Category Archives: Occupation

Green Prophet: The Place of Politics in the Middle East’s Environment

Posted on February 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

I write about  the never-ending battle I have with myself when I’m writing on environmental issues in the Middle East about whether politics should be at the centre of my reporting or not…

A couple of weeks ago, Green Prophet reported on the news that Israelis and Palestinians were working together to build a restorative eco-park. It was a relatively feel-good piece showing that despite the political conflict, joint projects could be useful in building bridges between the two nations. One commentator, however, felt that our coverage was politically naïve.

H.Shaka remarked: “I appreciate that GP is trying to report on ‘green’ in the whole Middle East, including both Israel and the Arab world, and I have come to see this as a step in the right direction. However, given the strong political drivers in the region, I think GP should aim to be much more politically informed and balanced if it wishes to gain the respect of its readers, at least in the Arab world.”

From me personally, the comment struck a chord. I can see why the commentator would prefer that politics play a bigger role in the way we see green initiatives in the region. I am the first to admit that green campaigners can be a little idealistic about joint Israeli and Palestinian projects, and tend to ignore their political downsides. Continue reading →

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Posted in climate change, Climate Justice, Development, Economy, Environment, Gaza, Green Energy, Human Rights, Identity, Israel, Jerusalem, Middle East, Objective Reporting, Occupation, Palestine, Protest, Recycling, West Bank

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Green Prophet: Solar Power In The West Bank – Green Progress Or Bad Politics?

Posted on August 2, 2011 | 1 Comment

A recent GreenProphet blog which looks at the problem with green projects that are planned for the illegal Israeli settlements. 

Around a week ago, the Israeli government announced that 10% of its renewable energy quota would be going to the West Bank. This means that literally millions (some have put the estimate at $660 million) will be heading to the territories to encourage solar, wind and biofuel energy development.

Whilst this move has been welcomed by green activists in principle, there have been concerns over the fact that solar fields will be built in the Israeli settlements of the West Bank. The continuing growth of the Jewish settlements across the West Bank is one of the most widely contested issues in the region and is considered to be a major barrier to Israel and Palestine reaching a peace deal. So does green progress outweigh these political downfalls? Continue reading →

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Posted in Architecture, climate change, Development, Economy, Environment, Green, Green Energy, Israel, Middle East, Occupation, Water, West Bank

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Book Review- Shocked and Awed: How the War on Terror and Jihad have Changed the English Language

Posted on June 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Fred Halliday, who died aged 64 in April 2010, wrote widely on many subjects related to the Middle East as well as the Muslim community in the UK, but Shocked and Awed is quite different to his other books. In fact, it’s not really a book but a political dictionary of words, turns of phrases and made up terminology which the general public were exposed to in the aftermath of 9/11 and the subsequent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Arranged into twelve chapters, the book studies words that have entered our vocabulary, their meaning, their origins but also- and this is the important bit- they way they influence the way we think and subsequently act. As Halliday reminds us “those who seek to control events, people and their minds also seek to control language.”

The one thing that surprised me about this book was that although the chapters were simply a collection of words which were examined in depth, it was still a really engaging read. As the chapters are short you don’t need to read every entry and you are given a lot more freedom as a reader to dip in and out of the book without losing your thread. Even more surprising was although the chapters didn’t have conclusions, after reading a collection of entries you are left with a clear impression of what words must have enabled (usually war and terror) and how words are so skilfully manipulated by politicians.

See full book review at the Friends of Al Aqsa website.

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Posted in Apartheid, Book Review, Friends of Al Aqsa, Gaza, History, Human Rights, Identity, IDF, Islam, Israel, Jerusalem, Jordan, Journalism, Middle East, Muslims, Obama, Occupation, Orientalism, Palestine, Protest, Public Sphere, Refugees, Review, Separation Wall, Sexuality, Shoe, West Bank

Can Planting Trees Really Solve the Israel-Palestine Conflict?

Posted on February 3, 2011 | 1 Comment

There is this strange place where the green environmental movement and the Israel-Palestine conflict meet which I find simultaneously inspiring and problematic.

Inspiring because some good must come out of the tree-planting co-existance stuff even if it is hard to quantify and mostly seems to be feel-good vibes for international funders. Problematic because there are sinister undertones to some of the ‘green’ actions that, for example, diminish the gulf of inequality between Palestinians and Israelis, ignore the political dimension (causes) of the ecological conflict or fail to see that some tree-planting is just plain old ‘greenwashing’. Continue reading →

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Posted in climate change, Climate Justice, Electronic Intifada, Environment, History, Human Rights, Identity, Israel, Middle East, Occupation, Palestine

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Guernica: Palestine’s Great Book Robbery

Posted on February 2, 2011 | 1 Comment

benny-brunner-great-book-robbery-palestineAfter speaking to the Dutch Israeli film-maker Benny Brunner about his documentary ‘The Great Book Robbery’ and realising that there was so little written about him,  I was determined to sit him down for a very long chat.  I did and we spoke about everything from his upbringing, the need to reclaim Palestinian books looted by Israeli forces in 1948, his previous documentaries, going to war in 1973 and Israel’s internal conflict. Here’s a snippet from the published piece at Guernica.

Like many living in the midst of conflict, politics colored Brunner’s entire upbringing. One of his earliest memories is of heated political arguments between his father and uncle reaching crescendos of shouts. Brunner would go on to face his own political battle with Zionism. A turning point came after his participation in the destructive war of 1973 (in which Syria and Egypt attacked Israel in order to regain territories lost in the battle of 1967). “I began to realize that a lot of what we were taught at high school—the history and the Zionist narrative—was made up,” he explains. “These were just legends of nation building.” As a result, something changed for Brunner; in 1997, he went on to make one of the first known films documenting the Palestinian expulsion during the establishment of Israel—known as the Nakba—and openly admits he will always stand with Palestinians against injustices done to them by Israel. Al Nakba was praised by the renowned Israeli historian Tom Segev for acknowledging the complexities surrounding the expulsion of Palestinians during the creation of Israel and urging that Israelis accept some responsibility for what happened. No one could face such controversy untainted; Israeli cabinet minister Uzi Landau accuses Brunner of being part of an Israeli left fanning the flames of “Jew-hatred” in Europe.
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Guernica: Your film Al Nakba: The Palestinian Catastrophe 1948 was arguably one of the first documentaries on the Nakba. How did you come across the history of the Palestinian expulsion and why did you decide to make a documentary on it?

Benny Brunner: Benny Morris published his book about the Nakba in 1988 [The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949] and it was a watershed moment for me, as it challenged the entire Zionist narrative [claiming] that we hadn’t expelled anyone, that they fled because their leaders told them to leave and were told that they would be able to come back in a few weeks “when we had drowned the Jews in the sea.” The book put an end to that and the questions weren’t about whether we expelled Palestinians or not any more. They were now about how many were expelled…

Read the full piece here.

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Posted in History, Human Rights, Identity, IDF, Israel, Middle East, Occupation, Palestine, Protest, Separation Wall, West Bank

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Electronic Intifada: The Holocaust, Palestine and the Arab world

Posted on January 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

Read my interview with Gilbert Achcar- a professor of Development Studies at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies-  on Arabs, the Holocaust and Palestine.

Gilbert Achcar: Most people in the Arab world would agree that the Holocaust was an awful crime perpetrated by the Nazis. The best illustration of this is the fact that Zionism is widely compared to Nazism — of course, this comparison is over the top but it shows that people see Nazism as an insult. People should also know other stories, like that of the West Bank villagers of Bilin who dressed in striped pajamas similar to those of concentration camp inmates in order to protest against the Israeli army in January 2009, during the onslaught on Gaza. Again, the comparison is certainly over-exaggerated but the demonstrators’ intent was clear. This was a way of identifying with the Jewish victims and saying: “We are the Jews of the Middle East who are oppressed by the Israeli state in the same way that European Jews were oppressed by the Nazis.”

Read the full article here.

Image via simone.onofri on Flickr.

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Posted in Electronic Intifada, History, Human Rights, Islam, Israel, Jerusalem, Middle East, Occupation, Orientalism, Palestine

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Electronic Intifada: The Great Book Robbery of 1948

Posted on November 13, 2010 | Leave a comment


A new documentary reveals a hidden chapter in the history of the Nakba — the Palestinian expulsion and flight at the hands of Zionist militias as Israel was established in 1948 — which saw the systematic looting of more than 60,000 Palestinian books by Israeli forces and the attempted destruction of Palestinian culture.

As the violence which came to mark the formation of Israel erupted, Palestinian families living in the urban centers and villages of the country fled their homes in search of safety and refuge. One Palestinian family after another escaped, and believing that they would soon return, many left behind their most precious belongings. As Palestinian homes sat silent in the haze of conflict, however, a systematic Israeli campaign was underway to enter the homes and rob them of a precious commodity — their books.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Apartheid, Crime, Electronic Intifada, History, Human Rights, Identity, Islam, Israel, Occupation, Orientalism, Palestine, West Bank

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Electronic Intifada: JNF plants trees to uproot Bedouin

Posted on October 25, 2010 | 1 Comment
Bedouin near al-Araqib village protest land confiscation by the State of Israel and the Jewish National Fund, April 2009. (Oren Ziv/ActiveStills

Israel has exploited the country’s natural environment for its own political ends for decades. Since 1948 olive trees have been uprooted, quarries mined, the most fertile lands taken for settlements and water illegally extracted.

However, in the Naqab (Hebraized as Negev) desert and the Galilee this ecological occupation takes on a very different form. Instead of uprooting trees, they are planted in huge numbers by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), a Zionist organization setup in 1901 and which displaced Palestinians during the 1948 dispossession or Nakba, and has since planted more than 24 million trees covering more than 250,000 acres of land in the country.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Apartheid, Architecture, Climate Justice, Crime, Electronic Intifada, Environment, Green, Human Rights, Identity, IDF, Islam, Israel, Middle East, Muslims, Occupation, Palestine, Protest, Public Sphere, Separation Wall, West Bank

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Reclaiming Palestinian Heritage

Posted on March 1, 2010 | 1 Comment

When we think of heritage and culture, we usually think of old buildings and silly things we put on display in dusty museums that have no relevance to our daily lives. But in Palestine it’s really a hot topic- I mean the news that Israel declared the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron and the Bilal mosque (Rachel’s tomb) in Bethlehem as ‘Jewish heritage sites’ actually sparked riots. This may be an extreme reaction but I do understand the Palestinian people’s apprehensions.

I remember when I met Daoud Hammoudi of Stop the Wall (I also happened to meet Mohammed Othman who was jailed for his work at the office which was later ransacked by Israeli soldiers), he said that in the Israeli-Palestine conflict everything was political. The roads, the signs, the walls- everything. Sadly, heritage and archaeology is included in that and I think it’s fair to say that both sides sometimes overstep the mark in the cultural grab-and-run.

Even so, it’s the Palestinians that are losing out and although some people state that heritage (like the environment) could be an area where the Israeli’s and Palestinians could find common ground, I am rather dubious about the whole concept. Last year I spoke to Raed al-Mickawi from Bustan, an environmental peacekeeping organisation which works with Bedouins in Beer Sheba, and he had this to say: “In terms of co-existence, it is problematic as there has to be two equal sides and at the moment they [Bedouins] are almost invisible and really discriminated against…”

I think that it works the same way with the issue of heritage. Palestinians see any small claim as a threat as Israel does has the power and ability to take it all- after the fact that these sites are both in the West Bank didn’t seem to faze Israel at all. So unless this changes I think its fair to say that there will be probably be a riot following any attempts by Israel to stake its claims over any site.

Anyway Here’s an piece I did on the two sites for IslamOnline which got me thinking about the whole issue. Enjoy

The Ibrahimi and Bilal Mosque

Reclaiming Palestinian Heritage
By  Arwa Aburawa

Freelance Journalist – UK
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The Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron (also known as Al-Haram al-Ibrahimi)

Last week, Israel provoked anger and indignation by listing two important Muslim Palestinian sites- the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron and the Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque in Bethlehem- as “Israeli archaeological sites.”

Not only are both of these holy sites within the Palestinian territories of the West Bank but they are also of significant religious and historic importance to Muslims.

Many commentators remarked that this decision was simply a means to dispossess Palestinians of their religious heritage whilst reinforcing Israeli claims to the sites. Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister is reported as saying: “Our existence here doesn’t just depend on the might of the military or our economic and technological strength. It is anchored first and foremost in our national and emotional legacy.” It seems clear, therefore, that this is nothing more than a cynical ploy to fortify Israeli claims to sites by dismissing their link to Muslim and Palestinian history.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Apartheid, Architecture, Development, History, Human Rights, Identity, IDF, Islam, Islam Online, Israel, Jerusalem, Middle East, Mosques, Muslims, Occupation, Palestine, Protest, Refugees, Separation Wall, West Bank

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Blogging beneath the Bombs: Interview with Sharyn Lock

Posted on January 4, 2010 | Leave a comment

The Electronic Intifada, 30 December 2009

Israel has many weapons that it deploys against the Palestinian national movement and one of them is a powerful public relations machine. For years, it has allowed Israel to extend illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, demolish homes, erode the rights of Palestinians and imprison and torture them, all in the name of democracy and security. In the days leading up to last winter’s attacks on Gaza, Israel’s public relations machine was oiled up to give its version of events and without the watchful eye of journalists — who were denied entry into the territory — and it appeared likely to succeed. Yet Palestinians “citizen journalists” in Gaza and a few internationals living in the middle of the conflict decided to report a very different story than the carefully controlled Israeli narrative. Sharyn Lock was one of these voices.

Originally from Australia but now living in the UK, Lock has worked in Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) since 2002 when she shot by an Israeli soldier in the stomach. After being refused entry into Palestine from 2005 to 2006, Lock finally made it back to Gaza on the first “Break the Siege” boat sponsored by the Free Gaza Movement. She was in the Gaza Strip during Israel’s 22-day invasion last winter and her blog “Tales to Tell” documented the daily events she witnessed during the conflict not only with humanity but also humor. These posts have recently been published in the short book Gaza: Beneath the Bombs. The following is an edited interview with Lock about her experience in Gaza and why she feels privileged to have spent time with Palestinians there.

Arwa Aburawa: Why did you decide to stay during the attacks?

Sharyn Lock: With the announcement from Israel for internationals to leave, we assumed — correctly, as it turned out — that this was the start of the land incursion which followed the air attacks which had become regular. ISM were there mainly because of the isolation and the dreadful siege and so at a time when Israel wanted to isolate the Palestinians more, we made a decision that we didn’t want to leave. Also the fact that Israel wanted internationals to leave made us think, well, what is it you don’t want us to see, what is it you don’t want us to document? Whatever that is we want to be here for it.

AA: Did you realize at the time that you were one of very voices few coming from Gaza?

SL: It took a while for me to realize that I was seeing things that nobody else was seeing and that I needed to write them down. We didn’t have anyone telling us what to do and so we just got in the middle of things and were able to able to document them. It was up-to-the-minute reporting and I would try to get to a computer at the end of every day so that what I wrote would have been what I’d seen in the last hours. And once again, it was the least that we could do and it was really encouraging that people used it and responded to it by holding vigils and taking action based on the information that we were getting out to them.

AA: As your book is focused on the war in Gaza, was it hard to talk about anything but the suffering?

SL: It was important for me to portray the humanity and not just the suffering because that is the [story of the] Palestinians. That’s why I go, that’s why it’s a privilege to be there and to spend time with these people who just face something that we would just be crushed by, with courage and determination to keep hold of the things that they value. Basically, that’s what’s made it all possible and worthwhile, the negative experiences were totally outweighed by the positive experiences. That’s not to say that if you’re Palestinian, you wouldn’t want to get the hell out of somewhere where you have to battle to just exist, but people do it with courage and grace and manage to find humor. I guess that’s one of the ways that they survive.

AA: Did any of the events you witness and write about truly shock you?

SL: I am not sure if I can answer that question as all the things that happen all across the world seem to be near me, in front of me and I’m a witness to them even if I am not there. So, I tend to live in this state of mind and so nothing surprises me. Like the fact that civilians were so targeted in these attacks, that’s been Israeli policy for a long time and nothing stops them. And so when people were saying “this is horrifying, this is shocking,” it’s only a continuation of a policy that has existed for a long time.

There was one particular image which stunned people and that was of the baby that some of my medic colleagues retrieved which had been burned and chewed out by probably Israeli army dogs. And that’s a terrible image of something to happen to a child. But I wasn’t shocked by what I saw because that’s what this occupation is and it’s what we currently accept is going on. Also when these things get written up as evidence of war crimes, I do get a little confused as I’m thinking, “well, this was happening at the time and you’re speaking about war crimes now?” I just wish we realized things at the point at which we could try and stop them.

AA: What do you hope for the future of Gaza?

SL: I want to see the occupation end, I want to see the siege end. Weirdly, there was a CIA report that came out when I was there that predicted that in 20 years there would be one state for what is now Israel and Palestine. I feel like that’s what I want to hope for and certainly the Palestinians that I have spoken to have said that that’s what they hope for. Some Palestinians have said to me, “I don’t care whether it’s one state or two states, I just want to be on what’s historically our land, in peace, with equal rights to whoever is living with us and we don’t mind who that is.” There isn’t a sense that it’s us against them, they just want there to be justice for all.

Arwa Aburawa (http://arwafreelance.wordpress.com/) is a freelance journalist based in the UK.

Related Links

  • Purchase Gaza: Beneath the Bombs on Amazon.com

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Posted in Apartheid, Architecture, Book Review, Children, Ethical, History, Human Rights, Identity, IDF, Israel, Middle East, Muslims, Occupation, Palestine, Protest, Refugees, Separation Wall, Stop the Wall, Uncategorized, West Bank, Women, Youth

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