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Dec 10

The Palestinian Left

When the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Abu Ali Mustafa was assassinated in his Ramallah office in 2001, and Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze`evi was subsequently killed in retaliation, the PFLP were subjected to a level of media scrutiny rarely seen during the second Intifada. But aside from a few isolated incidents, the leftist groups have become increasingly invisible to mainstream analysts.

It is a far cry from the hijackings of the late 1960s, or the community-wide resistance of the first intifada. Now, all the talk is of the challenge posed by Hamas, and concerned parties from local activists in the West Bank to the US State Department scramble to adapt to the end of the era of Fatah dominance. Does this bipolar environment leave any role for the leftists, and if the answer is yes, are they up to the challenge? Read more

Oct 24

Crumbs from the master’s table

July 20

The withdrawal of the Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip has led to many ironies. This week we had the sight of anti-disengagement Israelis complaining at how inconvenient the checkpoints were to their desire to reach the Gush Katif colony. Another irony – Israeli military officials suggesting that soldiers need psychological training to evict Jews from their homes, because it is such a traumatic experience for the evictors and evictees. Read more

Oct 1

Israel: House of meeting

Sitting in the Beit Al Liqa’ garden, with the late evening sun bathing the grass in a soft glow, and children making the most of the adventure playground, it is easy to forget that this is Beit Jala, in the occupied West Bank. Newcomers would not be aware, for example, that only a few years ago, Israeli missiles and shelling rocked this little Christian town, and that its residents were often under strict curfew.

This little corner of tranquility, Beit Al Liqa’ (meaning ‘House of Meeting’), is a ministry in the Bethlehem district established by Johnny Shahwan, a local Palestinian, along with his German wife Marlene. Together, they have lived and breathed their calling to the local community for over 10 years, witnessing their Christian training and community centre go from strength to strength. Read more

Sep 29

Letter from Wadi Fukin

History is a tangible presence in Wadi Fukin, from the Aramaic origins of its name to the still-standing Byzantine church column, and the archaeological remains just outside the village. Also just beyond the village nestle some caves where the villagers sheltered during repeated Israeli attacks in the years following the Nakba.

The course of the conflict here has meant that the villagers find themselves right on the Green Line. It is a boundary whose path could yet mean that history has a further twist of the knife for Wadi Fukin, as Israel’s separation barrier continues on its winding way, dipping into the West Bank and isolating Palestinian communities unfortunate enough to sit next to settlements. Read more

Jul 23

From martyrs to elections

Returning to Bethlehem after an absence of around nine months, one of the first things I noticed were the new posters. Even by the summer of 2004, the pictures of the shahid were fading, and recent additions were few and far between. A year on, and the faces of martyrs have been replaced by aspiring politicians, a reminder of the local elections that took place in the Bethlehem district not so long ago. Perhaps this is an example of the kind of ‘reform’ urged on the Palestinians by the U.S. and her allies. Read more

Jul 7

Church protest

Despite the continued strength and vitality of the Christian Zionist lobby in America, in the last few months there have been signs that it is also amongst the church that significant steps are being taken to pressurise Israel into compliance with international standards, including symbolically-loaded methods such as divestment, boycotts and sanctions. Read more

Mar 18

Understanding the Middle East ‘Democratic Wave’

In the aftermath of a second bitterly contested US presidential election, many political commentators surmised that a second-term Bush administration would be forced to depart from the radical neoconservative agenda that had characterized the previous four years. However, the last couple of weeks have served as a wake-up call that the neocon-inspired campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq might just have been a warm up.

The proof for all of this could be found in your local newsvendor. Read more

Feb 14

Fashion claims another symbol

As a supporter of the Palestinians ever since I went up to Cambridge in 2002 – I am now president of the university’s Palestine Society – I wonder how I should respond. Do I quietly celebrate this adoption of the emblem of Palestinian nationalism, or do I bitterly resent these Johnny-come-latelies and the ignorantly casual way they swing the black and white scarf over their shoulders? As it is safe to assume that those sporting keffiyehs are not new card-carrying members of Fatah, is this phenomenon a “good thing”?

You might say that this anxiety is typical of the miserable left, moaning about the gradual acceptance by the trendsetters and taste-makers of a cherished symbol of resistance. To combine cliches, we never miss an opportunity to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. But it is not as simple, or uplifting, as that. Read more

Nov 1

Naboth’s vineyard

‘Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?’’ 1 Kings 21:19a, New International Version

For decades, many Christians in the West have been eagerly turning to their Bibles hoping to make sense of events in the Middle East. But overlooked in favour of the prophecies of Ezekiel and Daniel are many scriptures which challenge a theology of unconditional support for modern day Israel. Read more

Oct 29

The debate over Israel’s separation wall part 1

This summer I have been able to see for myself the effects of the illegal Separation Wall being built around Bethlehem. I spent two months in Palestine, teaching English in Jerusalem and volunteering at Bethlehem Bible College. My daily walks to the College offered me an opportunity to see the relentless expansion of the prison walls.

For every metre of the Wall there is a story of dispossession and loss. The librarian at the Bible College, Hala, and her husband Daoud, have experienced the consequences of the ‘security fence’ at first hand. Shortly before the start of the intifada they used their life savings to purchase some land in Beit Jala as an inheritance for their children. Read more