Week In Review, Jan 27th

Storified by Palestine Note
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Week in Review, Jan 27th

Abbas declares exploratory talks with Israel "over", PLC speaker to be held in Israeli prison for six months without charge, and Hamas allegedly distancing itself from Syria in this week’s top #Palestine stories.

  1. Abbas declares exploratory talks with Israel “over”, PLC speaker to be held in Israeli prison for six months without charge, and Hamas allegedly distancing itself from Syria in this week’s top #Palestine stories.

  2. Last week, Israel arrested Palestinian Legislative Council speaker and Hamas member Aziz Dweik at a checkpoint and continued to arrest other Hamas politicians for being “involved in terrorist activities”. Dweik has been sentenced by a military court to  six months in prison without trial. The arrests are being interpreted by many Palestinians as a crackdown on Hamas-Fatah reconciliation efforts. The Palestinian Authority has condemned the arrests while Hamas has called on the PA to suspend its “talks about talks” with Israel in Amman.
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    Talks undermined by arrest of Hamas leader
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    6 months administrative detention order given by Israeli Military Court at Ofer prison to PLC Leader Dr Aziz Dweik. Security measures eh?
  5. Aforementioned talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority were pronounced “over” by President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday. The European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton denies that the parties have reached an impasse.
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    Continuing the talks with the Palestinians is the only way to achieve a breakthrough. President Abbas must not put an end to these talks.
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    Herb Keinon says low-level Israeli-Palestinian talks are likely to continue. This is almost certainly correct – t.co/Jow53Cnv
  8. Hamas political chief Khaled Meshal, who earlier announced he would be retiring, has reportedly abandoned his headquarters in Damascus. Analysts are saying that Hamas has effectively “quit” Syria over the turmoil between protesters and Bashar Assad’s government, but are unlikely to publicly declare so. 
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    Meshaal to step down from Hamas’s helm-part of regional configuration re: Syria t.co/GP68Zeez & t.co/GWt2JL3K #Syria #Hamas
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    Even #Hamas sees the writing on the walls in #Syria yhoo.it/AsAA5B “There’s still a Hamas presence there, but it’s insignificant.”

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#Jan25 Through 25 Music Videos That Gave it Voice

January 25, 2011 in Tahrir Square / Al Jazeera, Flickr

Safa Samiezade’-Yazd, Aslan Media - If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a song is worth a million, and a video gone viral is worth even more.

Since protests ran aflame in Egypt’s Tahrir Square, taking down the 30-year dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak, we’ve all be witness to the country’s triumphs, its setbacks, its challenges, and most importantly its contagious hope for freedom through peaceful protest.

In honor of the anniversary of Jan 25th, this special collection of videos will highlight the grassroots role music played alongside the organic movement of defiant idealism that had nothing to lose but its own voice.

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The Week In Review, Jan 20th

From MLK to Nablus: Fighting Institutionalized Racism and Ongoing Discrimination

Clare Herceg - This week’s celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day offers us a unique opportunity to reflect on the significance of the Civil Rights Movement, the current situation of race relations in the United States, and some of the parallels that can be drawn between discrimination in the United States and Palestine.

The Civil Rights Movement was active from 1955 to 1968 and used a series of nonviolent tactics and methods of civil disobedience to secure equal legal rights for African Americans.  The movement culminated in the adoption of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination based on race; the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which reaffirmed the right of minorities to vote; and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which outlawed discrimination in renting or purchasing housing.

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Is Peace Possible?: Atlantic Exchange With Senator George Mitchell

Last night a whole host of Washington’s Mideast policy characters came out to participate in The Atlantic’s third installment of the Atlantic Exchange series and introduction to the smartly designed multimedia presentation on Israel-Palestine’s core issues, “Is Peace Possible?“.

There’s only so much you can cram in to an hour and thirty minutes when talking about decades (or even century, depending on your interpretation) old protracted conflict like this, but emcee and Palestine Note co-publisher Steve Clemons and moderator Jeffrey Goldberg did an outstanding job in making sure the crowd was treated to a well-rounded discussion. Though, depending on who you were following on Twitter, some of Jeffrey Goldberg’s questions were a little too…broad.

In any case, its worth listening to Senator Mitchell’s description of what the US could have done better in brokering the failed 2010 resumption of direct negotations, and why he believes the US is still a legitimate and capable mediator.

Certainly looking forward to the next Atlantic Exchange!