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Ben White Profile picture
Ben White
@benabyad
ED @ The Britain Palestine Media Centre https://t.co/wwSRXdL0Jm Subscribe to our weekly email: https://t.co/LagR2qzsrx My books: https://t.co/NJcPk28kd3
Aug 31, 2018 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
"An emboldened Israeli right and their fellow ideologues in Washington sense an opportunity to deal UNRWA a fatal blow and thus, as they see it, liquidate the Palestinian refugee issue once and for all." My new op-ed:

middleeasteye.net/columns/trumps… "For the Israeli hard-right, Trump’s decision to 'take Jerusalem off the negotiating table' was proof positive that...unilateralism ultimately gets results...[It] instilled a hope – if not outright confidence – over other issues such as annexation & the Palestinian refugees".
Aug 28, 2018 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Today, Israeli occupation forces attacked Palestinians in Ras Karkar village in the central West Bank, as residents tried to protect their land from settlers and soldiers. 

Here, photojournalist Baha Nasr is assaulted (& then detained).

maannews.com/Content.aspx?i… Update.

Ras Karkar's residents are continuing their resistance to the Israeli land colonisation today, with the village observing a strike, and preparations for further protests on the land in question.

wattan.tv/ar/news/262801…
facebook.com/20253196317093…
Aug 21, 2018 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
That a respected journalist like @stephenkb wrote these paragraphs in The Sunday Times this week shows the event to which Palestinian history & experience is excluded in public discourse - an erasure which, by extension, delegitimises solidarity with their struggle.

THREAD ⬇️ I'm going to focus on the chant which @stephenkb cites by way of presenting the Palestine Solidarity Campaign as toxic (& thus not a group the unions should be affiliated to).

"From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free".

Is this an 'antisemitic' chant? Absolutely not.
Aug 4, 2018 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
The Israeli army has killed another Palestinian child.

Moath Ziad al-Sory, 15, succumbed to his wounds early this morning, after being shot in the stomach by an Israeli soldier during protests in the occupied Gaza Strip yesterday.

english.wafa.ps/page.aspx?id=E…
imemc.org/article/child-… According to this UN update, from 30 March to August 2, Israeli forces killed 164 Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip & wounded a further 17,259 - including 4,348 w/ live fire.

Yesterday (Aug. 3), Israeli army killed 2, wounded 220 (90 w/ live fire).

ochaopt.org/content/humani…
Aug 4, 2018 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Trump administration wants to get rid of UNRWA and strip millions of Palestinians of their refugee status
foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/03/tru… Note this all too rare debunking of an Israeli talking point - namely, that in protracted refugee situations, UNHCR "recognises descendants of refugees as refugees".
Aug 2, 2018 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Why calling Israel an apartheid state or racist is not antisemitic.

My new op-ed on the IHRA document, self-determination, and attempts to silence and smear Palestinians and their allies.
middleeasteye.net/columns/why-ca… Key points:

Contrary to argument of @Freedland & others, the example in the IHRA document pertaining to self-determination & Israel as a 'racist endeavour' is not about a "principle" but about the actual existing State of Israel.
Jul 25, 2018 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Always instructive - rarely surprising - when commentators reveal what understanding of 'Zionism' they bring to discussions on antisemitism.

And for @Dannythefink, like many others, there's absolutely nothing about what Zionism has meant for Palestinians

thetimes.co.uk/article/jeremy… Incidentally, one of the ironies of reducing Zionism to simply 'the case for a refuge', as @Dannythefink does here, is that it actually fails to reflect the depth of philosophical & political developments - decades before Herzl - that led to the emergence of Zionism.
Jul 19, 2018 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Overnight, Israel's Knesset officially passed the 'Jewish nation state' bill into law, with a 62-55 vote.

Palestinian lawmakers tore it up and, as they were thrown out, yelled at Netanyahu: "You passed an apartheid law, a racist law".

haaretz.com/israel-news/is… "The right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people."

"The state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value & will act to encourage & promote its establishment and consolidation".

timesofisrael.com/final-text-of-…
Jul 18, 2018 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Note:

"The land of Israel is the historical homeland of the Jewish people, *in which* the State of Israel was established."

"in which"

So, about that question of borders...

timesofisrael.com/final-text-of-… "The right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people."

Not, "Israelis" - "the Jewish people".
Jul 17, 2018 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Yes, Israel's proposed 'Jewish nation state' bill is a significant new development. But you can only understand how it's come to this point w/ reference to the institutionalised discrimination faced by Palestinian citizens ever since 1948. My new article:

middleeasteye.net/columns/how-is… "The omission of the experience of Palestinian citizens in this 'Jewish and democratic' state is compounded by an analysis that fails to look deeper into why this legislation is being proposed at all."
Jul 14, 2018 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Israeli air strikes hit the occupied Gaza Strip, prompting projectile fire (no injuries).

"Hamas spox Fawzi Barhoum said the group was responsible for the mortar fire on Israel & that they were carried out "in response to the Israeli air strikes"."
afp.com/en/news/23/isr… Israel has carried out fresh airstrikes on the occupied Gaza Strip this afternoon - no reported injuries; "shortly afterwards" one rocket fired out of Gaza landed in an open area.

haaretz.com/israel-news/ga…
Jul 10, 2018 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin is a hypocrite.

Rivlin is concerned about this article in the proposed 'Jewish nation state' bill: "the state can allow a community composed of people of the same faith or nationality to maintain an exclusive community".

timesofisrael.com/in-rare-rebuke… Except in the same public letter published today (linked below), Rivlin mentions - approvingly - his role in the 'Admission Committees Law' passed in 2011. These committees (before & after this law) are a key part of Israel's institutionalised racism.

israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx…
Jul 6, 2018 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Palestinian refugees have a *right* to return, Israel *demands* to maintain its Jewish majority; there's a difference.

In my new op-ed, I take on the arguments advanced by those who attacked Jeremy Corbyn's support for the Palestinians' right of return.

middleeasteye.net/columns/pro-is… The registration of descendants by Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, is not distinct from other protracted refugee situations in this regard; as a 2017 UNHCR document put it, “children born to refugees in exile are registered as refugees until a durable solution has been found”.
Jul 4, 2018 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
"Israeli forces assault Palestinians, prepare to demolish village"

"At least 35 Palestinians wounded as Israeli forces prepare to demolish the entire Khan al-Ahmar village near Jerusalem."

Read the @AJENews report - then come back for this THREAD ⬇️

aljazeera.com/indepth/inpict… First, let's be clear what is happening here.

Israeli authorities are preparing to destroy a Palestinian village located in territory held under military occupation, to allow for the expansion of illegal settlements Palestinians can’t live in.

That's a microcosm of apartheid.
Jul 4, 2018 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Israel seems to be gearing up for the planned demolition of Khan al-Ahmar, a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank near Jerusalem.

'Closed military zone' order given last night. Bulldozers brought in today.


wattan.tv/ar/news/257700… UN Human Rights office yesterday:

"The community is home to 181 people - more than half of them children", and is one of *46* Palestinian communities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank "that the UN views as being at high risk of forcible transfer".

ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/…
Jun 20, 2018 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Overnight, Israel hit 25 Hamas-linked sites in the occupied Gaza Strip in three waves (3 injuries); strikes followed a barrage of rocket fire (no injuries) out of Gaza in response to earlier Israeli attacks.

haaretz.com/israel-news/.p…
timesofisrael.com/3-rockets-land…
english.wafa.ps/page.aspx?id=n… Hamas spox: rocket fire was a response to Israeli strikes, & part of the resistance's efforts to define the "rules of engagement".

Message is: if Israel continues with new policy of striking Hamas sites as response to flaming kites, rockets will follow.

alqassam.net/arabic/%D8%A3%…
Jun 13, 2018 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Video from central Ramallah this evening: Palestinian Authority forces suppress demonstration urging end to punitive measures against Gaza

Many activists and journalists were targeted, arrested, by PA forces.

May 17, 2018 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
The Israeli army wants you to think the claims made by a Hamas official in a TV interview - that 50 fatalities in #Gaza on 14 May were "Hamas" - somehow justifies the conduct of its forces.

Some have apparently bought this line.

But they're wrong – and here’s why.

THREAD ⬇️ Salah Bardawil was asked about the accusation that Hamas is encouraging protests without making any sacrifices. In reply, Bardawil *claimed* 50 of those killed Monday were Hamas, though didn't clarify if he meant political activists, armed wing members, general supporters, etc.
Apr 7, 2018 • 11 tweets • 5 min read
Israel says its snipers only target "instigators" & "terrorists".

These are the nine Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza yesterday.

Eight protesters and one journalist. Two children among them.

These are their names.

#GreatReturnMarch

THREAD ⬇️ Osama Qdeih, 38

Shot & killed by Israeli forces while protesting in the occupied Gaza Strip.
Mar 31, 2018 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
So here's the thing.

Most people object to the idea of heavily-armed soldiers shooting civilians. That's why the Israeli army always claims it only targets 'terrorists'.

The fact is, however, Israeli soldiers *routinely* shoot civilians.

And it's well-documented.

THREAD ⬇️ Let's start with the following example.

On 3 March - four weeks ago - an Israeli soldier chose to shoot 59-year-old Palestinian farmer Mohammed Abu Jameh, as he worked his land inside the Gaza Strip. The father of seven died of his wounds.

No one is being held to account.
Mar 30, 2018 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
As Israeli forces gun down Palestinian #GreatReturnMarch demonstrators in occupied Gaza, don't forget that today, 30 March, is #LandDay.

This is an annual event that the Israeli gov't & its apologists dearly hope you won't notice, or read up on.

So let me explain its origins. After the State of Israel was established - & some 700-800,000 Palestinians expelled - approx. 95% of new Jewish communities built between 1948-1953 were established on the land of the denationalised Palestinian refugees. But the land colonisation process didn't end there...