Palestine, media, Jordan, community radio, online journalism
In over 25 years of journalistic reporting, I have never witnessed more confusion in the Palestinian national (and Islamic) movement as I have seen during the past few months. Israel’s refusal to reveal even the most mundane details of its plans, (even to its American allies), has been the main reason for this state of…
It was not surprising that the long-awaited Palestinian-Israeli summit didn’t produce results. Instead of the Sharon-Abbas meeting dealing with the many issues that badly need answers, it appears to have been a one-sided meeting. Reports coming out of that meeting talk about Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon using it to lash out against the Palestinian…
It is an unlikely request. But Palestinians would be pleasantly surprised if US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would do it when she comes to Ramallah. Many would be surprised if the convoy of the senior US diplomat would take the same route — that going through the Qalandia checkpoint — that thousands of Palestinians…
To some shortsighted politicians, unilateralism seems very convenient. It doesn’t require the mess of actual negotiations. It is usually politically correct, because you can decide how much and how far you want to carry out a particular policy. But unilateralism can’t be a rational long-term, effective policy. US President George Bush is getting a bloody…
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ political honeymoon is almost over. And the results are worrisome. Palestinians gave Arafat’s heir a huge boost in the January presidential elections in which he ran against a number of serious contenders. The victory was followed by a few more important accomplishments, including the tahdi’a (quiet) that all Palestinian factions (included…
The corridors of the normally quiet Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University were crowded on Tuesday as students and their supporters from various political groups were busy worrying about elections. After a five-year hiatus, students at Al Quds University were given the chance to cast their votes for the 51-seat student council. Students…
It all started as a nuisance in 1993. Twelve years later, this nuisance is becoming a major catastrophe for the over 200,000 Palestinians of East Jerusalem, following the abduction by Hamas activists of an Israeli soldier, who was later killed along with his captor in an Israeli army storming of the location where the captured…
For the past few weeks, Los Angles-based Palestinian director Hanna Elias has been very busy in Ramallah. He has been casting, auditioning and rehearsing with actors who will take part in an important movie. He needs to find some 120 voices in order to dub into Arabic the world-class movie Gandhi.
I participated in the Palestinian presidential elections very early on Jan. 9. I drove to the village of Anata just outside the municipal borders of Jerusalem, showed them my ID card, got my right hand thumb inked and was given a ballot which I used to cast my vote. The ink, which some claimed could…
Victory for Mahmoud Abbas in the Palestinian presidential elections will pose a huge challenge to the Palestinian leadership. By being voted chairman of the PLO executive committee hours after Yasser Arafat’s death, Abbas clinched the support of the organization that represents all Palestinians, including the diaspora.