SUPPORTING THE PALESTINIANS -- 6

+ Here are several items dealing with what the Palestinians are up against: 

• Haaretz offers "Why is Israel laying claim to an Arab home in Jaffa?"' by Dana Weiler-Polak. An email from a former resident of East Jerusalem says:

This kind of enterprise is going on all around E. Jerusalem and the Old City- with Palestinians being removed and losing their ancestral homes. In 2006 when I lived there one of the staff members at Sabeel was in the midst of a similar struggle. The Israeli authorities said that since his elderly mother was the only name on the deed when she died it will go to Israel. This shows so well how "the law" can be part of the systematic oppression of a people under occupation- and justify theft.

• The history of what is now Israel/Palestine is the subject of an upcoming book, Across The Wall, which offers us a new and hopefully constructive way to deal with the conflicting narratives of the Israelis and the Palestinians.  The blurb at Palgrave MacMillan says:

Across the Wall arose from a unique collaboration between scholars from Israel and the Palestinian territories, seeking to arrive at a shared framework for studying the history of this troubled land. Ilan Pappé and Jamil Hilal, top academics in Israel and Palestine respectively, bring historians from both sides of the wall together for dialogue on history, identity, and the meaning of the conflict. In the volume, they argue persuasively for the concept of a 'bridging narrative', a historiographical discourse which can accommodate seemingly incompatible national meta-narratives. Proceeding from this innovative theoretical framework, Across the Wall then goes on to offer critical examinations of some of the most contested issues in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the 1948 Nakba, the 1967 war, the occupation, and the formation of the PLO. The result is a radical new take on the history of Israel/Palestine which transcends the biases inherent in both countries’ national narratives and points towards a new model for the historiography of conflicts. 

• Haaretz offers "Israel stripped thousands of Jerusalem Arabs of residency in 2008" by Nir Hasson.  It begins: "Last year set an all-time record for the number of Arab residents of East Jerusalem who were stripped of residency rights by the Interior Ministry. Altogether, the ministry revoked the residency of 4,577 East Jerusalemites in 2008 - 21 times the average of the previous 40 years."
• Haaretz offers "EU envoys: Israel trying to sever East Jerusalem from West Bank" by Barak Ravid. It begins: "A classified report drafted by European consuls in East Jerusalem and Ramallah slams Israeli policy in East Jerusalem and recommends that the European Union take steps to strengthen the Palestinian Authority's status in the city."

+ See my previous "Supporting the Palestinians" posts:
Go to #1
Go to #2
Go to #3
Go to #4
Go to #5