Joseph Dana

Joseph Dana is a writer based in Cape Town. Previously he worked across the Middle East.

Recent Articles

Demolished structures seen in Cape Town's Marikana community, after the city's Anti-Land Invasion Unit began demolishing structures erected on a plot of land by the Abahlali baseMjondolo shack dwellers movement, January 9, 2014 (Shachaf Polakow/Activestills.org)

The Dispossessed: Palestine’s forgotten lesson from post-apartheid South Africa

Those looking to South Africa as a blueprint for the struggle against Israeli apartheid are doing a disservice by ignoring how racial capitalism has sustained inequality and oppression 30 years on.

By Joseph Dana November 19, 2020

Marwan Barghouti’s continued relevance to the Palestinian public

Marwan Barghouti remains a hated figure in Israel for his involvement in terrorist activities during the second Intifada. However, his place as a national leader of the Palestinian people is unquestioned in the West Bank and Gaza. For this reason, Israelis will likely be seeing Barghouti on the other end of a negotiating table after his inevitable release from…

By Joseph Dana December 22, 2011

US-made tear gas an increasing and fatal component of popular protests

Residents of Nabi Saleh in the West Bank have been demonstrating, each week for the past two years, against the slow encroachment on their land by Israeli settlers. Gathering in the village centre on Friday afternoons, villagers along with Israeli and international activists attempt to march, under the watchful eye of soldiers, to a disputed…

By Joseph Dana December 22, 2011

Harper’s Magazine confronts Israel’s water wars

Harper’s Magazine recently published a report from the West Bank about Israel’s water wars with Palestinians. Below is a letter Joseph Dana wrote to Harper’s along with additional commentary regarding Ben Ehrenreich’s piece on water. Ben Ehrenreich’s account of the unarmed demonstrations in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh perfectly captures the Palestinians’ everyday…

By Joseph Dana December 21, 2011

Coordinated American-Israeli effort working to smear critical voices

Last Friday evening, B’Tselem employees were busy sending out press releases and compiling media kits detailing the use of tear gas by the Israeli military in the West Bank. For the past ten years, B’Tselem has been one of the only Israeli organizations documenting routine violations of military and civilian law by Israeli soldiers. On…

By Joseph Dana December 13, 2011

JosephDana, JosephD

A bittersweet goodbye

The great American writer Norman Mailer often referred to writing as “the spooky craft.” I am firmly convinced that had Mailer lived to see the blogging age we are currently living in, he would have felt that blogging has replaced traditional writing as the truly spooky craft. For the past year and a half, I…

By Joseph Dana December 5, 2011

+972 readers weigh in on Zionism debate

A critique of an article by a noted liberal Zionist leads to an interesting debate about Zionism. In the polarized world of debate about Israel/Palestine, certain terms have acquired such strong connotations that an honest and factual discussion of important issues is almost at a standstill. From the family dinner table to college campus throughout…

By Joseph Dana November 28, 2011

A sad commentary on the state of liberal Zionist discourse

Recent work by authors Bernard Avishai and Gershom Gorenberg reflect the inability of liberal Zionist champions to engage in an honest debate about the core issues of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The noted liberal Zionist writer, Bernard Avishai, has a longish piece on the Palestinian Right of Return (RoR) in this month’s edition of Harper’s Magazine…

By Joseph Dana November 27, 2011

IMAGE: Israeli night raids resume in Nabi Saleh

The embattled village of Nabi Saleh saw a resumption of night raids last night. The house of imprisoned popular committee leader Bassem Tamimi was raided by Israeli soldiers at 02:00 this morning, according to Palestinian activist @Tweet_Palestine on Twitter. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

By Joseph Dana November 24, 2011

Israel, South Africa deepen connection with attacks on press

The connection between Israel and South Africa seems to have deepened today, as both countries moved to limit press freedoms with laws targeting the media. In South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC)-led National Assembly passed a controversial secrecy bill, which aims to protect state secrecy but critics claim limits press freedom. According to the Mail…

By Joseph Dana November 22, 2011