A 'New Era' in the New Middle East: China, Russia and the Reinvention of the South

Who would have expected that the BRICS nations could rise and become the potential rival of the G7 countries, the World Bank and the IMF combined? That once seemingly distant possibility now has real prospects which could change the equilibrium of world politics. The more successful BRICS becomes, the weaker Western hegemony over the South will be. Although some Western politicians and media insist on downplaying the group’s role in shaping the new world order, the change seems real and irreversible. Even before the Ukraine war commenced in February 2022, much evidence pointed to the fact that Russia and China’s goal was hardly temporary or impulsive. The very language of multipolarity has defined both countries’ discourse for years, a discourse that was mostly inspired by the two countries’ displeasure with US militarism from the Middle East to Southeast Asia, their frustration with Washington’s bullying tactics whenever a disagreement arises, be it in trade or border demarcations, the punitive language, the constant threats, the military expansion of NATO and much more. While it is too early to determine, with any degree of certainty, the winners and losers of this new configuration, it is almost certain that a US-westerndominated world is no longer possible

70 años de «catástrofe»: ¿puede Israel frustrar el «derecho de retorno» para los refugiados palestinos?

The US is currently following a blueprint of a strategy in which it advances Israel’s “victory”, while imposing conditions of surrender on defeated Palestinians. (Pipes, 2016) One of the main targets of this new policy is Palestinian refugees, scattered in their millions across Palestine and the Middle East. But the ‘Nakba’, starting 70 years ago - and all of its dire consequences, since then - is a concept that is so deeply entrenched in the hearts and minds of most Palestinians to this day. Thus, the refugees and their insistence on their Right of Return are the main, if not the only, obstacles before the US-Israeli plot. En la actualidad, los EE.UU. están acometiendo un proyecto estratégico por el cual se presume la «victoria» de Israel, a la vez que impone condiciones de rendición en los palestinos derrotados (Pipes, 2016). Uno de los objetivos cruciales de esta nueva política son los refugiados palestinos, dispersos por millones tanto en tierra palestina como en el Oriente Medio. El Nakba, iniciado hace 70 años, y todas sus funestas consecuencias desde entonces, se revela un concepto hondamente vertebrado en las mentes y almas de la gran mayoría de palestinos hasta el presente. Por ello, los refugiados y su insistencia en su Derecho de Retorno constituyen el principal (y casi único) obstáculo en el complot EE.UU-Israelí

History from Below: Writing a People's History of Palestine

The accompanying publications for this thesis are available to read in the University's Main Library. References are as follows: My Father was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story. (London: Pluto Press, 2010). ISBN 978-0-7453-2881-2; The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People’s Struggle. (London: Pluto Press, 2006). ISBN 0-7453-2547-5; Searching Jenin: Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion. (Seattle: Cune Press, 2003). ISBN 1-885942-34-6.This submission for PhD by Publication includes three studies designed to reflect the popular view of ordinary Palestinians regarding events and politics in Palestine throughout modern history. They aim to primarily provide a ‘history from below’ political discourse of the Palestinian people. While the studies do not purport to determine with certainty the exact dynamics that propel Palestinian politics and society - as in where political power ultimately lies - they attempt to present a long-dormant argument that sees ‘history from below’ as an indispensable platform providing essential insight into Palestinian history to explain present political currents. Over the course of 11 years, I conducted three studies which resulted in the publication of the following volumes: The first work, Searching Jenin: Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion (2003) is centered on the events that surrounded the Israeli siege, invasion and subsequent violence in and around the Palestinian West Bank refugee camp of Jenin in April 2002. The study includes forty two eyewitness accounts, collected from people who witnessed the violence and were affected by it, were recorded and positioned to create a clear and unified narrative. The reality that the refugees portrayed in these accounts was mostly inconsistent with the official Israeli narrative of the violent events that occurred in the refugee camp, on one hand, and that were provided by the Palestinian Authority (PA) or factions, on the other. The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People’s Struggle (2006) shows the impact of the Israeli military policies used against revolting Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, and the popular response to these policies during the first five years of the Second Palestinian Intifada (2000-2005). The results of the study also demonstrate the inconsistencies between the views and practices held by the official political representation of Palestinians, and the popular view, as demonstrated in the discernible collective behavior of ordinary Palestinians throughout the Occupied Territories. In My Father was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (2010) my research pursues the roots of the current situation in the Gaza Strip – that of siege, political deadlock and violence. The study traces the lives of selected refugees before the Nakba - the Catastrophe of 1947-48 - back in Palestine during the British Mandate in the 1920s and just before the Zionist colonial project went into full swing. In the three studies, the central argument is that historical and political events are best explained through non-elitist actors, who although at times lack political representation and platform, are capable of influencing, if not shaping the course of history, thus the present situation on the ground. The studies also indicate that such notions as popular resistance, collective memory and steadfastness (sumud in Arabic) are not mere idealistic and sentimental values, but notions with tangible and decipherable impact on past events and present realities. The central argument endeavors to demonstrate that although the Palestinian people are divided into various collectives, they are united by a common sense of identity and an undeclared political discourse, and they have historically proven to be a viable political actor that has influenced, affected, or, in some instances, deeply altered political realities. To examine my thesis, my paper will be reviewing several theoretical notions of historiography including the Great Man Theory, which uses an elitist approach to understanding the formation and conversion of history. The Great Man Theory argues that single individuals of importance have made decisions that drive the outcomes of history. This notion is challenged by Group Theories which argue that history is shaped by the outcome of competing interest groups belonging to socio-economic elites, and that multidimensional forces often shape political realities. Furthermore, I examine a third theoretical approach that of ‘history from below’, which argues that history is scarcely shaped by ‘great men’ or socio-economic elites. Such historiography rarely contends with how history is formed; instead, it is mostly concerned with attempting to reconstruct the flow of history. It does so through deconstructing largely collective phenomena that are believed to be responsible for shaping current political movements. I attempt, through these volumes, to present a flow of Palestinian history based on the ‘history from below’ approach. The following paper will attempt to explain the logic behind my choice.

U.S. Military Aid to Israel: An Analysis of the U.S. Leahy Laws

In this research, I will consider whether United States military aid to Israel meets the premise of the Leahy Laws. The following research aims to provide a legal analysis of the applicability of the Leahy Laws to the pertinent case of Israel. I will begin with a background discussion of reports recounting the Israeli military offensive, Operation Protective Edge of 2014. Secondly, I will provide an analysis of the military court system in the West Bank and Gaza and reports documenting the abuse of Palestinian minors, as well as Palestinian relief and charity workers, inside Israeli prisons and detention facilities. Lastly, I will analyze reports documenting the efforts by Israeli occupation forces to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian population in East Jerusalem, and those within historic Palestine. Following these cases, I will discuss whether these events qualify as gross human rights violations and ultimately fulfill the definitions and restrictions presented in the Leahy Laws. Ultimately, I ask the question: Is the United States violating the Leahy Laws in its military support of Israel

Dismantling the Violent Discourse of the State of Israel: on Zionism, Palestinian Liberation, and the Power of Language

When European powers held their infamous Berlin Conference in 1885, during which they agreed to divide the African continent among themselves, they did not employ such terms as enslavement, illegal seizure, exploitation, or genocide. Instead, they made references to “instructing the natives,” “bringing home to them the blessings of civilization,” and encouraging “the maintenance of peace (and) the development of civilization” (General Act 1885). Similarly, when Britain and France received Mandates from the League of Nations in the 1920s to serve as the supposed caretakers of their colonies in Africa and the Middle East, there was hardly any reference in the language of these Mandates to British and French geopolitical interests in serving this role; instead, many positive references asserted the need for allowing colonized countries access to their “own schools for the education of (their) own members in (their) own language,” among many other misleading claims (League of Nations 1922)