Palestine

Country: Palestine

Salim Tamari, director of the Institute for Jerusalem Studies, editor of the Jerusalem Quarterly and associate professor of sociology at Birzeit University (source: Living Jerusalem Project)

Palestinian sociologist Salim Tamari on the Six-Day War

"People became hostages of the annexation"

The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, which began with the Six-Day War in June 1967, changed the lives of millions of Palestinians. Sociologist Salim Tamari talked to Diana Hodali about what they experiencedMore

Trump, Abbas and the Middle East conflict: Rose-tinted posturing Interview with Lutheran pastor Mitri Raheb: ″Till we have a fair peace″Interview with Palestinian American writer Susan Abulhawa: ″Literature is a facet of society″

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and U.S. President Donald Trump shaking hands at the White House (photo: Reuters/C. Barria)

Trump, Abbas and the Middle East conflict

Rose-tinted posturing

Since Trump′s inauguration there has been plenty of contact between the White House and stakeholders in the Middle East. Achieving the ′big ultimate deal′, however, will take more than cosy platitudes. Commentary by Alaa TartirMore

Resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict: Expect nothing from Trump Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike: Raising the stakes New peace initiatives for the Middle East conflict: Two states, one homeland

Demonstration of solidarity with the arrested leader of Fatah, Marwan Barghouti (photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike

Raising the stakes

Palestinian prisoners in Israel have launched a collective hunger strike. The imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti is thus returning to the political stage. Inge Gunther in Jerusalem has the detailsMore

Israel vows not to negotiate with Palestinian hunger strikers Palestine's Mohammed Dahlan: A finger in every pie Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Third intifada looming

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump during a joint news conference at the White House on 15 February 2017 (photo: Reuters/K. Lamarque)

Resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict

Expect nothing from Trump

While the US continues to turn a blind eye to settlement expansion, the international community and the EU in particular are left with the responsibility of ensuring that everyday life in the Palestinian enclaves does not collapse. Time for a rethink, argue policy analysts Sam Bahour and Mousa JiryisMore

Middle East conflict: Empty rhetoric Israel and the settlements: Netanyahu′s forked tongue Palestinians in purgatory: Eternally displaced

Film scene from ″Istiyad Ashbah | Ghost Hunting″ (source: Berlinale)

Raed Andoni's "Ghost Hunting" at the Berlinale

The ghosts that lurk

Raed Andoni's film functions as both trauma therapy and as an opportunity to discuss the political problem of prisoners. First and foremost, though, the film works as an impressive piece of cinematography dealing with the basic questions of the human condition. By Rene WildangelMore

Mohammad Malas's film "Ladder to Damascus": Between dream and disaster Lebanese Victims of Torture: Remembering Palmyra Interview with former Tadmur inmate Bara Sarraj: Surviving hell

Lutheran pastor Mitri Raheb (photo: Diyar Center)

Interview with Lutheran pastor Mitri Raheb

″Till we have a fair peace″

Mitri Raheb is a Lutheran pastor and Arab Christian and the founder of the International Center of Bethlehem. Martina Sabra talks to him about Luther's influence in the Middle East, the chances of an Islamic Reformation and accusations of anti-Semitism More

Interfaith dialogue in Palestine: Reviving a heritage of peaceful co-existence Israeli-Palestinian relations: Dialogue in a time of conflict Qantara dossier: "Dialogue of religions"

Democrats Abroad demonstrator protesting against Donald Trump′s policy on Pariser Platz in Berlin (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

The West and the Muslim world

Bin the black and white model

East-West dualism fuelled by the rise of right-wing populists in Europe and the election of US President Trump is hampering the progress of the Orient and that of Muslim communities in the West, warns analyst Shafeeq Ghabra. High time for some ideological disarmament, says the political scientistMore

Trump′s Muslim immigration ban: Just the beginning Jihadism debate: Beyond the Mediterranean Islamophobia in the USA: Standing up for Muslim rights

Israeli film-maker Udi Aloni (photo: Getty Images)

Udi Aloni′s ″Junction 48″

Other or brother?

The winner of the Audience Award at last year′s Berlinale film festival is a story from Lod — or Ludd, as it′s pronounced in Arabic — a small town with a mixed Jewish-Arab population just a few kilometres away from Tel-Aviv, where Kareem and his girlfriend Manar use music to fight both the discrimination by the State of Israel and the violent patriarchal conservatism in their own community. Daniel Tkatch caught up with its director, Udi AloniMore

Film review: "Dancing Arabs" by Eran Riklis: Dancing at two weddings Interview with Israeli filmmaker Mor Loushy: "I am ultimately fighting for a better future in my homeland"Documentary: "The Green Prince": A friendship that inspires hope

Israeli-Palestinian peace activists (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

Middle East conflict

Empty rhetoric

The West likes to repeat its criticism of Israel's settlement policy but does nothing to put a stop to it. That's why the two-state solution is just empty rhetoric, writes Joseph CroitoruMore

Interview with Sarit Michaeli from B′Tselem: Creeping annexation Nir Baram: ″In a land beyond the mountains″: Danger in the olive groves Palestinians in purgatory: Eternally displaced

Two olive harvest volunteers look towards Modeiin Ilit, an Orthodox Jewish settlement built on Palestinian land (photo: DW/U. Schleicher)

Nir Baram: ″In a land beyond the mountains″

Danger in the olive groves

In 2014 and 2015, Israeli author Nir Baram travelled through the occupied territories of the West Bank. Recently published in German as "Im Land der Verzweifelung", his latest book is the chronicle of that journey and of what he saw and heard among the refugees, settlers, Jews, Palestinians and activists living there. By Joseph CroitoruMore

Assaf Gavron's Novel "The Hilltop": Message of Political Reconciliation Lizzie Doron′s book ″Who the fuck is Kafka?″: ″Only as enemies did we become friends”The Film ''Zaytoun'' by Eran Riklis: Unpicking the Hatred

Key in the West Bank town of Jericho symbolising the return of the Palestinians following the Nakba (photo: Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images)

Palestinians in purgatory

Eternally displaced

The number of internally displaced Palestinians is currently estimated to be around 300,000. A fact the Israeli government is keen to ignore. Hardly surprising, considering that acknowledging IDP rights of return would necessarily entail recognising the events of 1948 in their entirety. By Mona Bieling More

Interview with Sarit Michaeli from B′Tselem: Creeping annexation Gaza – a city no one wants New peace initiatives for the Middle East conflict: Two states, one homeland

Stand selling t-shirts in the Old City of Jerusalem (photo: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)

US foreign policy under Trump

Peace in our time?

Donald Trump′s victory in the US presidential election has stunned the world, with many – particularly US allies – feeling more than a little concerned about what his leadership may bring. For desperate Palestinians, however, Trump′s impending presidency could offer a glimmer of hope. Daoud Kuttab explains whyMore

Arab reactions to Donald Trump′s election victory: The jihadists' dream US-Iranian relations following the presidential election: It's a chill wind Russia and the Syrian conflict: Drop the dictator!

Interview with Israeli author Etgar Keret

Why the world is under threat

Acclaimed author Etgar Keret is often viewed as a traitor due to his outspoken criticism of the Israeli government. Etgar spoke to Sabine Peschel about why he finds Berlin so tolerant and why he'd propose a three-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflictMore

Israeli military offensive in Gaza: Israel cannot win Etgar Keret and Samir El-Youssef: The incursion of politics into the private sphere Interivew: Etgar Keret: The ambivalence of the wall

Sarit Michaeli, B′Tselem spokeswoman (photo: Sarit Michaeli)

Interview with Sarit Michaeli from B′Tselem

Creeping annexation

The NGO B′Tselem investigates human rights violations committed by the Israeli military in the Palestinian territories. In interview with Kai Schnier, Sarit Michaeli, the organisation′s spokeswoman, explains why a peaceful settlement of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is receding into distance and neither politicians nor generals are interested in reducing the tensionMore

Israel and the settlements: Netanyahu′s forked tongue New peace initiatives for the Middle East conflict: Two states, one homeland B'Tselem official website

Palestinian poet Ghassan Zaqtan (source: YouTube)

Book review: Ghassan Zaqtan's "Describing the past"

The vapours of memory

Ghassan Zaqtan′s slender ″Describing the Past″ is a fiction. But it′s less like a novel than a brew of philosophy, memoir, and poetry, writes Marcia Lynx Qualey More

Remembering Naguib Mahfouz: ″A wave of light on an infinite ocean of darkness″ Sayed Kashua′s ″Native: Dispatches from a Palestinian-Israeli Life″: His family′s grace Interview with the Egyptian poet Iman Mersal: Crossing a universal threshold

Palestinians demonstrating against the postponement of municipal elections

Democracy in Palestine

High hopes, low expectations

Palestinians who hoped municipal elections would eventually pave the way to overdue national ones voice criticism about decisions that led to their postponement. By Ylenia Gostoli

Life in the West Bank: The changing face of Ramallah Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO: Palestine′s office-weary regent Palestine and its Arabic neighbours: Gaza – a city no one wants