Author: asa

Latest Ceasefire column: on popular resistance in Palestine

After a bit of a hiatus, my Ceasefire column returns with this series of notes on what I saw at the demonstrations during my recent stay in Palestine:

Although now partly dissipated after the agreement to end the hunger strike was reached in May, according to the latest information from Palestinian prisoners’ right group Addameer, there are signs that Israel has already reneged on the deal. So the movement is likely to be rekindled soon, especially as several long-term hunger strikers have resumed their campaign of refusing food.

Read the full article here.

My review of the new biography on Leila Khalid

My latest book review, published by The Electronic Intifada last night:

Leila Khaled was only a small child when her family fled Haifa before the Zionist ethnic cleansing operations could reach them. Her father briefly joined the Palestinian resistance before the family ended up refugees in Lebanon, like thousands of other Palestinians (14). There she and others in her family joined the Arab National Movement founded by George Habash, from which the PFLP emerged in 1967.

Eventually, she persuaded the Marxist-Leninist group to train her as a guerrilla fighter in Jordan. Irving describes Khaled’s time camping in the hinterlands north of Amman, learning how to use grenades and to shoot: “I was so happy that for the first three days and night I could not sleep,” Khaled said (29).

Read the full review here.

Feature on the Palestinian family that has four members in jail

Four brothers jailed by Israel for prisoner solidarity activism, published by the Electronic Intifada, 6 May 2012:

This is a scene all too familiar for many Palestinian families living under the boot of Israeli occupation. But there is one difference for the Halabi family that night: all three of Rami’s brothers were already imprisoned by Israel. In a translated interview with The Electronic Intifada, their mother Samira recounted her plea to the soldiers not to part her from her last free son: “I went to hug my son, and I said, no, you’re not taking this one, you have three already, leave this one!”

You can read the full article here.

Feature on 1948 Palestinian Right Of Return march

Palestinians assert right to return on Israeli “Independence Day”. Published by the Electronic Intifada, 1 May:

Abir Kopty, also from Nazareth, frequently takes part in demonstrations all over occupied Palestine. She has taken part in the March of Return every year for the last ten years. “It’s important as a Palestinian, especially during the Independence Day of Israel, while Israelis are celebrating, to tell them that your celebration is actually on the ruins of my people,” she said.

The full article is here (photo above is by me).

Interview: “counterrevolution” threatens mass hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners

Published by The Electronic Intifada and protected by copyright. Republished with permission.

Asa Winstanley | The Electronic Intifada | Ramallah | 17 April 2012

The rot of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority is more widespread than previously thought, according to Mourad Jadallah, legal researcher with the Palestinian human rights and prisoner advocacy group Addameer. The PA, Jadallah points out, even goes as far as cooperating with the Israeli Prison Service and ordering some Fatah-affiliated prisoners to subvert Palestinian hunger strikes.

Continue reading Interview: “counterrevolution” threatens mass hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners

Court victory for Raed Salah deals blow to UK “anti-terror” policy

Published by The Electronic Intifada and protected by copyright. Republished with permission.

Asa Winstanley | The Electronic Intifada | Ramallah | 9 April 2012

After nearly ten months fighting to clear his name in UK courts, Palestinian activist Sheikh Raed Salah won his case against deportation on Saturday.

Salah is a Palestinian citizen of Israel and the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, a political and religious organization. Upper tribunal judge Mark Ockelton ruled that Sheikh Salah’s appeal succeeded “on all grounds.”

Continue reading Court victory for Raed Salah deals blow to UK “anti-terror” policy

Palestinian Authority jails journalist for publishing exposé on foreign ministry

Published by The Electronic Intifada and protected by copyright. Republished with permission.

Asa Winstanley | The Electronic Intifada | Ramallah | 30 March 2012

The Palestinian Authority imprisoned journalist Yousef al-Shayab Wednesday because of something he wrote, and because he insists on protecting his sources, say his colleagues. Al-Shayab hit back by announcing in court he would go on hunger strike.

Continue reading Palestinian Authority jails journalist for publishing exposé on foreign ministry

Factual errors undermine new book on Hamas

Published by The Electronic Intifada and protected by copyright. Republished with permission.

Asa Winstanley | The Electronic Intifada | 16 March 2012

There is no shortage of books in English about the Palestinian political party and Islamic resistance movement Hamas. This latest effort is by Italian journalist Paola Caridi, who has lived in the Middle East since 2001.

Continue reading Factual errors undermine new book on Hamas

Interview with Addameer’s Mourad Jadallah: hunger strikes reignite prisoner movement

Published by the Electronic Intifada and protected by copyright. Republished with permission.

Asa Winstanley | The Electronic Intifada | London | 1 March 2012

Addameer is a Palestinian human rights organization that works to support political prisoners held in Israeli and Palestinian jails. The center offers free legal aid to political prisoners, advocates for their rights and works to end torture and other violations of prisoners’ rights.

Continue reading Interview with Addameer’s Mourad Jadallah: hunger strikes reignite prisoner movement

Stop the JNF campaign makes steady gains as Israel charity goes “on the retreat” in UK

Published by the Electronic Intifada. Protected by copyright, republished with permission.

Asa Winstanley | The Electronic Intifada | London | 22 February 2012

Palestinian activists and their supporters have condemned a recent fundraising campaign by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) as a “greenwashing” cover for ethnic cleansing.
The JNF “Green Sunday” fundraiser took place in several countries on 5 February. In publicity materials, JNF UK asked volunteers to “give two hours of your time to help turn the Negev green” and “make the Negev a livable place.”

Book identifies pressure points for boycott actions

Published by the Electronic Intifada. Protected by copyright and republished with permission

Asa Winstanley | The Electronic Intifada | 17 February 2012

The idea of boycotting Israel has gained more and more currency in the West over the last ten years or so, and one of the most frequent requests from new recruits to the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is for a “boycott list.” Just tell us the companies to avoid, they say.

Continue reading Book identifies pressure points for boycott actions

Raed Salah deportation case disintegrates in UK court, but verdict still to follow

Published by Electronic Intifada and protected by copyright. Republished with permission.

Asa Winstanley | The Electronic Intifada | London | 15 February 2012

The judge heading the panel assessing whether Palestinian civil rights leader Sheikh Raed Salah can be deported from the UK has cast serious doubt on the British government’s case.

CMG Ockelton, an immigration judge, said on 8 February that the original text of a poem by Salah was “completely different” from how it appeared in a government order banning him from UK territory. The original banning order had accused Salah of anti-Semitism, citing an altered version of the poem.

Continue reading Raed Salah deportation case disintegrates in UK court, but verdict still to follow