“It may seem odd that a small and poor country that Canada does not even recognise, located half a world away, would matter in the 2019 Canadian election. Yet Palestine does matter - a lot. It featured in the first leader’s debate, on the second day of the election campaign, as Conservative leader Andrew Scheer promised if elected to follow in the footsteps of US President Donald Trump by cutting aid to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), arguing that it was a factor in fomenting antisemitism across the Middle East.”

“The recent move to revoke Barghouti’s residency seems to result from a right-wing incitement campaign by the group Betzalmo (a pun on the human rights monitoring group B’tselem). They wrote to Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit and to Deri just over a week ago, urging them to expel Barghouti.”

“Dressed in an all green leprechaun outfit with his beard dyed red for the race, the Ethiopian-born software developer proved his dedication in wanting to raise awareness regarding the “Palestinian cause”. “It’s mischievous and unoffensive. I wanted to do it for the Palestinian the cause” he told South African newspaper TimesLive".”

“In Gaza, 1.3 million out of the 1.9 million people living there require some form of humanitarian assistance. According to the UN, more than 55% have unmet energy needs, 47% have food insecurities and only a small group have access to water. Zena Agha, a policy fellow with the U.S think tank al-Shabak said that this resembles eco-apartheid whereby “while Palestinians and Israeli inhabit the same physical terrain, vulnerable Palestinians – those under occupation and siege – will suffer the effects of climate change more severely purely as a consequence of their ethno-religious identities.”

“Salman Abu Sitta’s Mapping My Return is much more than a personal memoir. Although the author says that it is not a research work, it does intertwine personal tragedy with the Palestinian national Catastrophe known as the Nakba. It tells the story of the author’s struggle and that of his people, against all odds, to maintain their identity and regain their patrimony. Abu Sitta became a refugee at the age of ten and has dedicated the rest of his life to identifying those who were responsible for burning his family home and occupying their land in Al Ma’in, Beersheba District, in May 1948.”