Electronic Intifada : Art, Music & Culture

Book review: "A World I Loved"

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:24:49 PST

"This is my story, the story of an Arab woman," Wadad Makdisi Cortas states in the opening line of her memoir A World I Loved. Born Wadad Makdisi in Beirut in 1909, which at that time was considered a part of Syria, she discovered Arab nationalism at a young age and lived a life true to the idea in every sense. Cortas believed passionately that Arabs, in order to protect their culture and values, should liberate themselves from Western colonialism which sought to impose its ways and divide the people. Matthew Cassel reviews for The Electronic Intifada.

Book review: The timeless work of Naji al-Ali

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:36:03 PST

Cartoonist Naji al-Ali was a towering figure in the Palestinian cultural and political scene. His daily political drawings were a knife-twisting, gut-wrenching journey into how Palestinians perceived their predicament. Toufic Haddad reviews A Child in Palestine: The Cartoons of Naji al-Ali for The Electronic Intifada.

Book review: How aid hurt Palestine

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:35:41 PST

International relations specialist Anne Le More's first monograph, International Assistance to the Palestinians after Oslo, the first in Routledge's Studies on the Arab-Israeli Conflict series, provides an important critique of the belief that reconstruction, development and humanitarian aid form essential counterparts to political processes aimed at resolving longstanding violent conflicts. Ali Abunimah reviews.

Book review: Shlomo Sand's "The Invention of the Jewish People"

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:13:55 PST

Few recent books have aroused more interest and been more frequently reviewed in the US and Europe prior to the appearance of an English version as historian Shlomo Sand's The Invention of the Jewish People. Raymond Deane reviews for The Electronic Intifada.

Book review: Juan Cole's "Engaging the Muslim World"

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:23:49 PST

In his timely and insightful new book, Engaging the Muslim World, University of Michigan professor Juan Cole debunks prevailing myths and presents a set of compelling policy prescriptions that aim to encourage dialogue and defuse hostilities. However, while he convincingly addresses the questions of knowledge, he leaves issues of power largely unexamined. Muhammad Idrees Ahmad reviews for The Electronic Intifada.

Book review: Orientalism and Islamophobia in the American left

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:40:04 PST

Steven Salaita's new collection of political essays, The Uncultured Wars, Arabs, Muslims and the Poverty of Liberal Thought exposes orientalism and Islamophobia on the American left. Joseph Shahadi reviews for The Electronic Intifada.

Book review: Palestinian views on suicide operations

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:54:46 PST

In his new book The Making of a Human Bomb: An Ethnography of Palestinian Resistance, Nasser Abufarha examines the phenomena of Palestinian suicide operations. It is based on extensive fieldwork conducted in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, mostly in and around the northern town of Jenin. A native of the city, Abufarha interviewed families of suicide bombers, observed demonstrations and studied Palestinian cultural products that addressed suicide attacks. Asa Winstanley reviews for The Electronic Intifada.

From boycotts to Bilin: An interview with Jonathan Cook

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:21:58 PST

Jonathan Cook is a British journalist based in Nazareth, the largest Palestinian city in Israel, whose work is regularly published by The Electronic Intifada. His latest book, Disappearing Palestine: Israel's Experiments in Human Despair, was published by Zed Books last October. He recently sat with Jeff Gore to discuss his work and his analysis of the current situation on the ground.

Review: Darwish, between the national and the human

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:23:55 PST

"All beautiful poetry," wrote the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, "is an act of resistance.". At a time when the US unconditionally backs Israel's war against the Palestinians, and when everyone agrees that books are on their way out, two new, beautifully produced translated collections of Darwish's work from independent American publishers are real acts of resistance. Raymond Deane reviews for The Electronic Intifada.

Review: Gannit Ankori's "Palestinian Art"

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:36:36 PST

In 2006 Israeli art historian Gannit Ankori published Palestinian Art (Reaktion Books LTD, London), a 200-plus page text that attempts to "emphasize the broad range and richness that characterize Palestinian art, as well as its specific manifestations and individual narratives. Maymanah Farhat writes for The Electronic Intifada, the first in a series reviewing recent surveys of Palestinian art.

Book casts new light on Palestine's ethnic cleansing

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:29:59 PST

In recent years, a growing number of accounts of the 1948 war have corrected and exposed the founding myths of Israel, including claims by its leaders that the Palestinian people did not exist or were invented. The latest addition is Rosemarie M. Esber's meticulously documented history Under the Cover of War: The Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians. Esber uses British archives and oral testimonies from Palestinian survivors to demonstrate that there was a purposeful, systematic pattern by which Zionist forces depopulated Palestinian cities and villages before the end of the British mandate on 15 May 1948.

Cape Town to host Palestinian Struggle and Human Spirit Film Festival

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:14:26 PST

Channel 4 Network SA, a Cape Town-based international news network and syndication company, will be hosting a Palestinian film festival from 2-4 October 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa. The objectives of the festival are to educate the public and create a general awareness around the situation in Palestine to foster a culture of human rights, respect for human dignity and justice for all.

"Rapping is our way of resisting"

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:21:43 PST

GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - In a backstreet open-air cafe in Gaza late at night, Khaled Harara from the Black Unit Band starts to talk about rap. A phone call interrupts him. "Oh my god, it's my dad, he will kill me because I'm not home yet." Not quite the tough image one conjures of rappers. After assuring his father he's giving an interview, he's ok to stay.

Review: Erasing the borders in "A Map of Home"

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:22:07 PST

Randa Jarrar's A Map of Home is a beautifully achieved coming of age novel which follows a clever girl through a war, a domestic battlefield, and repeated forced migrations. For our heroine, these events are aspects of normal everyday life (because everything's normal when it happens to you), like school, friends, family and shopping. Robin Yassin-Kassab reviews for The Electronic Intifada.

Palestine film festival returns to Toronto next month

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:18:05 PST

The second annual Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF) is coming to theaters in September. The festival will showcase 34 films, many of which are Canadian and North American premieres. TPFF is pleased to be opening and closing the festival with the critically acclaimed feature films Amreeka and Laila's Birthday.

Gaza attacks replayed on Edinburgh stage

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:26:51 PST

In the august surroundings of Rainy Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland with its wood-paneled walls, lofty beams and grey stone architecture, Israel's devastating attack on Gaza is being replayed. The university dining hall has been reincarnated as a temporary theatre for the duration of Edinburgh's festival season with the drama, Go to Gaza, Drink the Sea, performed daily to a mixed audience of the concerned and the curious. Neville Rigby reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Despite obstacles, Gaza students score well on exams

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:28:53 PST

AMSTERDAM (IPS) - Call it that choice between looking at the half-full or half-empty part of the results. And it is almost half; 55 percent of schoolchildren passed their general secondary school examinations in Gaza this year. The results in the humanities section in the exams, the tawjihis as they are called, were four percent better than last year, and in the sciences they were better by two percent. So much for the impact of the Israeli bombardment last December-January, on most of the children anyway.

Gaza play highlights difficulties for artists under siege

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:24:45 PST

The question of the arts in times of siege and occupation is one of the main themes in Gaza's newest theatre production, Film Cinema, which opened on 4 August in Gaza City. A stage buried in film negatives, and adorned with a lone plump teddy bear, sets the scene of the three-person play. Eva Bartlett reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Book review: "Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide"

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:30:52 PST

In pondering "a different kind of future," author Ben White in his new book Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide stresses that there is no point in "trying to 'undo' things that cannot be undone." He castigates rhetoric about a "two-state solution" or demands that Palestinians should "compromise," as if the solution could bypass the dissolution of Israeli apartheid. Raymond Deane reviews for The Electronic Intifada.

Gaza artist, survivor finds power in paint

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:39:15 PST

Ziad Deeb, a young artist, lost his entire family and both his legs in the Israeli attack on Gaza six months ago. In his grief, Deeb has found solace in his work. Memories of the massacre inspire him "to keep painting more and more, I believe this is the only thing that can't be taken away from me and my disability can't be an obstacle." Eman Mohammed reports for The Electronic Intifada from Gaza.