Ihsan Alkhatib

All is fair in love and war, it is often stated. But that’s not exactly true since there are laws regulating what an entity/individual can do nationally or internationally. Putting aside the issues of love, while it might seem like an oxymoron, there are actually laws for warfare. When these laws are violated, the violators can be charged by war crimes, arrested and brought before the International War Crimes in The Hague. Slobodan Meets Tzipi This International Criminal Court is real. Slobodan Milošević, the late President of Serbia, was arrested and tried before it for the war crimes committed against Bosnians and Croatians. Just likeMilošević, Israeli officials and officers, when they travel internationally, face the threat of being arrested and tried for war crimes. Recently, a Belgian court was petitioned to arrest Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni upon arrival in Brussels, Belgium for the war crimes in Gaza. Olmert and Barak are not immune either. The only safe place for the Israeli w...

In response to the Israeli attack on Gaza, throngs of Lebanese leftists tried to reach the US embassy in Okar to express solidarity with Gaza and to express outrage at US support for Israel. These young men and women were very driven. Despite the Lebanese army measures, they persisted in trying to reach the embassy. It's nice to have good feelings for the Palestinians. In Gaza. The energy of these protesters in their Jeans , t -shirts and Keffiyashs is refreshing in the age of homogenization and greed. It is always good to feel for the downtrodden. But- How about those Palestinians in Lebanon denied of so many of the basic human rights? Instead of driving to Okar in their buses, these budding revolutionaries should have driven South to the Palestinian camps to see how their beloved Palestinians are living. Those refugees are Palestinians too but don't have the distinction of being bombed ruthlessly by Israel- for the moment. Did the left hold any events to pressure the Lebanese...

The first causality of war is truth. There is a video of a Palestinian reporter for Al Arabiya TV, Hanan Al Masri, speaking on the phone and wondering about the strong noise that sounds as if a rocket is being fired from under the building. Israel's shameless propagandists such as Debbie Schlussel flatly lie - Schlussel claims 'VIDEO: "Impartial" Al-Arabiya Reporter Laughs About HAMAS Missile Being Launched from Her Building' As a native speaker of Arabic I understood what she said. The Al Arabiya reporter stated: "As if from under the building" "It's noise is so strong." "Are they [Hamas] launching rockets from under the building office!!! The reporter seems shocked that Hamas would do such a thing. This is in fact evidence that the Palestinians were not firing from near civilian targets. If Hamas habitually fired from near civilian locations, then the reporter would not seem shocked they are firing from nearby her building. The repor...

Love Struck When I was in law school in Toledo, one of my classmates told me that when he married his Palestinian wife, on the wedding eve, the father of the bride made him sign a paper saying that he owes his wife $100,000 in the event of a divorce. The love struck young man was reluctant to sign it but could not protest given that that would have caused a lot of problems (a possible bridezilla outbreak?). He told me that now he knows that that paper has no value as a contract since if it did meet all the requirements of a valid contract as set by Ohio law and was executed under duress. It does not have to be this way. What is Mahr? It’s easy to say what it is not- It is not dower, not dowry and not bride price. Mahr is frequently misunderstood as dowry. It is not. It is not a bride’s price, and not dower. Dowry is assets (goods, money and real estate) that a wife brings to her new husband- it’s a common practice in India. It becomes the husband’s property. Bride pric...

The Palestinians in Gaza are getting a lot of sympathy from the whole world- except Israel and its blind supporters. But much of this support is rhetorical, as has been the case for many years. You would think this sympathy for the Palestinians would translate into a momentum for decent treatment of the Palestinians in some Arab countries. No chance. In a meeting with the Lebanese officials, the old revolutionary Nayef Hawatmeh of the Democratic Front was told that the Palestinian refugees' basic human and civil rights will be examined when the issue of the weapons of the pro-Syria militias outside the camps is resolved! How the two issues are linked is one of the bizarre riddles of Lebanese sectarian and tribal politics.

It's really amazing to see and read the commentary on the war on Gaza. It's completely one-sided. Not that this is new when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict. But with the war on Gaza and the massive destruction and human suffering of the Palestinian people, it's not even funny how one -sided the media covrage is now. It's funny, how of all the news media, only fake news would present both sides in a way fair to the Palestinians. The mainstream media frames the war as a Israeli response to the rocket attacks of Hamas when the truth is that there is much more to the story. The snapshot of rocket attack and response to it is a grave misrepresentation of the conflict. http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=213378

It's heartening to see the world sympathize with Gaza. Gaza is the underdog. Gaza is the "third world country" fighting a Western colonial nuclear superpower. Gaza is the victim of collective punishment and way disproportionate response of Israel to the ineffective and futile missiles of Hamas. Gaza is clearly the victim of war crimes. Human beings are made in the image of God- that is true for Gazans as well as Israelis. Israel is acting as if only Israelis are created in the image of God. 485 Palestinians have been slaughtered- 4 Israelis died in the Hamas missile attacks. Gaza is besieged, outgunned, bombed ruthlessly. The goal of Israel is to break the will of Gaza to fight. Good luck. No, no good luck. But Gaza is not the only place were Palestinians are suffering. In many Arab countries they are suffering as well. No one has forgotten that Nahr al Bared was destroyed due to a murdereous gang having taken it hostage. Until now the Al bared's refugees are refugees...