Edward Said on the Intellectual and the Question of Palestine

"Nothing in my mind is more reprehensible than those habits of mind in the intellectual that induce avoidance, that characeristic turning away from a difficult and principled position that you know to be the right one, but which you decide not to take. You do not want to appear too political, you want to keep a reputation of being balanced, moderate, objective. Your hope is to remain within the responsible mainstream. For an intellecutal, these habits of mind are corrupting par excellence.

Personally, I have encountered them in one of the toughest of all contemporary issues, Palestine, where fear of speaking out about one of the greatest injustices in modern history has hobbled, blinkered, muzzled many who know the truth and are in a position to serve it. For despite the abuse and villiification that any outspoken supporter of Palesinian rights and self determination earns for him or herself, the truth deserves to be spoken, represented by an unafraid and compassionate intellectual."

Edward Said, as quoted by Omar Barghouti.

Cost of Occupation to Israeli Society

Notes from the Alternative Information Center's podcast:

The total cost of the Occupation, since 1967, has been $100 billion.

This sounds small, but in fact the first 20 years of occupation were actually profitable for Israel.

Today, there is a 6% increase in cost of occupation, per year. This is compared to the growth of the overall Israeli budget, which is only about 2% per year. The cost of the occupation is growing, even relative to the Israeli budget, and at the expense of education, health, and welfare spending.

As a result, Israel is now the second most unequal country in the developed world, after only the US. Inequality in Israel has increased faster than any other developed country. The poverty rate is higher than it ever has been.

The occupation currently costs $7 billion a year, 9 percent of the total Israeli budget. This figure does not including the non-occupation defense budget.

The occupation was already morally unsustainable, but this provides further proof that it is also financially impossible to maintain.

Ali Abunimah's Keynote at the Hampshire BDS Conference

Video, too, but in several parts:

Flashpoints - November 26, 2009 at 5:00pm

Click to listen (or download)

Life in Occupied Britain

Saree Makdisi on the Expansion of Israeli Settlements