People have asked, “Where is the Palestinian Gandhi?” One response has been Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat, who created the documentary, Five Broken Cameras.

Another good example is the young woman in this video (…

Today, November 29, 2012, is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (sometimes known simply as Solidarity Day). This day of observance has been celebrated on or around November 29 since a resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 2, 1977. (See…

Gaza: A fundamentalist’s guide to Gravity

By: Firouzeh Afsharnia

A few years ago I was traveling through Africa and found my self in a rickety cab. As I bounced up and down in the lumpy back seat, shifting spots to avoid the broken springs and whatever was festering in the exposed paddings, another passenger got in and sat in the front seat.  He was in a jovial mood and had just passed some sort of certification exam.  “I passed! I passed!” He declared.

First…

The Conflict Resolution Workout!

by Ruth Sirman, CanMediate International



16 November 2012



I have watched with concern and despair the way things are escalating between Israelis and Palestinians over the past few days, weeks and even months. And I am worried about where you are choosing to go - both individually and collectively.



There is an old African proverb that says “When 2…

By guest author Dr. Dahlia Wasfi

On August 27, 2012, the US Marine Corps announced “non-judicial administrative punishments” for several Marines videotaped urinating on three dead bodies in Afghanistan.…

• At least 28 people were reportedly killed in clashes on Saturday between government troops and opposition forces in Syria as the Red Cross continued efforts to evacuate civilians from the city of Homs; while at least 89 people were reportedly killed nationwide. On Sunday, the ICRC said that…

• China announced on Friday that it had yet to receive a formal invitation to a meeting of international powers in Tunis next week to discuss the crisis in Syria; the government reportedly blocked a premiere live stream website, Bambuser, that has been used by dissidents to…

• A new report in the Atlantic this week suggests that a barely perceptible shift occurred in recent months that make the possibility of Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear sites more possible, as the benefits outweigh the costs. NBC reported last week…

• Human Rights Watch alleged that authorities in Iran are intimidating and arresting relatives and friends of Persian-language journalists working abroad on Friday; while American spy chiefs told Congress that they believed Iran’s leaders are now more willing to attack the US in…

• On Saturday, the Sunni-backed bloc suspended its participation in Iraq’s Parliament after accusing PM al-Maliki’s Shi’ite led government of concentrating power. On Sunday, the last of the US combat troops in Iraq crossed the border into Kuwait after nearly nine years of war, and…

• At least 25 people were killed in Syria on Saturdayin clashes between…

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/reflections-i/26sept-40Reflex1a.html

Reflections of Fidel

(Taken from…

My latest is an out-of-the-box piece co-written with Andrea Bartoli (Director of the S-CAR at GMU) which asks:



"Imagine back in 2010 if instead of masked men with guns, trained for intense warfare at sea, boarding a ship in the dead of night, the IDF had dispatched an elite unit of conflict resolution specialists. Could the tragedy at sea been averted?" …

World

• The New Economics Foundation found that the earth is using up resources faster than ever. The study monitors nature’s capital and concluded that this year the earth was using up its own natural
  
  resources to support itself a full month earlier than in the previous
  
  year.
• August 19th was World Humanitarian Day. The…

This week in conflict...

World

• The world's twenty richest nations will be footing an $83 million (USD) bill for three new man-made "floating islands" in Seoul for the upcoming G20. The November meetings will be assisted by apparently
  
  more than 400,000 police.

Africa

• Rwanda's election process saw…

This week in conflict...

World

• The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative has recently launched its Multidimensional
  
  Poverty Index (MPI), a new way to measure poverty in the world. The MPI expands on the previous Human Development Index (HDI) and includes 10 indicators of health (child mortality and nutrition), education (years of schooling and child enrollment) and standard of…

I decided to start a new type of post on a Peace of Conflict reviewing conflict situations in the world on a somewhat weekly basis. I figured, I read this stuff every week anyway-- I might as well share it with readers in condensed form.

Here's some of what's happening in the world of conflict this week:

World

• The UN General Assembly voted to recognize the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation in a…

The news has barely hit the networks, but the spin has already begun: The BBC Video on the killing of

peace activists by the IDF suggests in its tone as if it is an accident,

as the IDF soldiers are highly trained and accustomed to these kind of

operations. Another speculation is that, somehow, these peace activists

took away the guns from these “highly trained soldiers” leading to

excessive use of force. if the…