Thoughts on faith, culture, and public life.
What came to be known as the First Intifada unfolding in Gaza Strip, 1987. Historians of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict identify two highly significant moments in the long drawn-out conflict by the names given to them by Palestinians: the First and Second Intifada. An overview In Arabic, the word "Intifada "(ุงูุชูุงุถุฉ) literally means "shaking off" or "uprising." …
Continue reading "The history and politics of the First Intifada"
News that the world has seen the arrival of its first trillionaire captures public attention because it triggers shock and envy, and pushes familiar questions about wealth into unfamiliar territory. Human societies have always contained rich and poor, merchants and labourers, rulers and subjects. Yet a personal fortune measured in trillions of dollars represents wealth …
It beggars belief that I need to spell out the reasons why I do not support a terrorist organisation whose aim is to annihilate the State of Israel, but here we are. Almost every time I speak up in defence of the human rights of Palestinians, or criticise Israeli state violence against Palestinians and other …
Psalm 12:1-8 Australian navy personnel rescue asylum seekers from a sinking boat off Christmas Island in 2001.ย I have had the privilege of sitting with asylum seekers at Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in Sydney, and at the Curtin Immigration Detention Centre in remote north-western Australia, as the asylum seekers shared their stories of oppression, fear, …
No. 32 of 47. First published 22 Dec 2007. From the office of the Governor of Jenin, our Australian delegation was escorted on a tour of the infamous Jenin Refugee Camp, and then out of town to Faqqu'a Village, where Australian humanitarian aid delivers water to Palestinian homess. At the Refugee Camp, bombed by Israeli …
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