Book Review: I Shall Not Hate

I just finished an amazing book " I Shall Not Hate" by Dr. Izzeldin Abulaish who lost close family members (including three daughters) during the Gaza War early last year. He talks about why he did not go towards the path of hate and decided to make a difference in other ways after the death of his daughters.

The book also gives details about life in Gaza and how it was tough growing up in a refugee camp. Further he mentions the difficulties faced in crossing over to Israel for many Gazans who need to get there for medical and employment reasons. The strength of the book amongst manyother things is Dr. Abulaish's unique ability to look at the issue as a "people issue"and not merely a political issue. He is in a unique position as he has observed life on both sides of the wall in Gaza/Israel and has friends on both sides.

He has started an organization called Daughters for Life for promoting education health access for girls and women in Gaza and the middle east. Its a must read book for sure as it gives unique perspectives on what is happening on the ground beyond the cameras and the focus of the media.

David Rhode: Held by the Taliban

A really interesting insight into how the Taliban controls Waziristan, etc.

David Stephenson Rohde is a New York Times reporter who was kidnapped by the Taliban in November 2008. He escaped on the night of June 19, 2009, and made his way to freedom after more than seven months of captivity in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mr. Rohde was part of The Times's reporting team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan. He gives his account of his experience as a captive in a five part series, Held by the Taliban.

Graham E. Fuller on Pakistan Afganistan

Former CIA station chief in Kabul and author of The Future of Political Islam says:

"Only the withdrawal of American and NATO boots on the ground will begin to allow the process of near-frantic emotions to subside within Pakistan, and for the region to start to cool down. Pakistan is experienced in governance and is well able to deal with its own Islamists and tribalists under normal circumstances; until recently, Pakistani Islamists had one of the lowest rates of electoral success in the Muslim world"

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/graham-e-fuller/global-viewpoint-obamas-p_b_201355.html

BBC on American Election fundraising

Interesting thoughts on the Hilary fundraising from the BBC:

During a brief and rather strained meeting a few days ago, I asked Annie what she was hoping for by way of reward when President Hillary Clinton takes over in January 2009. Ambassador to Togo, I suggested?

The atmosphere froze. I think Annie has her eye on Rome.

And she may make it or, if not Rome, then a White House pass and a job as "head of outreach" to this, that or the other segment of the community.

A job that allows you to say, "I work at the White House, I am in the Administration."

A job that is the desire of almost all Washingtonians. A job that is both very short term - you burn out fast and you are anyway limited to eight years because your president is - and, at the same time, very long term because of course they cannot take it away from you, this fact, that you were in the White House. REaD MORE

The one state solution?

The one state solution to Israel_palestine issue?.

Ali Abunimah debates Avika Eldar on Canadian radio
Debate, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Oct 2, 2007

On 24 September 2007, EI's Ali Abunimah appeared on the Canadian Brodcasting Corporation program, The Current with host Anna Maria Tremonti. Abunimah was invited to take part in a debate with Israeli journalist and political columnist for the Israeli daily Haaretz, Akiva Eldar.

"It's a situation few could have predicted could actually get worse. But Israel's declaration last week that Gaza is now an "enemy entity" has left many fearing the potential for all out war.

Already, Israel has shut down supplies to Gaza in response to rocket attacks on the south of the country. Humanitarian agencies are now calling the region a disaster zone. In the West Bank, prospects for peace look little better. Despite Israel's repeated promises to reduce the number of roadblocks, the tally is up over 50 percent in the past two years with a total of 572 roadblocks around the area.

All this has many -- once again -- questioning the viability of a two-state solution and whether the controversial one-state proposal is even worth talking about.

The Current hosted Abunimah and Eldar to discuss the feasibility, desirability and seeming impossibility of a one-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.


Akiva Eldar is an Israeli journalist and political columnist for Haaretz. He is also the author of Lords of the Land: The War for Israel's Settlements in the Occupied Territories, 1967-2007.

And Ali Abunimah is a Palestinian-American journalist and the author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse."

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Jonathan Cook: Israel's Jewish problem in Tehran

The article raises some good questions in regards to the Iranian Jews living in Tehran..

......But Netanyahu has been far from alone in making extravagant claims about a looming genocide from Iran. Israel's new president, Shimon Peres, has compared an Iranian nuclear bomb to a "flying concentration camp." And the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, told a German newspaper last year: "[Ahmadinejad] speaks as Hitler did in his time of the extermination of the entire Jewish nation."

There is an interesting problem with selling the "Iran as Nazi Germany" line. If Ahmadinejad really is Hitler, ready to commit genocide against Israel's Jews as soon as he can get his hands on a nuclear weapon, why are some 25,000 Jews living peacefully in Iran and more than reluctant to leave despite repeated enticements from Israel and American Jews?....READ ON

EI: Decoding the media's Palestinian "civil war"

An interesting look at the media bias in Coverage of the Israel/Palestine issue:

Major news stories from Palestine/Israel are often accompanied by what becomes a self-reinforcing "vocabulary," typically generated by Israeli government ministries or other propaganda outlets, and then picked up by the Western media. A classic example was the redeployment of Israeli settlers and military from the Gaza Strip in 2005, which was successfully packaged as a "disengagement" that pitted "Israeli against Israeli," in a "painful compromise." This kind of marketing exercise often works even when there are widely available contradictory reports, such as how "disengagement" was openly trumpeted by Sharon and his advisors as a strategy for destroying the peace process.

This phenomenon went into overdrive recently, as dramatic events across the Occupied Palestinian Territories, but especially in Gaza, presented the evening news with a problem of how to reduce the conflict in the internal Palestinian political arena into an easily digestible sound bite. The solution was, as usual, lazy journalism and an almost total blackout on Israeli/US collusion in the dark events unfolding. Here then, is a guide to decoding the Palestinian "civil war," presented as a series of oft-repeated, yet entirely misleading, clichés. READ ON