Jadaliyya جدلية

"A report covering the state of Syrian youth, released by UNICEF in March 2013, notes that due to the..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:02:30 -0400

“A report covering the state of Syrian youth, released by UNICEF in March 2013, notes that due to the effects of the conflict on Syrian youth and education, there will be a ‘lost generation.’ The report states that ‘many schools have been damaged, destroyed or taken over by displaced people seeking shelter. Countless children suffer from the psychological trauma of seeing family members killed, of being separated from their parents and being terrified by the constant thunder of shelling.’”

- Amidst a Violent Conflict, Syria’s Students Struggle for an Education (via arabious)

Glenn Owns Bill: A Lesson in Challenging Islamophobia and Taking...

Sat, 11 May 2013 22:32:46 -0400

Glenn Owns Bill: A Lesson in Challenging Islamophobia and Taking Responsibility (Video)

The above video is from the 10 May 2013 episode of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. The clip shows an exchange between Bill Maher and Glenn Greenwald following a discussion about the White House and State Department’s immediate response to the 11 September 2012 attack on the US Embassy in Benghazi, Libya. In this clip, Maher claims that theocracy and violence are inherent to Muslims and/or Muslim culture, and that US citizens and policy-makers are void of any responsibility for the status quo of forces in the Middle East (or Muslim world, it is not really clear). Greenwald, in turn, proceeds to give viewers a lesson in how to take down Bill Maher and own up to his responsibility as a US citizen.

"Those living in Syria look at things differently. When they are exposed to the terms of debate..."

Fri, 10 May 2013 19:40:31 -0400

“

Those living in Syria look at things differently. When they are exposed to the terms of debate outside Syria, they smile helplessly, disappointingly, and critically all at once, as though those on both sides of the debate that is happening outside Syria are talking about an imaginary thing, not about realities on the ground. People outside Syria are literally at each other’s throats discursively and physically, arguing over the prioritization of resistance to imperialism or resistance to dictatorship while most local Syrians are wondering about personal security, food, electricity, the safety of their family, and the possibility of dying altogether during the next round of clashes in their neighborhood. Most importantly from an analytical point of view, we erroneously assume that their preferences are stable, but they are not. They too change with circumstances, a perfectly rational behavior.

Thanks to the armed groups who have now perfected—and sometimes surpassed on individual counts—the perennial brutality of the regime, one is hard-pressed in Syria to find a cause or a foreseeable scenario to cling to. Under such conditions, daily matters reign supreme over meta-narratives that are not necessarily unimportant, but have become thoroughly irrelevant for most Syrians. Hence, that smile that many local Syrians draw on their face in the face of meta-narratives spewed by all of us on the other side—to which people click “like,” or not.

This physical detachment, however, does not automatically privilege the analysis of all insiders equitably. Some of the cruder analysis has come from inside Syria. And though such analysis can be discarded as such, it cannot be dismissed as a real expression of real matters, however flawed.

Those of us who have family, friends, and colleagues in Syria with whom we are in touch on a daily basis, and those of us who read Syria news coming out of everywhere and nowhere, know that the discussions inside Syria are far more visceral and real, where positions often reflect immediately consequential action, and where political trade-offs are not academic or theoretical: people die as a result of certain positions. Political trade-offs can mean the difference between being able to provide for one’s family and not being able to put food on the table every night, or not being able to stay in one’s home that same night.

”

- Bassam Haddad in The Triumph and Irrelevance of Meta-Narratives Over Syria: “Rohna Dahiyyah”

Things to remember when discussing Syria.

(via globalwarmist)

[Above image: Fatima Hammdo in a traditional dress and an army...

Fri, 03 May 2013 16:45:01 -0400

[Above image: Fatima Hammdo in a traditional dress and an army uniform, from the Alkarsiffi family album, 1970s.]

“For many years these photographs were hidden. In these bags lay my life’s work and passion, but I often wondered if that really mattered and what I could do with them. After we started working, I felt as if I remembered myself again. I kept this archive safe for many decades. The forgotten lives, friends that died or went away, places and ideas that no longer existed, were brought back. The light was shining on them again.”

—Diab Alkarssifi

Click for more images from The Lebanese Archive of Diab Alkarssifi

May Day | عيد العمال By Nidal El Khairy نضال الخيري

Fri, 03 May 2013 16:31:09 -0400

May Day | عيد العمال

By Nidal El Khairy نضال الخيري

Theorizing the Arabian Peninsula: Introduction to the Roundtable

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:10:34 -0400

Theorizing the Arabian Peninsula: Introduction to the Roundtable:

This electronic roundtable marks the one-year anniversary of Jadaliyya’s Arabian Peninsula Page, and in that time, we have hosted work by activists, journalists, artists, and scholars that has made a significant intellectual—and we hope, political—contribution. Despite the sophisticated, critical, and oft-politically engaged literature emerging from and about the Arabian Peninsula, however, the region remains marginalized, in multiple ways, within academic and popular analyses. Theorizing the Arabian Peninsula thus addresses the ways in which frameworks of knowledge production have not only obscured social realities there, but also contributed to their construction.

Click to read the rest of the introduction by Jadaliyya’s Arabian Peninsula Page editors. Below are links to the roundtable contributions:

Thinking Globally About Arabia by Toby C. Jones.

Knowledge in the Time of Oil by Madawi Al-Rasheed.

Capital and Labor in Gulf States: Bringing the Region Back In by Adam Hanieh.

Unpacking Knowledge Production and Consumption by Neha Vora.

Perspectives from the Margins of Arabia by Nathalie Peutz.

Writing Histories of the Arabian Peninsula or How to Narrate the Past of a (Non)Place by John Willis.

Towards a Critical Cartography of the Political in the Arabian Peninsula by Ahmed Kanna.

"By far the most common problem among extant treatments of sectarianism and other types of group..."

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:25:26 -0400

“By far the most common problem among extant treatments of sectarianism and other types of group conflict—whether in the scholarly literature or in popular discussion—is the appeal to description or narration rather than explanation. Thus Iraq, or Bahrain, or Sri Lanka is said to be afflicted by “entrenched hatreds,” “longstanding rivalries,” and other intrinsic and irresolvable conflicts that in turn fuel political instability, social fracture, civil war, and so on. Yet such an explanation is no explanation at all, but rather a simple tautology: sectarianism influences society via “tensions,” “rivalries,” and other ill-defined passions—that is, via sectarianism.”

- Questioning Sectarianism in Bahrain and Beyond: An Interview with Justin Gengler

سامر العيساوي والسلطة الفلسطينية

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:42:14 -0400

سامر العيساوي والسلطة الفلسطينية

The United Nations and Authoritarianism's Renewal in Yemen

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:27:44 -0400

The United Nations and Authoritarianism's Renewal in Yemen:

The United Nations’ stewardship in post-conflict and transitional political environments appears increasingly ineffective in the face of spreading violence in Syria, the intensification of Bahraini regime repression, and the growing popular discontent with Morsi’s authoritarian measures in Egypt. In an apparent bid to remain at least partially relevant in the Middle East, the United Nations has continued to present Yemen and the GCC Initiative as a successful model for post-“Arab Spring” transitions. What it has failed to realize is that this peaceful “transition” is increasingly fragile because the root causes of discontent that triggered the uprising have not been addressed. Indeed, whether unintentionally or by design, the actions of the United Nations and its representatives have furthered an agenda that reinforces the US-driven security paradigm at the expense of the basic needs and human rights of Yemeni citizens.

This January, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held a special session in Sanaa to support the peaceful transfer of power and the overall transition process. One month later, the President of the UN Security Council issued a formal statement that confirmed its strong support for the transitional process and warned, by name, former President Ali Saleh and former Vice President (and current leader of a southern secessionist movement faction) Ali Salem al-Beedh from meddling. The statement seemed firm and positive, but proved not only ineffective, but also nationally divisive.

From the Introduction: From a Western media perspective,...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:14:24 -0400

From the Introduction:

From a Western media perspective, coverage of the uprisings has metamorphosed and evolved in intriguing ways. What began as initial alarm at these acts of protestation in the region and the knee-jerk paranoia and condemnation (which leveled accusations of extremism against many dissident movements) eventually turned into favorable cheerleading. In the end, the conduct of Western media is a crescendo of divergent confusion vis-à-vis the particularities in each country’s patterns of public action. Admittedly, the Western media were forced by the uprisings to forgo their reliance on typical motifs because what was happening on the ground was more nuanced than any of the prototypes often depicted and also in response to a strategic shift in Western governments’ tackling of the uprisings.

At first taken by surprise and forced into a state of reactionary caution, Western media quickly adapted their depiction of the uprisings from concern to advocacy for the demands of the dissident movements. The pro-activist representational frames they employed were a unique and welcomed departure from the Orientalist tropes that manufacture Arab dissent as an act of unruly barbaric irrationality. However, they are often prefaced with the latent fear that these revolutionary movements will produce unfavorable “results for Western governments and their interests in the region. For this reason, the international media still have the archetypal repertoires of Arabo- and Islamophobic categories on standby like “first-aid kits” to remedy the anomalously-positive coverage, particularly when these revolutions go awry and no longer seem so fairytale-like. And when it happens, as it has in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya with the rise of Islamist political forces to the forefront, the media can easily revert to tried and tested modalities.

Click to read a longer excerpt from the introduction, including an interview with the editors (and Jadaliyya co-editors) Adel Iskandar and Bassam Haddad.

Kafranbel Sign Room The town of Kafranbel in Idlib is renowned...

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:56:30 -0400

Kafranbel Sign Room

The town of Kafranbel in Idlib is renowned for the signs its residents bring to their weekly protests. Written in English and Arabic, Kafranbel’s witty signs have many different messages, from commenting on international hypocrisy regarding Syria, to criticizing the opposition. In the above picture, a resident of Kafranbel stands in a room filled with different posters from their protests.

Click for a Social Media Bouquet from Syria, showcasing various images, audio and video clips making their rounds among Syrian online users.

“All in all, the way in which Copts are discussed, both in Egyptian public discourse and in...

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:30:00 -0400

“All in all, the way in which Copts are discussed, both in Egyptian public discourse and in the international media, seems stuck in the nineteenth century, with commentators still relying on the conventional wisdoms of the millet paradigm – according to which Ottoman rulers relied upon clerical leaders to represent the political interests of their respective sects. Under these circumstances, how can one possibly have a meaningful conversation about citizenship – about how the Egyptian revolution might shape conceptions of Egyptian identity?

Despite the hopes that accompanied the January 25 Revolution in this regard, important conversations about citizenship simply are not happening in post-revolutionary Egypt. What makes this all the more remarkable is that, at nearly every previous revolutionary juncture in Egypt’s modern history – 1882, 1919, and 1952 – there was a serious and sustained engagement with the issue of citizenship. Indeed, one might have thought that, not least given its Christian minority, Egypt would have been the Arab uprising context most likely to confront the citizenship question.”

—Has Citizenship Got a Future in Egypt?

"The region has been dramatically—though unevenly—transformed by the privatization and globalization..."

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:26:30 -0400

“The region has been dramatically—though unevenly—transformed by the privatization and globalization of national economies under the influence of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other advocates of neoliberal policies. Though nominally socialist regimes across the region had begun turning away from statist economic polices in the late 1960s, most Arab states did not begin implementing neoliberal reforms in earnest until the 1980s when the fall in global oil prices precipitated a regional economic slump. For states seeking international loans, monies were conditioned upon shifting economic activity toward export-oriented agriculture, manufacturing, and services as well as selling state-owned corporations to private investors—the standard recipe for structural adjustment. Dismantling the institutions of state-driven development necessarily threatened the professed populism of many of these regimes: Raising the standard of living of people long held down by the colonial yoke was understood to be the first priority of the new regimes. But privatization of industry and agriculture, and the shift to service-based economies, combined with reduced price supports on necessities, rendered life increasingly precarious for urban and rural workers as well as the middle class. Such programs often served parallel regime interests by rewarding political allies with privileged access to formerly public assets and new markets. Even for governments that were not pressured into structural adjustment by supranational bodies (like Bahrain and Syria), privatization was often a means of personal enrichment sold as good liberal economics. In some cases, “privatization” was merely a reorganization of ownership such that certain sectors of the regime remained in control”

- An excerpt from David McMurray and Amanda Ufheil-Somers, editors, The Arab Revolts: Dispatches on Militant Democracy in the Middle East. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013. Published in association with Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP).

Read a longer excerpt here, along with an interview with the editors.

arabious: Women Under Siege: Stateless in Lebanon | Linda...

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 21:57:46 -0400

Yousra with her sons. Hani’s father is Jordanian, while Ali’s father is Lebanese. Yousra has been divorced twice. Since Hani, the youngest, has no nationality he cannot go to public school.

Lorenzo with his son, Faysal. He is an Italian journalist married to a Lebanese woman. Their two sons can apply for Italian IDs but not Lebanese ones.

Samira with her son Faten. Judge John Azzi granted citizenship to her children in 2009, but two days later the government intervened and quashed the decision.

The residence permit of one of Samira’s sons. It is valid for three years, but after the age of fifteen it costs about $200 to renew.

Moustafa, leader of the independent group “Individual Association of Human Rights.” He is stateless, married and the father of three children, who are therefore also stateless.

Randa, Khalet’s mother. She was married to a Syrian man, who died 2 years ago. Her son has a Syrian passport, but has never been there. With the war in Syria they cannot go to renew it.

arabious:

Women Under Siege: Stateless in Lebanon | Linda Dorigo

Lebanon, and its capital Beirut, are often represented by the media as islands of freedom in the Middle East. The well-heeled neighborhoods of Achrafieh and Downtown are reminiscent of a Parisian boutique; while nightlife in Gemmayze and Hamra could compete with the scene in Berlin. But, behind the glossy images of ultra-futuristic skyscrapers and flawless female bodies, Lebanon is a country where women are not allowed to pass citizenship on to their children, or to their non-Lebanese husbands.

The consequence of this lack of legal status is a lack of social rights. The children of a Lebanese woman who is married to a non-Lebanese man are not legally considered Lebanese citizens, even if they were born and raised in Lebanon. They are al-Maktum Qaid, or “stateless.” Being a Palestinian refugee, or a descendant of those who rejected the Lebanese citizenship during the last census in 1932 to avoid military service (when Lebanon was still under French mandate), is another way people acquire the status of al-Maktum Qaid. The stateless do not have passports, do not have access to public health care, cannot attend public schools, and cannot own private property. Marriage and travel also become difficult or impossible. Furthermore, children excluded from nationality rights can be denied residency and deported, thus breaking apart families.

Read more at Jadaliyya.

The Infrastructure of Israeli Settler Colonialism (Part 1): The...

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:49:52 -0400

The Infrastructure of Israeli Settler Colonialism (Part 1): The Jordan Valley

Since its establishment, Israel has distinguished the persons under its civil and military jurisdiction based on religion. Throughout Israel Proper and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), comprised of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, Israel applies a different set of laws to its Jewish and non-Jewish inhabitants respectively. By bifurcating Jewish nationality from Israeli citizenship, the State is able to afford demonstrable and significant privilege to Jewish persons even beyond Israel’s undeclared borders (hence the reference to Israel Proper) at the expense of the political and socio-economic well-being of its non-Jewish citizens. Within the OPT, the brunt of Israel’s policies are more severe as they are applied under a military occupation regime for which no oversight or legal redress exists. The impact of these policies is to diminish the number of Palestinians, to remove them from their original lands, and to concentrate them geographically. Within the OPT, they are concentrated into Area A; into no-man’s land within the Seam Zone between the Apartheid Wall and the Green Line; and into isolated communities surrounded by Israeli settlements and their associated military apparatus. Within Israel Proper, they are concentrated in urban townships, in unrecognized villages, and other ghettoized communities.

In this series of videos featuring interviews with Palestinians facing forced displacement, we seek to show a glimpse into Israel’s infrastructure of settler-colonialism.

We start with Part 1, on the Jordan Valley.

Click here to read more and scroll to the bottom for the second part of the above video.

Jadaliyya Launches DARS Page: Daily Acts of Resistance and Subversion

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 11:08:44 -0400

Jadaliyya Launches DARS Page: Daily Acts of Resistance and Subversion:

The DARS Page chronicles daily acts of resistance and subversion (DARS) in contemporary Arab societies and beyond. All forms of resistance and subversion to political, economic, social, or cultural forms of exploitation will be of interest. This includes resistance to authoritarianism, occupation, imperialism, and social norms, and the many ways these are subverted.

While acts of resistance and subversion are ubiquitous, the focus is conventionally placed on the grand and visible, even as these constitute a small portion of the daily actions of millions of people who find themselves resisting and subverting on a daily basis. We intend to cover and analyze both visible as well as invisible daily acts of resistance and subversion.

DARS aims to provide both empirical and theoretical means to capture a multitude of phenomena: personal or collective, visible or underground, nonviolent or violent. We are not locked into a political party nor into a single theoretical framework. We advocate a decidedly critical and contextualized approach.

Zainab Al-Khawaja: Letter From A Bahraini Prison

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 21:06:31 -0400

Zainab Al-Khawaja: Letter From A Bahraini Prison:

Great leaders are immortal, their words and deeds echo through the years, decades, and centuries. They echo across oceans and borders and become an inspiration that touches the lives of many who are willing to learn. One such leader is the remarkable Martin Luther King Jr. As I read his words, I imagine him reading out to us from another land, another time, to teach us some very important lessons. Above all, he tells us, we should never become bitter or sink to the level of our oppressors; that we should be willing to make great sacrifices for freedom.

As seeds of hope and resistance to oppression started flowering across the Arab world, the people of Bahrain saw the first signs of a new dawn. One that promised an end to a long night of dictatorship and oppression, a long winter of silence and fear, and to spread the light and warmth of a new age of freedom and democracy.

With that hope and determination, the people of Bahrain took to the streets on 14 February 2011 to peacefully demand their rights. Their songs, poetry, paintings and chants for freedom were met with bullets, tanks, toxic tear gas, and birdshot guns. The brutal Al Khalifa regime was determined to end the creative, peaceful revolution, by resorting to violence and spreading fear.

Faced with the regime’s brutality, Bahrainis showed great restraint. Day after long day, protesters held up flowers to soldiers and mercenaries who would shoot at them. Protesters stood with bare chests and arms raised shouting, “peaceful, peaceful” [silmiyya, silmiyya] before they fell onto the ground, covered with blood. Thousands of Bahrainis have since been detained and tortured for so-called crimes such as “illegal gathering” and “inciting hatred against the regime.”

Two years later, the Bahraini regime’s atrocities continue. Bahrainis are still being killed, detained, injured, and tortured for demanding democracy. When I look into the eyes of Bahraini protesters today, too many times I see that bitterness has overtaken hope. The same bitterness Martin Luther King Jr. saw in the eyes of rioters in the slums of Chicago in 1966. He saw that the same people who had been leading non-violent protests, who had risked life and limb without the desire to strike back, were later convinced that violence is the only language the world understood.

I, like King, find myself saddened to find some of the same protesters who faced Bahrain’s tanks and guns with bare chests and flowers, today asking, “What’s the use of non-violence? What’s the point of moral superiority, if no one is even listening?” Martin Luther King Jr. explains that this despair is only natural when people who sacrifice so much see no change in sight and feel their suffering has been worthless.

Ironically, change towards democracy has been so slow in Bahrain is largely due to the support that the world’s most powerful democratic nations continue to give to the dictators here. Through selling them arms and providing economic and political support, the United States and other western governments have proven to the people of Bahrain that they stand with the Al Khalifa monarchy against the democratic movement.

As I was reading through Martin Luther King’s words I found myself wishing he were alive. I found myself wondering what he would have to say about the US administration’s support of Bahraini dictators. What he would say about turning a blind eye to the blood and tears being spilt in the quest for freedom. All I had to do was turn a page, and this time Martin Luther King spoke not to me, but to you, to Americans:

John F. Kennedy said “those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken—the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investment. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. (..) a true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies”.

“These are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and new systems of justice and equality, are being born… We in the west must support these revolutions”.

“It is a sad fact that because of comfort, complacency… and our proneness to adjust to injustice, the western nations that irritated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become the arch anti-revolutionaries. We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace… and justice throughout the world, a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.”

The echo of Martin Luther King’s words has travelled across oceans, through the walls and metal bars of a Bahraini prison, and into the overcrowded and filthy cell I live in. I hear the words of this great American leader, whose unbending dedication to morality and justice made him the great leader he was. As I marvel at his wisdom from my tiny cell, I wonder if the people of the United States are also listening.

Being a political prisoner in Bahrain, I try to find a way to fight from within the fortress of the enemy, as Mandela describes it. Not long after I was placed in a cell with fourteen people—two of which are convicted murderers—I was handed the orange prison uniform. I knew I could not wear the uniform without having to swallow a little of my dignity. Refusing to wear the convicts’ clothes because I have not committed a crime, that was my small version of civil disobedience. Denying my visitation rights, and not letting me see my family and my three-year-old daughter, that has been their punishment. That is why I am on hunger strike.

Prison administrators ask me why I am on hunger strike. I reply, “Because I want to see my baby.” They respond, nonchalantly, “Obey and you will see her.” But if I obey, my little Jude will not in fact be seeing her mother, but rather a broken version of her. I wrote to the prison administration that I refuse to wear the convicts’ uniform because “no moral man can patiently adjust to injustice.” (Thoreau).

What makes jail difficult is that you are living with your enemy, even in the most basic ways. If you want to eat, you stand in front of him with your plastic tray. And every day, one faces the possibility of being ridiculed, shouted at, or humiliated for any reason. Or for no reason. But I have let the words of great men and women help me through these times. When the “specialist” threatened to beat me for telling an inmate that she has a right to call her lawyer, I did not shout back. I repeated King’s words in my head: “No matter how emotional your opponents are, you must be calm.”

Until one day, I had had enough of people telling me that I am getting all my rights and refusing to face that I have responsibilities. After hearing that sentence over and over, I finally got angry. And what is worse, I felt so frustrated that I shouted back.

But then hadn’t a great man once said that in the struggle for justice we, “must not become bitter” and that we should “never to sink to the lever of our oppressors”?

A doctor came to see me and said “you might fall into a coma, your vital organs might stop working, your blood sugar levels are so low, and all this for what… A uniform!”

I replied: “I am glad you weren’t with Rosa Parks on that bus, to tell the woman who sparked the civil rights movement, “that it was all for nothing but a chair.” When the doctor started asking about the African American movement, I offered my Martin Luther King book. If you know me you would know that I very rarely offer to give away my books.

Sometimes, through his words, Martin Luther King has been a companion, a cellmate more than a teacher. He says, “No one can understand my conflict who hasn’t looked into the eyes of those he loves, knowing that he has no alternative but to take a stand that leaves them tormented.” I do understand. He wrote as though he sits beside me. “The jail experience… is a life without the singing of a bird, without the sight of the sun, moon, and stars, without the felt presence of fresh air. In short, it is life without the beauties of life, it is bare existence—cold, cruel, degenerating”.

My father, my hero and my friend, sentenced to life in prison for his human rights work has also refused to wear the grey prison uniform. As usual, the government tries to “put us in our places” by taking away what means most to us. They will not allow my father his family visit. And to further taunt him, they, for the first time, said he would be able to visit me in prison if he wore the uniform. Cruelty is the Al Khalifa regime’s trademark, but unwavering courage and patience is my dad’s. No emotional pressure will break him.

The family visit is the one thing one looks forward to in prison. My father and I will not be seeing our family or each other, but the struggle for our rights will continue. Until we see our family next, we hold them in our hearts.

Yesterday I fell asleep while looking at my prison cell door with its iron bars, and I had a dream. But this time it was a small and simple dream, not of democracy and freedom. I just saw my smiling mother, holding my daughter’s hand, standing at the door of my prison cell. I saw them walk through the metal. My mother sat on my prison bed as my daughter and I lay side by side, our heads in her lap. I tickle Jude and she laughs, and my heart fills with joy. Suddenly I feel we are in a cool and protective shadow, I look up and see my father standing by the bed, looking at the three of us and smiling. I dream of those I love, it is their love that gives me the strength to fight for the dreams of our country.

Zainab Alkhawaja

Isa Town Women Prison

[Download full-sized version here.] Not Enough Water in the West...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 10:57:37 -0400

[Download full-sized version here.]

Not Enough Water in the West Bank?

This Friday is World Water Day and an opportune time to highlight the gross misallocation of water resources between Israel and the Palestinians. Water is one of the five permanent status issues in the Oslo Peace Accords, twenty years old this year. Accordingly, its accesss and consumption is relegated to political negotiations and beyond the purview of international law on water. As a result, the Palestinian Authority has had little basis upon which to challenge Israel’s confiscation of water for the past twenty years.

Sixty percent of one of Israel’s most significant water sources, the Western Aquifer, is located in the occupied West Bank. Israel derives eighty percent of the Acquifer’s annual yield and Palestinians receive the rest. Prime Ministers Menachim Begin, Ariel Sharon, and Ehud Barak consider control and use of Palestinian water use as a precondition to any Palestinian state. Were it subject to international law, at most Israel would receive only fifty percent of shared water resources.

Failure to abide by these terms of reference has devastated the Palestinian economy. Consider that a little more than one-third of the irrigable land in OPT is actually irrigated, which costs the economy 110,000 jobs per year and ten percent of its annual GDP.

While the security sector remains robust, the agricultural sector has shrunk from 28.5% of the economy in 1993 to 5.8% today.

Continue reading here

The Empire of Sexuality: An Interview with Joseph Massad أخونة...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:54:00 -0400

"The first order of discussion is to reject certain pretenses that are advanced by various parties to..."

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:49:38 -0400

“The first order of discussion is to reject certain pretenses that are advanced by various parties to the conflict, along with their supporters. For instance, we cannot take seriously that the Syrian regime is actually looking for a political solution that involves popular will, nor its claim that the raison d’être of the uprising from the start is external. By the same token, we cannot take seriously that the United States is interested in the well being of the Syrian people or democracy in the region. The list of pretenses is quite long, and there is no sense of surveying all of it so long as one proceeds without such patently unwarranted assumptions. For without rejecting such pretenses, no serious discussion about possibilities and potential exits/solutions can ensue. This point might be self-evident, but worth asserting considering the plethora of reports and analyses that proceed from these starting points. They have been going nowhere, and most have been getting Syria wrong, for two years.”

- An excerpt from Perpetual Recalculation: Getting Syria Wrong Two Years On by Jadaliyya co-editor Bassam Haddad