Around Ramallah, the Apartheid Wall is still in the form a snaking stretch of electrified barbed wires surrounded by military roads and minefields, rather than the familiar slabs of concrete seen in other cities. A 5-minute drive towards the nearby village of Rafat, situated between Ramallah and Jerusalem, brings one face-to-face with three layers of wall in plain sight. This week, EI publishes daily installments of a six-part diary from March/April 2004, by Dr. Saber Zaitoun, the pseudonym of a Palestinian-American in his thirties. Dr. Zaitoun grew up under Israeli occupation and first came to the USA during the first Intifada to finish his education. He is married, and currently teaches at a University on the East Coast. Read more about A Stranger in My Own Land: Life in the Ghetto (4 of 6)
When I first came to the USA for college, you would not believe my shock upon making my first Spring Break drive to Florida, some 24 hours, and realizing no one stopped us to ask for ID or inquire where we’re going. In the West Bank, during the 10-mile drive from Ramallah to Jerusalem, travelers today get stopped twice at Israeli checkpoints… This week, EI publishes daily installments of a six-part diary from March/April 2004, by Dr. Saber Zaitoun, the pseudonym of a Palestinian-American in his thirties. Dr. Zaitoun grew up under Israeli occupation and first came to the USA during the first Intifada to finish his education. He is married, and currently teaches at a University on the East Coast. Read more about A Stranger in My Own Land: Checkpoints and Walls (3 of 6)
After those long 24 continuous hours of travel and lack of sleep, our first night back home was very depressing. The first thing that greeted us walking into my parents’ house was a large bullet-hole in the door, left as a souvenir by Israeli soldiers who were searching houses during the incursion of April 2002. This week, EI publishes daily installments of a six-part diary from March/April 2004, by Dr. Saber Zaitoun, the pseudonym of a Palestinian-American in his thirties. Dr. Zaitoun grew up under Israeli occupation and first came to the USA during the first Intifada to finish his education. He is married, and currently teaches at a University on the East Coast. Read more about A Stranger in My Own Land: An Invisible Occupation (2 of 6)
It was a very long plane ride. Seven hours from USA to Frankfurt, spending a few hours at the airport, then changing to another plane bound for Tel Aviv. Though Palestine is my homeland, I haven’t been back for five years. This time I didn’t really know what to expect… This week, EI publishes daily installments of a six-part diary from March/April 2004, by Dr. Saber Zaitoun, the pseudonym of a Palestinian-American in his thirties. Dr. Zaitoun grew up under Israeli occupation and first came to the USA during the first Intifada to finish his education. He is married, and currently teaches at a University on the East Coast. Read more about A Stranger in My Own Land: Into the Dark of Night (1 of 6)
Sam Bahour and Michael DahanRamallah, Jerusalem19 May 2004
Many words are taboo if used to describe Israel�s actions against Palestinians. One word in particular — genocide — sparks emotions that echo across Israel, Europe, and North America. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines genocide as “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.” What is happening in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip today is dangerously close to genocide, close enough that photographs of terrified Palestinians in Rafah loading their meager belongings onto carts and fleeing their homes are all too reminiscent of another time, another place another people. These images should be setting off alarm bells in the hearts and minds of Israelis. Read more about Genocide By Public Policy
Living under the Israeli occupation has led one Palestinian women to a life of fear and depression. As Israeli troops continue to make it impossible for her to live a normal life, she summons the courage to write a letter to her friends in Vermont. Reema Abu Hamdieh writes from Ramallah. Read more about 'I just want a moment of peace'
Our arrival at Yasser Arafat’s headquarters was fairly dramatic, or at least it gave us, accustomed as we are to nothing more exciting than quietly writing at a computer in our comfortable home, a keen sense of the drama of the occasion. The meeting had been arranged from Amman, without our asking, by the friend of friends of ours, a Palestinian in Amman who had known Arafat for years and set up the meeting through one of Arafat’s advisers. Kathleen and Bill Christison write from Ramallah. Read more about A new Sykes-Picot Agreement: Yasser Arafat discusses the future
Kathleen and Bill ChristisonRamallah, Palestine23 March 2003
Hanan Ashrawi tells us bluntly that the principal aim of Israeli Prime Minister Sharon and his right-wing, Zionist fundamentalist government is to make sure that no Palestinian state ever exists as a viable entity. Their goal, she says, “is not just dismantling the infrastructure, the structures of Palestinian statehood, but dismantling an identity: not just preventing formation of a viable Palestinian state but eliminating a nation and a people.” The message that Ashrawi sees is clear wherever you go in the occupied West Bank. Bill and Kathleen Christison write from Ramallah. Read more about Palestinians: long-term hopefulness still dominates
Last Saturday the streets of Ramallah were charged with the energy of nearly three hundred Palestinian women and men, all demanding an end to the vicious Occupation of their homeland and asserting their opposition to a U.S. war on the people of Iraq. Read more about Palestinian voices on International Women's Day
Sam Bahour and Michael DahanRamallah, Jerusalem26 February 2003
The snow will soon melt and the destroyed homes, bullet riddled walls, tank-rippled roads will re-appear, only to jog the collective memories of those Palestinians that remain the victims of this thirty-six year man- made tragedy called Israeli occupation. Read more about Snow-covered Rubble
