HELENA COBBAN, helena@justworldeducational.org, @helenacobban
Cobban is co-author with Rami G. Khouri of the recently released Understanding Hamas And Why That Matters — a book that “does not advocate for or against Hamas. Rather, in a series of rich and probing conversations with leading experts, it aims to deepen understanding of a movement that is a key player in the current crisis. It looks at, among other things, Hamas’s critical shift from social and religious activism to national political engagement; the delicate balance between Hamas’s political and military wings; and its transformation from early anti-Jewish tendencies to a stance that differentiates between Judaism and Zionism.”
She said today: “The killing of Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar are the sort of decapitation attempts that fading colonial powers use. This was highlighted in one of our conversations that the book is based on, with the Dutch expert Jeroen Gunning, one of the founders of critical terrorism studies. Colonial powers try to delegitimize national liberation movements as ‘terrorists’ and in the name of ‘fighting terrorism’ they inflict horrible violence. Like the French in Algeria or the French and U.S. in Vietnam. But Palestinian resistance to occupation is wider than any set of individuals and Hamas is not just in Gaza. It is certainly more popular among Palestinians throughout the whole of West Asia than the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas.”
Cobban is president of Just World Educational. Her recent pieces include “Israel’s Explosive Protection Racket.”
[The Electronic Intifada reports: “UK police raid home, seize devices of EI’s Asa Winstanley.”]