire, and an end to the war or Israel’s brutal military occupation of millions of Palestinians are rare. But they offer a much-needed glimpse of hope for the future.

On the Character of the Oct. 7 Attack by Hamas

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This is a Discussion with Readers column on the character of the October 7 attack on Israel led by Hamas. “I’ve noticed that you keep referring to the Hamas Oct 7 attack as ‘gruesome,’” Meryl Lynn Lombardi wrote. “Why would this be needed in the face of the over 18,000 murdered Palestinians, nothing but genocide and ethnic cleansing. And the wholesale destruction of Gaza.” World-Outlook’s editors explain why they do not think that the attack by Hamas has become less gruesome because Israel — with its exponentially greater military power — has outdone Hamas in barbarity.

Israel’s West Bank Inferno & the Responsibility of Socialists (II)

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This is the second of a two-part essay that appears in the January/February 2024 edition of Against the Current. The author, Alan Wald, is an editor of that publication and a member of the Academic Advisory Council of Jewish Voice for Peace since 2016. Wald begins his essay as a review of the recently published book “A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy” by Nathan Thrall. From that starting point, he addresses some of the most urgent political issues arising from Israel’s increasingly genocidal assault on Gaza in response to the gruesome October 7 attack led by Hamas. Wald’s article will be of interest to anyone opposed to the current horror unfolding each day in Gaza as well as those interested in learning more about the history of the issues posed today.

Israel’s West Bank Inferno & the Responsibility of Socialists (I)

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This is the first of a two-part essay that appears in the January/February 2024 edition of Against the Current. The author, Alan Wald, is an editor of that publication and a member of the Academic Advisory Council of Jewish Voice for Peace since 2016. Wald begins his essay as a review of the recently published book “A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy” by Nathan Thrall. From that starting point, he addresses some of the most urgent political issues arising from Israel’s increasingly genocidal assault on Gaza in response to the gruesome October 7 attack led by Hamas. Wald’s article will be of interest to anyone opposed to the current horror unfolding each day in Gaza as well as those interested in learning more about the history of the issues posed today.

Cuba and the Palestinian Liberation Struggle: An Exchange

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This is an exchange between Karen Lee Wald and Pete Seidman. Wald is a long-time Cuba solidarity activist in the United States; she publishes the “Cuba Inside Out” newsletter. Seidman is a member of the Miami Coalition to End the U.S. Blockade of Cuba. The discussion touches on important questions related to the Palestinian national liberation struggle. These issues are being debated by many today, as Israel is carrying out an increasingly genocidal war on Gaza in response to the October 7 atrocious attack by Hamas.

No to Israel’s new Nakba in Gaza (III)

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This is the last of a three-part series. The first detailed how Israel is carrying out a mass dispossession of Palestinians in Gaza — like the 1948 “Nakba,” or catastrophe, that led to Israel’s founding as a colonial settler state. The second documented how long-standing Israeli government policy made possible the the October 7 pogrom by Hamas. This concluding part focuses on what may be a way out of these dire conditions.

No to Israel’s new Nakba in Gaza (II)

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This is the second of a three-part series. The first detailed how Israel is in the middle of carrying out a mass dispossession of Palestinians in Gaza — like the 1948 “Nakba,” or catastrophe, that led to Israel’s founding as a colonial settler state. This article documents how the October 7 Hamas pogrom was made possible by long-standing Israeli government policy.

‘End Oppression of One People by Another’ (II)

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This is the second of two parts of an interview with Palestinian American scholar Rashid Khalidi on the dynamics of the crisis unfolding in the Mideast. Khalidi lays bare Washington’s complicity and responsibility for the brutal war on Gaza, unleashed by Tel Aviv in response to the October 7 pogrom by Hamas. The war on Gaza, marked by increasingly genocidal death and destruction with no end in sight, has already claimed the lives of over 11,000 Palestinians, including more than 4,000 children.

‘End Oppression of One People by Another’ (I)

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This is the first of two parts of an interview with Palestinian American scholar Rashid Khalidi on the dynamics of the crisis unfolding in the Mideast. Khalidi lays bare Washington’s complicity and responsibility for the brutal war on Gaza, unleashed by Tel Aviv in response to the October 7 pogrom by Hamas. The war on Gaza, marked by increasingly genocidal death and destruction with no end in sight, has already claimed the lives of over 11,000 Palestinians, including more than 4,000 children.

Hundreds of Jews, Muslims in Israel Call for Ceasefire in Gaza

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This is an article on an October 30 meeting at a mosque in Haifa, Israel, where the 600 Jews, Muslims, and others present called for a ceasefire in Gaza. The significance of this rare but powerful event can only be understood by considering the atmosphere in which it occurred. Israel is at war, which a large majority of Israelis support. At the same time, the government of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has unleashed a widespread crackdown on anyone opposing the war or advocating peace.

Oppose Israel’s War on Palestinians

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The Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip — cutting off water, food, and electricity to its inhabitants, accompanied by widespread bombings that set the stage for a ground invasion — threatens Palestinians there with death and destruction that can become genocidal.

Working people around the world should do everything in our power to stay the hand of the Israeli government as it mobilizes its military to inflict further devastation on the Palestinian people in response to the repugnant attacks by Hamas. The atrocities by Hamas must be unequivocally condemned.