Roundtable on Targeted Killing: Lawfare and Targeted Killing Revisited--A Response

[This is the sixth part of a six-part series associated with a Jadaliyya roundtable discussing targeted killings . Participants include Richard Falk, Nathan Freed Wessler, Pardiss Kabriaei, Leonard Small, and Lisa Hajjar. Click here for the introduction to the roundtable.]  The speech that Attorney General Eric Holder delivered on 5 March 2012 in which he outlined the Obama administration’s position on the legality of the targeted killing program exemplifies what I have described as “state lawfare.” One aspect of state lawfare, I argue, is the effort by officials “to frame otherwise clearly illegal practices as legal by ...

"Why Don't We Dialogue?" Walk Out on IDF Presentation at UCLA (Video)

On Tuesday, 28 February 2012, Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA organized a Gaza memorial as part of its annual Palestine Awareness Week. In response, Bruins for Israel and StandWithUs invited IDF soldiers to campus to present a whitewashed version of the IDF's actions in Operation Cast Lead, the 2008-2009 assault on the Gaza Strip which resulted in over 1,400 casualties and, to date, no accountability for documented war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. SJP at UCLA and several campus allies organized a walkout in protest of the continuing lack of justice for the victims of the IDF during Cast Lead. Because it is not held to account for its violations ...

Egypt Media Roundup (March 5)

“Spectacle and political power in Egypt” The military's responses to recent unrest shows it is learning to use manipulate events to its own political advantage. “The Arab media paradox” Despite the general Arab decline in the press freedom rankings, the region’s media have, in many ways, actually become freer, argues Khaled Diab. “The CSF Riots Anniversary and the enemy within” Zenobia looks into the CSF rioting of 1986. “The Brotherhood and Gulf security” Al-Qassemi discusses the Gulf’s fears of the Muslim Brotherhood exporting the revolution East and regional initiatives to normalize relations with the organization.  “Political figures, lawmakers reject ...

Exploiting a Dynamic Law of Prolonged Occupation: The Israeli High Court of Justice and Israel's Quarries in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

On 26 December 2011, the Israeli High Court of Justice (HCJ) rendered its judgment in a case challenging Israel’s quarrying activities in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) filed by the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din. The petitioners demanded that the activities be terminated since they violate Israel’s obligation to administer the OPT for the benefit of the local population. Israel started operating quarries in the OPT in the 1970s; today there are ten, eight of which are in operation. Approximately seventy-five percent of their yielded product is used on the Israeli construction market; in some quarries, this number reaches ninety-four percent.. By ...

US Military in Afghanistan

The Left and the People: Extending Hamid Dabashi's Critique

“The overall anti-imperialist sentiment remains strong among the Syrian population and the attempts by parts of the Left to smear the entire uprising as a stand-in for imperialism belies a Manichean worldview that badly misunderstands the country’s history. I don’t see any contradiction in opposing intervention and simultaneously being against the Assad regime—which, we need to remember, has embraced neoliberalism and consistently used a rhetoric of ‘anti-imperialism’ to obfuscate a practice of accommodation with both the US and Israel.” Adam Hanieh, author, Capital and Class in the Gulf Arab States, 2011.  One of Hamid Dabashi’s most acidic critiques of Azar ...

Singular Legal Regime Necessitates One-State Solution

This weekend, the Harvard University community will host its conference, "One-State Conference: Israel/Palestine and the One-State Solution". The conference promises to be an invigorating discussion on the likelihood of the two-state solution, the benefits of the one-state solution, and the challenges to achieving either. In light of that discussion, I thought it useful to share the legal dimensions that demonstrate Israel’s discriminatory system both within its putative borders and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) as a singular Apartheid regime. The unitary nature of this legal system at once triggers proper legal remedies in international law and ...

Finding Bayt Across Borders of Stone

No roads, not a single one, lead to the place where we had gotten ourselves.*  I “met” Anthony Shadid the only way someone like me, a mere reader, can meet a journalist she admires: I emailed him a fan letter. I sent him my short note through the New York Times website and didn’t expect an answer. The next day, he emailed me a brief but warm thank you. Two days later, on May 10th, I read Anthony’s article on Rami Makhlouf—Bashar al-Assad’s cousin and the regime’s crony-in-chief. In the interview, Makhlouf claimed, “If there is no stability here, there’s no way there will be stability in Israel.” His confession embarrassed the regime which was forced to distance ...

Syria Media Roundup (February 29)

“The dilemma for Syria’s neighbours” analysis by George Joffe and Alia Brahimi “Syrian casualty lists” how are we counting the dead? “The Syrian Arab Red Crescent refutes allegations it is not working in a neutral and impartial manner“ Abdulrahman Attar responds to allegations in the media as a result of its failed attempts to get foreign journalists out of Syria “China calls US critique on Syria ‘super arrogant’“ The view from China after Clinton’s attempted foray into taking the moral high ground’ “Council tightens restrictive measures against the Syrian regime” The Council of the European Union adds additional sanctions against Syria “Bait and switch in Syria” a ...

New Texts Out Now: Nezar AlSayyad, Cairo: Histories of a City

Nezar AlSayyad, Cairo: Histories of a City. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011. Jadaliyya (J): Why did you write this book? Nezar AlSayyad (NA): Cairo has fascinated me since I was first exposed to the city’s Islamic heritage in 1973, and it has continued to keep me under its spell. This love affair began to wane by the early 1990s, however, when my appreciation for the city began to be tempered by the realities of its problems. By the time I was asked to write this book, in 2006, I had published two other books on various aspects of Cairo and had spent many years devoted to Cairo-related research. But I had been reluctant to write a book on the history of the ...

"Future of Syria" Panel and Discussion on CSPAN

I have recently participated in a panel titled "Future of Syria," organized by Project on Middle East Political Science at George Washington University. My aim was to address four basic questions in a very short time period: What are the structural causes for the Syrian Uprising?; What explains the regime's resilience nearly one year on?; What explains the current stalemate?; and, where is the Syrian revolution going? The time limit presented a challenge but the discussion allowed for more time to elaborate. I will be elaborating on these questions on the pages of jadaliyya in the future. My answers, abridged and perhaps somewhat crude as a result, are ...