Alternate Focus broadcasts a weekly television program about Palestine, Iraq, and the rest of the Middle East. We air documentaries, interviews, and speeches about subjects that the mainstream media ignores. You can watch Alternate Focus on Free Speech TV, cable stations around the country, and online.
When an exhibition of children's art from Gaza was banned form a museum in California the competing narratives about Israel's military assault on Gaza during 2008 were called into question. Susan Johnson tells the story of how the pictures were made and how these powerful visuals from the children of Gaza came to the US. But are these disturbing images propaganda or reality?
Bill Cook, the author and editor of "The Plight of the Palestinians" gives us a summary of his research into the archives of the British Mandate in Palestine during the 1940s
The Syrian government has has tried with great determination and dexterity to fragment the society and to exploit sectarian differences and class differences to prevent the emergence of a secular nonsectarian nationalist opposition. Michael Provence is the director of the Middle East Studies Programs at the University of California, San Diego. His research focuses on the colonial and post-colonial Arab world, particularly popular insurgency and nationalism, and he has travelled and lived in ma...
At a time when many advocates for Palestinian rights are abandoning the quest for a separate Palestinian state, the ascendancy of right-wing politics in Israel, enabled by a possible right-wing government in the United States, would most likely preclude any aspirations of Palestinian independence. Whatever form of state may finally emerge from this scenario, it would certainly not be a Palestinian state in any sense. A “no state solution” in fact.
Israeli ambassador Michael Oren’s talk at the University of California, Irvine was met with a peaceful protest by a group of students. Their treatment, however was far from peaceful.
Three Minute Egg: American Inquisition
Drone warfare has increased dramatically since 2008 and there are over 60 bases across the globe engaging in a US drone missions. US drones are currently deployed in the skies of over 14 different countries, some for surveillance and others for attacking ground targets. The area of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, known as Waziristan is the locus of much of the drone operations. But are these weapons keeping us safe, or do they just incite further terrorist attacks? And is their use a violatio...
The forerunners of the drones that are currently targeting people on the ground were themselves targets. They have since evolved into reconnaissance vehicles, and more recently as weapons platforms. Predator drones are manufactured in Poway, near San Diego, where over 4,000 people are employed at General Atomics at the taxpayers’ expense. We examine the implications of this kind of warfare, and the loop of finance that rewards contractors and the politicians they support.
Who bears responsibly for lethal action when weapons are fully automated? Can a machine have a code of ethics? While their accuracy might, in theory, minimize innocent deaths, drones also enable illegal political assassinations, and by keeping US troops out of harm’s way they also make war easier. A serious debate on these topics is long overdue.
Water rights issues in the West Bank directed by Hayyan Yacoub, translated by Jennifer Hsu and Mona Kadah
