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International Middle East Media Center
Leader In The Non-Violent Resistance Sentenced By Occupation
IMEMC – 23 Jul 2010 – Thursday July 22, 2010 – 18:48, A leader in the protest movement was sentenced by an Israeli court to two months in jail while facing another trial in the coming months.
Netanyahu Reveals Attitude Towards US, Oslo Accords in Video
IMEMC – 23 Jul 2010 – Thursday July 22, 2010 – 12:59, A video recorded in 2001 of Israeli Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, shows him talking with settlers who lost family members in attacks made by Palestinians about Israeli military strategy, foreign policy, and its relationship with the US.
Two Palestinians Killed, Seven Wounded After Army Bombarded Beit Hanoun
IMEMC – 23 Jul 2010 – Thursday July 22, 2010 – 06:18, Palestinian medical sources reported Wednesday afternoon that two Palestinians were killed and seven others, including children, were wounded on Wednesday evening after the army bombarded Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian shot dead near settlement
7/22/2010 – Nablus – Ma’an – A Palestinian man was killed and a second injured by Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank on Thursday morning, Palestinian security officials said. They told Ma’an that an Israeli force opened fire on the two at 4:30 a. m. at the entrance of the illegal Barqan settlement in the Salfit district….
PA official: Palestinian attacked, detained in Hebron
7/22/2010 – Hebron – Ma’an – Israeli forces arrested a 53-year-old Palestinian man after he was beaten by an Israeli settler in the southern West Bank Hebron district on Thursday, an official said. Soldiers tookZiyad Mohammad Younis Makhamrah to an interrogation center in Kiryat Arba settlement after, Yatta municipality spokesman Abed Al-Aziz Abu Fanar said. Makramah, a farmer….
Israel sentences popular struggle leader
7/22/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – A Palestinian protest organizer detained in 2005 and put on trial was sentenced Wednesday with a second trial pending, popular committee officials in Bil’in said. A statement said Abdallah Abu Rahmah was sentenced to two months of imprisonment and a six-month suspended sentence while a five-year trial on a litany of charges including….
Facing ban, Israeli dairy company leaves settlement
7/22/2010 – BDS victory: Ramallah – Ma’an – A leading Israeli dairy company has moved its factories from the occupied Golan Heights into Israel and will be allowed to market its produce in the West Bank, the National Dignity Fund announced Thursday. President Mahmoud Abbas, whose government led by Salam Fayyad started the fund, in April banned the sale….
Israeli forces destroy stables north of Jenin
7/22/2010 – Jenin – Ma’an – Israeli forces tore down 10 animal stables in the northern West Bank on Wednesday, onlookers said. Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli bulldozers accompanied by military personnel took down the structures south of the Al-Jalama checkpoint in the Jenin district and destroyed a row of fruit and vegetable stands nearby. Call to Israel’s Civil….
Israeli court rejects Raed Salah appeal
7/22/2010 – Jerusalem – Ma’an – Israel’s High Court rejected a petition on Thursday appealing Raed Salah’s five month sentence for spitting on a border guard in 2007. The leader of the Islamic Movement in northern Israel will begin his sentence on Sunday. The incident occurred during a rally against construction at the Mughrabi gate, in the Al-Aqsa Mosque….
Group: Sick detainee refused treatment
7/22/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli authorities have refused to allow Jamal Abo Al-Heija, 51, visits from his daughter, Gaza’s prison committee reported Wednesday. Al-Heija, serving nine life sentences, has been held in solitary confinement for four months. His lawyer has not been permitted to visit, and is concerned about the Jenin prisoner’s health, committee coordinator Baha Al-Madhoun….
Israel expels 178 Palestinians lacking permits
7/22/2010 – Jerusalem – Ma’an – Israeli forces detained 178 Palestinians on Thursday morning for residing in Israel without a permit, security sources said. Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza are required to apply to Israel to gain work, study, family visitation, or religious worship permits, a process rights groups say is discriminatory. Security sources told Ma’an that….
Gaza: Women take on new kinds of work
7/22/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – While unemployment in Gaza remains as high as 70 percent, women have become breadwinners for families as traditional jobs in factories and construction disappear in the thick of Israel’s siege. With women increasingly involved in the informal economy, some say they have pushed out men in cases, now competing for the same low-level….
Gaza crossing partially open
7/22/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – A single Gaza crossing was opened for the transfer of limited goods on Thursday, officials said, including commercial and agricultural sector items but no construction supplies. Palestinian crossings liaison official Raed Fattouh said he was told to expect approximately 150 to 160 truckloads to enter Gaza via the southernmost Kerem Shalom crossing near….
Israel releases 3 detainees
7/22/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli authorities on Wednesday released three detainees who have completed their sentences. Foad Al-Khafsh of the Detainees Society said As-Sumu village mayor Musa Abu Al-Hadayel was released after spending 19 months in an Israeli prison. It was not clear why he was jailed. Al-Khafsh added that father-of-eight Al-Hadayel, 45, had previously spent six….
Rights group: Israel shielding war criminals
7/22/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israel’s latest report to the UN on the 2008-09 Gaza war, which details Israel’s response to allegations of international law violations, proves that Israel has failed to fulfill its international obligations, a Palestinian human rights organization said Thursday. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said in a statement that Israel’s report, Gaza….
Police: Israeli forces detain 2 overnight
7/22/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces detained Ala Jamal Al-Qadi, 23, from Ramallah and a resident of Hebron overnight and took them to unknown destinations, officials said Thursday. A Palestinian Authority police report said Israeli forces entered Zawata village near Nablus, and Al-Ubedyeh village in Bethlehem. An Israeli military spokesman said he was not aware of any….
Group: Gaza family fight leads to arrests
7/22/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reported that two Palestinians were wounded by gunshots and five more were injured during a family dispute in Gaza on Wednesday. Police arrested members of the Abu Jbara family, who were fighting in Al-Bureij refugee camp, the group said in a statement. The relatives fought with sticks….
Israeli soldiers arrest woman carrying knife
7/22/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian woman at a West Bank checkpoint for possession of a knife, Israeli sources said. The alleged incident occurred at a checkpoint between Baqa Al-Gharbeiyah and Baqa Ash-Sharqiya in the Tulkarem district. The sources added that the woman admitted under interrogation that she intended to stab a soldier….
US continues to urge renewal of direct talks
7/22/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – The United States will not draw the lines of a Palestinian state but will “will play a constructive role,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters Wednesday. A White House press briefing revealed continued American pressure for direct talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators despite an insistence from the PLO and Fatah that….
PA condemns Barqan shooting
7/22/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Palestinian Authority condemned the shooting of an unarmed Palestinian by Israeli forces on Thursday morning. PA spokesman Ghassan Khatib said “Israel must hold its soldiers accountable for illegal and unjustified killings.” “The Israeli practice of shooting first and asking questions later has become the norm when dealing with Palestinians in the Occupied….
Abbas: No direct talks without progress
7/22/2010 – Ramallah – Ma’an – President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that direct negotiations with Israel would resume only after progress is achieved in indirect talks that began earlier this year. Abbas, quoted by the official PA news agency Wafa, says he is in “constant contact” with the US, Europe, and Russia, the three major players in the Mideast….
PLO: No talks without progress
7/22/2010 – Ramallah – Ma’an – The PLO executive committee confirmed Thursday that direct talks with Israel will not commence until progress is made on borders and security. The committee’s stance was affirmed following President Mahmoud Abbas’ debriefing on the outcomes of his latest meetings with US mediator George Mitchell. US President Barack Obama and Israeli officials have called….
Education ministries announce leavers exam results
7/22/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Near-record highs were set in the success rates for the Tawjihi high school exit exams for 2010, the results for which were announced in Ramallah on Thursday. Following weeks of delays announcing the results, high school students in the West Bank and Gaza learned their scores in the national standard test that determines….
Gaza factions applaud high exam scores
7/22/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Factions in the Gaza Strip united Thursday to congratulate students for their scores on the annual high school exit tests. The results of the national exam known locally as Tawjihi set near-record highs this year, and students in Gaza had some of the best marks. Gaza premier Ismail Haniyeh congratulated the students, and….
Highest-scoring Gaza student dedicates result to mother’s spirit
7/22/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – The highest scoring student in Palestine’s end-of-school exams, Noor Jassim Ismail from Gaza, dedicated her success to the spirit of her mother, who died of cancer two years ago. The Tawjihi high school exit exams for 2010 were announced Thursday, and Ismail’s score of 99. 5 for science was the highest in any….
PCBS: 38% of Palestinians take day-trips
7/22/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza spent an estimated $10. 5 million on internal tourism during 2009, a report by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics released on Thursday said. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics conducted a household survey of domestic and outbound tourism, which showed Jericho as the top destination for….
Report: Epidemic sweeps Syrian army
7/22/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – A mysterious epidemic has paralyzed Syria’s army, Israel’s Channel 2 reported Thursday. So far, 14 Syrian soldiers have died from the unidentified disease and thousands more have been hospitalized, forcing the army to cancel training exercises, the channel reported. The report added that the epidemic began in army camps in the north….
The Palestinian authority: Redundant but dangerous language
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – Each time Israel fails to keep its ‘side of the bargain’, the Palestinian Authority responds with the same redundant language. The cycle has become so utterly predictable that one wonders why the Palestinian Authority officials even…
Yalla peace: The Israel question
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – A seismic shift in American politics has occurred over the past decade that has created a gap so wide and so bitter that America is a nation of growing polarization where issues once embraced by both…
Birthrights and wrongs: Neighbors
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – This morning was spent learning about Israel’s Palestinian minority. We stopped off at what was described to us as an “Arab village” in the north of Israel. From the lookout point we could see both a…
‘West Bank-Gaza split impedes peace, state’
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – By Sarah Harlan Wednesday the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted ” Divided Palestine – Barrier to Peace? ” to discuss whether the peace process is viable with the Palestinian political scene split between the West…
Ex-soldiers fight for peace on the stage
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – Washington — Ex-military from both Israeli and Palestinian forces are bringing their fight to a new theatre, the kind with a spotlight and stage, The Guardian reported Thursday. The Combatants for Peace , formed in 2005, is…
Rape conviction: A preposterous verdict and a dangerous precedent
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – One of the funniest movies I’ve seen in recent years, starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, is ” Wedding Crashers .” As the title alludes, the movie is about a couple of bachelors who crash weddings…
Saudi plan grows Ramallah, Gaza revives IT sector
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – Washington — A new $400 million Saudi-backed plan hopes to transform Ramallah, and its sister city Al-Bireh, into the economic hub of the West Bank, Bloomberg News reported Thursday. The Dunia Trade Center under construction in…
Daniel Seidemann to PN: Israel’s legitimacy depends on sharing Jerusalem
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – Washington — Can Jerusalem be shared by Israelis and Palestinians? Among Israelis, there is perhaps no more tireless an advocate for this view than lawyer and activist Daniel Seidemann . Seidemann was born in the United States,…
Palestinians breach Egypt’s underground Gaza border wall
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – Washington — Tunnel smugglers have cut hundreds of holes in the underground steel barrier Egypt is building on its border with Gaza, the Associated Press reported Thursday. “It’s a big failure,” said one Egyptian official of…
PLO Mission in Washington permitted to fly Palestinian flag
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – Washington – The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Mission in Washington was upgraded to a “Delegation General” on July 20, the Palestinian ambassador announced on Thursday. Palestinian flag [ISM Palestine – Flickr] The change does not represent…
New documentary shows Gaza is ‘still alive’
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – By William McKeithen Washington — In the new documentary “Aisheen: Still Alive in Gaza,” the film lives up to its names, showing vignettes of daily existence in Gaza through a lens unblurred by politics. The film…
Bil’in protest leader sentenced
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – Washington – After first going to trial in 2005, Palestinian activist Abdallah Abu Rahmah was sentenced by an Israeli court on Wednesday “two months of imprisonment and a six months suspended sentence for participating and organizing…
Israel’s war on booze
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – New York – In a frenzy of lawmaking in the closing hours of its summer session, the Israeli Knesset on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill banning the sale of alcohol in shops between 11pm and 6am. […
Gaza students receive high scores on exit exam
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – Washington – Students in Gaza “set near-record highs this year” on their high school exit exams, Ma’an News Agency reported Wednesday. Gaza usually sees a 50% pass rate on the Tawjihi exam, which is similar to…
Disco group Boney M asked to cut song at WB festival
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – Washington — The iconic 1970s disco group Boney M performed this week at an international music festival in Ramallah, but were asked to refrain from singing their hit “Rivers of Babylon,” the Associated Press reported Thursday….
Abbas tells Fatah: Get organized or die
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – New York – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is deeply concerned about the state of disarray in his Fatah movement, which dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Palestinian…
Gazan women taking larger economic role
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – Washington — Facing an economy of rampant unemployment and desperation, Gaza women are becoming the breadwinners for many families and working in fields previously off limits, Ma’an News Agency reported Thursday. “My children need to go…
Israel asks int’l community to stop Lebanon flotilla
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – Washington – The Israeli Foreign Ministry set out on a diplomatic campaign to stop an aid flotilla from Lebanon from sailing to Gaza, Haaretz reported Thursday. The MV Rachel Corrie, part of the May 31 “Freedom…
Israeli army kills Palestinian
Palestine Note 22 Jul 2010 – PA says man slain near settlement was unarmed New York – Israeli forces shot dead an apparently unarmed Palestinian man and wounded another near an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank early on Thursday. Palestinian…
‘UN court to implicate Hezbollah’
AlJazeera 22 Jul 2010 – Hezbollah leader expects members of his Shia group to be indicted in al-Hariri probe.
Lebanon plans ‘spying’ complaint
AlJazeera 22 Jul 2010 – Cabinet agrees to ask United Nations to investigate alleged Israeli espionage.
Five Israeli Spy Suspects Escape Lebanon
PNN – Rasan al-Jud and four associates fled the country after they were accused of being Israeli spies in the telecom company Alfa, the Lebanese newspaper Ad-Diyar reported on Thursday. This follows the Lebanese…
Who’s Aiding Judaisation?
PNN – By Nicola Nasser – Since 1860, when the American Jewish tycoon Judah Touro donated $60,000 — a fortune for that time — towards the construction of the first Jewish settlement outside the…
Palestinian Beaten To Near Death For Talking To A Jewish Woman
PNN – Tiberias – PNN – A 23 year old Palestinian man received very serious injuries for allegedly talking to a Jewish woman in Tiberias Tuesday night. The attack on the young man occurred…
Freedom Flotilla Two Could Feature Celebrity Athletes
PNN – Gaza- PNN – Soccer star Iker Casillas and tennis legend Rafael Nadal may lend a hand in breaking the blockade of Gaza, the London-based al-Hayat newspaper reported today. The blockade was imposed…
Amnesty Condemns Palestinian Home Demolitions In The West Bank
PNN – Jordan Valley — PNN – Amnesty International called on the Israeli authorities to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes and other buildings in the West Bank, after a further 74 were destroyed…
Daniel Pearl Act Identifies Violations Of Press Freedom Globally
PNN – By Daoud Kuttab – With little fanfare in Washington, and with few countries in the world noticing, President Barack Obama signed into law an act that will hold governments all around the…
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Two Palestinians Wounded in a Family Dispute in al-Boreij Refugee Camp and One Child Wounded in Explosion of an Unknown Object in Beit Lahia
Palestinian Center for Human Rights Field Update On Wednesday, 21 July 2010, two persons were wounded by gunshots during the course of a family dispute in al-Boreij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Another five persons were injured due to the use of sticks and sharp tools in the dispute. Earlier, one child was wounded due to an explosion of unknown object in the
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (15-21 July 2010)
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
IDF morality exemplified at mosque
Jeruslalem Post 23 Jul 2010 – Report shows the ethical dilemmas faced by Israel.
Rivlin visits Mount of Olives project
Jeruslalem Post 22 Jul 2010 – Grave of Rabbi who led Rivlin’s family to Israel recently found.
IDF kills Palestinian near Barkan
Jeruslalem Post 22 Jul 2010 – IDF shot man attempting to infiltrate settlement.
‘I’d make them drag me out by my hair’
Jeruslalem Post 22 Jul 2010 – Five years after Gaza pullout, women reflect on the homes they lost.
‘New obstacles’ prevent talks
Jeruslalem Post 22 Jul 2010 – Israel rejects extended building freeze; Greek PM meets Netanyahu.
Direct talks ‘receding’
Jeruslalem Post 22 Jul 2010 – Israel rejects PA call for extended building freeze; Greek PM meets with Netanyahu.
‘Blame on Hizbullah for Hariri hit’
Jeruslalem Post 22 Jul 2010 – Nasrallah says UN tribunal will implicate his group in assassination.
Security and Defense: An officer and diplomat
Jeruslalem Post 22 Jul 2010 – OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrahi’s job is to maintain quiet in the West Bank.
From A(vigdor) to Z(oabi) and everything in-between
Jeruslalem Post 22 Jul 2010 – Provocations, political grandstanding and Israel Beitenu’s legislative impotence dominated this parliamentary summer.
Israel hails ‘twisted’ UK law change
Jeruslalem Post 22 Jul 2010 – Move to prevent “arrest warrants to make a political statement.”
Alleged spy ‘flees to Germany’
Jeruslalem Post 22 Jul 2010 – Former Lebanese officer suspected of spying for Israel, along with 4 others.
Report: Lebanon against Israeli espionage
Jeruslalem Post 22 Jul 2010 – “Spies suspected of aiding Israel flee country.”
EU countries want more Iran sanctions
Jeruslalem Post 22 Jul 2010 – Poll: Europeans support int’l intervention to stop nuclear threat.
IDF shoots Palestinian infiltrator
Jeruslalem Post 22 Jul 2010 – After relative quiet, 2 terrorists also killed on Gaza border.
International Solidarity Movement
Two dead and four children injured in Israeli nail bomb attack in Beit Hanoun, Gaza
7/22/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – She came in through and it wasn’t clear she was injured. Suddenly a lot of blood came from her nose and she vomited. All of the family saw this — her little brothers were very scared. She had just been playing in the front of the house. ”This is a mother describing to us her daughter….
Labor members: Ministers should leave government if peace talks aren’t renewed
Ha’aretz – Labor representative: If direct negotiations don’t begin before settlement building freeze expires, ministers must withdraw from government.
Minister in clemency plea for policeman who killed car thief
Ha’aretz – Yitzhak Aharonovitch asks state to pardon officer convicted of manslaughter after court doubles prisons term.
Suspected Jewish terrorists to be allowed access to lawyer
Ha’aretz – Supreme Court Justice had rebuked the State Prosecutor’s Office and the Shin Bet for failing to bring the two suspects to court hearings regarding their cases.
IDF soldier goes missing during navigation training
Ha’aretz – Army and police have been looking for the soldier since he failed to rejoin his unit early Thursday morning.
Boney M asked to cut ‘By the Rivers of Babylon’ out of West Bank gig
Ha’aretz – The disco group headlined a festival of several international and Palestinian artists and bands in Ramallah.
Young Arab seriously wounded after beat up by Jew in Tiberias
Ha’aretz – Initial reports suggest that a 19-year-old Jewish man around confronted the victim as he was sitting in his car with a young woman, and that their quarrel soon turned violent.
Environmentalists urge closure of Jordan River baptism site over poor water quality
Ha’aretz – FoEME says Israel, Syria and Jordan are diverting 98% the Jordan and are discharging untreated sewage, agricultural run-off, saline water and fish pond effluent into it.
Israel urges Lebanon and world: Stop new Gaza flotilla or we will
Ha’aretz – In letter to Security Council, UN envoy Gabriela Shalev says activists are trying to inflame Mideast, calls on international community to halt planned aid convoy in order to prevent ‘any…
Mubarak, 82, gives public speech after health rumors
Ha’aretz – Ageing Egyptian president give speech to mark anniversary of Egypt’s ‘July revolution’, days after reports that he could have less than a year to live.
U.S. upgrades status of Palestinian mission in Washington
Ha’aretz – Though still short of full diplomatic recognition, move raises representation to level of PLO missions in many European countries and Canada.
Missing IDF soldier returns home after disappearing during training, army says
Ha’aretz – Huge search operation searched for commando from elite Sayeret Matkal unit who failed to join unit for navigation exercise.
Abbas warns Fatah to get organized or die
Ha’aretz – Abbas slams his party’s cancellation of local elections, saying, ‘If what happened is allowed to pass, I tell you that this movement must say goodbye.’
U.K. seeks to change law on war crimes arrests
Ha’aretz – The government is now seeking to change the law in such a way that one government department, the Crown Prosecution Service, evaluate the merits of any case brought under international…
Abbas signals resistance to U.S. pressure for direct talks
Ha’aretz – PA President says that unless there is progress in the next week, he will continue the U.S.-mediated, indirect talks.
Five suspected Israel spies reportedly flee Lebanon
Ha’aretz – Rasan al-Jud, a former senior officer in the Lebanese Army, is thought to have escaped to Germany by commercial plane; security forces looking for four others who disappeared.
Pro-Palestinian group sees its struggle as ‘Vietnam of our day’
Ha’aretz – Activists of the International Solidarity Movement have been feeling a sense of victory of late, flush with volunteers keen on breaking Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.
IDF kills Palestinian infiltrating West Bank settlement
Ha’aretz – IDF opens fire at group of Palestinians breaking into settlement, apparently for criminal and not terror-related purposes.
Iron Dome success excites, but army balks at the bill
Ha’aretz – The U.S. Congress passed Obama’s initiative to provide Israel with a $205 million grant to procure Iron Dome batteries, but defense experts say more funding is needed.
IOF shoots 2 Palestinians near a settlement in WB
22 Jul 2010 – West bank, July 22, (Pal Telegraph) A Palestinian man was shot dead and another wounded by the Israeli occupation at dawn on Thursday at the entrance to the settlement of “Burkan” in the central West Bank. The Israeli radio quoted Israeli sources saying that Israeli soldiers spotted a Palestinian man with his friend trying to infiltrate the fence of…
Israel demolishes fruit stands in Jenin
22 Jul 2010 – Jenin , July 22, (Pal Telegraph) Israeli occupying forces demolished today 10 fruit stands near a checkpoint considered as the only crossing of Jenin to the occupied Palestinian lands of 1948, a few days after giving of their owners notices of demolition. Witnesses said: “The bulldozers swept the fruit stands on the street of Jenin – Nazareth near the crossing north…
Israel shells Gaza, 2 killed and others injured
22 Jul 2010 – Gaza , July 22, (Pal Telegraph) Two martyrs fell and other citizens were wounded in an Israeli artillery bombardment north of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday afternoon. The director of the Emergency in the Ministry of Health Dr. Muawiya Hassanein, said that Mohamed Hatem Saber Kafarna (23 years) and Qasim Shinbari (22 years) were martyred after the…
Shalit: Israeli government is responsible for my son’s suffering
22 Jul 2010 – Jerusalem, July 22, (Pal Telegraph) Noam Shalit, the father of captured Israeli soldier in Gaza, “Gilad Shalit,” called the Israeli Prime, “Benjamin Netanyahu” to take a bold attitude and to make a swap deal with Hamas for the release of his son. Shalit said — in a rally festival on Tuesday night in the city of Beersheba -that Netanyahu should…
Israel opens Abu Salem and Karni crossings
22 Jul 2010 – Gaza, July 22, (Pal Telegraph) The Israeli occupation authorities decided to partially open Kerem Abu Salem and Karni Gaza’s commercial crossings today for the entry of dozens of trucks carrying aid, food and fuel to the Gaza Strip. The chairman of Gaza’s Supplies Coordinating Committee, engineer Raed Fattouh, said that the Israeli occupation authorities will allow the entry of…
Baccalaureate results are announced in Palestine today
22 Jul 2010 – Gaza, July 22, (Pal Telegraph) The Ministry of Education in both Gaza and the West united today morning to announce the results of high school’s Baccalaureate certificate for 2010. The Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education in Ramallah, supervisor of the Baccalaureate examination Jihad Fawzi Zakarneh, said that the number enrolled in all branches amounted to 86 864 participants,…
Redundant but Dangerous Language
Uruknet July 22, 2010 – Each time Israel fails to keep its ‘side of the bargain’, the Palestinian Authority responds with the same redundant language. The cycle has become so utterly predictable that one wonders why the Palestinian Authority officials even bothers protesting Israeli action. They must be well aware that their cries, genuine or otherwise, will only fall on…
Two dead and four children injured in Israeli nail bomb attack in Beit Hanoun, Gaza
Uruknet July 22, 2010 – “She came in through and it wasn’t clear she was injured. Suddenly a lot of blood came from her nose and she vomited. All of the family saw this — her little brothers were very scared. She had just been playing in the front of the house.” This is a mother describing to us her…
Palestinian shot dead by Israeli troops near settlement
Uruknet July 22, 2010 – A Palestinian man was killed and a second injured by Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank on Thursday morning, Palestinian security officials said. They told Ma’an that an Israeli force opened fire on the two at 4:30 a.m. at the entrance of the illegal Barqan settlement in the Salfit district, killing one man while…
Gaza: The Economics of Occupation
Uruknet July 22, 2010 – The northern Gaza Strip area of Beit Lahia is famous for its agriculture. The climate, the sandy clay soil and the fresh water supply create an ideal environment for growing fruit here, and the practice has become a deeply-engrained way of life for Beit Lahia farmers like Abdulfattah Al-Khateeb, who has been growing strawberries here…
Haneen Zoabi: The largest threat to democracy is Zionism
Uruknet July 22, 2010 – On 13 July, the Israeli Knesset voted by a large margin to strip the parliamentary privileges of Haneen Zoabi, a member of the Palestinian Israeli party Balad. The measure was a punishment for Zoabi’s participation in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. As described in the Israeli daily Haaretz, during the raging debate, Member of Knesset (MK)…
Video: Toxic legacy of the Vietnam war
Uruknet July 22, 2010 – Thirty-five years on from the end of the Vietnam war, the devastating effects still linger. Agent Orange, the chemical used by US forces during the war, is still poisoning the environment of the country and the health of its people, Vietnam says. The US says that cannot be scientifically proven. The subject is sensitive for…
Israel intensifies West Bank Palestinian home demolitions
Uruknet July 21, 2010 – Amnesty International has today called on the Israeli authorities to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes and other buildings in the West Bank, after a further 74 were destroyed in the Jordan Valley earlier this week. The demolitions were carried out by the Israeli military in the villages of Hmayyir and ‘Ein Ghazal in the…
International athletes might join Freedom Flotilla 2
Uruknet July 21,2010 — The European campaign to lift the siege on Gaza revealed that it will soon make contacts with a number of well-known international athletes, particularly in Europe, to explore the possibility of their participation in Freedom Flotilla 2, which is scheduled to sail to the Gaza Strip by the end of September. Rami Abdo, a member of…
Comrade Mizher: War criminal Netanyahu allied with U.S. envoy Mitchell against Palestinian cause
Uruknet July 21, 2010 – Comrade Jamil Mizher, member of the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, denounced efforts by the U.S. administration to force Palestinians into direct negotiations while Israel continues its war crimes, settlements, siege and occupation unhindered. Comrade Mizher noted that the visit of U.S. envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell,…
The Slow Death of Palestinian Democracy
Uruknet July 21, 2010 – Palestinian municipal elections were supposed to be held last week. Instead, they were canceled. A statement released by the Palestinian Authority claimed the cancellation was “in order to pave the way for a successful end to the siege on Gaza and for continued efforts at unity” between Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, and the…
Israel Report Attempts to Cover up Widespread and Systematic Commission of War Crimes and Shield Perpetrators from Justice
Uruknet July 21, 2010 – On the 20 of July, the State of Israel released a report, Gaza Operation Investigations: Second Update, which details Israel’s response to allegations of international law violations committed in the context of the 27 December 2008 — 18 January 2009 offensive on the Gaza Strip. The report serves to highlight the inadequacies inherent in Israel’s…
Video: Gaza’s only fisherwoman
Uruknet July 21, 2010 – In Gaza, traditional industries like fishing are dominated by men but one 16-year-old girl is changing that. She has taken charge of her father’s fishing boat and the family’s livelihood after he suffered an injury to his leg. Al Jazeera’s Nicole Johnston reports.
Israelis embrace one-state solution from unexpected direction
Uruknet July 21, 2010 – There has been a strong revival in recent years of support among Palestinians for a one-state solution guaranteeing equal rights to Palestinians and Israeli Jews throughout historic Palestine. One might expect that any support for a single state among Israeli Jews would come from the far left, and in fact this is where the most…
West Bank’s sunshine supercar
The National 22 Jul 2010 – Students at Palestinian Polytechnic University say they could make two-horsepower 30kph-capable solar car better and faster with funding.
‘Hundreds’ of tunnels cut through Egyptian border wall
The National 22 Jul 2010 – “It’s a big failure,” an official said of the steel fence intended to keep banned goods and weapons from being smuggled into the Gaza Strip.
Group behind Gaza flotilla sees success bring more volunteers
The National 22 Jul 2010 – Since Israel’s botched assault on its attempt to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the International Solidarity Movement has attracted more foreigners wanting to help.
AIC Upgrades Website Infrastructure
Alternative Information Center – The Alternative Information Center (AIC) is currently upgrading its website infrastructure. We will be back online by Tuesday 22 June 2010.
Armed Settlers Steal Sheep from Palestinian Shepherd
WAFA – HEBRON, July 22, 2010 (WAFA)- Three settlers, one of them armed, stole Wednesday a sheep from a young Palestinian shepherd, a resident of the village of Tuba in South Hebron Hills, while he was
President Abbas Expects Rough Times, Meets with Jewish Lobbies
WAFA –
AMIDEAST Conducts Camp Discovery 2010
WAFA – JERUSALEM, July 22, 2010 (WAFA)- For the fourth consecutive year with funding from the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem and in partnership with UNRWA, AMIDEAST conducted “Camp Discovery” — a
PCBS: 38.1% of Households Took Domestic Trips during 2009
WAFA – RAMALLAH, July 22, 2010 (WAFA)-Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) indicated that 38.1% of households in the Palestinian Territory took domestic trips during the year 2009, of which 33.9%
Amnesty Calls on Israel to Stop Home Demolitions
WAFA – LONDON, July 22, 2010 (WAFA)- Amnesty International called on the Israeli authorities to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes and other buildings in the West Bank, after a further 74 were
Palestinian president warns Fatah: Get organized or die
Daily Star 22 Jul 2010
Green Zone rocket attack kills 3 security contractors
Daily Star 22 Jul 2010
Nasrallah says UN Tribunal will indict Hizbullah members
Daily Star 22 Jul 2010
Israeli Army to simulate invasion of south Lebanon
Daily Star 22 Jul 2010
Hariri: Cabinet will work on Palestinian rights issue
Daily Star 22 Jul 2010
Lebanon makes headway on road to democracy – LADE
Daily Star 22 Jul 2010
Fighters turn to theatre to advocate Middle East peace | Phoebe Greenwood
The Guardian 22 Jul 2010 – Combatants for Peace, a group drawn from Israel and Palestine’s forces, are transforming their own experiences into drama. But will this help find a resolution to political conflict? In a list of unlikely places to look…
Ban urges Israeli and Palestinian leaders to take ‘bold steps’ towards peace
Relief Web 22 Jul 2010 – Source: UN News Service
Carter Center Calls for End to East Jerusalem Deportations, Respect for International Law
Relief Web 22 Jul 2010 – Source: Carter Center
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory 15- 21 June 2010
Relief Web 22 Jul 2010 – Source: Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Israel to restrict use of white phosphorus munitions
Relief Web 21 Jul 2010 – Source: Agence France-Presse
Palestinians Remain Split, US Doesn’t Adjust
IPS Last summer, a tight consensus formed in Washington around Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s plans to build up state-like institutions in the West Bank and revive the territory’s sagging economy from the lingering effects of the Second Intifada.
Women Prepare to Set Sail Past Israel
IPS The ‘Maryam’, an all-female Lebanese aid ship, currently docked in the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli, is getting ready to set sail for Gaza in the next few days. The ship, which aims to break Israel’s siege on the Palestinian territory, will carry about 50 aid workers, including some U.S….
Court permits Jewish terror suspect to meet lawyer
YNet News – Haim Pearlman, accomplice David Sitbon permitted to meet lawyers for first time….
UK seeks war crimes law change
YNet News – If approved, amendment will enable Israeli politicians, IDF officers to travel….
Netanyahu to Greek PM: I’m not skeptical about peace
YNet News – Prime Minister Papandreou promises to convey message to Palestinian President….
Gaza smugglers breach Egyptian barrier
YNet News – Egyptian security official says underground steel wall built to prevent….
Egypt paper: Israel spreading lies about Mubarak’s health’
YNet News – Editorial in Egypt’s state-run al-Gumhuriyya newspaper says Mubarak in good….
‘South Park’ critic faces unrelated terror charge
YNet News – US citizen who said animated sitcom’s creators risked death by mocking Prophet….
IDF kills Palestinian infiltrating into Barkan
YNet News – Force fires warning shots at group of Palestinians approaching West Bank….
Missing IDF soldier turns up at home
YNet News – An IDF combat soldier who went missing during an advanced training exercise in a southern forest turned up at his home late Thursday night. The soldier’s home is …….
Nasrallah: UN Hariri tribunal to implicate Hezbollah
YNet News – Lebanon’s prime minister has informed Hezbollah that a UN tribunal probing the 2005 murder of ex-premier Rafik Hariri will accuse members of the militant party, …….
Palestinian Information Center
Bardaweel: isolating Gaza is a joint goal for all those besieging it
PIC 22 Jul 2010 – MP Salah Al-Bardaweel of Hamas Movement said on Thursday that his Movement will never abandon its big issue that is the liberation of Palestine from the Israeli occupation..
Jordanian aid convoy Ansar to join British Miles of Smiles on joint trip to Gaza
PIC 22 Jul 2010 – The Jordanian organizers of the aid convoy Ansar said that Ansar would join the British convoy Miles of Smiles slated to head to the Strip in the next few weeks.
Palestinian campaign welcomes biggest fleet to Gaza
PIC 22 Jul 2010 – The Palestinian international campaign to end the siege on Gaza on Thursday welcomed the preparations for sending the biggest ever fleet of aid ships to the Gaza Strip.
Aqsa foundation: Israeli troops simulated a military attack on the Aqsa Mosque
PIC 22 Jul 2010 – The Aqsa foundation for endowment and heritage revealed that the Israeli occupation forces carried out Wednesday military drills simulating a situation in which they storm the Aqsa Mosque.
IOF troops demolish Palestinian house
PIC 22 Jul 2010 – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) leveled a Palestinian house and an animal pen in Bani Naim village, east of Al-Khalil city, on Wednesday, local sources reported.
Hamas slams Fatah military court for acquitting killers of prisoner
PIC 22 Jul 2010 – Hamas strongly denounced the Fatah-affiliated military court for acquitting five officers charged with torturing to death a Palestinian prisoner in the Palestinian Authority’s jails.
IOF troops kill Palestinian in Salfit, two in Gaza
PIC 22 Jul 2010 – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) killed a Palestinian citizen and wounded another who were trying to infiltrate into Barkan settlement in Salfit district at dawn Thursday, the Hebrew radio claimed.
Mishaal explains Hamas’s strategy in dealing with the Israeli occupation
PIC 22 Jul 2010 – Khaled Mishaal has explained that his Movement follows firm and well-studied strategy in dealing with the Israeli occupation, the internal Palestinian social fabric, and the international community.
U.S. filmmakers craft documentary on genocide survivors
LA Times 23 Jul 2010 – ‘The Last Survivor’ chronicles how four people ‚Äî survivors of the Holocaust, Rwanda, Darfur or Congo ‚Äî rebound from atrocities and find new meaning in their lives. It was recently shown in Israel. Imagine a movie about genocide that’s, well, sort of uplifting. That was the goal of two former University of Pennsylvania classmates who set out to make a documentary marrying their Jewish heritage with their modern-day social activism.
Israeli Forces Kill Unarmed Palestinian
New York Times 22 Jul 2010 – Palestinians raised questions over the shooting death by Israeli forces of a Palestinian man in the West Bank on Thursday.
Iran Now Says Nuclear Scientist Was Double Agent
New York Times 22 Jul 2010 РThe Iranian government claimed that Shahram Amiri was sent to provide false information to American intelligence — a story being made into a TV movie.
World Briefing | MIDEAST: Lebanon: Hezbollah Chief Expects Indictments in Ex-premier’s Death
New York Times 22 Jul 2010 – Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, said Thursday that he had been told that members of the group would be indicted by a United Nations tribunal investigating the 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri of Lebanon.
The Slow Death of Palestinian Democracy
Palestine Monitor – Palestinian municipal elections were supposed to be held last week. Instead, they were canceled. A statement released by the Palestinian Authority claimed the cancellation was “in order to pave the way for a successful end to the siege on Gaza and for continued efforts at unity”…
Poor schmuck Harvey Pekar— gets to be censored on Israel posthumously!
Mondoweiss – Harvey Pekar was the bard of Cleveland, the famously-difficult author of comic books who died on July 11. An anonymous friend writes: He was very much a part of Jewish-American leftist culture. A couple of books are coming out posthumously. One is a comic collection he…
‘Debate’ in PA Senate race is over who loves Israel more
Mondoweiss – The dueling ads for the Senate race in Pennsylvania by J Street and neo-conservative outfit the Emergency Committee for Israel , headed by William Kristol, has media outlets talking about a “proxy fight over President Obama’s Middle East policy, for the right and the left.” The Forward…
Hitchens rails against Occupation
Mondoweiss – Christopher Hitchens was interviewed by Hugh Hewitt . He frames the matter in the most simple, honest way: half the people in Israel/Palestine are being ruled without their consent (and it’s on a racial basis). The question I have here is how much of the Western battle…
Message to Israelis who oppose BDS — go to Bil’in and see for yourself
Mondoweiss – The first time I stepped into a settlement was during my military service. I did a job that let me go home every night, but every now and then we were required to do something they called AVTASH, or SetSec: settlement security. I was a guard…
Inside the Cosmetics convention, Ahava boss denies the Occupation
Mondoweiss – On Monday, July 19th, Jodie Evans of CODEPINK and supporter Zissa went to the Cosmetics Professionals ( COSMOPROF ) Convention at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas to confront Ahava North America CEO Michael Etedgi for the second year in a row. Last July, Jodie and another…
Ramzy Baroud — The Palestinian Authority: Redundant but Dangerous Language
Palestine Think Tank – Each time Israel fails to keep its ‘side of the bargain’, the Palestinian Authority responds with the same redundant language. The cycle has become so utterly predictable that one wonders why the Palestinian Authority officials even bothers protesting Israeli action. They must be well aware that…
Hezbollah ‘facing Hariri charges’
BBC – The head of Hezbollah says some of its members will be charged with the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Palestinian killed in West Bank
BBC – A Palestinian man has been shot dead by Israeli troops after entering a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
Palestinians Remain Split, US Doesn’t Adjust
Antiwar.com – Last summer, a tight consensus formed in Washington around Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s plans to build up state-like institutions in the West Bank and revive the territory’s sagging economy from the lingering effects of the Second Intifada. But the strategy — while still…
UN Chief Dilly-Dallying on Panel to Probe Israeli Killings?
Antiwar.com – When the Security Council condemned the killings by Israeli military forces of nine Turkish civilians on a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza last May, it also released a presidential statement “taking note” of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s proposal for an international investigation of the…
Sayanim — Israeli Operatives in the U.S. — by Jeff Gates
Sabbah report – By Jeff Gates* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz Americans know that something fundamental is amiss. They sense-rightly-that they are being misled no matter which political party does the leading. A long misinformed public lacks the tools to grasp how they are being deceived. Without those tools,…
Articles
VIDEO: To Shoot An Elephant
Pulse 7/21/2010
We’d previously posted the trailer of this important documentary; the full video below is well worth watching. During Israel’s deadly assault on Gaza in December 2008, Alberto Arce and Mohammad Rujailah were among only a few remaining internationals who embedded with ambulances and among Palestinian civilians as witnesses. “To Shoot an Elephant” (the title is inspired by a George Orwell essay) is an award-winning documentary available in several language subtitle choices.
A note on translation from the Arabic: it’s worth reading this piece by Marie Dhumieres ‘Bad Translation Makes Fundamentalists Of Us All’. Alhamdulilah (Alleluia, thank God!) someone understands the commonality of everyday phrases in Arabic like Enshallah (God willing) and other non-literal religious-sounding phrases as simply part of speech. I would also add the curious tendency by some western translators to leave the word Allah untranslated into God. This is worth keeping in mind when reading off the subtitles.
A note from the director, Alberto Arce:
Gaza Strip has been under siege since June 2007, when Israel declared it an “enemy entity”. A group of international activists organized a siege-breaking movement, the Free Gaza movement. Thanks to their efforts, and despite the Israeli ban on foreign correspondents and humanitarian aid workers to cover and witness operation “Cast Lead” on the ground, a group of international volunteers: self organised members of the International Solidarity Movement were present in Gaza when the bombing started on December, 27th 2009. Together with two international correspondents from Al Jazeera International (Ayman Mohyeldin and Sherine Tadros), they were the only foreigners who managed to write, film and report for several radio stations what was happening inside the besieged Palestinian strip. more.. e-mail
Chomsky and Palestine: Asset or Liability?
Jeff Blankfort, Pulse 7/21/2010
From In a recent interview renowned linguist Noam Chomsky called the BDS campaign ‘hypocritical’. Jeffrey Blankfort, who is the author of an earlier important critique of Chomsky’s position on Palestine, responds:
When Noam Chomsky was stopped at Jordan’s Allenby Bridge and prevented from entering the Palestinian West Bank by Israeli occupation forces in May, the widespread condemnation of that action extended even into the mainstream media which in the past has paid little attention to his comings and goings and even less to what he has had to say.
Chomsky, who has visited Israel on a number of occasions and lived on a kibbutz in the 50s, had been invited to give a lecture at Bir Zeit University near Ramallah and had also arranged to meet with Salam Fayyad, the unelected prime minister of the Palestine Authority and a favorite of both Washington and Israel and, it would appear, of Chomsky.
The negative publicity arising from the incident caused the Israeli government to reverse its position, blaming its refusal to admit Chomsky on an administrative error. Chomsky was not mollified and decided to forego the trip to the West Bank and present his talk to the Bir Zeit students by video from Amman.
When interviewed by phone the following day from New York by Democracy Now! on which he is a familiar presence, Chomsky noted that “I was going to meet with the Prime Minister. Unfortunately, I couldn’t. But his office called me here in Amman this morning, and we had a long discussion. He is pursuing policies, which, in my view, are quite sensible, policies of essentially developing facts on the ground. It’s almost — I think it’s probably a conscious imitation of the early Zionist policies, establishing facts on the ground and hoping that the political forms that follow will be determined by them. And the policies sound to me like sensible and sound ones.” more.. e-mail
Redundant but dangerous language
Ramzy Baroud, Ma’an News Agency 7/22/2010
Each time Israel fails to keep its “side of the bargain,” the Palestinian Authority responds with the same redundant language. The cycle has become so utterly predictable that one wonders why PA officials even bother protesting Israeli action. They must be well aware that their cries, genuine or otherwise, will only fall on deaf ears. They know that their complaints could not possibly contribute to a paradigm shift in Israel’s behavior, or the US position on it.
Let’s take a look at the context for the language of the PA’s complaints. In a speech made in early July, President Mahmoud Abbas referred to any direct talks with Israel as “futile.” Thousands of newspapers and news sites beamed this headline, highlighting the word “futile” between inverted commas – as if it constituted some kind of earth-shattering revelation.
But anyone following the Middle East, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular, already knows that such talks will be “futile.” Moreover, Israel has hardly made secret its lack of desire for a peaceful and just settlement.
Abbas, however, has managed to assert his relevance as a “player” in the conflict using one cleverly coined word. This word has had as much of an impact in Arabic as has in English.
Of course, none of this means that Abbas has actually adopted a serious shift in course. One need not dig up old archives to remember that the PA president felt the same way about the so-called “proximity talks” with Israel last May. Before they began, he also expressed his opinion that the talks would be futile. He further insisted that no talks, direct or otherwise, would resume without a complete Israeli halt in settlement construction in occupied East Jerusalem.
After this grand declaration, Abbas went along with the proximity talks charade, while Palestinian families continued to be uprooted from their homes in their historic city…. more.. e-mail
Gaza’s strawberries spoil under siege
Electronic Intifada: 22 Jul 2010 – Israel’s policy towards strawberry farming in Gaza, and particularly their exports, is a demonstration in the economics of occupation.more
Haneen Zoabi: The largest threat to democracy is Zionism
Electronic Intifada: 22 Jul 2010 – Having been stripped of parliamentary privileges for participating in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Haneen Zoabi describes the “fascist atmosphere” inside Israel. Max Blumenthal interviews for The Electronic Intifada.more
killing the bees
In Gaza: 22 Jul 2010 – Jul 19, 2010 (IPS) – Sa’id Hillis, 60, has kept bees since he was a boy. Until the Israeli attacks changed his business. Sa’id has 20 dunams (a dunam is 1000 square metres) farmland in Sheyjayee, east of Gaza city and roughly 400 metres from the Green Line border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. Until 2009 the farm had hundreds of trees, and more than 10,000 chickens. “It was all destroyed during the Israeli attacks,” Hillis says. The 2008-2009 23-day Israeli war on Gaza destroyed more than 35 percent of Gaza’s agricultural land, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). This included chicken and beef farms, and cultivated land. Oxfam notes that the combination of the Israeli war on Gaza and maintaining of the buffer zone renders around 46 percent of agricultural land useless or unreachable. Since their means of living off the land was destroyed, Hillis’s family…more
The Slow Death of Palestinian Democracy
Palestine Monitor: 22 Jul 2010 – Palestinian municipal elections were supposed to be held last week. Instead, they were canceled. A statement released by the Palestinian Authority claimed the cancellation was “in order to pave the way for a successful end to the siege on Gaza and for continued efforts at unity” between Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, and the government in the West Bank. The cancellation of this election was an unjustified, unlawful, and unacceptable act. It damages democratic rights and makes a mockery of the interests of the Palestinian people. But this is far more than an internal Palestinian issue. The only lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians will be based on a settlement negotiated between two democracies ‚Äî this was the case in Europe, and it will be the case in the Middle East. The Palestinian struggle for democracy has been long and painstaking. Against long odds, we succeeded in constructing a…more
Who’s Aiding Judaisation?
Palestine Chronicle: 22 Jul 2010 – By Nicola Nasser Since 1860, when the American Jewish tycoon Judah Touro donated $60,000 — a fortune for that time — towards the construction of the first Jewish settlement outside the old walls of Jerusalem, public and private American funds have aided the creation and territorial expansion of Israel. Israel today is the foremost recipient of US aid. According to a USAID green paper, between 1946 and 2008 Israel has received more aid than Russia, India, Egypt and Iraq. In fact, the US has poured more money into Israel than it did into the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. However, a recent New York Times article adds a new dimension to the story. On 5 July, the Times reported that, over the last decade more than 40 American groups have collected more than $200 million in tax-deductible gifts for Jewish settlements in the occupied…more
Writing for the Future — Book Review
Palestine Chronicle: 22 Jul 2010 – By Sally Bland Hidden Histories: Palestine and the Eastern Mediterranean. Basem L. Ra’ad. London-New York: Pluto Press, 2010. Pp. 272 Most Palestinians, Arabs and their sympathizers know all too well that turning Palestine into Israel involved a truckload of falsification, but few know the extent and detail of the deception, or the full spectrum of the lived history that was submerged in the process. In “Hidden Histories,” Jerusalemite Basem L. Ra’ad takes the reader on a time and space travel that shuttles between the ancient Cana’anite civilization and occupied Palestine today, affirming the demographic and cultural continuity of the Eastern Mediterranean over successive millennia. It is not only that Israel changed place names in order to bolster its claim to the land (though Ra’ad deals with such counterfeiting in detail). The broader issue is that Western scholars and travelers viewed Palestine almost exclusively through biblical lenses, and thus failed to…more
Resistir e Vencer – To Resist is to Win
Palestine Chronicle: 22 Jul 2010 – By George Ikners Resistir e Vencer, to resist is to win, a simple phrase from the life of Gusmao describing the struggle in Timor-Leste. Today there are various meanings attributed to the idea of resistance and struggle. In a recent article by Ramzy Baroud, Baroud discusses resistance with a remarkable degree of clarity and precision. His main point commences with the observation. “Resistance is not a band of armed men hell-bent on wreaking havoc. It is not a cell of terrorists scheming ways to detonate buildings. True resistance is a culture. It is a collective retort to oppression.” If you combine the two approaches you realize quickly that there can never be nor has there ever been a victory without resistance and then struggle. No one handed the poor or oppressed the benefit of better working conditions on a plate. The elites who rule the planet take no heed of…more
The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle — Book Review
Palestine Chronicle: 22 Jul 2010 – By Jim Miles Start-Up Nation – The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle. Dan Senor and Saul Singer. Council of Foreign Relations Book, McClelland & Stewart. 2009. There are no Palestinians…. Israel is an amazing place as one puts together the implications from Start-Up Nation. It is a fount of free enterprise can-do entrepreneurial spirit. There are no resistances, although something called an Intifada concerned the authors somewhat, without being specified as to what it is/was. There are no freedom fighters nor insurgents, no guerrillas nor rebellions. For that matter there are no Palestinians as the word has been expunged from the authors’ vocabulary completely (unless it was in a boring anecdotal section that I skim read and missed – not likely). Israel, except for a few wandering Arabs, was “largely a barren wasteland.” The only people – other than Jews, Zionists, and various other national entrepreneurs – to people this…more
A Freedom Charter or a Second Nakba?
Dissident Voice: 22 Jul 2010 – Imagine this, imagine that Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress negotiated a deal with the South African Apartheid regime and settled for a “two-state solution.” Imagine Mandela negotiating with the Apartheid regime a land deal in which less than 15% of current day South Africa went to the black South Africans, the remaining 85% to the inherently racist Apartheid government and its people. With that in mind, I ask, is there any real difference between that scenario and the idea of a “two-state solution” today? I am happy to know that ever-increasing numbers of people inside and outside of Palestine see what I see, the so-called two-state solution is in truth the two-state disaster, the second Nakba. I can imagine the result of two states and, as far as I am concerned, anything less than one state, with all equal protection under the law, is a recipe for perpetual…more
Congressman Joe Sestak Attacked for Signing a Letter Asking for End of Israeli Blockade on Gaza [VIDEO]
Intifada-Palestine: 22 Jul 2010 – Congressman Joe Sestak The Congressmen who defeated Arlen Spectar is under attack for signing the letter asking for an end to the Gaza blockade. Watch this horrific ad that is all over Pennsylvania TV network The ad is ridiculously offense and is the first product out of a newly formed Israeli lobby. Congressman Sestak needs our support! Please Call him and commend him for his courage for speaking out against the Gaza blockade and for signing the letter asking for the end of the Israeli Blockade on Gaza. Also mention that Congressman Sestak should speak for Americans and not Israel at a time when the unemployment is hovering in double digits. Bringing in a “middle east” issue during an election that is essentially about local issues. Congressman Joe Sestak — The Number to call is (202) 225-2011 Thanks Editor Share this on del.icio.us Digg this! Post on Google Buzz Add this…more
We are Back Online
Intifada-Palestine: 22 Jul 2010 – Dear Readers, You know you’re on the right track when people start to attack you. Today, Intifada Palestine, withstood several coordinated attempts to bring the site down.. We apologize that the website was disabled temporarily for security reasons. There was a coordinated effort to shut the website down. We are back online. Our thanks go to all our supporters who have written in to tell us just how valuable they find the information provided in Intifada Palestine. Our message is the truth and the truth can never be stopped. Thank you for all your support Elias F. Harb Editor — Intifada Palestine Share this on del.icio.us Digg this! Post on Google Buzz Add this to Mister Wong Share this on Mixx Share this on Reddit Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon Subscribe to the comments for this post? Post this on Diigo Share this on Technorati Tweet This! Share…more
MUST-SEE VIDEO: Dr Mustafa Barghouti on “The rising non-violent movement in Palestine”
MyCatBirdSeat.com: 22 Jul 2010 – P U L S E The rising non-violent movement in Palestine: Mustafa Barghouti An address by Mustafa Barghouti in Canada. Born in Jerusalem,Dr Barghouti is a leader of the Palestinian National Initiative founded in 2002 and a member of Palestinian Legislative Council as well as a former Minister of Information in the unity government in 2007. The full transcript from these Real News Network clips appears over the fold. Also check out Dr Barghouti’s excellent 2008 address to the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC ) National Convention. Part One Part Two Transcript DR. MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI, SECRETARY GENERAL, PALESTINIAN NATIONAL INITIATIVE: I think it’s my duty to present to you the reality of the situation in Palestine, because I believe you have the right to know the truth. It is especially important to do that, given the fact that, unfortunately, most of the media outlets do not present to you the reality as…more
RAMAKRISHNAN: Mahatma Gandhi rejected Zionism
MyCatBirdSeat.com: 22 Jul 2010 – Australians for Palestine — Providing a Voice G andhi’s major statement on the Palestine and the Jewish question came forth in his widely circulated editorial in the Harijan of 11 November 1938, a time when intense struggle between the Palestinian Arabs and the immigrant Jews had been on the anvil in Palestine. His views came in the context of severe pressure on him, especially from the Zionist quarters, to issue a statement on the problem. Therefore, he started his piece by saying that his sympathies are all with the Jews, who as a people were subjected to inhuman treatment and persecution for a long time. “But”, Gandhi asserted, “My sympathy does not blind me to the requirements of justice. The cry for the national home for the Jews does not make much appeal to me. The sanction for it is sought in the Bible and in the tenacity with which…more
Maidhc O Cathail: Myth-Debunking Snopes Obscures Israel’s Role in 9/11
MyCatBirdSeat.com: 22 Jul 2010 – – Snopes.com toes the militarists’ line – Snopes.com, officially known as the Urban Legends Reference Pages, has since its humble inception in 1995 come to be regarded as one of the most trusted debunkers of conspiracy theories on the internet . Described by one of its many fans — it apparently has over 6 million visitors per month — as “the grand-daddy of all fact-checking sites,” Snopes is downright cavalier, however, in its attitude to facts surrounding Israel’s role in the 9/11 attacks. In its large section on urban legends relating to 9/11, Snopes purports to debunk a claim that “four thousand Israelis employed by companies housed in the World Trade Center stayed home from work on September 11, warned in advance of the impending attack on the World Trade Center.” A click on the link under “Israelis” brings the curious reader to an entry titled “ Absent without Leave ,”…more
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