In Stephen Harper’s speech to the recent Conservative convention, referring to foreign policy, he announced that the Conservatives moral stance would be clear. “Moral ambiguity, moral equivalence are not options,” he stated, “they are dangerous illusio…
Continue readingTag: palestine
RedBedHead: Israel Is No Different Than Syria
Israel likes to tout itself as the “plucky little democracy” in the Middle East, and as an island of European-style democracy besieged by a sea of dictatorships and dark, Arabic hordes. Besides the (fading) appeal to the oppressions Jews suffered in Eu…
Continue readingBaird gives Washington the green light by backing Obama’s 1967 proposal
Well if you were expecting to see more unity and a more streamlined process of decision making from the Harper government, you can forget about it.
The new Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced that Canada does in fact stand with U.S. preside…
Continue readingRedBedHead: When The Ex-Mossad Chief Thinks You’re Crazy…
This article in the New York Times is interesting. The recently retired head of the Israeli Mossad (i.e. CIA) is using his newfound civilian freedoms to run around and say that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak are, basically, f*…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Canada supports 1967 borders after all despite blocking this position at G8
Faced with significant pressure, Harper’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has affirmed that Canada does, in fact, support Obama’s position of using the 1967 borders with land swaps as a basis for a peace settlement between Israel and Palestine. In …
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Right to Exist: An Inflated Conflict
If one follows the negotiation process over the years between Israel and Palestine, one finds an asymmetry between the issues raised and argued for in the negotiation process and the the political and media rhetoric. One of the issues that is largely a…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Canada dutifully fulfills the US’s role towards Israel
Canadian policy and rhetoric has been staunchly pro-Israel for a long a time. It is a stance which, especially with Harper at the helm, arguably resulted in Canada’s inability to win a security council seat last year. However, despite adopting a positi…
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: US Congress to Palestinians – You do not exist
Congress to Palestinians: Drop dead – Opinion – Al Jazeera English
by MJ Rosenberg, Senior Foreign Policy Fellow at Media Matters Action Network.
If anyone had any doubt about whether the Palestinians would declare a state in September, they can’t hav…
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Netanyahu and the one-state solution
Netanyahu and the one-state solution – Opinion – Al Jazeera English
Excerpt:
At this new intersection, there are two signs. The first points towards the west and reads “viable and just two-state solution”, while the second one points eastward and reads…
Art Threat: Walk the line in Palestine – Explore the West Bank perimeter through Mark Thomas’ gonzo rambling and Francis Alÿs’ action painting
It is possible to experience aspects of the Palestinian political drama through complementary events on both sides of the Atlantic; through the work of the British comedian and activist, Mark Thomas, in London and the Belgian artist Francis Alÿs in New York.
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Obama Gets it Right on Palestine
President Obama understands what I wrote three and a half years ago, that ending the Israeli Palestinian conflict depends on recognizing that “the solution essentially comes down to understanding the most and least that each side can accept”.We could a…
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Did the Israeli army have the right to shoot?
Did the Israeli army have the right to shoot? – Features – Al Jazeera EnglishOn Sunday, Israel’s disputed northern frontier saw the first deadly clashes between civilians and the Israeli army since 1974. Hundreds of protesters from Syria and Lebanon m…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Western media coverage of the recent border protests around Israel
Consider this Globe and Mail story detailing the protests met with deadly force that have occurred on the Israeli border in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon. It does an acceptable job of detailing the basic facts for those unfamiliar with them, but I want to l…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Egypt’s Shifting Geopolitical Policies: A Consequence of Democracy
The recent democratization of Egypt has resulted in a series of distinct policy changes with regards to Israel, Palestine and Iran. These changes ultimately represent a shift in Egyptian policy towards the popular opinion of many Egyptians that are bec…
Continue readingArt Threat: Imaging Apartheid around the world – Poster project supports the Palestinian struggle against occupation
A small collective of artists and activists have spent the past six months calling upon their creative colleagues to submit work related to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Continue readingArt Threat: Unsettling the Israeli settlers – An interview with Israel vs. Israel’s director Terje Carlsson
Terje Carlsson, director of Israel vs. Israel, on the fanaticism of Israeli settlers.
Continue readingA. Picazo: The Crisis In Gaza — An International Tipping Point
If, and as long as between the Jordan and the sea, there is only one political entity, named Israel, it will end up being either non-Jewish or non-democratic… If the Palestinians vote in elections, it is a binational state, and if they don’t, it is an apartheid state. – Ehud
Continue readingJustifying Murder on the High Seas
Once again the ugly specter of Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians in the Gaza strip has been brought to the forefront of the world’s attention and, this time, it wasn’t just the actions of activists (who have largely been ignored) that has drawn the laser-like focus and condemnations of nations
Continue readingCanadian Firebrand: Trustee Sheila Ward wants to ban a book she hasn’t read
Toronto District School Board Trustee Sheila Ward (Toronto Centre) told the Jewish Tribune this week that she will “move heaven and earth to have The Shepherd’s Granddaughter taken off the school library shelves” in response to a demand by B’nai Brith Canada and parent Brian Henry that the book be
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