New sidebar at right with a roundup of latest Gaza comment and analysis. You have to read the bloggers, experts like Juan Cole and Joel Beinin, in order to get the context that our "serious" newspapers can't be bothered to provide.
Juan Cole's reprint of the Beinin letter from Cairo.
Juan Cole on the Geneva Conventions and the blockade of Gaza: he calls the blockade atrocity and war crime.
Rami Zurayk reprints an agricultural report from Gaza describing the food emergency there, and the larger devastation of farmers and croplands.
Hossam el-Hamalawy is an Egyptian journalist and blogger who posts links to sources you won't normally see in the mainstream blogworld. Check the Arabist.net main page as well, but they are a little behind on covering this story. (Political pressure? They are based in Cairo and the Egyptian government is very complicit with Israel's blockade. Egypt is cracking down on opposition as I type. Anything to keep George Bush happy, even collaborating with Israel to starve Palestinians).
Bernard Avishai has been blogging Gaza every day this week.
Update: Haitham Sabbah has also been commenting vigorously on Gaza this week.
Jonathan Edelstein at Just World News with cold-eyed tactical perspectives. Check Just World News - Helena Cobban usually - for roundups and updates.
Richard Silverstein of Tikun Olam is the angry prophet in the desert, preaching against the injustice and hypocrisy of the Israeli position.
Jeff Halper of the Israel Committee Against House Demolitions writes: Power to the (Palestinian) People! Thanks to Dennis Fox for blogging this.
By the way, Hossam el-Hamalawy will be speaking at UC Berkeley in March on Arab bloggers. If you're around you should try to attend. The internet keeps blasting the lid off the mass media control of information and Mr. el-Hamalawy has his finger on the pulse of the Arab blogworld.
I think you're prob. confusing my Jewish background w. someone else you may know, perhaps Jerry Haber, who is Orthodox & perhaps yeshiva trained. I WAS trained at the Jewish Theological Seminary (where I earned a Bachelor's degree), but it is not a yeshiva.
Actually, I'm allergic to Orthodox Judaism. Though I belong to a Conservative synagogue & am a spiritual Jew, I'm pretty secular in outlook.
Posted by: Richard Silverstein | January 25, 2008 at 08:06 PM
I'm very sorry Richard for mis-stating, and will change the info immediately. I guess I was trying in my ill-informed way to indicate that you are a believer, educated at a school of theology in your tradition, and committed to Judaism. None of these are incompatible with secularism in my view...
My apologies again.
Posted by: Leila | January 25, 2008 at 08:46 PM
Just a quick note to say the front page of arabist.net has not commented on the recent events because of time and work constraints, and the rapidly shifting events there. It has nothing to do with political pressure. I hope to put up something other than links time permitting, but I'm afraid the blog is not a priority right now.
Keep up the good work!
Posted by: arabist | January 26, 2008 at 05:23 AM
Well thanks for dropping by anyway, Mr. Arabist!
PS Richard Silverstein said privately that he'd rather be called a yeshiva bocher (boy) than a traitor to his race... but I edited out the whole thing anyway, since it was incorrect and perhaps not necessary. I didn't go into anybody else's personal beliefs in my summaries.
Posted by: Leila | January 26, 2008 at 08:06 AM