30 April, 2010
Breaking The Middle East Impasse
By Ali Abunimah
Margaret Thatcher once said that partitioning South Africa to create separate black and white states would be like “trying to unscramble an egg,” and could lead to tremendous bloodshed. It is time to recognize that this truth also applies to Palestine/Israel and to seek political solutions similar to the one here, or the settlement in Northern Ireland, that embrace rather than attempt to deny diversity, equality and justice for all who live in that land
Volvo Equipment: Israel's Weapons
To Destroy al-Walaja Homes
By Adri Nieuwhof
ActiveStills photographer Anne Paq witnessed Volvo equipment being used to destroy a home in the nearby village of al-Khader. Two days earlier she had taken pictures of Volvo and Caterpillar equipment working between the road and the fence of Har Gilo settlement, just a few meters away from Palestinian houses in al-Walaja
The Big Bad (Israeli) Wolf Is Nothing But A Coward
By Joharah Baker
I consider myself lucky. Yes, my 10-year old has seen the occupation up close in the form of checkpoints, the separation wall and even demonstrations outside of Al Aqsa. He has inhaled the suffocating odor of teargas wafting into our windows during the most violent clashes in our quarter. But thankfully, he has not been so unlucky as to have been hurt or scarred by seeing some of the awful violence Israel's army perpetrates against Palestinians every day
Insulting The Memory Of
An Anti-Apartheid Activist
By Vivian Tabar
In recent years, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) has announced its plans to rebuild a section of the Birya forest, located in the Galilee, and to name it after the late Coretta Scott King, the renowned civil rights and anti-apartheid activist and wife of Martin Luther King Jr
25 April, 2010
From Neptune To Gaza
By Ramzy Baroud
In excerpts from a speech prepared for the Hetherington Memorial Lecture, Ramzy Baroud argues for a history of the people, by the people and for the people
What Threat Did I Pose The Israeli Soldiers?
By Eva Bartlett
The latest in a growing number of non-violent protesters shot by well-armed Israeli soldiers, three unarmed demonstrators –two Palestinians and one international–were injured this afternoon by Israeli soldiers’ firing with live ammunition at a protest east of El Meghazi, central Gaza Strip
The Wall/Fence In Bil'in: 2005-2010
By Eileen Fleming
The fifth Bil'in International Conference “on popular resistance to network and strategize in support to end the Israeli occupation and free Palestine”concluded on Friday, April 23rd with five demonstrators arrested and one Israeli activist taking a direct hit into the forehead which fractured his skull after Israeli soldiers shot him with a tear gas projectile
23April, 2010
Hasmas Will Not Permit Deportees Enter Gassa
By Maan News Agency
The deportees will not be permitted to enter Gaza, but will rather be housed at the tent while international rights groups insist that they be permitted to travel to the West Bank, where their families are, the de facto prime minister explained
Bulldozers Destroy Children’s Playground
In Beit Jala
By International Solidarity Movement
Israeli bulldozers today destroyed a garden and children’s playground in Beit Jala, and 100 fruit and olive trees in Al Walaja, both in the Bethlehem district, to make way for the continued construction of their illegal apartheid wall. Soldiers present used violent force to remove Palestinian, Israeli and international activists who attempted to prevent the destruction. Two Israelis were arrested immediately, and six internationals were later arrested
Gaza: Watching The Invasion Unfold
By Eva Bartlett
Documenting an Israeli army incursion into a Gazan farmland, destroying harvest ready lentils
Israel Winning Its War On Goats
By Eva Bartlett
Farmers struggle to raise sheep and goats in Gaza in the face of Israeli blockade
Palestinian Right Of Return Not Negotiable
By Ahmed Moor
Washington insiders are now touting a misguided Obama-dictated plan to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Most recently, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Stephen Solarz took to the pages of The Washington Post to float the idea of an imposed peace, which largely undermines non-negotiable historic Palestinian rights. The authors call for the annulment of the Palestinian right of return, and the creation of a "demilitarized Palestinian state."
21 April, 2010
Palestinians Deported To Gaza
By Aljazeera
Two Palestinians have been deported to the Gaza Strip from Israel, raising fears that more expulsions could follow under a controversial new Israeli military order
21st Century Mass Expulsion
By Nasim Ahmed
Briefing on the Israeli Order regarding Prevention of Infiltration (Amendment No. 2) and the Order regarding Security Provisions (Amendment No. 112) passed on Tuesday, April 13 2010
'I Listen As A Lost People Tell Of Their Woes
In A Kind Of Trance'
By Robert Fisk
Listening to Palestinians in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
10,000 Palestinians Homes
Razed By Israel In 10 Years
By Palestinian Information Center
Al-Maqdesi foundation for society development said that Israel demolished more than 10,000 Palestinian homes in the neighborhoods of occupied Jerusalem during the past 10 years
Israel Is 62 Years Old And Its Indigenous Citizens
Still Have Second-Class Status
By Senussi Bsaikri
Israel's Citizenship Act of 1952 prohibits any Palestinians - even those born in the territory now called Israel - from obtaining Israeli citizenship unless they were "registered" as such before 1952. This law deprives all rights of citizenship to around 80% of those who were driven from their homes in 1948 to make way for Jewish immigrants; it also prevents them from returning to their land
My Investment In Israel
By Vijay Prashad
I also write about Israel in the hope that others will join in the campaign to end our subsidy for its human rights violations, this both from the U. S. taxpayer and from the Indian government (in the arms purchases). Israel is dependent on the U. S. taxpayer. Its military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is only possible because of the U. S. disbursement. Absent our monetary support, it will be not able to continue in the current manner
Imprisoning Palestinian Women
By Stephen Lendman
Since 1967, over 700,000 Palestinians have been incarcerated, including 10,000 women. Daily, from 15 - 20 men, women, and children are arrested
End Israel Lobbies Pervasive And Damaging
Influence In US Politics
By Debbie Menon
Support for Israel is not only tragic and immoral, it is also extremely damaging to Americans
21 April, 2010
Zionist Occupiers… Heed My Call
By Nahida
Zionist occupiers heed my words; Our problem with you is not a “conflict” between two warring parties. The problem is one of aggression, oppression, colonization, theft, and occupation on your side, and one of being oppressed, exploited, and occupied on our side.It’s one is of a crime of theft of a whole country and the ethnic cleansing of a whole nation by your people on the one hand and a displaced and dominated population on the other It’s one of a CRIMINAL THIEF and a DISPOSSESSED VICTIM
Their Homes Reduced To Rubble
By Nora Barrows-Friedman
Israeli forces carried out several major home demolition operations on Wednesday, April 14, within three separate areas in the occupied West Bank. The demolitions left dozens of people homeless in Hares (near the northern town of Tulkarem); and the towns of Beit Sahour and al-Khader near Bethlehem
Deporting Gandhi From Palestine
By Jamal Dajani
The Israeli government's recent announcement of Army order No. 1,650 was just the latest act of provocation in a series of calculated measures to derail any possible resumption of peace negotiations. Under this new draconian measure, anyone who doesn't have a "permit" to be in the West Bank is to be considered an "infiltrator" and subject to expulsion or risk up to seven years in jail
The Ugly Side Of Israel's Independence
By Joharah Baker
For Palestinians, some things can never be forgotten. On the contrary, we would not dare allow ourselves to forget them lest we do a huge injustice to our people and to our history. This week, as Israel prepares to commemorate 62 years of independence, we Palestinians also mark the flip side of that celebration, that terrible anniversary of Al Nakba, which will always be scorched in our memory as a reminder that some injustices will remain so, irrespective of the years that have passed
“Introducing The MV Rachel Corrie”
By Free Gaza Team
MV Rachel Corrie, the 1200-ton cargo ship bought by Free Gaza Movement is getting ready to sail
20 April, 2010
Beit Sahour: A Microcosm Of Israeli Colonization
By Ben White
While today's gaze is fixed on colonies like Ramat Shlomo -- home to the 1,600 new housing units announced during US Vice President Joe Biden's visit -- or right-wing settler expansion in Sheikh Jarrah, little has been said about what has since happened to Har Homa, the colony which caused a stir during Netanyahu's previous time in office
Independence Day: 26,6356; 3,500, 1,500, 1,455
By Baha Hillo
When Israel’s minister of defense stands to deliver his speeches, he will not think of the Palestinians he personally killed, nor the Palestinians who were killed by those under his command. He will repeat 26,653, not 3,500, the number of Palestinians killed in the Sabra and Shatila camps in Lebanon as the Israeli army looked on; or 5,901, the number of Palestinians the Israeli Army killed during the Second Intifada; not 1,455, the number of Palestinians killed during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza
Begin Was Right, Deportation Is A Nazi Policy
By Daoud Kuttab
Order number 1650 of 13 October gave Palestinians six months to get their act in order. However, few Palestinians were even aware of this military order until an Israeli reporter quoted Israeli human rights organisations saying that the six months were to expire on 13 April, putting tens of thousands of Palestinians in danger of imprisonment, fine and deportation
A Birthday Present
By Uri Avnery
President Obama should come to Jerusalem and address the Israeli public directly from the Knesset rostrum. He should do the same in Ramallah and address the Palestinian public. He should make a speech in the Old City of Jerusalem and address all the peoples of the Middle East. To all these audiences, Obama should submit an American peace plan
Can Lebanon Come In From The Cold?
Part II: Resistance And Rebuttal
By Franklin Lamb
Continuation of the discussion of the historic drive to secure civil rights for Lebanon's Palestinian refugees
New York Airport 'Blind' To El Al Racial Profiling
By Jonathan Cook
Two Israeli Arab brothers have won $8,000 in damages from Israel's national carrier, El Al, after a court found that their treatment by the company’s security staff at a New York airport had been 'abusive and unnecessary'
19 April, 2010
Boldness vs. Bullets At The Gaza Border
By Max Ajl
The spectacle of Israeli sniper bullets cutting the air around me as I stood on Palestinian land remained with me when I sat down at my computer that evening. Ethan Bronner, bureau chief in Jerusalem for The New York Times, had written an article about Palestinian nonviolence. Perhaps he was going to extol the efflorescing nonviolent mobilization in the West Bank? Or he had heard of the recently burgeoning Ghazzawy nonviolent marches for security in the buffer zone? Maybe not
Postcard From Gaza
By Flora Nicoletta
The problem in Gaza is not the lack of food or the humanitarian crisis. The major problem in Gaza is how to keep his sanity
Medical Solidarity With Gaza: In Conversation With Mads Gilbert
By Stefan Christoff
Ahead of the English publication of his book Eyes in Gaza (co-authored with Dr. Erik Fosse), Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert recently spoke with Stefan Christoff about what he witnessed during Operation Cast Lead, Israel's three-week long assault on the Gaza Strip starting in December 2008, during which more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed and thousands more injured
17 April, 2010
A Nation Behind Bars: Palestinian Political Prisoners
In Israeli Detention
By Reham Alhelsi
While the whole world demands the release of the Zionist soldier Shalit, who was captured by Palestinians while he was on a mission to kill and destroy, the so-called "free world" continues to ignore that the Zionist entity holds a whole nation hostage
Palestinian Women And Children Behind Zionist Bars
By Reham Alhelsi
Since 1967, Israel detained over 700,000 Palestinians including tens of thousands of children. Since the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Intifada in 09.2000, more than 8000 Palestinian children have been detained, of whom 337 are still in Israeli detention
Palestinians Face A Third Wave Of Expulsions
By Oraib Rantawi
The Order issued by the military and Israeli courts to expel about 70,000 Palestinians who live in their own land on the occupied West Bank is intended to erase all traces of previous agreements between the Israelis and Palestinians
My Mother, The Infiltrator
By Mohammad Alsaafin
Going back to live in your hometown is now infiltrating. Marrying a Palestinian with the wrong ID gives the army the right to split up your family. You don’t decide where to live, or with whom. You can’t see your spouse or your children at will. And when someone in the occupation army decides to change the rules overnight, you know another aspect of normal living will have become criminalized
"In The Eyes Of The State, We Don't Exist Here"
By Nora Barrows-Friedman
In addition to destroying homes in three areas of the West Bank this week, Israeli forces this week invaded villages inside Israel and bulldozed and handed out further demolition orders
16 April, 2010
An Immaculate Conception?
By Joseph Massad
We seem to already know the name, weight, ideological color and the physical make-up of this "baby;" nay we even know the political structure, and the foreign policy of the fruit of Fayyad's womb: a tiny Palestinian "state" that recognizes Israel as a "biblical" Jewish state. The time of birth will be determined by Fayyad as both mother and midwife. While the last immaculate conception that took place in Palestine was in Nazareth, it remains unclear if what is unfolding in Ramallah is a second immaculate conception, as no paternity tests have been scheduled as of yet for this illegitimate baby
Israel's Manufactured Outrage Over
A Presidential Palace
By Stephen Maher
Israel's hysterical reaction -- and the US support of it -- to the building of a Palestinian Authority presidential compound on a street named after a Hamas military commander, is hardly surprising. Of note however is the double-standard exhibited by Israel and its patron, the US. The assumption throughout is that Israel's actions are just, defensive and in pursuit of peace for all. Conversely, Palestinian actions are aggressive and evil, and worthy of worldwide condemnation
Adding Torture To Injury
By Pam Bailey
It was bad enough that Ahmad Asfour was severely maimed by an Israeli drone strike outside his house on 9 January 2009. But, his search for advanced treatment landed the journalism student, now 19, in Israeli prison where he remains
15 April, 2010
Hamas Should Be Treated As A Political Actor:
Richard Falk
Dr Hanan Chehata, interviews Prof Richard Falk
Interview With Prof. Richard Falk the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied , since 1967
Endless Casualties Of Israel’s “Buffer Zone”
By Eva Bartlett
Mahmoud Shawa, 19, is the latest victim of Israeli aggression against Gazans in Israel’s “Buffer Zone”
13 April, 2010
Gazans Gassed By Silent Killer
By Mel Frykberg
As a result of electricity shortages Gazans have resorted to installing emergency generators, many of them poor quality Chinese brands smuggled through the tunnels from Egypt, in their homes in a desperate bid to be able to cook, wash and have water to drink. Generators have become part of the furniture in many Gazan homes, but without people being aware of the dangers involved
The Injured Continue To Suffer In Gaza
By Stefan Christoff
Thousands across Gaza live with severe injuries: youth war amputees, mothers severely burned by phosphorus bombs, countless Palestinians coping with physiological wounds, all injuries stemming from the disaster wrought on Gaza by the Israeli military assault in the winter of 2008/2009
Israel Resorts To More Gestapo-Like Measures
In West Bank
By Khalid Amayreh
The Israeli occupation army has introduced a set of draconian measures in the West Bank aimed at uprooting more Palestinians from their ancestral homeland as well as suppressing prospective Palestinian protests against the enduring Israeli military occupation and apartheid
12 April, 2010
Divesting Is The Right Thing To Do
By Archbishop Desmond Tutu
It was with great joy that I learned of your recent 16-4 vote in support of divesting your university’s money from companies that enable and profit from the injustice of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and violation of Palestinian human rights. Principled stands like this, supported by a fast growing number of US civil society organizations and people of conscience, including prominent Jewish groups, are essential for a better world in the making, and it is always an inspiration when young people lead the way and speak truth to power
Gaza Students To Margaret Atwood:
Reject Tel Aviv University Prize
By Palestinian Students’ Campaign
Open letter, Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel
Weiss: Holocaust Survivor – Why I Support
Palestinian Rights
By Suzanne Weiss
Holocaust Awareness Week is an appropriate time to review our proud history as Jewish universalists, welcoming and encompassing humanity. We, as Jewish supporters of the Palestinians, stand on the finest traditions of Judaism, its great contributions to human religion, philosophy, science, and solidarity through the ages. The rights we expect for the Jewish people, we demand for all humanity – above all, for the Palestinians that the Israeli government oppresses in our name
Israel Finds A New Way To Play The Victim
By Ira Chernus
A report released by the United Nations last year says that Israeli settlers, angered over the destruction of Jewish outposts, could exact revenge on up to a quarter million Palestinians in the West Bank
Talking Palestine To Power
By Sonja Karkar
The world lacks courage from government leaders, acquiescent mainstream media, nongovernmental organizations dependent on government support, academics looking for tenure and populations too long fed on a diet of Zionist myths. People are terrified of being labelled anti-Semitic. Palestinians too, afraid of being further shunned and disadvantaged in countries that give them refuge, so often remain silent. Not only do people fear repercussions, but speaking the truth or even just hearing it has a way of taking people out of their comfort zones
Gaza: Affecting And Affected
By Eva Bartlett
Dangerous work. Being a medic hardly seems dangerous…anywhere else. But in a place like Palestine, medics have to contend with more than tending to the injured or bringing in the dead. They have to be aware of Israeli soldiers’ shooting, shelling from Apaches, F-16s, tanks, the sea… Story of three medics in Gaza
They’ve Stolen Our Road!
By Peter Balaam
We sat with Jamal and Susan and in their home in Shufa. Their seven children peeped in from time to time, daring each other to go and speak to the foreigners. Jamal explained how the road to their village has literally been stolen by some Israelis who live in a nearby illegal settlement
11 April, 2010
IDF Order Will Enable Mass Deportation
From West Bank
By Amira Hass
A new military order aimed at preventing infiltration will come into force this week, enabling the deportation of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank, or their indictment on charges carrying prison terms of up to seven years
Salam Fayyad's Big Gamble
By Uri Avnery
Fayyad believes, so it seems, that the Palestinians’ only chance to achieve their national goals is by non-violent means, in close cooperation with the US. His plan is to build the Palestinian national institutions and create a robust economic base, and, by the end of 2011, to declare the State of Palestine. What will happen if Fayyad’s gamble proves to be an historic mistake? If the pro-Israel lobby wins against the statesmen and the generals? Or if some world crisis diverts the attention of the White House into another direction?
My Beautiful Palestine
By Samah Sabawi
Bigger than land on map, Palestine is the name of all universal struggles for a better world, writes Samah Sabawi in Melbourne
10 April, 2010
Deir Yasin Massacre, 09.04.1948
By Reham Alhelsi
“They used to enter houses and kill women and children indiscriminately”
Deir Yassin's Inextinguishable Fire
By Dina Elmuti
Today, I commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the Deir Yassin Massacre. Deir Yassin, which catapulted the Nakba, our catastrophe, is an undeniable marker of unabashed injustice, and it will continue to deter any prevarication and the notion that "ignorance is bliss." Deir Yassin signifies that Palestinians existed and still exist, and we will never give up without a fight
The Persistence Of A Palestinian Family
By Antoine Raffoul
This is a Palestinian odyssey spanning over 62 years since these five brothers and one sister . These children were expelled with their parents and grandparents from Haifa, Palestine by the zionist underground forces as they swept the country looking for more people to kill, more booty to steal and more land to conquer. The family boarded a truck heading north to the Lebanese border
Imprisoning Palestinian Children
By Stephen Lendman
Each year, about 700 West Bank children, under 18, are arrested, detained, interrogated, and prosecuted in Israeli military courts, in total about 6,500 since 2000
08 April, 2010
Cameras And Kuffiyehs:
Palestine's Video Resistance
By Don Duncan
For the past three years, the Israeli human rights NGO, B’Tselem, has been providing cameras and training to young Palestinians as part of its "Shooting Back" project – a bid to document and collect hard video evidence of abuses and misconduct by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Today, there are 150 cameras all over the West Bank and Gaza for this purpose and most of the footage captured – some 1,500 hours so far – ends up on the floor-to-ceiling archive shelves in the Jerusalem office of Yoav Gross who directs the NGO’s video project
Israel Destroys Gaza Dairy For Second Time
By Rami Almeghari
It was not a chemical plant, nor a nuclear facility, nor a manufacturer of weapons of mass destruction. But almost all the rubble of the entirely destroyed factory was covered in white, with white chunks everywhere. These were pieces of cheese, butter and yoghurt -- some of the products made by the Dalloul dairy factory in southern Gaza City. Israeli warplanes bombed the factory shortly after midnight last Thursday through Friday night, 1-2 April, leaving the building, all its equipment and the distribution van completely destroyed
Under The Beautiful Valley
By Danny Felsteiner
While the world's eyes are riveted to the diplomatic arguments over Israel's settlement facts on the ground, Israel is covertly tightening its grip on Wadi Hilweh and al-Bustan neighborhoods in Silwan in a literally underground fashion. Danny Felsteiner writes from occupied East Jerusalem
01 April, 2010
Palestine's "Turbulent Priest" Delivers
A Blistering Easter Message
By Stuart Littlewood
Stuart Littlewood views the Easter message of Gaza’s courageous Fr Manuel Musallam in which he delivered a blistering attack on Israel’s occupation and its rape of the holy sites, and a damning indictment of the silence of the cowards in the West
Defacto State
By Jim Miles
Part of the dilemma in Palestine is that the more the “peace” process is delayed, moving nowhere, the more Israel gains in the way of confiscated and settled land. There are two basic solutions: either a one state solution (whether bi-national or otherwise); or a two state solution with Palestine existing on some remnant of land left over from Israeli settlement. A recent combination of events/ideas has left me wondering if the one state solution is perhaps the only remaining solution if not the de facto situation now
30 March, 2010
Celebrating The Land; Celebrating Palestine
By Reham Alhelsi
Of all the Palestinian special days, maybe one of the most important days is the Palestinian "Land Day". In addition to the Nakba commemoration day, the "Land Day" was somehow always dominant. It is a day of protest; a day when demonstrations and marches unite Palestinians in occupied Palestine with those in the Diaspora. It is a day we all participate in because it is our day; the day of the Palestinian people and their land. It is a day to commemorate and a day of tribute to those who fell for Palestine, for the land and for our national identity
29 March, 2010
Tuwani Versus Havat Ma'on: Microcosm Of
Israeli Apartheid
By Khaled Amayreh
No catalogue of Israeli oppression and persecution of the Palestinian people can be complete without the ongoing plight of the villagers of Tuwani in the southern West Bank
Till The Last Rubble
By Flora Nicoletta
It's a CD on Gaza without a name and without words. The images speak by themselves. For whom hates Gaza, it's boring. For whom loves Gaza, it's heartbreaking
How Neutral Is American Neutrality
In The Middle East?
By Ershad Abubacker
Palestine is a cry of humanity. Those who claim neutrality amidst this catastrophe must realize that neutrality does not exist at the phase of bulldozed houses, bullet ridden infants and white phosphorus bombs. Doing nothing to prevent it is, in fact, choosing. It’s not being neutral
Stuck Between A Wall And An Occupation
By Nora Barrows-Friedman
When Bilal Jadou's grandmother was sick last year, neither Israeli ambulances or Palestinian ambulances were able to cross the checkpoint to his house. Jadou's house is on the other side of the sprawling apartheid wall, separated from his community and the West Bank. Nora Barrows-Friedman interviews Jadou from Aida refugee camp, occupied West Bank
28 March, 2010
Palestinian Political Prisoners
By Stephen Lendman
The numbers vary but range at any time from over 7,000 to 12,000 or more. In April 2008, the Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel cited 11,000, including 345 children and 98 women. Over 1,000 suffered from chronic or other diseases. Around 150 were seriously ill from heart disease, cancer, and other diseases, and 195 or more Palestinians died or were killed in prison since 1967
24 March, 2010
Four Cousins And Their Funerals
By Nour Odeh
Reporting on the death of children is never an easy task. It challenges your sense of professionalism and puts you face to face with the strongest of emotions; a mother's inconsolable grief at the loss of her child. On Sunday, I went through this unforgettable experience - four times
23 March, 2010
Going It Alone: A Third Intifada?
By Tariq Shadid
If no one else in the world will make any move to protect Al Aqsa, and put a halt to the inhumane aggression of Israeli occupation and expansion, the Palestinian people surely will not grasp at straws, but are bound to grab any stick they can find, and defend themselves against the demolition of their homes, the murder of their children, and the destruction of their holy sites and their national identity
Wrong Time For New Intifada
By Nasser Laham
Declaration of a new aimless intifada at this stage will be a most dangerous decision, taking into account internal disagreement and the lack of unity. We have to realize that each side will exert efforts to claim responsibility and take advantages of this intifada if it erupts. Despite all this heroic incitement through media outlets, none of the Palestinian leaders possess the potential to lead a popular uprising the same way the First Intifada was led. In order to prevent a siege on the West Bank similar to that imposed on the Gaza Strip, let us focus on taking our intifada to the UN where we struggle to declare statehood against occupation’s will
Who Is Killing Whom In Israel/Palestine?
By Sonja Karkar
One man dead in Israel and the whole world knows. In Nablus two sixteen-year-old cousins were shot in the heart and the head for throwing stones. One is dead, the other critically injured. Similar incidents occur without any international outcries throughout the West Bank
22 March, 2010
Targeting Palestinian Mothers
By Reham Alhelsi
Since the beginning of Al-Aqsa intifada in 2000 and till 2006 at least 69 Palestinian women gave birth at Israeli checkpoints in front of Israeli soldiers. This led to 35 miscarriages and the death of five mothers
Notes On Israel's Triumph To Disaster
By Bashir Abu-Manneh
If the Arab peoples move as well, and if their spontaneous support is organized and mobilized to greater effect, then the U.S. presence in the region can also be weakened. And that is no small thing. Arab hearts still lie in Palestine. It can still move a whole nation like no other cause in the region. Though the present looks bleak, collective acts of resistance can still create vast possibilities
21 March, 2010
Gaza War Injured Still Lack Prosthetics
By IRIN
"We have 250 new amputees following the Israeli war to add to the 5,000 cases we had before the war," said Ash-Shawwa. "Some of the injured from the Gaza war are still having problems with their amputated limbs as they were not treated properly at the time due to the hectic situation; initial treatments focused on saving lives."
20 March, 2010
Gazan Fishermen Struggle To Stay Afloat
By Rada Daniell & Bianca Zammit
Israel's harassment of the Gazan fishermen is not just the usual intimidation, but a deliberate attempt destroy the Gazan fishing industry
Why Violence Against Palestinian Women
Is Widespread
By IRIN
Rights activists blame the economy, Hamas-Fatah tensions and the Israeli occupation for the rising number of cases of violence against women. Disinterest in domestic abuse by the judicial authorities and the apparent impunity of violators have made matters worse
19 March, 2010
Storm Over Israeli Settlements As Unreal
As The Peace Process
By Hasan Abu Nimah
Despite Netanyahu's denial that he knew in advance of the announcement, it is clear Israel was sending a message to the peace process chorus. First, that renewed talks would not mean any slow down in colonization schemes on occupied lands. Second, that Israeli-defined Jerusalem is outside the scope of any negotiations. Third, Netanyahu does not need the talks -- for him they are only a cover for colonization -- so he could afford the risk that the talks would be jeopardized knowing full well that the US reaction would be limited at worst to words of criticism
The Children Of Gaza
By Dr. Hanan Chehata
Israel is sentencing young Gazan children to a life of pain, suffering and ultimately, death
Boys Disappearing From Hebron Old City
By Paulette Schroeder
I have only begun to enumerate the stories of children recently taken from our midst. Though the people's patience has been great and their will to resist persists; yet anyone who witnesses these actions firsthand will call them insanity, dehumanization, oppression, collective profiling. From my point of view, this problem in Hebron and throughout the West Bank is a matter of conscience, an embarrassment to humanity, and a horrid usage of tax dollars. It is urgent that the international community pressure the state of Israel and each one's own government to put a stop to this madness
A Prosthetic Leg At The Palestinian Auschwitz
By Kawther Salam
Monday 14 March 2010 at quarter past nine in the morning at the Zionist Qalandiya checkpoint towards entry into Jerusalem, the gate of Auschwitz 2. A female Israeli Nazi soldier orders an invalid Palestinian girl to take off her pants in front of the crowd of Palestinians waiting at the checkpoint, thousands of waiting men and women. The girl had a prosthetic leg which was fixed with metal screw
Please Help Little Amal From Gaza
By Avigail Abarbanel
Since Israel’s attack over a year ago, Amal has been living with several pieces of shrapnel lodged in her head. She is suffering from frequent awful headaches and nosebleeds. This is in addition to the obvious psychological trauma that she has to live with. As a psychotherapist I have no idea how long it will take and if it will ever be possible for Amal to recover from the trauma she has been through, and what life will be like for her if the shrapnel can’t be taken out of her brain
18 March, 2010
The Third Intifada: "Day Of Rage"
And "Day Of Infamy"
By Agustin Velloso
It seems that yesterday, March 16th, the third Intifada of the Israeli era was unofficially started. Those that took place before 1948 are seldom mentioned, as if resistance was a new occurrence. Palestinians will see more suffering the months ahead. Before the martyrs' blood is spilled again in al-Aqsa compound, as it happened back in September 28th of 2000, under Sharon's orders, it is time to celebrate this Palestinian uprising
Activism Is Change, Not Academic Squabbles
And Bickering
By Ramzy Baroud
The day our publications, newsletters, websites, conferences and rallies include all sorts of opposing views, without slander and intimidation, will be the day that we can be sure a cohesive community of activists is in the making, a community able to achieve good things. Without this, no campaign will be effective enough to make major policy shifts, in Washington or anywhere else
16 March, 2010
Children of Gaza: Scarred, Trapped, Vengeful
By Rachel Shields
1,000 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 Mohyeldin
For 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 McIntyre
The 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 Lendman
Children 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 Badi
Today, 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 Baroud
One 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-Friedman
Terrifying and harrowing experience of a Hebron boy at the hands of Israeli soldiers
Israel’s Apartheid
By Murray Dobbin
There 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 RTP
Conclusions Of The Russell Tribunal On Palestine First session in Barcelona, 1-3 March 2010
A Tale Of Two Richards
By Nadia Hijab
If 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 Amayreh
An 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 Kassis
We 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 Hart
Most 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 Amayreh
The 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 Amayreh
Israeli 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 Weiler
Someday, 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 Finkelstein
This 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 Bartlett
They 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-Friedman
Rabbeh, 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 Jomaa
An 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 Abunimah
The 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 Macintyre
Jerusalem'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 Bishara
The 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 Amayreh
The 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 Amayreh
The 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, PhD
What 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 Giglioli
Six 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 Barat
The 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 Bartlett
Nidal 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 Frykberg
Israel'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 Cole
Last 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 Bartlett
Israeli 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 Amayreh
Despite 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 Baroud
It 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 Monitor
A 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 Keltz
Iris 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 Nimah
Even 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 Abarbanel
Most 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 Juma
Inspite 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 Obeidallah
Israelis 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 Dhansay
It 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 Hijab
At 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-Nounou
Gaza 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 Rasmussen
Ten 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 Abunimah
An 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 Sector
A Video
16 February, 2010
Israel Bombs Gaza's Agricultural Sector
To The Brink
By Eva Bartlett
Since 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 Nieuwhof
Defence 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 Avnery
Netanyahu 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 Barlett
Local 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 Madi
It'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 Hart
The 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 Fisk
They 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 Amayreh
Whenever 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 Obeidallah
Another Hamas leader is killed in Dubai, most probably by Israeli agents
10 February, 2010
Fighting For An Education In Gaza
By Jody McIntyre
The travails of a Gaza youth for higher education
Gaza: Abu Taima’s land
By Eva Barlett
It’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 Cook
Jerusalem’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 Almeghari
Nejoud 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 Hart
There 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 Lendman
Free 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 Cook
Over 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 Fleming
On 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 Baroud
Will 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 Efrat
It 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 Fisk
Both 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 Avnery
George 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 Campaign
Please 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 Stone
Médecins 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 Lendman
Boycotting 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 Abunimah
The 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 Lendman
An 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 Pilger
A 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 Chappell
The 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 Cattori
85-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 Abubacker
The 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 Aljazeera
Egyptian 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 Abunimah
Having 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 Attalah
Self-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 Aljazeera
Israel 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 Ruder
Eric 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 Rahmah
Whether 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 Rahmah
On 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 Aljazeera
Members 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 Chehata
Egypt 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 Nazzal
What 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 Lendman
For 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 Lendman
Viva 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 Thobani
In 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 Lendman
Public 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. Lin
Delegates 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 Marchers
Gaza Freedom Marchers approved a declaration aimed at accelerating the global campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli Apartheid
The Iron Wall
By Uri Avnery
As 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 Hart
With 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 Baroud
News 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 Lendman
On 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
