Tag: Palestinian struggle for self-determination

‘I Discovered Anti-Zionism at the University of Michigan. I’m Glad It Lives on There’

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“At the University of Michigan’s recent commencement ceremony, history professor Derek Peterson delivered a five-minute speech in which he celebrated all those who have fought for justice at the university, my alma mater,” wrote Gayle Kirshenbaum in the May 8 issue of Forward, a “Jewish, independent, non-profit,” as it is self-described. “Invoking our legendary sports-focused fight song, he asked the crowd to ‘sing’ for suffragist Sarah Burger, who battled to get women admitted as students; for Moritz Levi, Michigan’s first Jewish professor; for all the students who fought for racial justice at Michigan as part of the Black Action Movement; and for the ‘pro-Palestinian student activists, who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza,’” Kirshenbaum said. This is a thoughful article on why conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism hurts the struggle to eradicate Jew hatred.

Israel Out of Lebanon and Gaza – End U.S. Aid

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On October 1, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) invaded Lebanon, the fourth time Israel has done so since 1978. The ground invasion followed a brazen Israeli escalation: exploding personal electronic devices, intense airstrikes, and the assassination of an array of Hezbollah leaders, including the group’s general secretary Hassan Nasrallah. Hours after the invasion of Lebanon, Iran launched 181 ballistic missiles at Israel, escalating the shadow war between the two countries. These events have posed the genuine danger of an even wider regional war that could spread beyond the Middle East.

Israel’s War on Gaza Grinds On

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After months of U.S. opposition to a ceasefire in the war on Gaza, the United Nations (UN) Security Council adopted a U.S.-sponsored ceasefire plan in a near-unanimous vote on June 10. Yet no end to the war is in sight. Israel’s relentless assault grinds on. The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has passed 37,000 with over 85,000 wounded. On June 12, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, warned, “A significant proportion of Gaza’s population is now facing catastrophic hunger and famine-like conditions.”

Gaza: In Face of Famine, a New Massacre

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In the face of ever-growing world condemnation of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, a new massacre unfolded February 29, resulting in the deaths of 104 Palestinians and injuries to more than 700 others. Each day the humanitarian crisis created by Israel’s relentless assault grows more dire. This was captured in a February 29 New York Times essay, excerpts of which are included in this post. The article also includes a Jewish Currents report featuring interviews with three displaced Palestinians in Rafah who “describe unlivable conditions in a city bracing for imminent Israeli invasion.”

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.

How Can the Jews Survive? A Socialist Answer to Zionism

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One might reasonably ask, what is the value of reviewing a brief pamphlet, written over 50 years ago, that its publisher has now taken out of print? The answer is quite a lot — in light of the brutal October 7 Hamas attack that left over 1,000 Jews and others dead, and the murderous Israeli response that has targeted the entire Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip. Even the title may strike some as jarring today. The Israeli siege of Gaza, the cutoff of food, water, fuel and other necessities, accompanied by a brutal air war, with a ground invasion apparently imminent, pose the real danger of the survival of the 2+ million residents of Gaza as an immediate concern to humanity. Is the survival of the Jews also posed? This review of the pamphlet, “How Can the Jews Survive? A Socialist Answer to Zionism,” delves into these questions.

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.

‘So Long As There Is A Single Palestinian Alive, We Will Claim Our Right to Palestine’

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This interview with Hanan Ashrawi was given to Argiris Malapanis by telephone on April 9, 1991. Ashrawi was in Ramallah, West Bank, and Malapanis in East Jerusalem at the time.
While first published 30 years ago, many of the issues Ashrawi addresses in this interview remain central to the Palestinian struggle for national self-determination that has erupted now again. It is a timely reminder of the political context in which the most recent events have developed.