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Gaza
What might be the justification for denying children, or indeed adults, access to vital medical treatment? ‘Denied’ here meaning what it says: a decision, a calculated act, an expression of policy, a rule formulated, then enacted. The purpose? What could that be? How come that the rationally impossible task of squaring a circle is here… Continue reading
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As if their finger was on the trigger – its more than ‘complicity’
There are occasions when the power of words runs out. When the meanings we need them to carry, constitute too heavy a burden for them to bear. I was reminded of this when reading what is, to me, a richly evocative, deeply depressing, article by Mariam Barghouti in Mondoweiss. She is writing about a now… Continue reading
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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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Israel: Nurturing racism
It’s fair to say, isn’t it, that children are not born racist, but initiated into that particular mindset. This perhaps is particularly true of Israel. Therefore, where a state’s conception of itself rests on racist principles, on Zionist principles, one of its key objectives must be to shape minds at the earliest opportunity. This not… Continue reading
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Israel: Nurturing racism
It’s fair to say, isn’t it, that children are not born racist, but initiated into that particular mindset. This perhaps is particularly true of Israel. Therefore, where a state’s conception of itself rests on racist principles, on Zionist principles, one of its key objectives must be to shape minds at the earliest opportunity. This not… Continue reading
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Pro-Palestinian and Israel-critical voices silenced at the behest of a fragile ‘may’
It’s that word ‘may’ that tells you something fishy is going on. Something not quite right. Where the need is for certainty, for assurance that an idea, definition or policy can stand on its own two feet, ‘may’ suggests uncertainty, even evasiveness. A ‘may’ in a sentence prompts the thought, ‘well, maybe not’. Odd, then,… Continue reading
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The Destruction of Masafer Yatta, June 7, 2022
Photos and narrative – a deeply evocative blog by Touching Photos Touching Photographs Fakheit, Masafer Yatta, South Hebron Hills, Occupied Palestine, June, 2022. 1. The laundry gets to me, its bright colors neatly arranged by size. French theorist Roland Barthes might have called it a “punctum.” That’s the heart-stopping detail in a photograph whose personal… Continue reading
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‘We don’t need your tears – we have a lot of that from tear gas’. Israel and the role of International Civil Society
This article first appeared in 2021, but I thought it still relevant and worth republishing. The article now begins – in its title – and ends with a quote from Bassem Tamini. It’s in three parts. Some readers already familiar with the reports I cite in Part two and may wish to leapfrog to Part… Continue reading
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Israel: The necessity of violence
As blood is to the body, so violence is to the Israeli state – an indispensable component of its existence. Violence – personal, physical, structural – courses through the organs and agents of this state, shaping its very instincts and intuitions. It is a violence it cannot forsake, nor indeed meaningfully mitigate, for, as currently… Continue reading
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Freeing Palestine. Current strategies necessary. But sufficient?
Part one, in summary, looks at the nature of some of the threats that Israel-critical/Pro-Palestinian advocates confront. It then asks whether there is a need for more joined-up, durable approaches in responding to key threats, ones that so negatively affect the Palestinian cause. (3 minute read) Part two looks at some examples of the threats… Continue reading
About Me
This is Bernard Spiegal’s blog.
I write mainly about Palestine/Israel and related issues; sometimes other stuff too
Bernard Spiegal 