IMEU Institute for Middle East Understanding
Op-Eds & Analysis
I watched and listened, often with tears, as Muhammad Ali was eulogised. I cried when the service opened with a reading from the Quran, because it was the first time in the history of the United States that a recitation of the Quran was read and heard in reverence on major national American television networks. I thought, even in death, he is a revolutionary.
on June 13, 2016
News Roundup
For the ninth year in a row, Palestinians in the city of Rafah will organize a football tournament in the memory of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year old American peace activist who was killed in the city while she was trying to protect Palestinian houses from Israeli demolition. The tournament, which will take place on June 7, 2016, will consist of 32 teams from across the Gaza Strip.
on May 26, 2016
News Roundup
alestinians were baffled when Tanya Habjouqa first explained her photographic project to them. “They felt a political obligation to talk about their suffering,” she says. “They were startled when I asked about pleasure. They would slowly ask, ‘Pleasure? We don’t usually discuss pleasure.’
on May 22, 2016
News Roundup
Tying the shoelaces of her bright green trainers, Inas Nofal prepares for her daily morning run. As Gaza's first and only competitive female runner, the 15-year-old makes heads turn when she races down the streets. "Running is my life," Nofal told Al Jazeera. "Before I go to sleep, I think about which routes I'll run the next day."
on May 6, 2016
News Roundup
When the sun rose over Bethlehem on April first, the streets were already buzzing with life. Families lined up along the sidewalks and police officers tried to direct a few confused drivers off the main roads. In the meantime, thousands of people in white t-shirts with ‘Right to Movement’ written over the chest flocked to the ancient Manger Square in front of one the world’s most famous Christian sites, the Church of Nativity.
on May 3, 2016
Op-Eds & Analysis
“It was amazing!” Anyone who knows a marathon runner has heard those words, or something similar, from an adrenaline-fuelled finisher on their post-race high. But this runner’s passion and excitement was fuelled by a very different reason. For my friend Miriam, the Palestine Marathon was not about time or even about being able to say she had run a marathon.
on April 5, 2016
News Roundup
Israel has effectively barred more than 100 Gaza runners from participating in a Palestinian marathon in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Friday, by failing to issue permits for the athletes to leave the coastal territory. The Palestinian Athletics Union in Gaza and the Palestinian Olympic Committee in Ramallah compiled a list pf potential participants and reported they had submitted it two weeks ago to the Palestinian civil committee in charge of coordinating the permits with Israel.
on April 1, 2016
News Roundup
Real Madrid made a young fan's dream come true this week when they flew Ahmad Dawabsha, a Palestinian orphan, to the Santiago Bernabeu for an extensive tour. The five-year-old was the only survivor of an attack in the West Bank last year that killed his parents and brother.
on March 19, 2016
News Roundup
Amber Fares was living in Ramallah when a friend invited her to a street car race at Yasser Arafat’s old helicopter landing pad. It was here, amidst the crowds, the music and the cars revving that she met the Speed Sisters. “There were a couple of girls putting helmets on their heads and getting ready to race,” recalls Fares.
on March 9, 2016