IMEU Institute for Middle East Understanding
News Roundup
Israel last week extended the administrative detention of Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar by a further six months, meaning she will have been held without trial for a year at the end of June. As is usual in such cases, the evidence on which Jarrar is being held is deemed confidential and has not been released.
on December 31, 2017
Op-Eds & Analysis
President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel represents a major break with decades of U.S. foreign policy. It is a final, devastating blow to the prospect of a two-state solution for Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians. The move involves, first, a contemptuous dismissal of Palestinians’ aspirations and rights, a denial of their claim to the city they consider their capital, where almost 400,000 of them live.
on December 7, 2017
Op-Eds & Analysis
Near Qalandia checkpoint in the West Bank, I watch as two female Israeli soldiers fire tear gas at a crowd of protesting Palestinian youths. One canister ricochets, hitting a young boy in the arm. The soldier who was shooting begins to laugh. Her colleague proudly pats her shoulder as they both reach to refill their weapons.
on November 27, 2017
Op-Eds & Analysis
As a Palestinian human rights defender, I have been arrested by Israel more times that I can count. I have been beaten, stripped and left outside in the cold, and my family has been threatened with violence. During one of my arrests in 2015, I spent five hours handcuffed to a toilet in a filthy bathroom. The soldiers would enter, cock their guns at me and yell, “I will kill you the way ISIS kills.”
on November 15, 2017
Op-Eds & Analysis
Recently, the Kansas Commission of Education barred a math teacher from a program for training other teachers because she refused to sign a pledge certifying that she is “not engaged in boycotting Israel.” The teacher happens to be a Mennonite, and she supports a resolution passed by her church denomination opposing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. The resolution urges the boycotting of “products associated with acts of violence or policies of military occupation, including items produced in [the Israeli] settlements.”
on November 9, 2017
Op-Eds & Analysis
This week, Gov. Larry Hogan signed an executive order into law that threatens the First Amendment right of Maryland residents to engage in boycotts and other economic acts of conscience. While it singles out boycotts in support of Palestinian rights in particular, this executive order amounts to an attack on the constitutionally protected right to free speech and the democratic process itself, and it should be rejected by all Marylanders regardless of their views on Israel and Palestine.
on October 26, 2017
News Roundup
A suburb outside of Houston is requiring residents who were affected by Hurricane Harvey to certify that they do not boycott Israel in order to apply for grant money to rebuild their home or business. Dickinson, Texas, located alongside a bayou about 30 miles southeast of Houston, suffered extensive damage during the hurricane that tore through the area two months ago.
on October 20, 2017
News Roundup
"We are not in the time to talk about solutions," said Issa Amro, a leading Palestinian activist who spoke to Today's WorldView while on a visit to Washington this week. "We are in the time to protect ourselves from settlements, from settler violence, from attacks on our cities and villages."
on October 6, 2017
News Roundup
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has backed legislation that would in effect annex settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories that are home to between 125,000 and 150,000 Jewish people. In comments made at a meeting of his Likud party at the large settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, Netanyahu said he would support the “Greater Jerusalem” bill.
on October 3, 2017