A national carrier without a state? Palestinian Airlines, the national carrier of a stateless Palestine, has resumed flights after a seven year absence. Flying from Al-Arish, an Egyptian port city in the Northern Sinai, to Amman, the airline is reportedly sold out for the next two months. Yesterday, I spoke about the airline, its history [...]
May 172012
May 122012
Hummus, a chickpea dish from the Middle East, is slowly becoming popular in the West. Eaten throughout Middle Eastern countries, Hummus has special significance in Israel and the Palestinian territories where both Israelis and Palestinian enjoy the filing dish as a centerpiece of their day. In my latest piece for Monocle 24′s The Menu, I [...]
The Palestinian economy is characterized by a reliance on huge sums of international foreign aid – they are one of the largest recipients in the world. But where exactly this money gets spent is not always so obvious. In a small town just outside the boundaries of Jerusalem, a construction project is nearing completion which [...]
May 092012
The Bauhaus style is one of the most important contributions to the field of architecture in the 20th century. While the functional buildings tend to dot the outer boroughs of European cities from Berlin to Prague, the city of Tel Aviv has the densest collection of Bauhaus buildings in the world. In 2003, UNESCO recognised [...]
May 022012
The development of Modern Hebrew literature is full of contradictory and competing narratives of national identity. The bespectacled Jewish writer, carrying with him the traditions of biblical Hebrew literature as he negotiates the fast-paced capitals of Europe, narrowly avoiding anti-Semitism lurking around every corner, is thinking of Palestine. The Modern Hebrew novel features protagonists who [...]
Apr 262012
Jerusalem is a branded city, perhaps the world’s first. But city planners, under the direction of a new mayor, are working hard to rebrand Jerusalem for its cultural appeal and downplay the political tension, which has become synonymous with the conflicted capital in recent years. Instead of ignore the political reality; some Jerusalemites would like [...]
Apr 262012
Spring in Palestine Fadi Quran’s first memory of the Israeli occupation is the Second Intifada. Ramallah, the de-facto capital of the West Bank and Quran’s home town, was under military curfew for weeks on end. Unable to buy necessary food staples because of the constant presence of Israeli tanks and soldiers, Quran’s family was literally [...]
By now, news of Palestinian being evicted from their homes in East Jerusalem is routine. Last week, two more Palestinian families were thrown into the street to make way for Jewish settlers in the neighbourhood of Beit Hanina. The mechanism of land confiscation in East Jerusalem and the West Bank has become a near science [...]
On my first trip to the West Bank, I was struck with a strange sense of familiarity. I left my apartment in Jerusalem and set off driving south, passing Bethlehem on my left and Israeli settlement blocks on my right. Driving through the Occupied West Bank, I stopped at an Israeli petrol station, just like [...]
Apr 112012
Beating out Dublin and Bilbao, Cape Town has secured the World Design Capital for 2014. While South African design is still struggling to emerge from the days of political isolation which plagued all aspects of society, Cape Town is taking the initiative to rebrand the city as a world design centre with the hopes that [...]
South Africa has a long history when it comes to division. Since the election of a democratic government in 1994, the country has been working hard to heal its urban divisions. In Cape Town, young entrepreneurs and designers are moving into Woodstock, a developing district just outside the city’s downtown with that hopes that gentrification might be able [...]
Germany has long been a leader in sustainable energy projects throughout the world. Last month, a German funded green energy project in the West Bank ran into some trouble when Israeli authorities ordered its demolition. Questions about the project’s future, which supplies various Palestinian communities with green energy, have started a spirited debate in the [...]
Mar 062012
A storied cinema has just reopened its doors after 25 years of being closed in the Palestinian part of Jerusalem. The al-Quds cinema is now on its way to becoming one of the major Palestinian cultural institutions in the eastern part of the city. It is part of growing campaign to encourage and expand Palestinian [...]
Why has Israel remained quiet in the face of increasingly harsh international criticism of its legal policy towards Palestinians in the West Bank? By now, many in the international community are aware of a Palestinian baker from the northern West Bank who embarked on a 66-day hunger strike in protest against detention by Israeli forces.
Since 1967, Israel has maintained a framework of laws and statutes to govern all aspects of life in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Israel’s occupation law is enforced by soldiers and administered in court rooms by military judges in uniform. Many, if not most, of the laws governing movement of Palestinians, freedom of speech and association [...]
One of Israel’s major fashion magazines is jumping into the heated debate about the religious character of the country. This month’s issue of BelleMode features a racy 12 page spread depicting provocative models surrounded by ultra-religious men on a public bus. The campaign is a cheeky response to efforts by Jerusalem’s Ultra-Orthodox religious minority to [...]
Feb 092012
Palestinians are not the most forward thinking people when it comes to green energy but one young Palestinian entrepreneur who was raised in Canada has returned in order to start the largest geothermal company in the Middle East. For Monocle 24′s The Entrepreneurs, I interview Khaled Sabawi about why he is bringing green energy to Palestine and ask what challenges [...]
Feb 082012
Open publication – Free publishing – More israel Das von Israel in den besetzten Gebieten eingerichtete Verwaltungssystem macht das Leben der palästinensischen Bevölkerung zur Qual. In den letzten Jahren wächst der Widerstand palästinensischer und israelischer Menschenrechts- gruppen. Ein Bericht von den Hügeln südlich von Hebron. Hohe Beamte der Europäischen Union verabschiedeten im Januar 2012 in [...]
Newspapers are fighting to stay alive in the digital age. In Israel, the billionaire casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson has turned the newspaper market upside down with his free mass daily Israel Today. The paper is known for its strong right views and support of Netanyahu’s government. Haaretz, the iconic, leftist and establishment newspaper has turned [...]
It will be remembered as a banner year for American democracy. Emboldened by economic crisis and inspired by revolutionary upheaval overseas, its citizens took to the streets in 2011 to show their frustration with stale political leadership. In doing so, they awakened a fresh discussion about the very nature of democracy in the United States [...]
Jan 262012
Cyber attacks are heating up in the Middle East but do they pose a real threat to regional security? In my latest report for Monocle 24, I interview a number of experts and journalists in Israel to find the real story behind the attacks. You can listen to the piece here (piece starts at minute [...]
The plight of African refugees in Tel Aviv has been covered extensively but the recent passage of strict legislation in the Israeli parliament aimed at curbing the flow of refugees requires another visit to the subject. In my latest report from Tel Aviv for Monocle, I speak with refugees about their experience in Tel Aviv and what keeps [...]
Palestine has a stock exchange. Actually, Palestine has a privately owned but independently monitored stock exchange which performed surprisingly well last year in the climate of Middle East revolutions. Political instability is built into the cost of doing business in Palestine. While regional markets in Egypt and Tunisia were turned on their head by political instablity, Palestine emerged as an ironically secure market. In my [...]
In my first radio piece for Monocle 24, I address the simple yet deceptive question; what makes a city new? In order to answer this question, I traveled to the West Bank uber-settlement Ariel along with my colleague Radio France’s Emilie Baujard. The piece aired on the weekly program The Urbanist, which explores various aspects of city living and [...]