Israeli Elections: A Test for Democracy
By Hanan Ashrawi, MIFTAH, November 20, 2002
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon seems to have more faith in Palestinian democracy than he does in Israeli democracy. Repeatedly, Sharon expresses confidence that the Palestinian people will change their elected leadership as a result of the drastic conditions in the Palestinian territories. However, he willfully ignores domestic accountability for the security, economic, and social breakdown in Israeli society as a result of his dangerous and irresponsible policies. Nevertheless, he is equally contemptuous of the intelligence of both constituencies as he blindly blames the Palestinian side (namely President Arafat) for the total breakdown in relations and the deterioration of conditions on both sides without any critical assessment of his primary role in this tragedy.

A red card for Israel
By Zoheir Andrewous, Ha'aretz, November 19, 2002
Soccer referees, among others, often make fatal mistakes in judgment that affect the result of the game and sometimes even decide which team turns out to be the winner. When a viewer watches the game on television and the producer offers him the chance to see an instant replay again and again, the viewer has the opportunity to see that the referee, who is merely flesh and blood, made a big mistake. But nothing can be done about it - the referee makes the decision and not the television. At most, the viewer can fire some juicy curses toward the all-powerful referee, but that's as far as it goes. And what does soccer have to do with politics? The government of Israel, throughout the generations, has red-carded members of the Arab national minority, whose fate is to live in the State of Israel. The red card has been used systematically against a fifth of the state's population. They are excluded from the game.

Identity Under Siege
By Paul de Rooij, MIFTAH, November 20, 2002
"The Palestinian struggle -- that a people should endure such unremitting cruelty from Israel and still not give up, is a collective miracle.." -
Edward Said, "Disunity and factionalism", Al Ahram 21 August 2002: - The Israeli war waged against the Palestinians has taken many forms and not all of them well known to us. Bombings, assassinations, house demolitions, and arbitrary imprisonment are some of the concrete manifestations in this war - these are clear for all to see and understand. However, other tactics employed in this war aren't so evident. Foremost among them is an assault on the Palestinian identity itself. European colonialists learned that to keep a strangle hold on their possessions a policy of divide and rule was necessary. However, the unintended consequence of this was to engender a strong nationalism, a force that eventually doomed the colonialist enterprise. The Israelis have learned this lesson, and trying to implement measures that shield them from the errors of the past. The policies now applied in the Occupied Territories (OPT) apply the divide and rule principle, but they attempt to quell the nationalism that accompanied this in the past. The foremost element to achieve this is to actively demolish or restrict the Palestinian identity in the OPT.

What is happening in Palestine?
Hasan Abu-Nimah, The Electronic Intifada, November 20, 2002
ON JUNE 24 this year, President George Bush delivered an important speech in which he spelled out his, and his administration's, vision of the future and the future of peace in the Middle East. That vision "is two states, living side by side in peace and security", as the president put it. Many saw that as a great declaration, even if it was not the first to come from the US administration; Secretary of State Colin Powell and the president himself had earlier spoken about the two-state option as the basic concept of a Palestinian-Israeli settlement. It was still great because it came from the mouth of the superpower which, we all agree, is the only power that can influence a constantly rejectionist Israel to respond positively.

Ambush at Atef's Doorstep
By Ben Granby, Palestine Chronicle, November 19, 2002
HEBRON (PC) - Mounting a windswept roadway in July 2001 a voice beyond a gate beckoned me forth. It was a Palestinian man urging me to visit his home which lay right across a valley from the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba. The night before had seen a furious gun battle with Israeli tanks advancing to demolish numerous Palestinian police checkpoints and I had wandered out to survey the damage. Walking through Hebron's hillside homes I inadvertently walked into what is known as "H2", the slice of Hebron still under Israeli military rule. The residents had been living for weeks under total 24-hour curfew, so it was with great risk that a man emerged to greet me. Atef Jaber seemed just as anxious to be able to practice his English as he was to show a foreigner the recent damage wrought during a rampage by Kiryat Arba settlers a few days before. The extensive Jaber clan lived throughout western Hebron and had the unfortunate luck of winding up sandwiched between two of the most fanatical Israeli settlements in the West Bank. It was along that road I had walked down that sixteen months later would witness an ambush of Israeli security forces and ultimately threaten Atef's home.

The peace process needs women
By Gila Svirsky, Middle East Times, November 15, 2002 
Allow me to begin by telling you about the secret meetings held between Palestinians and Israelis that began 15 years ago. These meetings were secret because it was illegal for Israelis and forbidden for Palestinians to meet in those years. A number of groups were then getting together, but only one group persisted over time – resolutely grappling with the most difficult issues - and crafted an agreement that was signed and publicized several years before the Oslo Accords. Above all this agreement declared establishment of a free, independent and secure state of Palestine side-by-side with a free, independent and secure state of Israel as the core of a political settlement. As profound as this moment could have been in the history of the Middle East, very few people heard about it. Why? Because the agreement was written by women. You may wonder whether the agreement was rejected for other reasons, perhaps because it was a radical statement dreamed up by utopians or marginal people. But these women were neither marginal nor radical. Each delegation included prominent political leaders – members of parliament, government ministers, an ambassador, and a party head.

Revisiting Gaza: Two Years After the Intifada
By Isabelle Humphries, Islam Online, November 19, 2002  
It is two and half years since I was last in Gaza and, returning home to Nazareth after a two day visit, choosing one “subject” for analysis seems like an impossible, even offensive task. So instead, I write to give some kind of overall picture for those who have not visited since the beginning of the Intifada. I write for all of you who, like me, have the fortune not to have to live in Gaza, who sat in horror watching the continuing bloody saga in Gaza from behind the safety of our TV screens. Erez checkpoint looked exactly the same as when I last passed through, three months before the start of the Intifada. The narrow caged walkway that Palestinians must pass through is still there, but as an international I pass through the sanitized air-conditioned terminal. Of course few Gazans actually still have the permit to work in Israel, even if they are prepared to go through the excessive security checks. I just get a stamp on my visa, not to say I have been in another country, you understand, merely to pass a message to airport officials when I try to leave for England that I have been in a “terrorist zone.”