Portside

2016 began with a bang: French telecommunications giant Orange announced in early January it was dumping its Israel affiliate. Meanwhile, churches, student unions and local activists continued to organize strong boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns that caused panic among Israeli leaders.

What possessed me to travel 6,000 miles from L.A. and my family in order to brave the Mediterranean Sea in what is now beginning to look like the smallest vessel on the docks? Why join another effort to break the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza? I am here for the women-the extraordinary women of Gaza as well as the amazing women I'm proud to call my shipmates. I'm concerned about the war and blockade on the women, as schools, hospitals, and homes have been destroyed

The defiant display of Palestinian flags in Glasgow last week by Scottish fans of the Celtic soccer team raised over $200,000 in donations online, all marked for two Palestinian charitable groups. Activist fans of Scotland's Celtics soccer team - the working-class, historically progressive community already facing punishment for flying Palestinian flags at a recent game against Israel to protest the Occupation - have launched the fundraiser.

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This text describes the discourse on the Nakba - mostly the concept but also the historical event - in Israel. When did it appear? When did it decline and was repressed? What caused these changes? The attempt here is to describe historical moments, a periodization, from the founding of the state until today, in order to describe the relation to the term in each period and the changes it went through. Nakba Day - Solidarity actions across Ireland.

'It's scary to see horrifying developments that took place in Europe begin to unfold here,' Maj.-Gen. Yair Golan said during a Holocaust Remembrance speech. The lunatics who will now start to scream against him need to know: This is what morality and responsibility sound like. - Israeli opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog.

I stand against the government's saber-rattling, against ruling over and harming a civil population. It's important to me to say: No more! I'm not willing to take part in that. I want to represent a different path, to show that there's a choice and that it's possible to resist. Through my refusal I choose to represent a path of solidarity and peace, and I believe this path will create a more secure life for us all.

From Gaza's colorful neighborhood to its underground theater, resistance is an art. More than anyone else, artists must have hope and must create hope for the people. The aim of art is to deliver a message about societal improvement and evaluation. Music provides an escape from the pain of war, the injustice of occupation, and the isolation from living under the siege imposed by Israel, after Hamas wrested control of the coastal enclave. It's also how they fight back.

The idea of Israel has long been an integral part of Jewish-American identity. But with a generational change among American Jews and increasingly stark political differences with Israel's leadership, could this be the dawn of a new era?

Seldom, if ever, have Israel's decision-makers been so sharply at odds with their professional watchdogs on so many critical issues. Netanyahu has staked out a position on the nature of Islamist terrorism that's fundamentally at odds with his own intelligence community. Other questions include the causes of the current violence and strategies for containing it, the advisability of goodwill gestures toward the Palestinians, and the feasibility of resuming peace talks.