A speech by Asma Agbarieh-Zahalka of WAC workers’ union, delivered during an anti-occupation demonstration in Tel Aviv on June 9, 2012. It may well be that many Israelis are wondering and cannot understand what this demonstration is all about. The…
Tag: Arab spring
Eyewitness: Syria is imploding
In seeking the “truth” about Syria, I came across a book by Lebanese reporter Ghadi Francis, My pen and pain: One hundred days in Syria(Beirut: Saqi Books 2012), in Arabic. I did not find the “truth” but I did find many…
The Syrian nation is a victim of the Cold War
On February 24, Tunisia hosted the “Friends of Syria” conference, in the presence of foreign ministers of western powers including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Though officially Russia has been invited, it has firmly declined, claiming it was not…
Urgent: To build a Jewish-Arab leftwing alternative!
Political report to the Central Committee of Da’am (ODA), Jan. 22, 2012 The year 2012 is upon us, and we see a wave of historic developments in the Middle East and around the world. In October 2011, Europe suffered an…
The Arab spring is alive and well and living in Egypt
The claim that there is no and has never been an Arab Spring has become the bon ton in Israel. Millions of people in the Arab world are taking to the streets to realize their ambitions for freedom, but that…
Egypt: Between Tragedy and Farce
History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce, Marx famously observed. He was speaking about the time of Napoleon III in the mid-19th century, but the observation holds true for the Egyptian revolution. Tahrir Square is the same square,…
Requiem for the Palestinian Authority
The Israeli government decided in mid-November 2011 to continue delaying the transfer of $100 million in tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The pleas of Defense Minister Ehud Barak and senior IDF officers didn’t help, even though they explained…
Democracy challenges Islam:
The Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia The results of the Tunisian elections were expected: The Islamic Ennahda party received most of the votes, and will get 40% of the seats in the new parliament. More than 80% of those eligible turned…
Israel’s Nightmare Scenario
On Friday, September 23, the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas—aka Abu Mazen—stood before the UN General Assembly and announced Palestine’s application for full status as a member state. In the light of the Arab Spring, which is a…
The democratic Arab revolutions open new horizons
This document was written for the Central Committee meeting of the ODA-DA’AM Workers Party in April 2011. The Challenge editorial board has updated it, adding a paragraph on the housing protests that broke out in Israel on July 14, 2011, partly under…