Few doubt the pro-Israel bias of the Western media. It takes the form of overtly supporting Israel's government policies, or of maintaining neutrality or silence on issues of Israeli violence, occupation, and settlement expansion. Scholar and activist Karma R. Chávez collects eleven interviews that allow dissenting voices a forum to provide rarely heard perspectives on the Palestinian struggle for justice, land, and self-determination.This volume in the Common Threads series is a supplement to the Journal of Civil and Human Rights. The conversations within took place on a radio program Chávez hosted from 2013-16. There, journalists, activists, academic figures, authors, and Palestinian citizens of Israel shared a wide range of thoughts and experiences. Participants covered topics that include: everyday life for Palestinians in the West Bank and in Israel; the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement that arose in response to Israel's ongoing actions; the Steven Salaita controversy at the University of Illinois; the pro-Palestine social movement on college campuses; Israel's pinkwashing of human rights abuses; the aftermath of the 2014 attack on Gaza; and Chávez's 2015 visit to the West Bank.| Cover Title Copyright Contents Preface MICHAEL EZRA Acknowledgments KARMA R. CHÁVEZ Introduction: From the Mexico-U.S. Borderlands to Palestine KARMA R. CHÁVEZ HAITHAM SALAWDEH: "Settler Violence in Duma Village, West Bank," September 9, 2015 GHADIR SHAFIE: "Pinkwashing and the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Campaign," May 25, 2016 JOHAYNA SAIFI: "Akka, Israel," June 17, 2015 CHARLOTTE SILVER: "One Year after Operation Protective Edge," July 22, 2015 DAVID LLOYD: "The American Studies Association and the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural KATHERINE FRANKE AND SARAH ROBERTS: "The Firing of Steven Salaita," September 3, 2014 STEVEN SALAITA: "Uncivil Rites," October 21, 2015 NORA BARROWS-FRIEDMAN: "In Our Power," February 25, 2015 SARAH SCHULMAN: "Israel/Palestine and the Queer International," August 28, 2013 JEFF HALPER: "War against the People," May 4, 2016 Appendices Back cover |"The book is an exercise in pointing out the political bias promoted by Israel and the US, veering away from the neutral stance that is prioritised by the international community in order to focus on specific themes and political discussion. There are possibilities to challenge US influence and support for Israel if efforts to deconstruct oblivion and normalisation are taken seriously." —Middle East Monitor
|Karma R. Chávez is an associate professor in the Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at the University of Texas, Austin. She is the author of Queer Migration Politics: Activist Rhetoric and Coalitional Possibilities and coeditor of Text + Field: Innovations in Rhetorical Method and Standing in the Intersection: Feminist Voices, Feminist Practices in Communication Studies.