Hasta La Gadget!

With Apple recently revealing that the much-anticipated Apple Watch will be released on April 24th, and pre-orders beginning on April 10th, the Cupertino company is starting to shed a little light on what the retail purchasing experience will be like. As was previously rumored, in a handful of special location there will be dedicated shops that only sell the Apple … Continue reading

When you see a bag of Lay’s Mango Salsa Flavored Potato Chips you may
think that you’ve seen just about everything when it comes to chips. But
you may not have seen Glass Potato Chips. While they look like they
might be some glass design concept they are actually made of potatoes —
well, sort of. These chips are more derived from potatoes rather than
made of thinly sliced potatoes.

In 1971, I was in Beirut on a grant from my university to conduct research for my doctoral dissertation on the emergence of Palestinian national consciousness. Since the subjects of my study were the Palestinians in Lebanon’s refugee camps, I set about to visit Ein al Hilweh to interview families and document their stories.

Midway through my fieldwork I had a discussion with the novelist Ghassan Kanafani which resulted in a dramatic shift in my approach. Ghassan told me that I was looking in the wrong place. The stories I had collected were important and would be useful, but, he noted, in reaction to the trauma of dislocation and hardship of the camps, their consciousness had been frozen. They were in caught in a time warp, recreating the structures of village life in an effort to preserve what they had lost. The important story, he said, was unfolding in Israel among the Arabs who had stayed behind after 1948. They were the most interesting and politically advanced portion of the Palestinian community. Someday, he insisted, they may very well lead the way.

It was these Palestinians, he said, who were evolving a new consciousness. To make his point he introduced me to the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, Tawfiiq Zayyed, and Sameh al Qassim. On reading them, I was struck by their love of their land, their resistance to Israeli efforts to strip them of their heritage, and of the boldness of the challenge they presented to the oppression they were forced to endure.

I changed the focus of my dissertation and titled my work “Arabs in the Promised Land: the Emergence of Palestinian National Consciousness among the Arabs in Israel, from 1948 to 1967”. I have retained my fascination with this component part of the Palestinian people until today and so I watched and celebrated the remarkable victory of the Joint List–the unified slate of Arab parties–in the recent Israeli elections. Even more so, I have been excited by the early courageous steps they have taken to validate the trust that their voters have placed in them–from their unequivocal rejection of Benjamin Netanyahu’s lame effort to apologize for using them as “bait” to incite rightist voters to turn out on election day to the striking call of their leader, Ayman Odeh, to mobilize a peaceful demonstration to Jerusalem to challenge the Israeli government’s plan to dispossess and forcibly resettle the 100,000 Arab Bedouin of the Negev.

With 13 seats in the next Knesset, the Joint List is now the third largest party in Israel and given their success they are positioned to grow in strength in coming years. Representing the Arab community that is 20% of Israel’s population, they will, in the words that Zayyed once wrote, remain a heavy weight on the heart of the state that seeks to deny them their legitimate right to remain in their land.

The success of the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel did not come easy. After 1948 when Israelis were celebrating what Ben Gurion called the “double miracle” of a state that was larger and had less Arabs, the 160,000 Arabs who remained in the “Jewish State” faced extreme hardships. For the first decades of Israel’s existence, these Arabs were denied the right to form an independent party. When some brave souls founded al Ard (the land) party, they were arrested and expelled from the country. Arab laborers were denied the right to join even the Histadrut (the Israeli labor union) on the grounds that it was only for Jewish workers. Placed under what were called “Emergency Defense Laws”, Arab-owned lands were confiscated and the Arabs citizens were subject to harsh military justice which included: curfews, collective punishment, and arbitrary arrest and summary expulsion. Over the years, Israeli leaders referred to them as “aliens,” “strangers in our land” (a biblical term), “a cancer in our midst”, and “a demographic time bomb.” They were, in reality, under occupation in their own country.

Arab cities like Nazareth lost control of their adjacent lands–their source of livelihood–that were then used to build Jewish-only communities. Because of the discriminatory regulations imposed by the Jewish National Fund, Arabs could not buy or rent properties in any of these new settlements.

As the Arabs matured and organized, they were punished for their efforts. Because the only party that would accept them as full members was the Communist Party, they joined it, transforming it into a substitute nationalist party. When in the 1970’s, the Arabs of Nazareth elected Tawfiq Zayyed as their mayor, the Israeli government punished them for their insolence by cutting off state funding for the Nazareth Municipality. In response to this budget loss, Zayyed organized international youth camps, welcoming thousands of volunteers from all over the world to come to the city to help with construction projects, clean-up campaigns, and to provide other needed services.

A critical turning point for these Palestinians came 40 years ago when Israel announced plans to “Judaize the Galilee” by confiscating more land to build Jewish-only communities in order to change the demographics of this heavily Arab region of the country. In reaction, the Arabs called for a national strike and mass mobilization on May 30, 1976. The Israelis reacted brutally, killing six and injuring 100. This first “Day of the Land” both inspired and empowered the Arab community and, as a result, March 30th is commemorated each year as “Land Day” by Palestinians, world-wide.

Against the backdrop of this history and these challenges, the recent electoral success of the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel can be seen as all the more significant. While the Joint List includes a number of disparate groups, ranging from Communist to Islamic parties, they are unified in their resolve to remain on their land and steadfast in their struggle to fight for their rights. What is equally interesting is that despite the different positions of their parties, our polling shows a remarkable consensus in the political views of the Arab community. They are more forward looking on most issues than either Israeli Jews or Palestinians from the occupied territories. They support an end to the Israeli occupation and the establishment of a two-state solution and they support the rights of the refugees–whom they see as their dispossessed kin. They strongly support both the Arab Peace Initiative and the parameters of the Clinton peace proposal. And they insist that their future is in their native land, demanding equal rights on all levels equal funding for education and other public services, and an end to the 50+ laws that discriminate against them in favor of the Jewish citizens of the state.

It is because of this history that I shudder when I hear liberals argue that Israel must end the occupation in order to remain “Jewish and democratic”. The reasons to end the occupation are because it is immoral and illegal and because it has caused enormous hardship to millions of innocent Palestinians. And more than that, the notion that a state can favor one group and still be democratic is impossible.

Netanyahu’s promise to be the Prime Minister of all the citizens of the state is lame precisely because this is what Israel has never been. His effort to pass a “Jewish Nation State” law in the last Knesset and his promise to resurface this law in the next government makes clear his intention, since this law only serves to codify Jewish supremacy and the subordinate status of Israel’s Arabs.

That the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel have fought for their rights for 67 years and continue to advance in their struggle gives me hope. As we approach this years’ “Land Day,” keep your eyes on this remarkable community. They do, indeed, point the way forward.

Follow @AAIUSA for more.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program picked up pace on Saturday with the French and German foreign ministers joining U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in talks with Tehran’s top diplomat ahead of an end-of-March deadline for a preliminary deal.

With just four days to go until that target, negotiators in the Swiss town of Lausanne settled in for another round of lengthy sessions that they hope will produce an outline of an agreement that can become the basis for a comprehensive deal to be reached by the end of June. Iranian negotiator Majid Takht-e Ravanchi denied a news report that the sides were close to agreement, and other officials also spoke of remaining obstacles.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters as he arrived that the talks have been “long and difficult. We’ve advanced on certain issues, not yet enough on others.”

Iranian nuclear agency chief Ali Akbar Salehi described one or two issues as becoming “twisted.” He told Iran’s ISNA news agency that the sides were working to resolve the difficulties.

Kerry met early in the day with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, ahead of talks with Fabius and Germany’s Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The foreign ministers of Russia, China and Britain also were expected in Lausanne over the weekend.

Diplomats at the talks said their presence does not necessarily mean a deal is almost done.

Steinmeier avoided predictions of an outcome, saying only that a nuclear deal could help ease Mideast tensions.

“The endgame of the long negotiations has begun,” he said.

Iran says its nuclear ambitions are purely peaceful; other nations fear it is seeking to develop weapons.

Progress has been made on the main issue: the future of Iran’s uranium enrichment program. It can produce material for energy, science and medicine but also for the fissile core of a nuclear weapon.

The sides tentatively have agreed that Iran would run no more than 6,000 centrifuges at its main enrichment site for at least 10 years, with slowly easing restrictions over the next five years on that program and others Tehran could use to make a bomb.

The fate of a fortified underground bunker previously used for uranium enrichment also appears closer to resolution.

Officials have told The Associated Press that the U.S. may allow Iran to run hundreds of centrifuges at the Fordo bunker in exchange for limits on centrifuge work and research and development at other sites. The Iranians would not be allowed to do work that could lead to an atomic bomb and the site would be subject to international inspections.

Instead of uranium, any centrifuges permitted at Fordo would be fed elements used in medicine, industry or science, the officials said.

Even if the centrifuges were converted to enrich uranium, there would not be enough of them to produce the amount needed to make a weapon within a year — the minimum time frame that Washington and its negotiating partners demand.

A nearly finished nuclear reactor would be re-engineered to produce much less plutonium than originally envisaged.

Still problematic is Iran’s research and development program.

Tehran would like fewer constraints on developing advanced centrifuges than the U.S. is willing to grant.

Also in dispute is the fate of economic penalties against Iran.

In addition, questions persist about how Iran’s compliance with an agreement would be monitored.

Fabius suggested that France was not yet satisfied on that point.

BEIRUT (AP) — Al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria, the Nusra Front, captured most of the northwestern city of Idlib from government forces Saturday, sweeping into neighborhoods in the center of the city in a powerful blow to President Bashar Assad’s government, opposition activists and the group said.

The Nusra Front is leading a group of ultra-conservative rebels in a major offensive that began earlier this week to take Idlib, near the border with Turkey. If the city falls, it would be the second provincial capital and major urban center lost by President Bashar Assad’s forces in the four-year-old conflict.

The eastern city of Raqqa fell to rebels, including the Nusra Front, in March 2013. It was subsequently taken over by Nusra’s rival, the Islamic State group, which has since declared the city its de facto capital.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebel fighters seized control of most of Idlib in a push Friday evening and early Saturday after collapsing government forces withdrew to their bases and several other buildings in the city.

The group, which relies on an extensive network of activists across Syria, said heavy fighting continued Saturday amid heavy artillery shelling from both sides. The Local Coordination Committees, another opposition activist collective in Syria, also reported the “almost complete” capture of large parts of Idlib by the rebels.

An unnamed Syrian military official quoted by state-run news agency SANA said army forces were fighting “fierce battles” against “armed terrorist groups” to regain control in Idlib, adding that the opposing side suffered heavy losses. In an indication of the gravity of the situation, SANA also said the army is repositioning forces and units in the city to face “thousands of terrorists crossing the border from Turkey.”

Earlier, the agency said army troops directed strikes at fighters who tried to sneak into the area near the national museum and the industrial zone around the eastern entrance of Idlib.

The government claimed earlier this week that “thousands of terrorists” streamed in from Turkey to attack Idlib and its suburbs. Turkey is one of the main backers of the rebels.

A loose alliance of anti-government rebels and members of the Nusra Front control large parts of Idlib province and have tried in the past to capture the provincial capital. The latest attempt appears to be the most successful so far.

On its Twitter account, Nusra said its fighters have taken control of half of the city, posting pictures of the Clock Tower and other landmark locations now under the its control.

In one video, also posted by Nusra on Twitter, a rebel fighter is seen tearing a billboard in Idlib’s municipal stadium showing Assad in a suit and tie, with the words “Together, we protect it (Syria),” before trampling it with his feet. The video, which could not be independently confirmed, appeared consistent with AP reporting on events in Idlib.

The humiliating losses in Idlib mark the second blow to government forces this week, after rebels, led by Nusra, captured the ancient and strategic town of Busra Sham in southern Syria.

Also Saturday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was angry and shamed by the failure of the world to stop Syria’s raging civil war. He promised to step up diplomatic efforts in comments at a summit of Arab leaders in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.

More than 220,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which began with popular protests amid Arab Spring uprisings in March 2011 and turned into an insurgency following a brutal military crackdown.

Syria’s seat was empty at the Arab League summit in Sharm this weekend. The main Western-backed Syrian group, the Syrian National Council, slammed the Arab League’s decision not to invite it for the second year in a row.

The group considers itself as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people and had been declared as such by the Arab League. But its role has diminished greatly in the past year as militant groups became increasingly powerful in Syria.

In a statement, the Syrian National Coalition said the non-invite coincided with attempts to “float the (Syrian) regime” – a clear reference to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent statement that Washington must eventually talk with Damascus to help negotiate an end to Syria’s civil war.

Assad addressed those comments in an interview with CBS aired Friday in which he said Syria is open to dialogue “with anyone, including the United States.” He said there is no direct communication so far with Washington.