Perspectives
3 Questions for an Expert: The ICC Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu & Gallant
Featured expert: Diana Buttu, Human rights attorney and political analyst, former advisor to Palestinian Authority President and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian negotiators, and Palestinian citizen of Israel. Question: On Thursday, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense…
Israel Killed More than 100 Members of My Family. President Biden Must Demand a Ceasefire To End Israel’s Genocide in Gaza
On January 26, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark ruling in favor of the government of South Africa, which had filed a petition accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. I was gratified as I read the decision, calling on Israel to take all measures to avoid killing civilians in Gaza and to prevent and punish incitement to commit genocide by Israeli…
Expert Q&A: South Africa’s Genocide Case Against Israel at the International Court of Justice
Expert: Diana Buttu, Human rights attorney and political analyst, former advisor to Palestinian Authority President and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian negotiators, and Palestinian citizen of Israel. Q&A Question: What is the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and how does it differ from the International Criminal Court (ICC)? Diana Buttu: The…
Israel’s War on Gaza Undermines the Human Rights Agenda in the Arab Region
As a human rights defender and someone who has worked in this field for many years, I, like many others, especially in the Arab region, feel a great frustration due to the incapacity and failure of the human rights system, the international humanitarian law framework, and also the international relief system to offer anything to the residents of the Gaza Strip. However, my greatest fear is that…
Palestinian Journalists in Gaza Struggle to Do Their Jobs as Israel’s Military Targets Them and Shuts Off Communications
The Israeli war on Gaza entered its 23rd day amid Israeli attempts to impose censorship and media blackout. As the all-out war intensified amid anticipated ground invasion the unexpected happened. The unprecedented move isolated Gaza from the rest of the outside world, with locals unable to contact ambulances, not knowing what’s going on around them. Emergency phone lines stopped working.…
Stop Praying for Gaza!
It is late evening on Thursday, October 19, 2023. I am sitting in our living room following the news about Israel’s war on Gaza. For the last 12 days I have been following the news, switching between Aljazeera, CNN, BBC, RT, and others to try to understand what is happening and how the world is reacting. Yet, my real concern has been about the people in Gaza; people I know, people I came to…
The Ceasefire Doesn’t End the Suffering of Palestinians in Gaza
Ceasefire. It may seem like a success of international diplomacy, and though Palestinians are celebrating, it is also a moment of mourning, reflecting, and reckoning. For the first time in weeks, Palestinians in Gaza can finally exhale the breath they held in tight, bracing for earth-shaking, soul-crushing explosions. And Palestinians outside of Palestine can also take comfort in the fact that…
Life in Gaza: Diary of a Survivor
Ceasefire. The bombs have stopped for now, and Palestinians in Gaza, my home, are slowly coming up for air, grateful they made it out alive. Many of us lost loved ones, our homes. I may be young, but I have now survived four of Israel’s wars on Gaza. You might say we have collective PTSD, but here, the trauma is never post; it’s ongoing. My city looks like a scene from a horror film; rubble…
Expert Q&A: Israel’s Latest Attack on Gaza
Expert: Tareq Baconi Israel/Palestine analyst for the International Crisis Group, policy member for Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, and author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance from Stanford University Press (2018). Q&A Q: This latest escalation of violence began when Israel assassinated a leader of Islamic Jihad in Gaza early on Tuesday. Why do…
Expert Q&A: Amnesty International & Human Rights Watch on Being Denied Entry to Gaza
Experts Edith Garwood, Amnesty International USA Country Specialist on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (Israel/OPT/PA). Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division. Q&A Q - Israel is currently denying representatives of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch entry to Gaza, and Egypt is blocking entrance to Palestinian…