My community of Qira, like many others, cannot survive in a Palestinian state divided by Israel’s settlement blocs. The settlement blocs are built on Palestinian agricultural land and water resources and carve the West Bank into disconnected Palestinian bantustans. read more »

One may well think that the struggle inside the Jewish community of Israel is between those of the political right, who want to maintain the settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank so as to “redeem” the Greater Land of Israel as a Jewish country, and those of the left who seek a two-state solution with the Palestinians and are thus willing to relinquish enough of the “territories”, if not at all, in order that a viable Palestinian state may emerge. read more »

Israeli Jews call the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 a “war of liberation.” Palestinians call it the Naqba — the Catastrophe. read more »

1917—Great Britain gains control of all of historic Palestine at the end of World War 1 and issues the Balfour Declaration committing the British government to supporting a “Jewish national home” in Palestine. At the time, Jews make up less than 10 percent of Palenstine’s population and own about 2 percent of its own land. read more »

Israel is frequently cited as “the only democracy in the Middle East.” The 1.2 million Palestinians living inside Israel’s borders, would beg to differ. read more »

Kevin Rudd can ratify all the Kyoto Protocols he likes, but if he doesn’t quit coal, we’re screwed. The election of Rudd’s new Labor government here in Australia is being hailed as a watershed moment for this country’s approach to climate change and indeed for global climate change politics. read more »

As early as Dec. 15, bulldozers could destroy four of New Orleans’ largest public housing developments, resulting in the loss of almost 4,000 units of low-income housing. read more »

Real-estate developers are heading uptown in swarms to take advantage of the new housing market in Harlem, the southernmost neighborhood in Manhattan that is still predominantly working-class. “The land property here in Harlem has gone up drastically,” says Dolina Duzant, who was raised in Brooklyn and has lived in Delano Village since 1985. read more »

In early November, protesters in Olympia, Wash., were attacked and arrested by police as they put their bodies in the path of military convoys returning from Iraq. read more »

In protest of the Iraq War and military recruitment in their schools, an estimated 1,000 high school students walked out of classrooms in at least a dozen towns and cities across western Washington state Nov. 16. read more »

The presidential race is about many things: money, branding, celebrity, the media and theatrics. The one thing it’s not about is politics. read more »

Out of some combination of morbid curiosity, depressive masochism, and journalism as forensic scatology, I watched the Republican CNN/ YouTube debate Nov. 28. read more »

"We're allowing a field based in commerce—marketing—to preserve something of vital cultural importance—a space to analyze our culture. Why aren't the rest of us freaking out about it?" Anne Elizabeth Moore talks about the work behind her latest book, Unmarketable, and corporate threats to the underground. read more »

As the year draws to a close Jane Jacobs, Moses’ greatest political antagonist, finally gets her chance to reply in the form of a museum exhibit. Given the current wave of Moses-mania, what might the woman who consistently counseled activists “not to feel helpless,” say to us today? - A review of "Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York" at the Municipal Arts Society of New York, 457 Madison Ave at East 50th Street, through Jan. 5, 2008.) read more »

Review of My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love by Kara Walker The exhibit is on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Ave at East 75th Street through Feb. 3, 2008. read more »

Perhaps someone in your circle of friends or family is looking forward to receiving a Burns film box set on DVD this holiday season. If so, consider the following an alternative gift guide for documentaries, wherein a much-loved but thoroughly overrated film from the genre is rejected in favor of a less-loved, underrated choice by yours truly. read more »

France’s new conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy is having a tough time. “Sarko American,” as he dubs himself, rode into power in May promising a “rupture” with the past. read more »

This holiday season shed your consumerism and put your money towards building a more sustainable world with an economy based on quality of life. read more »

In the materialistic, militaristic desert of America in the 1980s, the hardcore punk scene was one of the few subcultures that was screaming “fuck you, Ronald Reagan and the greedy warmonger horse you rode in on!” It was a radical, do-it-yourself network, created almost entirely by people in their teens and 20s on very low budgets, yet it had international reach, and its influence is still felt in today’s radical movements. read more »

Every Saturday afternoon amid shoppers, skaters, tourists and passers-by at Union Square, a small group supporting Palestinian self-determination an even smaller pro-Israel group face off on a small patch of land across from Virgin Megastore on 14th Street. read more »