By Ali Abunimah, Co-Founder and Executive Director.

I want to share some important recent developments regarding The Electronic Intifada.

A few days ago I wrote to ask ei supporters to take action to support The Electronic Intifada’s independent reporting on Palestine by making a contribution to our 2010 fundraising campaign. If you’ve already done so, please accept my thanks on behalf of our team.

As I write today, The Electronic Intifada is under attack from a prominent anti-Palestinian organization, which we believe aims to shut us down by pressuring funders to withdraw grants they’ve given us.

If we can’t pay our editors or reporters, or maintain our equipment and keep our servers working, their reasoning goes, then there will be one less watchdog to report on Israel’s human rights abuses and to educate our thousands of daily readers about the Palestinian struggle for freedom and the growing global solidarity movement.

We are in distinguished company; those who attack The Electronic Intifada have previously taken aim at leading Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights groups.

We are resilient because most of The Electronic Intifada’s funding comes not from a foundation grant but from our readers — people like you who rely on us every day for solid reporting, prescient analysis, moving features and a full range of arts coverage and reviews. The words I wrote to you previously have never been more true: Our readers are our pillar and foundation.

As long as we have a strong base of community support, no one can stop us doing our work.

We believe the escalating attacks on The Electronic Intifada and other groups that highlight Palestinian human rights are a sign of our success and the influence of the work we do. But we know there is a lot more ahead as major organizations that oppose Palestinian rights gear up for even more aggressive tactics against so-called “delegitimizers” — those like us who believe in universal rights and international law and work for equality and justice in Palestine.

The Electronic Intifada will mark its tenth anniversary this coming February. During this decade a generation of activists, journalists, educators, students and people who are passionate about what is happening in Palestine have come to count on us. We are an essential resource for a growing movement.

For example, our consistent reporting on Veolia’s involvement in the “Jerusalem Light Rail” linking illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank has provided activists with the information they needed to launch a successful campaign to hold the corporation accountable and make it unprofitable to build infrastructure for the Israeli occupation. Just last week Veolia announced it was pulling out of the project, a major victory.

As we do every year, it is our turn to say we count on you to help us make it happen every day, no matter what the future holds. To make sure we do stay strong in 2011, I am asking you to take action today to help us meet our $100,000 goal by December 31. It’s a bigger goal than we’ve ever had because we are doing more than ever. And I am asking you to do more if you can.

You’ll find below some highlights of our original reporting and analysis over the past year, powerful pieces made possible with the support of our readers. Please read these articles, share them, and remember, we can’t do this work without you.

Thank you for your support.

Ali Abunimah
Co-Founder and Executive Director

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