Many are lamenting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’s decision not to stand for re-election as the end for a chance at peace in the Middle East. Saree Makdisi is not one of them.
Palestine 
From stone throwing kids to online activists: the e-Palestine movement
Palestinians have figured out one the most effective methods of mobilising the youth: bringing their activism online. They foster an international diaspora and avoid the traditional Hamas and Fatah tensions and talk in chat rooms. Can they mimic the success of Obama’s online campaign?
Fresh West Bank horror: street named after Twitter account
A Palestinian refugee camp now has the dubious honour of being home to the world’s first street named after a Twitter account. Dutch-Palestinian Tweep @arjanelfassed paid about AU$167 for the naming rights.
UN: Israel and Hamas guilty of war crimes
A UN fact-finding mission has accused both Israel and Palestine of committing war crimes in Gaza, with the former shelling civilian hospitals with white phosphorus and the latter wreaking terror with rockets.
Reaction to Pilger award reveals Zionist lobby’s fear of dissent
The Sydney Peace Foundation awarded its annual prize to journalist, author and documentary maker John Pilger, and Jewish leaders again are on the offensive.
You’re just like the Nazis! The political insult that won’t die
Playing the Nazi card has become the standard political cheap shot. Politicians don’t have another significant political ideology or event against which to compare their morality, writes Brendan O’Neill.
Govt cultivates home-grown terrorists?
Token and superficial community engagement of Muslim and Arab communities by the government is simply encouraging home-grown terrorism in Australia, writes Taimor Hazou.
Fatah conference a failed opportunity for peace
Despite the best intentions at the Fatah convention in Bethlehem, negotiations and peaceful coexistence between Fatah and Hamas seems unlikely, writes The Jerusalem Post.
Letter from...: Gaza: flattened, occupied, sick and rootless
The Gaza Strip, under siege for over three years by Israel and the Western powers, is utterly unlike anywhere I’ve ever visited.
Israeli Gaza soldiers’ testimonies trigger furious reaction
Israeli soldiers who fought in the 2008 Gaza War say gross crimes were committed against civilians as a result of Israels lax military discipline.
To embrace Palestine, embrace Sharia Law
Israel and the US can peacefully coexist with Palestine, say Osama Abu-Irshaid and Paul Scham, but to do so, they must understand Sharia Law, which is at the heart of Hamas’ every move.
Bruno unites Israelis and Palestinians in mutual disdain
Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno has unwittingly united hardline Israelis and Palestinians by offending both groups equally.
Assassins, revolution and keffiyehs: a PLO history
Filmmaker Omar al-Issawi spent five years documenting the history of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. What was it like to interview Yasser Arafat?
Australian government out of step with public opinion on Israel/Palestine
A new study suggests that the Australian government, Murdoch press and Zionist leaders are profoundly out of step with public opinion over the Israel/Palestine conflict, writes Anthony Lowenstein.
Netanyahu’s speech receives a mixed reception
Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech giving support for a Palestinian state has been praised by The White House, but has drawn fire from Palestinians.
Loewenstein: Obama in Cairo – actions matter, not words
Obama’s speech was at once moving, revealing, predictable, rhetorically elegant, largely empty and devoid of detail, says Antony Loewenstein. What matters are actions, not fine words.
Iran: the new hope for middle east peace?
With Shiite Iran growing stronger, Jews and Sunni Arabs suddenly have basis for friendship. Could leveraging Sunni fears of rising Shiite power solve the Israeli-Palestinian problem? asks Jeffrey Goldberg.
Keffiyeh: Made in Palestine
The keffiyah: the scarf once a symbol of Palestinian nationalism and now an item of tragic Western hipster fashion. Monocle visits the last Palestinian keffiyeh factory, now in competition with cheaper Chinese manufacturers.
There is a rat in our compost bin…
I saw its tail.
Israel’s 60th birthday — what the media left out
Israel’s 60th anniversary has generated mountains of international news coverage - absent, however, from a great deal of Western reporting is an honest appraisal of the occupation of Palestine, writes Antony Loewenstein.
