16 March, 2010
Children of Gaza: Scarred, Trapped, Vengeful
By Rachel Shields1,000 days into the Israeli blockade and Palestinian youngsters are denied medical help, education and any hope of a decent future
1,000 Days Have Passed ... But It's Tomorrow
That Counts
By Ayman MohyeldinFor 1,000 days, one Palestinian has died every other day as result of having no access to need medical care - 500 in total since the beginning of the siege, according the Palestinian Campaign to Break the Siege on Gaza
11 March, 2010
Gaza's Tunnel Industry
By Jody McIntyreThe siege on Gaza is tightening as the Egyptian government continues construction of an underground steel wall at the Rafah border with Gaza to block the tunnel trade. The tunnels, which journalist Robert Fisk has described as "the lung through which Gaza breathes," are the only means in which most basic goods like food and medicine reach the besieged population in Gaza. Jody McIntyre spoke with Abu Hanin, a Palestinian laborer from Gaza who works in one of the tunnels at the border with Egypt
Brutalizing Palestinian Children
By Stephen LendmanChildren 12 - 15 have been targeted, arrested, detained, and savagely beaten following complaints by Jewish settlers who usually take the law into their own hands using weapons they're allowed to carry
10 March, 2010
1000 Days Of The Israeli Siege On Gaza
By Mohammad BadiToday, Gaza completes the day No. 1000 of the Israeli siege and the disaster is eating the land and the citizens of Gaza. All of that was because they didn’t want to leave their lands, they didn’t give up to the settlers who wants to occupy their land, they said loudly, NO for Israel and no for the occupation!
Alternative Reading Of Hamas Murder
By Ramzy BaroudOne can only imagine what would happen if Hamas decided to strike back, expanding the battleground from Gaza to the rest of the world. Would the EU express disapproval of Hamas' use of fraudulent passports, but then refrain from actually naming the group - due to a fear, say, of upsetting Muslim countries? No. But when the victim is a Palestinian and the killers are Israelis - 27 of them so far - it's an entirely different story, and an entirely different concept of justice
09 March, 2010
Amir (10) Abducted By Israeli Soldiers From His Bed
By Nora Barrows-FriedmanTerrifying and harrowing experience of a Hebron boy at the hands of Israeli soldiers
Israel’s Apartheid
By Murray DobbinThere is absolutely no doubt that the system of separation of Arabs and Jews can be compared with the apartheid system in South Africa. Indeed, many experts on how the apartheid system was run claim that Israel’s system of hafrada, or separation, is far more brutal and deliberately humiliating than anything devised by the racist regimes of Pretoria
07 March, 2010
Conclusions Of The Russell Tribunal On Palestine
By RTPConclusions Of The Russell Tribunal On Palestine First session in Barcelona, 1-3 March 2010
A Tale Of Two Richards
By Nadia HijabIf the attacks on Richard Goldstone and Richard Falk succeed, the Palestinian cause will suffer and the world will be a poorer and more dangerous place — one in which the might of the strong is legally allowed to prevail against the rights of the weak
Specter Of New Intifada Hovers Over West Bank
By Khalid AmayrehAn intifada-like atmosphere is gradually descending on the West Bank as the hawkish Israeli government headed by Benyamin Netanyahu continued to provoke Palestinians and Muslims in general by encroaching on the Aqsa Mosque
06 March, 2010
Moment Of Truth: Time To Boycott
Israel's Entire Range Of Injustice
By Rifat KassisWe must be courageous enough to be honest, both in describing the situation we're subjected to and in calling for its end. In our document "A Moment of Truth," we strove for this kind of candor and clarity, and we continue to do so. Without a complete boycott -- economic, academic, cultural, political, athletic, artistic and so on -- Israel's unjust and illegal policies will continue, and so will passivity within both the Israeli and the international community. The bloodshed will continue, too
“Peace Or Apartheid” Are Not
The Only Options For Israel
By Alan HartMost frightening of all is that Zionism’s in-Israel leaders know there is a third option. I call it The Final Ethnic Cleansing of the Palestinians. This process could begin with the “transfer” of Israeli Arabs, and that when this had been completed a pretext would be created to drive the Palestinians off the occupied West Bank and into Jordan or wherever. And what of the fate of those existing in the Gaza Strip? Those who didn’t flee would be left to rot to death
Once Again, The PA Is Betraying Our People
By Khalid AmayrehThe PA decision to resume "indirect talks" with Israel is undoubtedly a clear expression of its moral and political bankruptcy. It is also an expression of its inability to lead the Palestinian people
Policy Of Provocation
By Khaled AmayrehIsraeli provocations, including annexing Islamic sites to an alleged heritage list, are creating a powder keg in the occupied territories, writes Khaled Amayreh in the West Bank
04 March, 2010
Native Indian Genocide: Parallels In Palestine
By Yuram Abdullah WeilerSomeday, the United States, Britain, Israel, France and all who are complicit in colonizing lands belonging to Native American Indians, Palestinians and other indigenous peoples around the world will be held accountable for their crimes
Truth And Consequences In The Gaza Invasion
By Norman FinkelsteinThis article is excerpted from Norman Finkelstein’s important new book about the Gaza conflict, "This Time We Went Too Far" published this month
Picking Pebbles To Survive In Gaza
By Eva BartlettThey come by the hundreds every day to sand dunes and rubble sites to sift for pebbles, stones and sand that can be used in making concrete blocks. They lean into trash bins across the Gaza Strip, and wade through piles of rubbish scavenging for plastics, metals and any bits worth reselling
"I Can't Live Without This Place"
By Nora Barrows-FriedmanRabbeh, a man in his late forties, is one of the last holdouts of al-Walaja's indigenous Palestinian population. Ethnically cleansed beginning in October 1948 by Israeli forces, most of al-Walaja village now remains a smattering of stone house ruins, destroyed wells and picnic areas frequented by ultra-orthodox settlers. The rest of al-Walaja's uprooted population and their descendants mostly live in Dheisheh today
03 March, 2010
New Birth Defects Seen In Gaza Due To
Israeli Weapons
By Eman JomaaAn increase in birth defects among newborns in the Gaza Strip - first documented in the Palestine Telegraph - has become apparent, despite claims to the contrary by some doctors at Al-Shifa Hospital. Pregnant women say they are living in constant fear
NY Times' Jerusalem Property Makes It
Protagonist In Palestine Conflict
By Ali AbunimahThe New York Times' Jerusalem bureau chief lives on property Israel seized from Palestinian refugees forced to leave their homes during the Nakba in 1948. EI's Ali Abunimah reveals for the first time details of The Times' acquisition and use of this property and the story of the Palestinian family whose home it was. What are the implications for its reporting of a case that places the "newspaper of record" at the heart of the Palestine conflict?
Jerusalem Mayor Plans To Raze
Palestinian Homes For Tourist Park
By Donald MacintyreJerusalem's mayor yesterday unveiled details of a controversial and long-expected plan to demolish Palestinian homes and make way for an Israeli-sponsored tourist park in a neighbourhood of the city's Arab eastern sector
Jerusalem, Unholy Fault Lines
By Marwan BisharaThe recent escalation of violence in Jerusalem does not bode well for future co-existence in the city, let alone between two peoples. In fact, it could usher a new cycle of confrontation with far reaching regional consequences
The Meaning Of Israeli Apartheid Week
By Khalid AmayrehThe Palestinian struggle for justice and peace is undoubtedly the epicenter and ultimate test for humanity’s struggle for a future of peace and justice. Hence, our message to the world should be that every decent and honest man and woman in this world should get involved in the efforts to isolate Zionism at every level. Zionism is a cancer upon the conscience of humanity and would eradicate us if we don’t eradicate it
Hebron Massacre Revisited: Understanding
Today's Politics
By Khalid AmayrehThe Israeli authorities never took any punitive act against the family of Goldstein. Not only the Goldsteins' home in Kiryat Arba was not demolished, and none of his family members was arrested, as is the case when Palestinians are involved in a "terrorist" act, but the government of Israel also paid a huge amount of monthly salary to Godlstein's widow and children
Israeli Terror At Rights Activists House
By Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhDWhat disturbs me is not the risk to me; any action against oppression is taken knowing there are personal risks. What disturbs me is that this has an effect on my family and thousands of friends around the world who care
02 March, 2010
Israeli Apartheid Week Kicks Off
By Ilaria GiglioliSix years since the launch at the University of Toronto, Israeli Apartheid Week is taking place in more than 40 cities in five continents, and is a key event in the yearly calendar of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement
Russell Tribunal Aims To Hold
The International Community To Account
By Frank BaratThe first session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine has begun in Barcelona and will end tomorrow, March 3 . The RTP is a peoples' tribunal focusing not on Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law such as the Fourth Geneva Convention, but on the obligations of the international community of signatory states which sustain and enable Israel's continuous violations of international law
Gaza: Frustration, Suffocation And Crisis
By Eva BartlettNidal Abu Leila, 10, lost his ability to speak, think and walk, a result of trauma from the sustained Israeli bombing of Gaza last year. The Gaza Community Health Centre found that 91.4 per cent of children in Gaza displayed symptoms of moderate to very severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Palestinians Excluded From Bulk Of
Occupied West Bank
By Mel FrykbergIsrael's illegal occupation and continued expropriation of Palestinian land in the West Bank has left 2.5 million Palestinians living there with effectively less than 40 percent of the territory
01 March, 2010
A Third Intifada In Palestine?
By Juan ColeLast week the Israeli government designated the Cave of the Patriarchs an Israeli heritage site. Since it is on the Palestinian West Bank, it cannot be an Israeli heritage site, though it certainly is a Jewish one. The move provoked protests in al-Khalil, with youths throwing stones at Israeli soldiers and threatening a third popular uprising or Intifada. As a result of this atmosphere of tension, the Israeli military locked down the Palestinian West Bank on Sunday as Israeli colonists there celebrated the festival of Purim
Three More Houses Demolished In Gaza
By Eva BartlettIsraeli bulldozers had come in a week prior and destroyed his house and livelihood, and those of 2 other neighbouring families, tearing down 3 houses in total and 17 dunams of treed land
28 February, 2010
We Must Never Forget Gaza
By Khalid AmayrehDespite a slight improvement in the general humanitarian situation, the Gaza Strip remains a disaster area. In fact, in terms of the sheer destruction of homes and infrastructure, the coastal enclave can be compared to quake-stricken Haiti, with the main difference lying in the fact that while the Caribbean island’s calamity was a natural disaster, the Gaza disaster was inflicted by the criminal Israeli regime
26 February, 2010
Challenging History: Why The Oppressed
Must Tell Their Own Story
By Ramzy BaroudIt was the death of my father (while under siege in Gaza) that finally compelled me to translate my yearning into a book. My Father was a Freedom Fighter, Gaza’s Untold Story offered a version of Palestinian history was not told by an Israeli narrator – sympathetic or otherwise – and neither was it an elitist account, as often presented by Palestinian writers. The idea was to give a human face to all the statistics, maps and figures
25 February, 2010
Knesset Criminalises The Commemoration
Of The "Nakba"
By Middle East MonitorA new law in Israel makes it a crime to commemorate what Palestinians call the "Nakba", the "catastrophe" of their dispossession by the creation of the Zionist state in 1948. The Knesset, Israel's parliament, has passed "The Nakba Draft Law" after just one reading. Penalties will be imposed on anyone showing signs of sadness and mourning within the (undefined) borders of Israel on 15 May; Palestinians remember on that day the creation of the refugee crisis that remains after 62 years
Four Decades Of Occupation In Hebron
By Iris KeltzIris Keltz recounts how Hebron changed in her three visits to the city in 1967, 1988 and 2007
The Mossad Hit And Israel's Path Of
Self-Destruction
By Hasan Abu NimahEven if the countries harmed by Israel's latest brazen act do not hold it properly and adequately accountable -- as they must and should -- it appears that it is on a path of self-destruction. The great fear is how much more harm it will do to others on the way
24 February, 2010
The Gaza Ghetto At 2010
By Avigail AbarbanelMost people would agree that what the Nazis did was monstrous and wrong, that ghettos were inhumane and should never have been allowed to exist in the first place. So why is the Gaza ghetto allowed to exist in 2010? Why is Israel allowed to dehumanise, control, humiliate and murder 1.5 million people and get away with it? Israel is breaking every human rights law conceivable in the way it treats the citizens of Gaza, and no one stops it
Up Against The Wall: Challenging Israel's Impunity
By Jamal JumaInspite of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that Israel's wall is illegal, until today, neither foreign governments nor the UN have joined the Palestinian communities who have been destroyed by Israel's wall in their efforts to dismantle it. Still, Palestinian villages show incredible perseverance and creativity in protesting the theft of their land and tearing down pieces of the cement blocks or iron fencing. They do so in the face of overwhelming repression
Israeli Environmental Terrorism In The Holy Land
By Tammy ObeidallahIsraelis have duped much of the Jewish and Christian religious communities into accepting their claim to Palestine is based on a belief that the land is holy—that their spiritual and emotional connection to this land reaches across millennia. Yet through the willful decimation of natural resources along with its native inhabitants, the Zionist establishment has proven that in the Holy Land, nothing is sacred
23 February, 2010
Take Israel To International Criminal Court
By Sayed DhansayIt is imperative that the international community view the Israeli response to the Goldstone report as a blatant attempt to whitewash its crimes in Gaza, and refer the matter to the ICC without further delay. To do otherwise will only continue to encourage Israeli intransigence and its crimes against the Palestinian people
Scattered In Death As In Life
By Nadia HijabAt no time is the loss of Palestine more piercing than at a loved one's passing, reinforcing the realization that, Muslim or Christian, Palestinians are as scattered across the globe in death as in life
22 February, 2010
Gaza, Living In The Dark
By Hussam El-NounouGaza survives on a minimal amount of electricity, leaving residents without power for the most part of the day. No television is one thing; no street lighting and hospital equipment is another
Gaza Fishermen Fight To Keep A Way Of Life Alive
By Pam RasmussenTen years ago, Gaza's approximately 3,600 fishermen were hauling out approximately 3,000 tons of fresh fish a year, supporting an even larger 30,000 people in Gaza. Since then, violent clashes with - and ever-tightening restrictions by - the Israeli army have virtually destroyed the once-booming business. Today, just 20 percent of Gaza fishermen are still able to make a living in the industry most of them grew up with, and their total catch is three to five percent of what it used to be. And those who stick it out are putting their lives on the line
17 February, 2010
Israel's New Strategy: "Sabotage" And "Attack"
The Global Justice Movement
By Ali AbunimahAn extraordinary series of articles, reports and presentations by Israel's influential Reut Institute has identified the global movement for justice, equality and peace as an "existential threat" to Israel and called on the Israeli government to direct substantial resources to "attack" and possibly engage in criminal "sabotage" of this movement in what Reut believes are its various international "hubs" in London, Madrid, Toronto, the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond
How Israeli Policies And Attacks Have
Ravaged Gaza’s Agricultural SectorA Video
16 February, 2010
Israel Bombs Gaza's Agricultural Sector
To The Brink
By Eva BartlettSince the first constraints of the siege on Gaza were imposed nearly four years ago, the destruction of Gaza's agricultural sector and potential to provide produce and economy to a severely undernourished Strip has dramatically worsened
Defending Palestinian Children:
An Interview With Rifat Kassis
By Adri NieuwhofDefence for Children International-Palestine Section aims to protect the rights of children and minors living in occupied Palestine. Rifat Kassis was elected as president of the executive council of Defence for Children International (DCI) in 2005 and is currently serving his second term. Adri Nieuwhof recently interviewed Kassis about DCI-PS's work and the special situation of Palestinian children growing up under occupation
14 February, 2010
A Stink Bomb
By Uri AvneryNetanyahu has decided to teach Abbas a lesson. For three days, day after day and program after program, Channel 10 (Israel’s second biggest TV station) has broadcast shocking “disclosures” about financial and sexual scandals at the top of the Palestinian Authority. These programs accuse the leaders of the Palestinian Authority and the Fatah movement of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars and committing disgusting sexual offences. The “disclosures” may endanger the very existence of the Authority and Fatah
Reclaiming Gaza’s Land
By Eva BarlettLocal Initiative has been leading demonstrations in the Israeli-imposed "buffer zone" –a 300 m stretch of land flanking Gaza's border with Israel from north to south, but in reality extending up to 2 km in some area. Israeli authorities say anyone within 300 m of the border fence risk being shot. In the tradition of Bil’in and Ni’lin, in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian and international protesters march non-violently on Palestinian land, in protest of Israel’s unilateral annexation of this land
12 February, 2010
30 Hours In Gaza
By Mohamed MadiIt's not the broken, dilapidated hole some think it is. It's a place that strives to be normal, and while the airstrikes and the drones and the blockade are daily reminders of how fragile the peace is, there's nothing fragile about Gaza's will to carry on
11 February, 2010
Zionism Unmasked: A Fairy Tale
That's Become A Terrifying Nightmare
By Alan HartThe Arab word for the catastrophe of the original dispossession of the Palestinians is Nakba. In my view, Zionism’s Nakba denial is as obscene and as evil as denial of the Nazi holocaust
Gaza's Defiant Tunnellers
Head Deeper Underground
By Robert FiskThey are threatened with drowning by the Egyptians and punitively taxed by Hamas. Robert Fisk meets the Palestinian smugglers bringing oranges, car batteries and bottle tops to a territory under siege
Holocaust: Israel's Ultimate Red Herring
By Khalid AmayrehWhenever Israel's image suffers a setback, mainly because of its manifestly criminal treatment of the Palestinians, Israel invokes the holocaust. Israel does not openly link the Nazi-like brutality meted out to the Palestinians to the holocaust.However, the implied message in highlighting holocaust commemorations is inescapable. The message is that what Germany did to European Jewry in the course of World War II justifies whatever Israel has done and is doing to the Palestinians
Israel Gets Away With Murder… Again
By Tammy ObeidallahAnother Hamas leader is killed in Dubai, most probably by Israeli agents
10 February, 2010
Fighting For An Education In Gaza
By Jody McIntyreThe travails of a Gaza youth for higher education
Gaza: Abu Taima’s land
By Eva BarlettIt’s like spring and we’re visiting the Abu Taima region. The different Abu Taima brothers and cousins speak of their land, all in or near the Israeli-imposed "buffer zone" (officially 300m in which Palestinians cannot enter without fear of being shot, killed; but in reality a land-annexation which extends even up to nearly 2 km, driving farmers off their land and rendering land un-used…a waste of space in a Strip that has no space to waste)
09 February, 2010
Jerusalem Mayor To Raze 200 Palestinian Homes
By Jonathan CookJerusalem’s mayor threatened last week to demolish 200 homes in Palestinian neighbourhoods of the city in an act even he conceded would probably bring long-simmering tensions over housing in East Jerusalem to a boil
A Mother's Grief
By Rami AlmeghariNejoud al-Ashqar is a 30-year-old mother from the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya. Two of her sons, Bilal, 5, and Mohammad, 6, were killed during Israel's invasion of Gaza last winter. Al-Ashqar also lost her right arm in the assault
06 February, 2010
Please, Mr. President, Stop Talking Nonsense
By Alan HartThere are no more concessions the Palestinians can make for peace. President Obama’s statement that they must is absurd and obscene. Unclear is whether he was speaking out of ignorance of real history or from Zionism’s script
05 February, 2010
Human Rights Abuses In Israel
And Occupied Palestine
By Stephen LendmanFree expression is targeted, and Israeli Arabs threatened, denied equality, education, employment, and their citizenship without "declaring loyalty" to Israel - in other words, on condition they abandon their national identity, culture, language, and historic heritage that's the equivalent of asking Jews to renounce Judaism
04 February, 2010
Israel Stole $2bn From Palestinian Workers
By Jonathan CookOver the past four decades Israel has defrauded Palestinians working inside Israel of more than $2 billion by deducting from their salaries contributions for welfare benefits to which they were never entitled, Israeli economists have revealed
Israel Rewrote The Rules Of War For Gaza
By Eileen FlemingOn February 3, 2010, The Independent reported that a high-ranking officer who served as a commander during Operation Cast Lead, admitted that Israel’s army went beyond its previous rules of engagement on the protection of civilian lives
Gaza And Lebanon: Beware The Iron Wall,
The Coming War
By Ramzy BaroudWill it be Gaza or Lebanon first? Israel is sending mixed messages, and deliberately so. Hamas, Hizbullah and their supporters understand well the Israeli tactic and must be preparing for the various possibilities. They know Israel cannot live without its iron walls, and are determined to prevent any more from being built at their expense
The Holocaust In Israeli Political Discourse
By Yacov Ben EfratIt is taboo in Israel to compare the suffering of the Palestinians with that of the Jews in the holocaust. Anyone who does so is at once ostracized. The latest is film director and producer Yonatan Segal
31 January, 2010
Why Does The US Turn A Blind Eye
To Israeli Bulldozers?
By Robert FiskBoth the United States and Europe now stand idly by while the Israeli government effectively destroys any hope of a Palestinian state; even as you read these words, Israel's bulldozers and demolition orders are destroying the last chance of peace; not only in the symbolic centre of Jerusalem itself but - strategically, far more important - in 60 per cent of the vast, biblical lands of the occupied West Bank, in that largest sector in which Jews now outnumber Muslims two to one
Mitchell: The Kangaroo
By Uri AvneryGeorge Mitchell looks like a kangaroo hopping around with an empty pouch. He hops here and he hops there. Hops to Jerusalem and hops to Ramallah, Damascus, Beirut, Amman (but, God forbid, not to Gaza, because somebody may not like it). Hops, hops, but doesn’t take anything out of his pouch, because the pouch is empty
Petition! Civil Rights For Palestinian Refugees
In Lebanon
By Palestine Civil Rights CampaignPlease sign and circulate this petition! It involves an innovative twinning initiative. Each signer will be twinned with a person living in a Palestinian refugee camp located in Lebanon. The number of signers required to secure a personal twinning with each refugee is 433,000. Express your views to those who govern Lebanon and to the persons living in refugee camps. Civil rights should not be denied to any refugees!
29 January, 2010
Israeli Militarism, Local Conflicts Driving
Palestinian Children Crazy
By Kathlyn StoneMédecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders reports that short-term psychotherapy could be an effective treatment in specific psychiatric disorders, especially in children
22 January, 2010
The Lessons Of Boycott, Divestment And Sanctions
By Stephen LendmanBoycotting Israeli products successfully needs a transition to Palestinian ones, but much work is needed to achieve it, including effective promotion
19 January, 2010
The United States, Israel
And The Retreat Of Freedom
By Ali AbunimahThe world is suffering from a "freedom recession" according to a new report from the American think tank Freedom House. Freedom House's approach to Israel provides the starkest example of the abyss into which liberal thinking has fallen on the relationship between colonialism and freedom. Israel, we are told, "remains the only country in the [Middle East] region to hold a Freedom in the World designation of Free."
Israeli Democracy Or Hypocrisy
By Stephen LendmanAn October 2007 Haaretz editorial titled "Democracy or hypocrisy" contrasted the "occupying Land of Israel to the democratic Israel" in calling for a "debate about Israel's control over the lives of Palestinians deprived of civil rights," saying its democracy is flawed and not addressing it is hypocrisy
17 January, 2010
For Israel, A Reckoning
By John PilgerA new global movement is challenging Israel's violations of international law with the same strategies that were used against apartheid
12 January, 2010
Nablus Executions: Shoot First, Ask Questions Later
By Bridget ChappellThe brutal killing of three Palestinian men by Israeli military forces in Nablus on 26 December 2009 sparked grief and outrage across Palestine and brought the northern West Bank city to a standstill as thousands mourned the lethal attack. However, their voices are drowned out yet again by a well-played hand of Israel's propaganda machine and repeated by the mainstream media
10 January, 2010
"What Is The Lesson To Be Learned
From The Holocaust?"
By Silvia Cattori85-year old Hedy Epstein is back in the limelight. Last week in Cairo, she embarked on a hunger strike to protest the ongoing blockade of Gaza. A Jewish Holocaust survivor whose parents perished in Auschwitz in 1942, she emigrated to the US in 1948 and first visited Palestine in 2003. Revolted by the Israeli Government’s oppression of the Palestinians, she has devoted her life to drawing public attention to this reality. Back from a visit to Palestine, she was interviewed by Silvia Cattori
A Year After Losing A Father And Sons,
A Gaza Family Copes
By Rami Almeghari"Four months after the martyrdom of my husband and two of my sons, my granddaughter Lina was born -- the daughter of my martyred son Basel," said Fathiya Abu Jbarah. Fathiya is the widow of Jihad Abu Jbarah and mother of Basil, 30, and Usama, 21 who were killed on 4 January 2009 by an Israeli missile that struck their home in al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Their home was hit during Israel's 22-day air and land attack that killed more than 1,400 persons and wounded thousands of others
The Other Side Of Oslo Peace Process
By Ershad AbubackerThe post-Oslo Palestine has been a deep scar running deep in to the map of humanity. The tenacity and vision of world leaders behind Oslo and Camp David did promise a new beginning, but for ordinary Palestinians, it was the beginning of a new form of Israeli domination over the Palestinians
09 January, 2010
Egypt Bans Gaza Aid Convoys
By AljazeeraEgyptian authorities have announced that all aid convoys travelling to Gaza will be banned from travelling across Egypt after a riot broke out at the Rafah border crossing earlier in the week
Gaza Freedom March: Detained At The US Embassy
By Ali AbunimahHaving been held hostage, we were forced to negotiate our own release. It was a lesson -- if we needed one -- that when it comes to the siege of Gaza, the United States government is not part of the solution, but an active part of the problem. And, the United States is not beyond relying on the repressive police tactics of the Egyptian state to protect itself from the opinions of its own citizens
Will Egypt's Underground Wall End
The Gaza Tunnel Trade?
By Lina AttalahSelf-protection is the argument in use by the Egyptian government in explaining the wall construction, besides reaffirmations that the wall is built on Egyptian land, and hence it is a sovereign act. But the Egyptian opposition and Gaza activists dubb it as "the wall of shame"
08 January, 2010
Israeli Air Raids Kill Gazans
By AljazeeraIsrael has launched air raids against at least seven targets in the Gaza Strip, killing three people, Palestinian medics say
A Victory For Viva Palestina
By Eric RuderEric Ruder reports on Viva Palestina's success in bringing humanitarian supplies to Gaza, despite a harrowing assault by Egyptian police
"No Army, No Prison And No Wall Can Stop Us"
By Abdallah Abu RahmahWhether we are confined in the open-air prison that Gaza has been transformed into, in military prisons in the West Bank, or in our own villages surrounded by the apartheid wall, arrests and persecution do not weaken us. They only strengthen our commitment to turning 2010 into a year of liberation through unarmed grassroots resistance to the occupation
My Husband: Jailed For Protesting Israel's Wall
By Majida Abu RahmahOn International Human Rights Day in 2008, my husband Abdallah Abu Rahmah was in Berlin receiving a medal from the World Association for Human Rights. Last year on the same day, 10 December, Abdallah was taken away at 2am by Israeli soldiers who broke into our West Bank home. Abdallah was arrested for the same reasons he received the prize -- his nonviolent struggle for justice, equality and peace in Palestine/Israel
07 January, 2010
Viva Palestina Convoy Breaks Gaza Siege
By AljazeeraMembers of the much-delayed Viva Palestina convoy began passing through Egypt's Rafah border crossing into Gaza on Wednesday, waving Palestinian flags and raising their hands in peace signs
Viva Palestina's Bumpy Road
By Dr Hanan ChehataEgypt has had every opportunity to redeem and to recast itself in the role of the hero. Instead they have needlessly and voluntarily cast themselves in the role of villain
Palestine Uniting Humanity
By Salim NazzalWhat a fantastic view we are witnessing these days. People from the four corners of the earth are marching towards Palestine. They are peoples from 17 nationalities among them Americans, Arabs, Africans, Australians, Britons, Canadians, French, Malaysians, Norwegians, Turkish, Swedes, Venezuelans, and a Jewish woman. The occasion is sad, because it comes at the first anniversary of the Gaza onslaught, but the warm solidarity is converting the sad occasion into time of showing support and love towards the besieged Palestinians in Gaza
Israeli Theft Of Palestinian Property
By Stephen LendmanFor over 60 years, Israel has disposessed Palestinins of their land, incrementally, systematically, and illegally, intending at most to leave Palestinians cantonized and surrounded in the least valued portions, the rest being exclusively for Jews
06 January, 2010
Blocking Freedom Marcher/Viva Palestina
Aid To Gaza
By Stephen LendmanViva Palestina calls on friends and supporters to protest by any means possible and demand that the entire convoy be granted free access to Gaza. The situation remains fluid, so new developments are likely after this article is published. Follow them at vivapalestina.org and web sites reporting their progress, or lack of it
Gaza And The Path To Accountability
By Sunera ThobaniIn seeking to protect Israel from the Goldstone report and Israeli politicians from the threat of arrest in the UK, the British, American and Canadian governments might well be engaged in a battle to save their own skins in the face of an emboldened legal activism. Gaza may well be the gateway to anti-imperialist accountability in the 21st century
05 January, 2010
Israeli Use Of Painful Shackling
As A Form of Torture
By Stephen LendmanPublic Committee Against Torture in Israel reviews the "serious phenomenon" of shackling Palestinian detainees "in a systematic manner and throughout all stages of detention and interrogation." Its purpose is to dehumanize and inflict pain, suffering, punishment, intimidation, and discrimination as a way of lawlessly extracting information even though experts acknowledge that torture is ineffective, counterproductive, and, of course, illegal under all circumstances at all times with no exceptions allowed ever
04 January, 2010
Gaza Freedom March Marches In Cairo
Against Blockade
By Sharat G. LinDelegates of the Gaza Freedom March were defeated in their desire to travel to Gaza, but, as a result of the struggles in the streets and embassies of Cairo, they were more determined than ever that the blockade of Gaza by both Israel and Egypt must be lifted. Bitur Nabi Tammam of Bahrain saw the bright side, “Even if they don't allow us to cross, I think it has accomplished the purpose that from all over the world you see people left their families, left their homes, to come here to say 'freedom for Gaza,' 'freedom for Palestine,' 'open the gates!'”
03 January, 2010
Cairo Declaration To End Israeli Apartheid
By Gaza Freedom MarchersGaza Freedom Marchers approved a declaration aimed at accelerating the global campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli Apartheid
The Iron Wall
By Uri AvneryAs an Israeli, I protest against the Israeli blockade. If I were an Egyptian, I would protest against the Egyptian blockade. As a citizen of this planet, I protest against both
01 January, 2010
New Year, New Hope?
By Alan HartWith the dawn of a New Year is there any reason to hope that it will see real progress on ending the conflict in and over Palestine that became Israel and stopping the countdown to catastrophe for all?
On Gaza Drivers, Rumours And Egypt’s Steel Wall
By Ramzy BaroudNews of an enormous metal wall that Egypt erected at its border with Gaza has come to the fore. Palestinians, including some in the Hamas government never cease to refer to Egypt and Egyptians as “Sister Egypt” and “Egyptian brethren”. Why then are Sister Egypt and the Egyptian brethren taking part in this injustice and allowing Israeli violence to perpetuate? Money? Political validation? Attempts at regional relevance and fear of dismissal if they dare defy Washington’s will?
Israel's East Jerusalem Linked
Settlement Expansion
By Stephen LendmanOn February 1, 2009, the International Solidarity Movement reported that Israel continues its E 1 area homes and infrastructure work that includes linking its Ma'ale Adummim settlement with East Jerusalem and other settlements around it. It said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, while in office, promised to expand E 1 development - the land northeast of Jerusalem, west of Ma'ale Adummim comprising about 12 square kilometers, all of it illegally annexed