cafebabel.com

Trio Joubran: ‘It’s hard to be Palestinian musicians in the world’

('Annie Rutherford',) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:25:16 -0000

Samir, Wissam and Adnan Joubran are international musicians whose performance and perspectives nonetheless remain rooted in their homeland: Palestine. Just before the UN is due to consider Palestine’s official bid to become a UN member as well as a state, we meet the brothers in Paris about how their hopes for their country influences their music

Question of the week: if the euro dies, will Europe go with it?

('Annie Rutherford',) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:34:03 -0000

Everyone's talking about saving the euro - but is money really the only thing holding us together? That's this week's theme on Europa plus, cafebabel.com's project with German TV channel ZDF. Four young Europeans tell us what they think: add your two (euro) cents at here before Thursday 29 September!

Baking a state for Palestine at the United Nations kitchen

('hkeet',) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:22:08 -0000

64 years ago, the UN granted the Palestinians a state on 43% of the former mandate Palestinian territory. This state never came into being. The bid for this and UN membership will likely take place on 24 September. A divided EU once again shows its reluctance to form a common foreign policy with the member states’ 'for', 'against' and 'wait-and-see' positions

Giacomo Abbruzzese: 'I’m no longer able to make a film without talking about Palestine'

('Carol Howard',) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 10:20:45 -0000

The Italian director's short film Archipelago (2010) explores the West Bank from its various forms of transport. The arduous journey from Ramallah to Jerusalem and back highlights the absurdity of the situation that Israel and Palestine have been in for decades. Interview

Itamar Shapira: former Israeli soldier on killing in Palestine

('AnaD',) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:09:49 -0000

The organisation of veterans talks about the occupation of Palestinian territory and the moral price paid for it. Photos and combatant stories reveal the clear picture of the battlefield

Israeli and Arab film pick at the Berlin film festival

('Sarah Turpin',) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:07:18 -0000

On the 60th anniversary of the Berlin film festival, cinema should be just that: cinema. But this year the international film festival introduces people, landscapes and cultures who and which you'd never encounter in real life

Olga Rodríguez: 'Journalists tend to be very individualistic'

('Helen Swain',) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:43:33 -0000

On a famed terrace close to Madrid’s Palacio Real (Royal Palace) at nightfall, the 34-year-old Spanish award-winning journalist talks about two of her passions, the Middle East and journalism

A cultural cacophony; international festival in Germany

('Annie Rutherford',) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:00:00 -0000

'Beirut? Isn't that in the near East?' You frequently hear this question when telling European friends about the Festival of Young Artists in Bayreuth. Has anyone other than avowed Wagner admirers heard of this small town deep in the franconian province?

Israeli-German theatre: the Holocaust, Nazi and Palestinian 'Third Generation'

('Annie Rutherford',) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:00:00 -0000

Together with the dramaturges Amit Epstein and Irina Szodruck, Israeli director Yael Ronen ventured on an experiment with Third Generation. The theatre project has already been performed as a work in progress in Halle (Germany), Tel Aviv and Parma (Italy). A newly finished version hit the Berliner Schaubühne in early May. Review and interview

Middle-East: British students still mobilised

('Hayley Wood',) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:00:00 -0000

Fighting in the Gaza Strip may be over, but sit-in demonstrations organised via email and Facebook continue in 21 UK universities. Amongst other things, students demand bursaries for Palestinian students. This is a campaign which 'has only just begun'

Aviv Geffen: 'Israel is a paranoid country'

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:00:00 -0000

Hopeful sounds from Israel: the 35 year old pop singer was one of the first conscientious objectors in Israel. Today, he sings about peace in the Middle East and wants to lend a voice to a 'new generation' with his songs

Turin in the Israel-Palestine crossfire

('Andrea Giambartolomei',) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:30:47 -0000

During the military campaign against Hamas on the Gaza Strip, a wave of Muslim immigrants across Europe, stretching from London, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid, Brussels as well as Milan and Rome – protested against Israel’s actions, supporting their Palestinian ‘brothers’. Perspective of the communities in Turin, a twin city of Gaza and Haifa

Middle East conflict: the EU has to be more proactive

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:55:27 -0000

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian National Authority, visits the members of the European parliament in Strasbourg to discuss the EU’s role in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Interview with French MEP Catherine Boursier-Mougenot

Israeli sculptress Nathalie Alony: ‘Palestinians in Gaza should be given something to lose’

('Helen Swain',) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 01:15:00 -0000

The Italy-based artist says her viewpoint on the Middle East is fairly ‘balanced’, but Europeans do not realise what it is like for ‘Israel to be attacked in its sleep and continually threatened with annihilation’

Eyewitness Israel: Gaza, war and the wall of incomprehension between Europe

('Helen Swain',) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:00:02 -0000

From Jerusalem to Sderot, Israelis are lamenting the pro-Palestinian stance of European public opinion, as well as serious anti-Semitic acts. They have warned that dialogue with Hamas is impossible

Question: what do the EU and US need to do in the Middle East conflict?

('euro topics',) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:19:19 -0000

After Israeli troops marched into the Gaza Strip on 2 January, how can the conflict in the Middle East be resolved? Reactions from the Belgian, Portuguese, Swiss, German and Swedish press

Brussels: parliament rift over Tibet

('Annika Thornton',) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:00:00 -0000

To boycott or not to boycott the Peking Olympic Games, Europe's MEPs ask, a mozzarella crisis and Sarkozy honeymooning at 10 Downing Street - it's your latest from Brussels

Exhibition brings Israel and Palestine 'face to face'

('John Smith',) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:58:00 -0000

Face2Face is a unique and edgy photography show by French and Swiss friends JR and Marco, They stick the Israeli-Palestinian conflict right under European noses