31 December, 2008
Gaza Carnage Continues;
Death Toll Rises To 390
By Sameh A. Habeeb
Israeli air force still launching the heaviest bombardments in Gaza ever. The fourth day of Israeli military operation started with heavy bombings west of Gaza City in addition to killing 2 children and around 10 in various places in Gaza to raise death toll to 390 while wounded people up to one thousand and most of them civilians
From The Ashes Of Gaza
By Tariq Ali
The assault on Gaza, planned over six months and executed with perfect timing, was designed largely, as Neve Gordon has rightly observed, to help the incumbent parties triumph in the forthcoming Israeli elections. The dead Palestinians are little more than election fodder in a cynical contest between the right and the far right in Israel. Washington and its EU allies, perfectly aware that Gaza was about to be assaulted, as in the case of Lebanon in 2006, sit back and watch
Americans Should Act To End Violence Against Gaza
By Jeremy R. Hammond
Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip was predictable, if not preventable. Israel's crimes against the Palestinians simply could not take place on such a massive scale were it not for US support. The American people, therefore, have a responsibility to act and pressure their government to end its financial, military, and diplomatic support for Israeli violations of international law -- a necessary first step towards any viable and sustainable peace
Arab Connivance In The Gaza Massacre
By Alberto Cruz
With the connivance, acquiescence and approval of the United Nations, Europe the United States and reactionary Arab governments, Israel is engaged in a campaign of extermination, a holocaust against the Palestinians
Gaza And The World
By Ramzy Baroud
Until Arab countries and nations translate their chants and condemnations into a practical and meaningful political action that can bring an end to the Israeli onslaughts against Palestinians, all that is likely to change are the numbers of dead and wounded. But still, one has to wonder if Israel kills a thousand more, ten thousand, or half of Gaza, will the US still blame Palestinians? Will Egypt open its Gaza border? Will Europe express the same “deep concern”? Will the Arabs issue the same redundant statements? Will things ever change? Ever?
Israel Is America's Hands
By Peter Chamberlin
Will you stand-up for the rights of humanity, or will you cower in the corner while the parade of death marches across your TV screen and into your own home?
Who Wins What In Gaza?
By Mary Lynn Cramer
Israeli government officials say that innocent civilians should move away from the Hamas militants so they won’t be injured. To where were the 5 young sisters crushed to death by collapsing walls of a mosque bombed by Israel supposed to escape? The mosque, one of five now bombed to rubble, was next to their home
Gaza: Plan Of Attack
By Jim Miles
I wish I were wrong, but the current Gaza war, given the current global situation, will some day be relegated to another footnoted battle against terrorists, soon to be dropped once again from the main media newscasts as soon as the “shock and awe” of it wears off and is no longer newsworthy
30 December, 2008
Gaza Carnage :345 Dead And Counting
By Sameh A. Habeeb
At least 345 people were killed and more than 1,650 wounded since Israel blitzed the Gaza Strip with massive air strikes since Saturday, December 27
Why Would Israel Bomb A University?
By Dr. Akram Habeeb
Last night, during the second night of Israel's unprecedented attack on Gaza, I was awakened by the deafening sound of intensive bombardment. When I learned that Israel had bombed my university with American-made F-16s, I realized that its "target bank" had gone bankrupt. Of course Israeli politicians and generals would claim that IUG is a Hamas stronghold and that it preaches terrorism
Slowy Dying In A Useless Listening In Gaza
By Vittorio Arrigoni
Please, someone stop this nightmare. Choosing to remain silent means somehow lending support to the genocide unfolding right now. Shout out your indignation, in every capital of the “civilised” world, in every city, in every square, covering our own screams of pain and terror. A slice of humanity is dying in pitiful in a useless listening
Israeli Electioneering With Bombs
By Jonathan Cook
Livni and Barak pin their hopes on Gaza rampage
Jewish Terrorism
By Ghali Hassan
The ongoing massacre of innocent Palestinian civilians is not the first Jewish-perpetuated massacre and certainly won’t be the last. Israel follows a Nazi-like racist policy based on physical extermination and ethnic cleansing of the native Palestinian population
Mr Mubarak, Tear Down That Wall!
By Franklin Lamb
Even a cursory examination of the events which began on December 27, 2008 require that Mohammad Hosni Mubarak be added as an accomplice to the pending International Criminal Court (ICC) case concerning international crimes being committed by Israel with American weapons
We Have No Words Left
By Ali Abunimah
Palestinians are at a loss to describe this new catastrophe. Is it our 9/11, or is it a taste of the "bigger shoah" Matan Vilnai, thedeputy defense minister, threatened in February, after the last round of mass killings?
The Dogs Of War
By Osamah Khalil
Caught between this collection of madmen, criminals and fools are the people of Gaza, who have suffered for far too long and have paid an unbelievable price for simply being Palestinian. After more then 30 months of sanctions and siege, many have become desperately poor, living a daily reality of constant terror and deprivation that few can imagine. Yet, in the face of overwhelming cruelty and a conspiracy of silence and indifference they persevere. That they must do so is an indictment of us all
Leaders Lie, Civilians Die, And
Lessons Of History Are Ignored
By Robert Fisk
Yes, Israel deserves security. But these bloodbaths will not bring it. Not since 1948 have air raids protected Israel. Israel has bombed Lebanon thousands of times since 1975 and not one has eliminated "terrorism". So what was the reaction last night? The Israelis threaten ground attacks. Hamas waits for another battle. Our Western politicians crouch in their funk holes. And somewhere to the east – in a cave? a basement? on a mountainside? – a well-known man in a turban smiles
A Hundred Eyes For An Eye
By Norman Solomon
What’s going on in Gaza right now is not just an eye for an eye. It’s a hundred eyes for an eye. And the current slaughter is not only an ongoing Israeli war crime. It has an accomplice named Uncle Sam
May We No Longer Be Silent
By Paul Craig Roberts
“How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal?” Pinter’s question can also be asked of Israel. Israel has been in violation of international law since 1967, protected by the United States’ veto of UN Resolutions condemning Israel for its violent, inhumane, barbaric, and illegal acts
29 December, 2008
Gaza: The Carnage Continues
By Sameh A. Habeeb
Victims of Israeli air raids are 312 while wounded are up to 1000. Around 80 air raids took place in Gaza strip from the early morning of Sunday till 7pm in the evening. Around 300 air raids in the last 2 days
The Longest Night Of My Life
By Safa Joudeh
Here's an update on what's happening in Gaza,on the second night of Israeli air (and sea) raids on Gaza
Gaza Today: This Is Only The Beginning
By Ewa Jasiewicz
And according to many people here, there is nothing and nobody looking out for them apart from God. Back in Shifa Hospital tonight, we meet the brother of a security guard who had had the doorway he had been sitting in and the building - Abu Mazen's old HQ - fall down upon his head. He said to us, 'We don't have anyone but God. We feel alone. Where is the world? Where is the action to stop these attacks?'
Guernica In Gaza
By Vittorio Arrigoni
I haven’t seen any terrorists among the victims today, only civilians and policemen. Exactly like our own local police agents, the Palestinian policemen massacred by the Israeli bombings could be found every day of the year pacing the same city square, supervising the same street corner or road
Gaza Carnage Sets West Bank Aflame
By Mel Frykberg
Anger, shock and revulsion at the continuing carnage in Gaza has ignited spontaneous demonstrations and riots across the West Bank and Israel, sparking concerns of a possible third Palestinian uprising or Intifada
"An Earthquake On Top Of Your Head"
By Dr. Eyad Al Serraj
The bombing went on for about 10 minutes. It was like an earthquake on top of your head. The windows were shaking and squeaking. My 10-year-old was terrified, he was jumping from one place to another trying to hide. I held him tight to my chest and tried to give him some security and reassure him. My 12-year-old was panicking and began laughing hysterically, it's not normal. I held her hand and calmed her and told her she would be safe. My wife was panicking. She was running around the apartment looking for somewhere to hide
The Hanukkah Massacres
By Gary Corseri
During the Festival of Lights, 2008, before the last candle of the menorah could be lit, while the children played with their dreidles and received their Hannukah gelt, their blind and deranged parents and grandparents rained terror upon a shackled people in an open-air prison, ensuring that the children in the Holy Land and elsewhere in our tortured world would know neither peace nor joy nor light for many years to come
Israel's Wanton Aggression On Gaza
By Stephen Lendman
The "Stench of Death Hangs Over Gaza," wrote Ola Attallah, IslamOnline correspondent from Gaza City. Can we sense it, smell it, feel it, anguish over it, and decide once and for all this won't stand! If not now, when? If not us, who? If wanton butchery isn't incentive enough, what is?
The World In Hostage
By Dan Lieberman
World leaders respond timidly to Israeli attacks on defenseless Gaza
Massacre In Gaza: The Paradox Of Peace
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
Sadly, this was not the first time. History has repeated itself. Only our media has successfully managed to throw sands of ignorance in our eyes and blind us with bigotry, keeping our wits dull with misinformation. For the sake of the innocent victims everywhere, the truth must be exposed. We must revisit history
Israel Threatens Ground Invasion Of Gaza
By Chris Marsden
Israel seems set for a ground invasion of Gaza following sustained bombardment that has left more than 300 dead and over 1,000 more injured
28 December, 2008
Massacre In Gaza: 230 Killed
By Sameh A. Habeeb
Saturday morning started as usual but dramatically changed by 11AM. Sixty Israeli F16s bombarded around 100 police stations, civil and governmental offices across Gaza Strip. The bombardment which simultaneously took place left (at the time of writing)160 people killed and around 3 hundred wounded. A number of wounded are expected to die while many corpses still lie under the rubble of buildings
Gaza Massacres Must Spur Us To Action
By Ali Abunimah
Palestinians everywhere are asking for solidarity, real solidarity, in the form of sustained, determined political action. The Gaza-based One Democratic State Group reaffirmed this today as it "called upon all civil society organizations and freedom loving people to act immediately in any possible way to put pressure on their governments to end diplomatic ties with Apartheid Israel and institute sanctions against it."
Bush's Farewell Gift
By Nicola Nasser
UN Resolution 1850 pushes Palestinian unity further from reach than ever, argues Nicola Nasser
26 December, 2008
No Bread In Gaza
By Rami Almeghari
The Gaza Strip, home to more than 1.5 million Palestinians, will soon be without its most basic commodity: bread. While families around the world celebrate Christmas, gathering around tables of abundance, Gaza parents like me will not even be able provide bread for their children unless Israel opens the commercial crossings to Gaza from the outside world
Gaza's Hunger
By Sameh A. Habeeb
The number of Gaza bakeries is 47 but now the working ones are 14 only
Security Council Undermines Justice
And UN Charter
By Hasan Abu Nimah & Ali Abunimah
The United Nations Security Council passed its first resolution on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in almost five years, on 16 December. But far from marking a break with the Council's abdication of responsibility for the fate of the Palestinian people, United States- and Russian-sponsored resolution 1850 is the final nail in the coffin for even the pretense that international law and institutions will play any serious role in ending 60 years of dispossession and occupation, and bringing about a just peace
24 December, 2008
Calm Is Over; Violence Breaks Out Again In Gaza
By Sameh A. Habeeb
Sunday midnight witnessed escalated military steps by Israeli army on Gaza Strip. Apache helicopters raided on Al Shijya area east of Gaza city leaving 3 civilians injured. Medical spokesman of Emergency, Dr. Mawya Hasanian, said 2 children were reported in a wake of military actions. The air raids which were extensively supported by Israeli reconnaissance planes left Gaza residents in great panic
Nazi Israel … Indeed
By Dr. Elias Akleh
Israelis and Jews of the world have relentlessly pursued Nazi war criminals for decades for their war crimes committed during WWII. They chased Nazi war criminals for the rest of their lives, even when they were old and close to their death, to make them pay for their crimes. No doubts in my mind that Israeli war criminals, in turn, will be pursued and sentenced for their war crimes committed against Arabs
20 December, 2008
Gaza: The Untold Story
By Ramzy Baroud
It’s incomprehensible that a region such as the Gaza Strip, so rich with history, so saturated with defiance, can be reduced to a few blurbs, sound bites and reductionist assumptions, convenient but deceptive, vacant of any relevant meaning, or even true analytical value
06 December, 2008
Hebron Settlers Take Their Fight Into Israel
By Jonathan Cook
Extremist settler groups currently involved in violent confrontations with Palestinians in the centre of Hebron have chosen their next battleground, this time outside the West Bank
03 December, 2008
Gaza:A Bare Life Zone Nearing To A No-Life-Zone
By Sameh Akram habeeb
With the latest Israeli maneuvers' of tightening the siege imposed on Gaza, more life necessities vanished. The key power plant shut down 25 days ago resulted in tremendous direful outcomes. More than 75% of the Gaza strip faces severe power cuts and some areas completely plunged into darkness
A Peace Process That Makes Peace Impossible
By Nicola Nasser
Palestinian – Israeli peace-making can only deliver if Palestinians are united, but the current Annapolis “peace process” was launched first of all as a blueprint for perpetuating the inter- Palestinian divide
28 November, 2008
Gaza: Salvation In A News Broadcast
By Ramzy Baroud
The people of that tiny stretch of land find ways to cope with their ample tragedies, as they did the moment the first caravan of refugees, parched and desperate, made their way into Gaza following the 1948 Nakba. They weep for their loss, bury their dead, ask God for mercy, and, once again, return home to huddle around their radios, seeking a glimpse of hope in news broadcasts
26 November, 2008
Humanitarian Disaster In Gaza
By Stephen Lendman
Gaza is under siege for the past 22 days. Israel lifted the siege briefly on November 24, but closed the boder crossings again after two Qassam rockets were fired on Sunday, one on Monday, and another on Tuesday. A humanitarian disaster is looming in Gaza
Gaza People "Stripped Of Their Dignity"
By Rami Almeghari
The situation is very desperate at the humanitarian level, I mean people have been stripped of their dignity here, it is a struggle to survive for every body. 750,000 of the people here in Gaza are children of the one and half million population - says John Ging, UNRWA Chief of Operations in the Gaza Strip
19 November, 2008
Extrajudicial Assassinations
As Official Israeli Policy
By Stephen Lendman
Throughout its history, Israel willfully and systematically committed premeditated extrajudicial killings of Palestinians and other Arabs as official state policy - carried out with explicit high-level political, judicial and military authorization and allegedly in "self-defense" against individuals threatening Israeli security. Government officials even admit that certain persons are targeted, and Dan Haluts, former Israeli Army Chief of Staff, once told the Washington Post (in August 2006) that "Targeted killing is the most important method in the fight against 'terrorism.' " In other words, premeditated murder is acceptable as long as it's properly classified
18 November, 2008
Humanitarian Disaster And News Blackout In Gaza
By Cherrie Heywood
Israel has imposed a virtual news blackout on the Gaza Strip. For the last ten days no foreign journalists have been able to enter the besieged territory to report on the escalating humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's complete closure of Gaza's borders for the last two weeks
Obama And The Prospects For
Israeli-Palestinian Peace
By Ali Abunimah
United States President-elect Barack Obama's election victory has revived hopes that stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations could finally lead to a two-state solution. Few new presidents have been greeted with such optimism and associated high expectations
17 November, 2008
The Real Goal Of Israel’s Blockade
By Jonathan Cook
The latest tightening of Israel’s chokehold on Gaza – ending all supplies into the Strip for more than a week – has produced immediate and shocking consequences for Gaza’s 1.5 million inhabitants.The refusal to allow in fuel has forced the shutting down of Gaza’s only power station, creating a blackout that pushed Palestinians bearing candles on to the streets in protest last week. A water and sanitation crisis are expected to follow
13 November, 2008
Israel Tightens Chokehold On Village Of Entrepreneurs
By Jonathan Cook
Nilin, midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is home to nearly 5,000 Palestinians. Known as the “village of entrepreneurs”, it has more than its share of millionaires. But that looks set to change as the separation wall is closing down on Nilin’s land. Encircled by half a dozen Jewish settlements like Hashmonaim -- all illegal under international law -- the village is slowly being sealed off in a fashion that may soon make its isolation almost as complete as Gaza’s
06 November, 2008
Playgrounds For Palestine:
One Marathon At A Time
By Ramzy Baroud
I am also certain that there are many who care just enough to build one more playground for the children in the refugee camps. My hope is that your involvement will exceed that of making a one-time financial contribution to sponsor our run, but will rather get involved yourself as a runner, or in any other way to support such important organizations as Playgrounds for Palestine: they provide hope in a time when only misery and despair seem to eclipse the lives of so many children in Gaza, in Lebanon and in those caught behind Israeli walls in the West Bank
Travesty Of Tolerance On Display
By Jonathan Cook
The Israeli Supreme Court’s approval last week of the building of a Jewish Museum of Tolerance over an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem is the latest in a series of legal and physical assaults on Islamic holy places since Israel’s founding in 1948
03 November, 2008
A Third Palestinian Intifada In The Making
By Ramzy Baroud
Palestinian uprisings are often a collective response to hard questions. The chances are the next Intifada - as surely there will always be one as long as the occupation continues - will find again a popular rejection of the ills which have afflicted the Palestinian cause, It would once again reassert the relevance, if not the leading role of the Palestinian people as the real owners of their fate, and guards of their own struggle
30 October, 2008
Israel Bars Visit To Father’s Grave
By Jonathan Cook
Salwa Salam Qupty clutches a fading sepia photograph of a young Palestinian man wearing a traditional white headscarf. It is the sole memento that survives of her father, killed by a Jewish militia during the 1948 war that established Israel.“He was killed 60 years ago as he was travelling to work,” she said, struggling to hold back the tears. “My mother was four months pregnant with me at the time. This photograph is the closest I’ve ever got to him.” Six decades on from his death, she has never been allowed to visit his grave in Galilee and lay a wreath for the father she never met
Execution Of 47 In Kafr Qassem Commemorated
By Jonathan Cook
In a conflict that has produced more than its share of suffering and tragedy, the name of Kafr Qassem lives on in infamy more than half a century after Israeli police gunned down 47 Palestinian civilians, including women and children, in the village
22 October, 2008
The Children Of Gaza: Weaned On Fear And Trauma
By Samah A. Habeeb
Severe terror and traumas are de facto storms for children in the occupied territories, especially those who exist in the Gaza Strip. The ongoing Israeli military operations and violent retaliation induce psychological maladies and wretched conditions. The recent ceasefire in Gaza allows a temporary rest but not the cure for their fears and nightmares
17 October, 2008
Israel’s ‘City Of Coexistence’ Shows Its True Colours
By Jonathan Cook
Israel has been suffering its worst bout of inter-communal violence since the start of the second intifada, with a week of what has been widely presented as “rioting” by Jewish and Arab residents of the northern port city of Acre
Europe And The Middle East:
Will EU Be A More Just Mediator?
By Ramzy Baroud
Europe has showed greater willingness in recent months to play a larger part in the Middle East's most protracted conflict, that of Israel and Palestine. But willingness doesn't necessarily indicate readiness
10 October, 2008
Another Israeli West Bank Land Grab Scheme
By Stephen Lendman
Israeli policy of land grab continues. All the while monitored by The Israeli Human Rights organization, B'Tselem. It just documented more evidence in its report titled "Access Denied: Israeli measures to deny Palestinians access to land around (West Bank) settlements." Its findings are discussed below. It details how authorities block Palestinians' access to areas adjacent to settlements through closure policies and de facto seizure. Land theft and displacement for greater settlement expansions
04 October, 2008
Life After Bush: Forecasting Peace In Palestine
By Ramzy Baroud
There are no signs that change, true change, is coming, regardless of who wins the White House and regardless of who rules Israel. The fact remains that the relationship that governs the US-Israeli love affair is much more convoluted, deep-rooted, and institutionalized to be affected by the exit of one man and the advent of another
Israel’s Army And Settlers Fall Out
By Jonathan Cook
The Israeli army officer in charge of the occupation of the West Bank, Gen Gadi Shamni, has lambasted extremist Jewish settlers, blaming rising levels of violence on the encouragement of their leadership and right-wing rabbis. It is rare for a senior commander to speak so critically of the settlers, many of whom themselves serve in senior positions in the army
29 September, 2008
Palestinian Economy: From Bad To Wretched
By Ramzy Baroud
The numbers are grim, whether in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian economy is in one of its most wretched states, and the disaster is mostly, if not entirely manmade, thus reversible
26 September, 2008
Archaeology Becomes A Curse For
Jerusalem's Palestinians
By Jonathan Cook
The Palestinian residents are used to living in the shadow of history and religion, given dramatic physical form as the great silver dome of the al Aqsa mosque and the looming presence of the Mount of Olives. But of late, history has become a curse for most of Silwan’s residents
24 September, 2008
A Forgotten Story In Gaza:
The Slaughter Of Innocents
By Sameh A. Habeeb
Israel had announced officially that a holocaust would be on the way in Gaza and so far, at least 140 innocent people have been slaughtered. Most of them are children and civilians that have paid the price for militants firing Qasam rockets into Israel!
The Palestinians Of Sabra-Shatila:
26 Years After The Massacre: Part II
By Franklin Lamb
Twenty-six years following the Sabra-Shatila Massacre and the founding of Hezbollah: Will the Party of God deliver the Palestinians from exile?
22 September, 2008
Israel And Palestine Can Still Achieve Peace
By Mahmoud Abbas
I pledge my full cooperation in the days and months ahead. I am thankful for the efforts of the Bush administration to assist in brokering peace. I again extend my hand to the Israeli people, and I urge them and their leaders to make a choice that ensures a secure and prosperous future for both our peoples
A Refugee's Open Letter To Mahmoud Abbas
By Abdelfattah Abusrour
My name is Abdelfattah Abdelkarim Hasan Ibrahim Mohamad Ahmed Mostafa Ibrahim Srour Abusrour. I am still a refugee in my own country with two rusty keys to his house
20 September, 2008
Racism, Propaganda, And The Palestinian
Right To Return
By Max Kantar
The only just solution for the question of Israel/Palestine will be a resolution that recognizes human rights, international law, and one that transcends racist ideology, providing equality for both Jews and Arabs. For all those concerned with justice and universal moral principles, this is non-negotiable
19 September, 2008
Palestinian Unity: Goal Or Mantra?
By Ramzy Baroud
Palestinian unity is a must and is a prerequisite to any meaningful, large scale Palestinian strategy aimed at ending the Israeli occupation. But the term must be appreciated, qualified and its practical meaning understood fully before it too turns into another cheap Arab mantra, inscribed on many street corners, but no longer meaning anything
17 September, 2008
Jaffa’s ‘Renewal’ Aims At
Expulsion Of Palestinians
By Jonathan Cook
A recent report by the Human Rights Association in Nazareth concluded the government was seeking to use a “quiet” form of ethnic cleansing, using administrative and legal pressure, to make Jaffa entirely Jewish
16 September, 2008
The Palestinians Of Sabra-Shatila:
26 Years After The Massacre: Part I
By Franklin Lamb
Sabra and Shatila- 26 years after the massacre
Israel's Dark Arts Of Ensnaring Collaborators
By Jonathan Cook
Israel’s enduring use of Palestinian collaborators to entrench the occupation and destroy Palestinian resistance was once the great unmentionable of the Middle East conflict
09 September, 2008
Israel Moves To Judaise East Jerusalem
By Mel Frykberg
The Israeli government is attempting to Judaise Palestinian East Jerusalem, and maintain a Jewish majority against the demographic threat of a higher Palestinian birth rate
A New Palestinian Strategy
Or The Same Failed One?
By Ali Abunimah
Is the Palestinian national movement about to abandon the two-state solution and demand instead a single democratic or bi-national state throughout Palestine-Israel?
"Ideological Barriers To Peace"
By Max Kantar
The Egyptian-brokered cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas and the subsequent events that have taken place since the June 19th truce has once again exposed not only a number of truisms about the nature of Israeli-Palestinian relations, but also has brought to light the not so new ideological barriers from which we understand the conflict
04 September, 2008
Israelis Hinder Academic Pursuits
By Osama Dawoud
My people long for their freedom, and our young people champ at the bit when limited to a spit of land 25 miles long and six miles wide. Education and travel provide our students with tremendous opportunities to learn and return to contribute to the well-being of the Palestinian people. A remarkable program is now faltering on account of Israeli policies
03 September, 2008
Israel Turns Gaza Into Prison For
UConn Fulbright Scholar
By Zohair M. Abu Shaban
There are hundreds of Palestinian students in Gaza hoping for a miracle in the next few days so that we can pursue scholarships that may offer a once-in-a-lifetime escape from ignorance and poverty. We are determined not to be rendered a dependent people lacking advanced education. And yet the silence of the world suggests that Israel will succeed in keeping us within the limiting confines of Gaza
Israel Must Rein In Settler Movement,
Protect Palestinian Children
By Joel Gulledge
Our leaders must insist that Israel not apply one system of law in the West Bank for Israeli settlers and another for Palestinians. Colonizing another people ought to be regarded as ancient history
02 September, 2008
Palestinian Village Faces Army Reign Of Terror
By Jonathan Cook
The window through which Salam Amira, 16, filmed the moment when an Israeli soldier shot from close range a handcuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainee has a large hole at its centre with cracks running in every direction. “Since my video was shown, the soldiers shoot at our house all the time,” she said. The shattered and cracked windows at the front of the building confirm her story. “When we leave the windows open, they fire tear gas inside too.”
29 August, 2008
Olympic Follies And Triumphs
By Ramzy Baroud
When four Palestinian athletes marched with the Palestinian flag into the Olympic Games in Beijing it was a statement, a declaration of sorts, that Palestinians insist on their right to exist on equal footing with the rest of the world, to raise their flag without fear and wear their country's name spelled out the way it should be, not as a Palestinian Authority but as Palestine
28 August, 2008
Torture As Official Israeli Policy
By Stephen Lendman
Thousands of Palestinians are arrested, detained and abused. With little or no accountability, here's how one Israeli soldier put it: "When you deny thousands of people a day (free) movement, it is impossible to do it in a nice way."
26 August, 2008
Sailing Into Gaza
By Huwaida Arraf
Peace activists arrive in Gaza safely
Israel's Outposts Seal Death Of
Palestinian State
By Jonathan Cook
The majority of the half a million settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are “economic opportunists”, drawn to life in the occupied territories less by ideological or religious convictions than economic incentives. The homes, municipal services and schools there are heavily subsidised by the government. In addition, the settlements -- though illegal under international law -- are integrated into Israel through a sophisticated system of roads that make it easy for the settlers to forget they are in occupied territory surrounded by Palestinians
23 August, 2008
Boat Warriors Against The Israeli Siege Of Gaza
By Eileen Fleming
Two converted fishing boats of the Free Gaza Movement, bought and refurbished in Greece, and flying the Greek flag are travelling to Gaza. On board is a contingent of forty-three crew and human rights advocates, sworn to nonviolence, as well as a modest cargo of hearing aids for Palestinian children in Gaza. Among their ranks are a Greek member of parliament, an 81-year-old Catholic nun and the sister-in-law of former British prime minister Tony Blair
19 August, 2008
Mahmoud Darwish: The Anger,
The Longing, The Hope
By Uri Avnery
During the funeral ceremony in Ramallah Mahmoud Darwish was referred to again and again as "the Palestinian National Poet". But he was much more than that. He was the embodiment of the Palestinian destiny. His personal fate coincided with the fate of his people
16 August, 2008
Family Politics And The New Gaza Crisis
By Ramzy Baroud
Once again, the important story that ought to matter the most -- that of a continually imposing and violent Israeli occupation -- is lost in favour of Palestinian-infused distractions, deliberate or not.In Gaza, the story of the Israeli siege, which represents one of today's most catastrophic man-made disasters, is relegated in favour of renewed infighting between Hamas and Fatah, whether directly or by proxy
Blocking A Gazan's Path To San Diego
By Fidaa Abed
My education is my gateway to the future. The master's degree I would have earned at UC San Diego in computer science certainly cannot be attained in Gaza. And I am not alone. Hundreds of Palestinian students with dreams of improving their lives are stagnating intellectually in Gaza. The doors to our open-air prison have largely been slammed shut
12 August, 2008
United By Misery: Two Boys From Gaza And Nilin
By Ramzy Baroud
Ahmed Moussa was a 12-year-old Palestinian boy from the West Bank village of Nilin, near Ramallah. Mohamed Bahloul is a 12-year-old Palestinian boy from Gaza City. The former was shot and killed 29 July by Israeli forces following a peaceful protest against the Israeli apartheid wall. The latter is awaiting death in a dilapidated hospital in Gaza
07 August, 2008
Refugees In And From Arab Lands
By Bahija Réghaï
In the Israeli-Palestinian case, recognition by Israel of the right of return would entail its assumption of responsibility for the uprooting of the majority of Palestinian society in 1948. This would satisfy a central demand that has become a fundamental element in Palestinian national identity. Such recognition would then enable the two parties to enter negotiations over restitution and how best to address the right of return issue
07 August, 2008
Palestinians Unfairly Hit By Israeli Policy In Gaza
By Yaser Wishah
Imagine if Chinese-Americans visiting relatives were prevented by the Chinese government from returning to America. Or if an American traveled to Iran and was then forbidden from reaching an airport to come home. This happened to me at the hands of Israel, supposedly America's closest ally in the Middle East
06 August, 2008
The 'Security Vacuum' In Jerusalem
By Nicola Nasser
Both "lone" attacks and an earlier bloody one on a Jewish seminary in March were used by Israeli officials to whip up a mounting internal and external campaign of incitement and hatred against the native Palestinian Jerusalemites, which led Martin Sieff, a conservative defense industry editor for United Press International to stretch the exaggeration out of proportion to write on August 6 that, "A new front in the global war on terror has opened up" in Jerusalem
Olmert's Departure: The Perfect Alibi
By Hasan Abu Nimah
Olmert is not Rabin and Annapolis was not Oslo. While Rabin paid with his life for even appearing to challenge Israeli Jewish supremacy, Olmert is paying only with his job and his perks. On the other side, the Palestinian "partner" does not reach the mythical status of Yasser Arafat. So we have diminished myths for diminished characters and probably these myths will have a diminished life-span as the mythmakers struggle to hold back the tide of cruel reality that threatens to wash them away
04 August, 2008
Gaza Under Siege
By Stephen Lendman
Gaza's industrial production dropped 95%, and its agricultural output is about half its pre-2007 level. Nearly all construction also stopped, and according to a new UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) report, poverty tops 50% and unemployment is nearly as high. Other unofficial estimates say 80% for both is more accurate. Things are bad and worsening
02 August, 2008
Palestinians Face Home Demolitions Spree By Israel
By Jonathan Cook
The problem of house demolitions affects Palestinians throughout the occupied territories. But according to Hatem Abdelkader, an adviser to Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, the situation is particularly acute in the East Jerusalem area. He noted that Israel’s policy of refusing building permits to many of the 250,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem has resulted in the classification of 20,000 city homes as illegal since the occupation began in 1967. Last year alone, the Jerusalem municipality issued more than 1,000 demolition orders for “illegal dwellings”
31 July, 2008
From Usurpation To Liberation:
The Palestinian Hope
By Dan Lieberman
The suffering due to occupation and a perspective of Israel as a colonizer drives the Palestinians to a war of liberation. Hope for success is enhanced by Israel's inability to accumulate a sufficient mass of world Jewry to labor for a Jewish homeland. Hopelessness that foresees failure is dictated by Israel's daily violent and cruel acts that grind the Palestinians into dust. Despite its attempt to portray the conflict as a war on terrorism, the ferocity of Israel's campaign certifies it is fighting a liberation movement with tactics designed to completely destroy Palestinian life
Francis Boyle's "Palestine
Palestinians And International Law"
By Stephen Lendman
Francis Boyle is a distinguished University of Illinois law professor, activist, and internationally recognized expert on international law and human rights. He also lectures widely, writes extensively, and authored many books, including the subject of this review: "Palestine Palestinians and International Law."
30 July, 2008
Reflection On The Role Of The Israeli Peace Camp
By Hasan Afif El-Hasan
Actions of the Zionist governments, left or right since the establishment of Israel, suggest no intention of recognizing the rights of Palestinians.The Israelis have to change their consciousness to deal courageously with their collective responsibility for the Palestinian tragedy. Only the Jewish Israeli members of the peace camp can drive this message home to the Israeli people
26 July, 2008
The Path To One Democratic State In Palestine
By Roger Tucker
All that remains is the reality of a land in which reside both Israelis and Palestinians, some of the latter living as second-class citizens within Israel proper and the rest separated by the apartheid wall and imprisoned in the West Bank, and in Gaza. This situation cannot continue indefinitely. Somehow or other, one single state must emerge. The only question is what kind of state
What Obama Missed In The Middle East
By Ali Abunimah
Obama missed the opportunity to visit Palestinian refugee camps, schools and even shopping malls to witness first-hand the devastation caused by the Israeli army and settlers, or to see how Palestinians cope under what many call "apartheid." This year alone, almost 500 Palestinians, including over 70 children, have been killed by the Israeli army -- exceeding the total for 2007 and dwarfing the two-dozen Israelis killed in conflict-related violence
What's Driving The Jerusalem Attacks
By Uri Avnery
The attacks are the result of despair, frustration, hatred and the sense that there is no way out. Only a solution that will remove these feelings can bring security to both parts of Jerusalem
25 July, 2008
The Ordeal Of Mohammed Omer
By Kenneth Ring
We are used to hearing about the hazards, often fatal, of being a journalist these days. Everyone is familiar with accounts of courageous Russian journalists who have been assassinated and of course with stories of war correspondents who have been killed or gravely wounded in the course of reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan. But what about the dangers of just being a Palestinian journalist who is simply trying to return to his own hometown in Gaza after being abroad? Consider the case of a twenty-four-year-old reporter named Mohammed Omer
Jeff Halper's An Israeli In Palestine (Part II)
By Stephen Lendman
According to Israeli-based author and journalist Jonathan Cook, Halper's book is "one of the most insightful analyses of the Occupation I've read. His voice cries out to be heard" on the region's longest and most intractable conflict. Part II continues the story
22 July, 2008
Jeff Halper's An Israeli In Palestine (Part I)
By Stephen Lendman
Jeff Halper is an American-born Israeli Professor of Anthropology as well as a peace and human rights activist for over three decades. In 1997, he co-founded the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD). ICAHD's mission is now expanded well beyond home demolitions. It helps rebuild them and resists "land expropriation, settlement expansion, by-pass road construction, policies of 'closure' and 'separation," and much more
21 July, 2008
Revealing A Massacre, Or Stating The Obvious
By Ramzy Baroud
Those killed in the 'massacre of Beit Daras', according to Palestinian accounts, were 265, largely women, children and elders. The gender and age groups of the victims were not selective nor coincidental, but related to the nature of the battle, where the fighters of Beit Daras were engaged in fighting against successive Zionist army units, first involving militants from a nearby settlement, then Haganah forces and finally Givati units. The battle for Beit Daras was long and arduous, and duly mentioned in the writings of Jamal Abd Al-Nasser, the first president of Egypt, during his military service in southern Palestine, and of David Ben Gurion's War Diaries
19 July, 2008
I'm Not Barack Obama,
But I will Endorse Him
By Sameh A. Habeeb
We Palestinians and Arab Americans have to look over this race to the White House wisely. We have two choices now. Barack Obama who is slightly supporting the Palestinians and their promising state. In the other side, we have one of the biggest new Bushes, John McCain, whose stances are more extreme than Bush and all the new conservatives in the US. One of McCain' s advisors said a couple of weeks ago that Palestinians should go to Jordan and establish their own country. Thus, McCain is so dangerous for us and his ideas are so malicious. So, let's pick the less worse of the two…Let's endorse Obama
13 July, 2008
Thirst In The Palestinian Territories
By Alice Gray
The water crisis has started early this year in the Palestinian Territories. In scores of towns and villages throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, people listen eagerly for the gurgle of water in pipelines, and turn on their taps with trepidation, watching anxiously for the first drops to appear, waiting to see if they turn into a stream, or splutter and gurgle to nothing after a few seconds. Others watch and wait for the arrival of water tankers, transporting the life-giving liquid to them from distant sources across an obstacle course of road blocks, checkpoints and military closures put in place by the Israeli Authorities
11 July, 2008
A Constant Nakba For Palestine's Bedouin
By Ida Audeh
Abu Dahook is one of the approximately 50,000 Bedouin whose traditions and lifestyle have been nearly destroyed by Israeli colonization. Their communities are still being displaced by Israel's illegal land annexation and the transfer of Israel's civilian population to territory it occupies, in violation of international humanitarian law. Abu Dahook and others like him see no relief in sight as they are constantly dogged by Israeli threats of further displacement and neglect by the Palestinian Authority
03 July, 2008
When You Shoot The Messenger
By Mel Frykberg
The assault of IPS Gaza correspondent Mohammed Omer has left Israeli security personnel with a lot of explaining to do. And they are not doing a very good job of it
02 July, 2008
From Triumph To Torture
By John Pilger
Israel's treatment of an award-winning young Palestinian journalist is part of a terrible pattern
30 June, 2008
Tactics That Ended Apartheid
In S. Africa Can End It In Israel
By Bill Fletcher, Jr.
With humbleness, with love, with compassion for Palestinians and Israelis, I believe in the possibility that both can live as neighbors with security, dignity and respect. As it did in South Africa, corporate engagement, including divestment, can help make that possibility a reality
27 June, 2008
Zionism’s Dead End
By Jonathan Cook
in Nazareth
Separation or ethnic cleansing? Israel’s encaging of Gaza aims to achieve both
23 June, 2008
On Humiliation, And Gaza’s Dying Children
By Ramzy Baroud
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, "as of 26 May, 64 children had been killed in the conflict since the beginning of the year -- more than the total child death toll for all of 2007. Fifty-nine of the deaths were in Gaza and another four victims were Israeli children."
Why Israel Won't Accept A Two-State Solution
By Bernard Chazelle
Within 10 years, Jews will be a clear minority in the population west of the Jordan, so a democratic unitary state (eg, modeled on South Africa) would mean the end of Israel as a Jewish state, an outcome not everyone would greet with cartwheels
21 June, 2008
Rays Of Hope From The Gaza Ceasefire
By Ali Abunimah
After the unremitting hell that Israel has inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza, one can only feel relief and even joy at the ceasefire agreed between Hamas and the Jewish state that took effect this week. Its significance extends well beyond Gaza and opens new possibilities as the disastrous Bush Doctrine begins to lose influence
Palestine In The American Imagination:
Religion, Politics And Media
By Ramzy Baroud
A study of the political, religious and cultural factors underlying the pro-Israeli bias apparent in the Western media today, as depicted in the mainstream news and television programmes
18 June, 2008
Can You Pass The Israel-Palestine Quiz?
By Jeffrey Rudolph
While it is undoubtedly true that carefully selected facts alone do not constitute an informed opinion, answers to the following questions should not be ignored if one is to understand the Israel-Palestine conflict. And, while a strong commitment to a cause can blind some people to contrary facts, I appeal to such people through the words of the famous British economist, John Maynard Keynes: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”
15 June, 2008
BBC's Pro-Israeli Bias
By Stephen Lendman
BBC views the conflict from an Israeli perspective. It features government officials to explain it, and reports whatever they say as fact. This turns reality on its head, makes lawless actions justifiable, results in double standard journalism, and lets Palestinians suffer the consequences
Israeli Government: "Immoral,
Unethical And Illegal"
By Eileen Fleming
The outside world, for the most part, is unaware of Israeli Government's Policy of demonization, willful destruction, of the Muslim Institutions, one by one, in an attempt to destroy the spirit and resilience of the Muslim Communities, not only in Hebron but throughout the illegally occupied Palestinian territories
07 June, 2008
An Award For The Voiceless In Gaza
By Mohammed Omer
As I write, I am still thrilled and honored at such recognition. But since those first minutes during which it was explained that I would have to be in London by 16 June to receive my award, my thoughts have been racing, seeking a way to get out of Gaza. How can I get out at a time when Israel is not allowing even the most urgent medical cases to leave for treatment, a policy that, according to Gaza's ministry of health, has led to the deaths of more than 165 people?
Tear Gas And Bullets In Bil'in VS
International Nonviolent Solidarity
By Eileen Fleming
On June 6, 2008, Vice President of the European Parliament Luisa Morgantini and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Maried Corrigan-Maguire were assaulted by Israeli Forces with tear gas during the weekly Friday afternoon nonviolent protest against the wall and military occupation in Bil'in
05 June, 2008
Gaza’s Imminent Explosion
By Dr. Elias Akleh
Worst from death itself is watching your young children, your old parents, and your siblings die of starvation, lack of medicine, and on the hands of Israeli terrorist army. Abandoned and pushed to die in a corner without any alternative Gaza Palestinians will not take it silently. They prefer to die struggling for their rights and for their freedom. This is the only choice left for them
The Black Days Of 1948
By Dr Marwan Asmar
The Palestinian Diaspora of 1948 in which over 750,000 people were forced to leave their homes was made virtually at gunpoint. Today as Israelis celebrate their 60th birthday in a bombastic fashion, Palestinians remember their Nakba of destruction and turmoil signified by their uprooting from their land. It is this monstrous equation that has to be driven at the forefront by scholars, academics, journalists, commentators, politicians, and activists so that the world is educated about the Israeli holocaust to the Palestinians
03 June, 2008
"The Hope Of A Victimized People"
By George Bisharat
More and more people are recognizing that a Jewish state built on expulsion, repression and ethnic privilege will never know rest. Justice, equality and mutual respect are the salvation of both Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs. Ahead, perhaps distantly, a bright future awaits them
Why A Cultural Boycott Of Israel Is Necessary
By Remi Kanazi
It is clear that even cultural dialogue with the Israeli establishment has only proven to normalize the occupation. Tutu once declared, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Now is not the time to be neutral, nor the time to be reticent; it is the time to act
02 June, 2008
Palestinians Trapped At Crossroads
By Nicola Nasser
Firing home-made primitive rockets at Israeli targets from the Gaza Strip, the mass sweeping through the Palestinian - Egyptian border crossing of Rafah in January and the series of ongoing peaceful demonstrations at Gaza's crossing points with Israel are not an aggressive demonstration of self-confidence, but more a show of defensive despair and weakness against the tight Israeli military siege
Water Wars In The West Bank
By Ron Taylor
That the next war will be about water is a commonly expressed sentiment in Palestine. This may not be the case – there are many other reasons for conflict here - but the unequal division of this life source could well provide the spark for the next eruption
30 May, 2008
Pens And Swords
By Jim Miles
Book Review: Pens And Swords : How the American Mainstream Media Report the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
23 May, 2008
Acknowledging The Tragedy
By Raja Shehadeh
By continuing its four-decade-old settlement policy Israel, is, in effect, seeking to make our lives so intolerable that we would be driven away from our land, albeit at a slower pace than was the case during the Nakba, 60 years ago
17 May, 2008
Israel At 60: An Ongoing Disaster
By Ida Audeh
Israel has ruled over the indigenous Palestinian population for 59 of its 60 years: imposing military rule on the Palestinians who remained in Israel from 1948 to 1966 and ruling since 1967 over the Palestinians in the occupied territories(1), who now number 3.7 million.(2) And in these 60 years, Israel has demonstrated irrefutably that it is a disaster on every level that really matters -- for the Palestinians; for its own citizens; and for its neighbors
Peres’s Coup!
By Dr Marwan Asmar
Israel’s public relations exercise last week celebrating its 60th anniversary has to be seen a major international coup that will be remembered for a long time to come. It was about images rather than about who is right or who is wrong
16 May, 2008
Remembering 1948 And Looking To The Future
By Ali Abunimah
This month Israel marks the 60th anniversary of its founding. But amidst the festivities including visits by international celebrities and politicians there is deep unease -- Israel has skeletons in its closet that it has tried hard to hide, and anxieties about an uncertain future which make many Israelis question whether the state will celebrate an 80th birthday
60 Years Of Denial
By Ramzy Baroud
As Israel celebrates its 60th birthday, nothing is allowed to blemish the supposed heroism of its founding fathers or those who fought in its name. Palestine, the Palestinians, and an immeasurably long relationship between a people and their land hardly merit a pause as Israeli officials and their Western counterparts carry on with their festivities
Resisting The Nakba
By Joseph Massad
One of the most difficult things to grasp in the modern history of Palestine and the Palestinians is the meaning of the Nakba. Is the Nakba to be seen as a discrete event that took place and ended in 1948, or is it something else? What are the political stakes in reifying the Nakba as a past event, in commemorating it annually, in bowing before its awesome symbolism? What are the effects of making the Nakba a finite historical episode that one bemoans but must ultimately accept as a fact of history?
The Nakba March
By Jonathan Cook
It has been a week of adulation from world leaders, ostentatious displays of military prowess, and street parties. Heads of state have rubbed shoulders with celebrities to pay homage to the Jewish state on its 60th birthday, while a million Israelis reportedly headed off to the country's forests to enjoy the national pastime: a barbecue
The Solution To The Conflict Originated
By Israel Is A Palestinian State
By Agustin Velloso
If the core of the Palestinian problem is the robbery of a people's land, plus the expulsion of its owners, justice is not achieved by allowing the thief to keep half of it, as the two States solution implies. Much less is justice served by forcing the victims to share it with the thief, making them forget the past and abandon hope of a future free from oppression
15 May, 2008
Huge Cost Of 60 Years Of Apartheid Israel,
War And Palestinian Genocide
By Dr Gideon Polya
After a century of this racist, colonialist obscenity it is timely on this 60th anniversary of Zionist Unilateral Declaration of Independence to assess what has been the economic cost of Apartheid Israel and the human cost of Apartheid Israel
Celebrating 60 Years Of Israel’s Terror
By Ghali Hassan
As the U.S. and other Western governments began celebrating Israel’s 60th anniversary of colonisation in Palestine, little attention is given to the unimaginable suffering of the Palestinian people. Instead Israel’s daily terror against the Palestinians has been normalised as a relief of guilt feelings
The Church Of The Nativity In The Little Town of
Bethlehem: Today, 2007 And 2002...
By Eileen Fleming
The Palestinian fighters who were deported from the West Bank after the 2002 siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem appealed to Palestinian leadership on Saturday to "end their suffering and return them to their home city of Bethlehem."
09 May, 2008
Common Sense Regarding
The Middle East Conflict
By Roger Tucker
The viral madness that is Zionism, the most virulent form of fascism in today's world, can only be defeated by the spiritual weapons of wisdom and compassion, wielded by people of good will around the world, and the considerable hard work required to cut through the fog of confusion
Ramzy Baroud's "The Second Palestinian Intifada"
By Stephen Lendman
Ramzy Baroud's "The Second Palestinian Intifada" is poignant and masterful. It blends his personal experience with a gripping narrative of his peoples' struggle for justice
06 May, 2008
Sixty Years Of Palestinian Displacement,
Occupation And Suffering
By Stephen Lendman
On May 14, Israelis will commemorate the 60th anniversary of their "War of Independence" and founding of the Jewish State. It also marks 60 years of Palestinian Nakba suffering
03 May, 2008
The Harsh Reality Of The Middle East Conflict
By Dan Lieberman
A century old conflict between the state of Israel and stateless Palestinians, many of whom have been disposed from lands that created the Israel state, has precipitated a argument: Is it preferable to have two states living side by side or have one state from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River that includes Jews and Palestinians without prejudice and with equal rights for all?
02 May, 2008
No Mercy
By Najwa Sheikh
In their simple house made of metal sheets, Myassar Abu Me'teq was sitting next to three of her children having breakfast and holding her one-year-old baby in her arms. She listened to their daily complaints and loving quarrels, trying to comfort them and keep them away from the sound of the Israeli shelling close to their home in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. This mother did not know that their clock would soon stop ticking, not by their creator but by their enemy
Blockade Puts Gaza On Brink Of Serious Food Crisis
By Donald Macintyre
Destitution and food insecurity among Gaza's 1.5 million residents has reached an unprecedentedly critical level, according to unpublished UN findings that they now need "urgent assistance" to avert a "serious food crisis" in the occupied Palestinian territories
The Bomb Squads: How To Survive
A Gaza Refugee Camp
By Ramzy Baroud
Excerpts from Baroud’s upcoming book, “101 Ways to Survive a Refugee Camp.”
01 May, 2008
Denying Palestinians Free Movement
In The West Bank
By Stephen Lendman
This article summarizes an August 2007 B'Tselem report now available in print. It's one of a series of studies it conducts on life in Occupied Palestine to reveal what major media accounts suppress. This one is titled: "Ground to a Halt - Denial of Palestinians' Freedom of Movement in the West Bank."
29 April, 2008
Mother,4 Children Amongst Victims Of
Israeli Gaza Strike
By Al Mezan
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed four children and their mother when they shelled their home in Ezbet Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip today. Another man was killed in the attack which occurred during an IOF incursion in different parts of the town of Beit Hanoun
28 April, 2008
Mixed Priorities: Why Palestinian Unity
Is Not An Option
By Ramzy Baroud
While such noble efforts by the UN’s John Dugard, former US President Jimmy Carter and Bishop Desmond Tutu have brought much needed attention to the plight of Palestinians and Gazans in particular, PA officials are too busy attending donor’s conferences and issuing empty statements which few even bother to read. They act as if they are a neutral party caught in the middle of religious fanatics and Israel. Their fight no longer seems even remotely related to Palestine or its people
18 April, 2008
No Peace Without Hamas
By Mahmoud al-Zahar
Former US President Jimmy Carter's sensible plan to visit the Hamas leadership this week brings honesty and pragmatism to the Middle East while underscoring the fact that American policy has reached its dead end
17 April, 2008
Gaza: The Holocaust Continues
By One Democratic State Group
The latest Israeli war crimes in the besieged Gaza Strip have resulted in the brutal killings of 21 Palestinians, including 6 children, within the last 12 hours. More than 40 have been injured. Fadel Shanaa, a Reuters cameraman, was amongst the dead. His visibly marked car was targeted by an Israeli missile in an attempt to cover up crimes committed in day light
No Child's Play In The Occupied
Palestinian Territories
By Kim Bullimore in the West Bank
Today I witnessed, for the first time, a Palestinian child being abducted by the Israeli Occupation Forces. This, of course, is not the first time that a Palestinian child has been abducted in such a manner. It happens every single day in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Shame On Arab Petrodollars
By Khalid Amayreh
A day’s revenue of Arab oil and gas can solve all the Palestinian people’s financial problems. It can enable Palestinian authorities to pay for the salaries of all civil servants and help poor college students continue their education for an entire year. It can also serve to subsidize basic consumer products such as bread, sugar and cooking oil, especially for the most impoverished segments of society
Carter's Visit With Hamas' Meshal
By Hasan Abu Nimah
It is unlikely that Carter would come out of a meeting with Meshal fully convinced of the Hamas program, but he may not adopt the notion that Hamas is merely a terrorist organization and an obstacle to peace that no one should ever talk to. Indeed, in an interview with Haaretz, he stressed that to make peace you have to talk to everyone. That possibility alone is frightening enough for an Israel that has no interest in genuine negotiations or an end to conflict that requires it to recognize the rights of the Palestinians
Israel Doesn't Want To Know Carter Any More
By Peter Hirschberg
Three decades after he brokered the first-ever peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has become persona non grata in the Jewish state. Both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Ehud Barak refused to meet with him during his four-day visit here. So did former prime minister and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who accused Carter of holding "anti-Israel views in recent years."
07 April, 2008
Gaza Running On Near Empty
By Mohammed Omer
Gaza needs 850,000 litres of fuel every week, says Mahmoud al-Khozendar, vice-president of the Petrol Station Owners Association in Gaza. Israel allows in just 70,000 litres of it. He said Gaza also needs 2.5 million litres of coal gas a week. Only 800,000 litres per week comes in
There Are No Checkpoints In Heaven
By Ramzy Baroud
"I am sick, son, I am sick," my father cried when I spoke to him two days before his death. He died alone on March 18, waiting to be reunited with my brothers in the West Bank. He died a refugee, but a proud man nonetheless. My father's struggle began 60 years ago, and it ended a few days ago. Thousands of people descended to his funeral from throughout Gaza, oppressed people that shared his plight, hopes and struggles, accompanying him to the graveyard where he was laid to rest. Even a resilient fighter deserves a moment of peace
02 April, 2008
This 'Bombshell' Took a Year Falling
By Adam Morrow & Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
A recent article in Vanity Fair magazine "exposing" a U.S.-planned coup attempt against Palestinian resistance movement Hamas last year has ignited a storm of debate about Washington's Middle East policies. Yet for more than nine months, details of the plot were reported in the independent Arabic press -- and elsewhere -- leading some observers to ask: where was the mainstream media?
60 Years of Nakbah
By Adalah-NY
Saturday’s Land Day protest at the Madison Avenue jewelry store of Israeli billionaire and settlement mogul Lev Leviev highlights the sixty-year Israeli campaign to displace Palestinians from their land, and Palestinian defiance and resistance – from the Nakbah, or Catastrophe, in 1948, when around 800,000 Palestinians were driven from their villages by Israeli forces to become refugees; to the original Land Day protests in 1976; to present day settlement construction by Israeli settlement builders like Lev Leviev in Bil’in, Jayyous, Jabal Abu Ghneim and Maale Adumim
30 March, 2008
Human Rights Violations In Israel And Palestine
By Stephen Lendman
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) publishes annual reports on the state of human rights in Israel and occupied Palestine. This article is based on its latest year end 2007 one. ACRI's evidence is disturbing and compelling, yet it's appalled by the Israeli public's indifference. It aims to change this by publicizing its findings so those in government, the media and general population know them and will react to reverse an ugly and damaging trend. Growing numbers of people worldwide know how Israel harms Palestinians. ACRI's report shows that Jews are also impacted
29 March, 2008
The Great Lake Of Gaza:
A New Crisis In The Making
By Suzanne Baroud
It is indisputable that the calamity of contaminated water in the Gaza Strip is a resolute policy of the Israeli government
West Bank Faces Toxic Waste Crisis
By Mel Frykberg
The West Bank has become a dumping site for hazardous waste -?which is making residents sick, say Israeli and Palestinian environmental groups. Several weeks ago, villagers from Jima'in in the Nablus district complained that Israeli trucks were again dumping waste on Palestinian land
27 March, 2008
Transforming Israel
By Miko Peled
Now that Kosovo is the newest independent state to emerge out of the ruins of the former Yugoslavia parallels are being drawn between the Balkans and the Middle East. One response to this development came from Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni who said that as she does not mind if the Palestinians follow the Kosovars and declare statehood; what worries her is that Palestinians will demand equal rights with Israelis
Jonathan Cook's "Blood And Religion"
By Stephen Lendman
Cook's earlier book was published in 2006. It's titled "Blood and Religion: The Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State" and is the subject of this review. It's the rarely told story of the plight of Israel's 1.4 million Arab citizens, the discrimination against them, the reasons why, and the likely future consequences from it. Israel's "demographic problem" is the issue Cook addresses. It's the time when a faster-growing Palestinian population (excluding the diaspora) becomes a majority, and the very character of a "Jewish State" is threatened. Israel's response - state-sponsored repression and violent ethnic cleansing, in the Territories and inside Israel
21 March, 2008
Rachel Corrie's Case For Justice
By Tom Wright & Therese Saliba
On March 16, 2003, Rachel Corrie, 23, was crushed to death beneath an armored Israeli bulldozer. The Corries are a short distance from Gaza, where Rachel was killed, and where in the past few weeks, an Israeli military incursion killed over 100 Palestinians, including many women and children
UN's Assessment Of Human Rights Violations
In Occupied Palestine
By Stephen Lendman
Creating a Palestinian state won't heal 60 years of conflict that's gone all Israel's way and inflicted great harm and suffering on the Palestinian people. At some point, real peace is only possible if a supreme effort is made toward true reconciliation between the two sides. That entails addressing events, actions and past sufferings fully and honestly. Dugard suggests a South African-style Truth and Reconciliation Commission for an open airing by both sides. Unless it happens in good faith, tensions will remain and peace won't be possible. Up to now, it appears Israel wants it that way
Happy Birthday Israel: Company Is Coming
And They Are Carrying UN Flags!
By Eileen Fleming
From May 14-16, the Palestinian Diaspora will be commemorating Israel's 60th birthday in the Holy Land by arriving with suitcases, tents and their house keys, carrying UN flags along with their UNRWA-issued ID cards
18 March, 2008
Big Bang or Chaos: What's Israel Up To?
By Ramzy Baroud
Why did Israel attack Gaza with such brutality? Did Israeli officials think, even for a fleeting moment, that their army's attacks could halt, as opposed to intensify, Palestinian rockets or retaliatory violence? Indeed, was Palestinian violence at all relevant to the Israeli action? Was the Israeli bloodletting in Gaza solely relevant to the Gaza/Hamas context, or is there a regional dimension that is largely being overlooked?
14 March, 2008
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A Letter From A Mother In Gaza
To A Mother In Sderot
By Najwa Sheikh
After all of this do you think that my children deserve their pain only because they are born to Palestinian parents? Do you think it is fair that they are treated in this way? Is it fair to be subjected to the sanctions that your government has imposed on us? I hope you can understand my pain too
A Recipe For Israel's Security
By Ghada Ageel
Palestinians are entitled to dignity both in life and in death. Nowadays, due to Israel's blockade, Gaza is short of raw materials for manufacturing coffins. My grandmother is searching for a coffin for fear that the shortage will deny her a dignified burial in keeping with our religion and culture. All in all, this daily man-made humiliation must end. Palestinians must be recognized and respected as human beings
Travelling To The Sea
By Diana Buttu
I believe, deeply believe, that Palestinians and Jews ought to be equals in this holy land. I believe more Americans would act on behalf of Palestinians if they were aware of discriminatory Israeli policies. I believe the inability of Majda's son to travel to the sea in his homeland smacks of Jim Crow and apartheid and that it is in everybody's interest to right this wrong without further delay. This, I believe
13 March, 2008
If One State Is Impossible,
Why Is Olmert So Afraid Of It?
By Jonathan Cook
Without Zionism, the obstacle to creating either one or two states will finally be removed. And if that is the case, then why not also campaign for the solution that will best bring justice to both Israelis and Palestinians?
11 March, 2008
Israel's Ultimate Plan For Gaza
By Jonathan Cook
Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai's much publicized remark last week about Gaza facing a "shoah" -- the Hebrew word for the Holocaust -- was widely assumed to be unpleasant hyperbole about the army's plans for an imminent full-scale invasion of the Strip.More significantly, however, his comment offers a disturbing indication of the Israeli army's longer-term strategy towards the Palestinians in the occupied territories
A Defeated Policy, Not A Defeated People
By Ali Abunimah
Is it not time for the rest of the world to step in and force Israel at last to understand the same thing, so that the senseless bloodshed can finally stop and all the people of the country -- Israelis and Palestinians -- can begin to imagine a future other than an endless parade of funerals?
Gaza's 'Bigger Holocaust'
By Fida Qishta
Violence and death bring more violence and death. Hope brings more hope. Despite everything, children in Rafah tell me they hope to play, have fun, travel, and meet Egyptian children. It is these children’s dreams that renew my spirit
The Seminary Students And The Israeli Bull-Dog
By Dr Marwan Asmar
The killings of eight religious students at the seminary in Jerusalem is to be expected in the light of what Israel has been doing in Gaza the previous week. Through its military bombardment of its towns and cities, where 138 people were killed in just four days and the 250-plus serious injuries meted out on Palestinians, mostly civilians, Israel could well expect to face more actions of this kind, seen as acts of desperation in the light the international apathy
Yes We can Bring Peace To Gaza
By Mike Ghouse
Israel owes peace and security to her citizens and it is directly dependent on the security and peace needs of the Palestinians. You cannot live in peace, when your neighbor's aren't. Finding a balance is the most difficult thing to do and both the nations are trying and failing. No wonder the phrase "love thy neighbor" plays such a crucial role in every society
06 March, 2008
Israel’s Illegal Assault On The Gaza “Prison”
By Media Lens
Since last Wednesday (February 27), 112 Palestinians have died under Israeli air attacks and ‘incursions’ by Israeli troops. The dead include many women and children, such as four boys who had been out playing football and even babies killed in their homes. Last Saturday alone saw the deaths of 60 Palestinians under Israeli attacks. Three Israelis have died — one a civilian killed during a rocket attack by Hamas last Wednesday and, since then, two Israeli soldiers
Israel’s Right To Terrorism
By Ghali Hassan
A “holocaust” will not bring peace to Palestine. Peace will return to Palestine only if Israeli leaders end their genocidal policy and the illegal occupation of Palestinian land. Under the international Genocide Convention adopted in 1948 after the defeat Nazism, incitement to genocide is punishable war crime. Hence, Israeli leaders should abide by international laws and revoke terrorism and violence
Gaza’s Descent Into Darkness
By Chris Gelken
Since when did the shooting death of a two-week old baby not make headline news? Imagine the absolute horror of seeing, of feeling your child die in your arms of an easily preventable disease. The necessary drugs are just a few kilometers away, but for all that, they might as well be on the moon
It's Still The OCCUPATION, Stupid!
By Eileen Fleming
After failing to anticipate Hamas’s victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs. With confidential documents, corroborated by outraged former and current U.S. officials, David Rose reveals how President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National-Security Adviser Elliott Abrams backed an armed force under Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and leaving Hamas stronger than ever
04 March, 2008
Colonial Realities
By Nimer Sultany
Once again Israel defies an impotent international community which offers nothing but timid calls for ceasefire on "both sides." And once again Palestinian suffering and death tolls continue to break records in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967
Gaza’s Holocaust
By Dr. Elias Akleh
The Zionist leaders’ justification for allowing the Jewish holocaust to continue was that “The European Jews must accede to suffering and death greater in measure than the other nations in order that the victorious allies agree to a Jewish state at the end of the war” (5). I wonder what is the Arab leaders’ justification for allowing the Palestinian holocaust to continue
Hamas 1988-2008: Between
Negotiation And Resistance
By Agustin Velloso
2008 marks the 20th anniversary of Hamas as a political movement in Palestine, involving two decades of continuous struggle against Israeli occupation. Most importantly, Hamas has confronted not just the Middle East's most powerful army, equipped with state of the art weaponry and nuclear arms, but also the most powerful Western countries. These have supported Israel, completely contravening international law in relation to the Occupation. In addition, Hamas has been abandoned to its fate by neighbouring Arab regimes
03 March, 2008
Israeli Extra-Judicial Executions
By Stephen Lendman
The latest report from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) indicates the following: 101 documented deaths since February 27, including 49 unarmed civilians. They include 25 children and five women. In addition, more than 250 people have been injured, mostly unarmed civilians, and many injuries are serious. Further, there's been widespread destruction of homes, other buildings and property throughout Gaza
Holocaust Ok, Gaza!
By Marwan Asmar
At last Israelis are coming out of their military-chauvinistic closet and having no qualms about using such words as the Holocaust to describe what they are doing or want to do to the Palestinians
The Time For Worldwide Boycott Is Now
By Omar Barghouti
On Friday, 29 February 2008, Israel's deputy defense minister Matan Vilnai threatened Palestinians in Gaza with a "holocaust," telling Israeli Army Radio: "The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, [the Palestinians] will bring upon themselves a bigger holocaust because we will use all our might to defend ourselves."
Israel Keeping True To Its Racist Words
By Rami Almeghari
Following Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai's Friday warning that the Gaza Strip faces "a holocaust" if homemade rocket fire continues, Vilnai's aides rushed to downplay the remarks, claiming the minister did not mean a holocaust exactly
Abbas Needs A Miracle
By Ramzy Baroud
Time is running out for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Although both men are still committed to their risky venture of marginalising Hamas at any cost, the latter’s obduracy and recent events in Gaza point to the inescapable conclusion — the undertaking was doomed from the start
26 February, 2008
Still No Justice For October 2000 Killings
By Jonathan Cook
Late last month, after a seven-year battle for justice, Asleh's parents and those of another 12 Palestinian demonstrators killed inside Israel at the start of the intifada heard that the policemen responsible for the deaths would almost certainly never stand trial. Israel's attorney-general, Menachem Mazuz, told the families that the investigations were being wound up. In most cases there was a lack of evidence, he claimed, and in the cases where there was evidence the policeman had acted in the belief that their lives were in danger
Gaza: Where The Children Are Forbidden Happiness
By Eileen Fleming
The conditions in Gaza are grim and miserable and are not in accordance with the standards of human dignity…These victims here are innocent civilians. There is no time to lose in putting an end to this vicious circle of violence
20 February, 2008
Balfour’s Deceit
By A.G. Noorani
International recognition of Israel as a state cannot wipe out the facts of history
12 February, 2008
US Contributes To Humanitarian Crisis In Gaza
By Chris Gelken
PressTV discusses the human cost of Israel’s collective punishment
11 February, 2008
The Strangulation Of Gaza
By Saree Makdisi
Working together, Hamas and the people of Gaza have forced Egypt's hand and made much more visible than ever before the role it had been playing all along in the Israeli occupation and strangulation of Gaza; now that its role in assisting Israel has been revealed, it will be difficult for Egypt to go back to the status quo
08 February, 2008
Life In Occupied Gaza
By Stephen Lendman
The plight of Palestinians won't change as things continue lurching from one crisis to another the way they have for decades. It won't end until world leaders buckle to growing world sentiment that no longer will injustices this grave be tolerated. How much more suffering must be endured, how many more deaths are acceptable, when will justice finally be served? People of conscience want answers. It's about time they got them
The Illusion Of The ‘Palestinian State’
By Ghali Hassan
As people stood in the way of Hitler’s colonial project, so are the Palestinian people. The day will come when Jabotinsky’s “Iron Wall” will fall and with it Palestinians dispossession and victimisation will end, and Palestinian liberation will be achieved
People’s Power In Gaza
By Ramzy Baroud
Palestinian people have succeeded where politics and thousands of international appeals have failed. They took matters into their own hands and they prevailed. While this is hardly the end of Gaza’s suffering, it’s a reminder that people’s power to act is just too significant to be overlooked
28 January, 2008
Faeces Change The Face Of Gaza
By Mohammed Omer
Hundreds of thousands of Gazans, almost all of its able male adults among a population of 1.5 million, crossed over into Egypt last week to buy essential provisions – and a new lease of life. That has staved off starvation. But streets continue as sewers
Genocide In Gaza, Ethnic Cleansing
In The West Bank
By Ilan Pappe
Not long ago, I claimed that Israel is employing genocidal policies in the Gaza Strip. I hesitated before using this very charged term and yet decided to adopt it. The responses I received indicated unease in using such a term. I rethought the term for a while, but concluded with even stronger conviction: it is the only appropriate way to describe what the Israeli army is doing in the Gaza Strip
27 January, 2008
Worse Than A Crime
By Uri Avnery
The Gaza Strip is the largest prison on earth. The breaking of the Rafah wall was an act of liberation. It proves that an inhuman policy is always a stupid policy: no power can stand up against a mass of people that has crossed the border of despair
26 January, 2008
The Peace Maker
By Jonathan Ben Efrat
Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, cannot move a finger without permission from abroad. The international community pressures him to combat Hamas and to compromise. Those who manage to finish PeaceMaker discover that the Palestinian State is tied hand and foot to Israel's economy by free-trade agreements and joint projects. Israel supplies the capital and know-how, Palestinians supply cheap labor
24 January, 2008
Freedom At Last For Gaza:But How Long?
By Donald Macintyre
The steel-helmeted Egyptian border guards standing by their armoured personnel carriers seemed pleased enough to see the tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women and children who squeezed between the now flattened eight- metre concrete slabs of wall or scrambled across the furrows in the now uselessly prone and twisted corrugated iron barrier
Sword Dancing While Gaza Starves
By Osamah Khalil
Responding to the crisis, the Arab states again demonstrated their impotence and callous disregard for Palestinian suffering. In the diplomatic equivalent of a sword dance, an emergency meeting of the Arab League was held in Cairo on Monday. The result was a request by the League that the UN investigate Israel's actions. However, it is unlikely that any such investigative body will be created
Camp Or Conspiracy?
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
Palestinians look for ways to escape from the camps; we cannot escape our conscience, if indeed, we have one
Israeli Oppression In Hebron -
A Case History Of Separation,
Forced Displacement And Terror
By Stephen Lendman
Hebron's City Center is a case study example. It was once a thriving commercial and residential area. Today it's a "Ghost Town" because Israel destroyed its fabric of life through a state-imposed policy of land seizures, extended curfews, harsh restrictions on free movement and unaddressed violence. Combined, they terrorize Palestinians and prohibit them from driving or even walking on the area's main streets. That, in turn, makes life impossible for them. The consequences have been devastating with peoples' lives uprooted
23 January, 2008
Gaza's Last Gasp
By Sonja Karkar
The Palestinians need candles desperately and they need your voice to speak for them. There are many ways that you can do this. Organize demonstrations or vigils, or take part in ones that are already being organized. Take the time and write to newspapers and politicians urging them to take action and bring an end to this humanitarian disaster. Also, a deluge of letters to the Israeli Embassy would allow the Israelis to see that the world does not support a siege on the people of Gaza
22 January, 2008
European Collusion In Israel's Slow Genocide
By Omar Barghouti
The European Union, Israel's largest trade partner in the world, is watching by as Israel tightens its barbaric siege on Gaza, collectively punishing 1.5 million Palestinian civilians, condemning them to devastation, and visiting imminent death upon hundreds of kidney dialysis and heart patients, prematurely born babies, and all others dependent on electric power for their very survival
Gaza: No Rights, Little Mercy
By Mohammed Omer
Plight of Palestine patients in Gaza worsens
21 January, 2008
Death And Darkness In Gaza,
People Are dying, Help Us!
By Free Gaza
A humanitarian crisis is underway as the Gaza Strip's only power plant began to shut down on Sunday, and the tiny coastal territory entered its third full day without shipments of vital food and fuel supplies due to Israel's punitive sanctions
So Many Tragedies In So Little Time
By Mohammed Omer
Where to start…, what to talk about…? The crippling electricity shortages, affecting hospitals as well as civilians? The air strikes & on-going, daily bombings by the Israeli army, their indiscriminate targeting of civilians and police stations…? Israel ’s non-accidental, enforced starvation of 1.5 million people by closing off ALL borders and not allowing in even UN aid, let alone basic medicinal, food, and construction needs…? With Some Chilling photos
Israel's War Crimes In The Gaza Strip
By Ida Audeh
Gaza is plunged in darkness, its power plant shut down because Israel denies it fuel. Israel is systematically destroying the Gaza Strip and the lives of the 1.5 million Palestinians who live there, but never is Israel's collective ravaging of a civilian population denounced for what it is: a war crime
Economic Warfare In Gaza
By Yossi Wolfson
In both cases, Gaza and Lebanon, Israel has made indiscriminate war from the air on civilians while hesitating to commit ground forces. In both it has sought to destroy the economic infrastructure and reduce the civilian population to primitive conditions. By harming them, it was thought, you could get them to pressure their leaders and thus make political gains. This notion proved false in Lebanon, as in Gaza. The Israeli attacks amount to an expression of weakness, but the price will not be paid by those who launch them, rather by civilians on both sides
18 January, 2008
This Time Next Year?
By Daoud Kuttab
An independent Palestinian state living alongside a secure state of Israel requires political will and an environment that will produce public support for peace. These elements are essential for negotiations in 2008 to succeed. Nothing would provide public support for peace talks more than an end to Israeli settlement activity and the release of Palestinian political prisoners. We can only hope that President Bush toured the West Bank with eyes open to the daily suffering of Palestinian life, and that he matches his commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state with the resolve necessary to hold Israel to its commitments
17 January, 2008
Israeli Forces Kill 17 Gazans
In Less Than Four Hours
By PCHR
On Tuesday morning, 15 January 2008, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed 17 Palestinians, including five civilians, and wounded at least 30 others, five of whom are in a serious condition, during an incursion into the al-Shojaeya and al-Zaytoun neighborhoods of east Gaza City
Judeo-Christian Peace Processes
For The Killing Of Muslim Palestinians
By Agustin Velloso
Sixteen Palestinians died today, half a dozen yesterday, a similar amount in the previous days. 4,000 have died since September 2000 - many under age. More than 25,000 have been injured - many crippled for life. More than 11,000 are held prisoner - many uncharged and held without trial. More than 6,000 houses have been demolished in the Gaza Strip - another gross violation of Geneva Conventions
15 January, 2008
The Death Of The Stalinist Left In Palestine
By Randa Abu Naeem
Empty rhetoric has turned out to be the weapon not only of “Arab reactionary regimes;” it has been adopted by the Left itself. Stalin would have been happy to see his disciples at work in Palestine
12 January, 2008
The "O" Word And Jesus Christ!
By Eileen Fleming
For Bush to say the "O" word while in Israel was a major step into reality.Bush acknowledged the rights of 4.4 million Palestinian diaspora refugees to receive compensation, but he ignored Article 13-2, of the UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS which Israel agreed to uphold when it became a state and which affirms: Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country
11 January, 2008
"What Is The Lesson To Be Learned
From The Holocaust?"
By Silvia Cattori & Hedy Epstein
An interview with Hedy Epstein, who advocates for a better understanding of the Palestinian conflict and shows great concern about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza strip
10 January, 2008
Hillary And Bush: 21st Century Democracy
And USA Tax Dollars At Work
By Eileen Fleming
By 2002 the costs to American Taxpayers because of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict was already $3 Trillion. The U.S. government's financial support to Israel for the construction of the wall is $1.5 million per mile. The Wall is three times as long and twice as high as the wall that fell in Berlin. See your tax dollars at work America in this short powerful video on The Wall: On November 15, 2005, Senator Clinton stood on the Jerusalem side of The Wall and was quoted in Ha'aretz, expressing support for The Wall because it "is against terrorists" and "not against the Palestinian people."
07 January, 2008
Babies Up Against The Occupation
By Eileen Fleming
On January 3, 2008, I received the following email from the Little Town of Bethlehem in Occupied Territory:I want to share with you some good news. On Dec. 31 at 3:00 pm Jerusalem time my wife gave birth to our second daughter…Both of them are doing good. Up to this very moment I am not able to see either of them because of the Israeli policies of preventing Palestinians from entering Jerusalem. It seems I am too dangerous and being with my wife represents a security threat to the state of Israel
