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Magical thinking: The two state solution
I was going to begin this article with a recitation of funeral rites – funeral rights for the Two State Solution, the notional way forward to resolving the Palestine/Israel impasse. That ‘solution’, at base, proposes there should be two states – a State of Israel alongside a newly minted State of Palestine – on… Continue reading
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UK Government and allies support BDS
Rank hypocrisy and shameless double standards are by now the unsurprising hallmarks of the UK Government. But it has excelled itself in its rapid and enthusiastic conversion to BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) now seen as both a morally appropriate, and potentially efficacious, strategy designed, in this case, to persuade Russia to reverse its invasion of… Continue reading
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Towards a Greater Israel
This blog is about a seven minute read. Snapshots Yesterday dozens of Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian community in the south Hebron hills. Accompanied by Israeli soldiers they invaded homes, smashing windows & causing massive damage. One of those injured was a 3 yr old Palestinian boy. This is what a pogrom looks like. … Continue reading
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State policy: dispossession, displacement, demolition
A state founded on an oxymoron – that Israel can be both democratic and yet in the exclusive control of one ethnonationalist group, in this case Israeli Jews – is unlikely to have a developed sense of irony. Irony, after all, requires, at a bare minimum, a capacity to notice a contradiction when it’s staring… Continue reading
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First hand report from Jaffa
I thought readers of this blog may be interested in a piece by Matan Kaminer, a Jewish Israeli anthropologist and political activist living in the ‘mixed’ city of Jaffa. Matan reflects on the situation in Jaffa and the larger meaning of the crisis, arguing that it serves the Israeli far right’s agenda of eroding the… Continue reading
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The original wound
The original wound is still raw – septic. Yet the work of wounding continues, daily, without let, without hindrance. The original wound The original wound was inflicted in 1948 – the Naqba (Catastrophe) marking the expulsion of the settled, indigenous inhabitants of Palestine from their homes and land. The methods: Intimidation and brute force at… Continue reading
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An insightful letter framing a courageous act: Israeli students publicly refuse military conscription
Last month, January 2021, sixty Israeli High School students very publicly refused to be conscripted into the Israeli army (military service is compulsory for men and women) . Below is the letter they sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, army Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, Minister of Defense Benny Gantz and Education Minister Yoav Galant.… Continue reading
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Seismic shift: Authoritative Israeli human rights organisation brands Israel an Apartheid State
It’s as good as official: Israeli human rights group – B’tselem – defines Israel an Apartheid State. Other organisations have made that evidence-based judgment, not least the UN and Al-Haq, but the B’tselem report has special significance – it represents a radical break in its previous position and implcitly calls to account those that have… Continue reading
About Me
My name is Bernard Spiegal, I write mainly about Palestine/Israel and related issues; sometimes other stuff too
Bernard Spiegal 