19 August, 2010 — VTJP
News
Witnesses: Armed settler threatens farmers
8/19/2010 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — An armed settler accompanied by settlement security guards prevented Palestinian farmers and peace activists from irrigating their land near Nablus on Thursday morning, witnesses said. A resident of the illegal Itamar settlement, carrying a rifle and traveling in an armored vehicle with guards, approached farmers en route to water their recently….
Ex-soldier in Facebook scandal would ‘gladly kill Arabs’
8/20/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The ex-soldier criticized for uploading photos of herself on Facebook posing with Palestinian detainees wrote that she would “gladly kill Arabs – even butcher them” the Israeli press said Thursday. Eden Abergil attracted attention when photographs depicting her smiling in front of blindfolded, handcuffed Palestinians, in an album titled “IDF – Best years….
Gaza: Homeless families move into government building
8/19/2010 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Families who lost their homes in Israel’s Operation Cast Lead offensive appealed to the Gaza government Thursday not to evict them from a ministry-owned building. During the war, 73 homes in As-Salam neighborhood, east of Jabalia in northern Gaza, were destroyed. Some families moved into tents and make-shift….
Report: Israeli navy returns to Dead Sea
8/19/2010 – TEL AVIV (Ma’an) — Until the early 1980s, the Israeli navy was active in the Dead Sea and ready for infiltration by Palestinian groups across the body of water, which separates Israel and the West Bank from Jordan. After 30 years the army is back in the Dead Sea for patrolling and equipped with….
Israel opens 2 Gaza crossings for limited aid, goods
8/19/2010 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Two Gaza crossings were opened for goods transfer Thursday, Palestinian liaison officers reported, with a total of 320-330 truckloads of goods to be introduced to the Strip. Liaison official Raed Fattouh said 200-210 truckloads of commercial goods and supplies for the agricultural sector would be permitted to enter….
Army searches village following report of violence
8/19/2010 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli forces entered Madama village on Wednesday night, shooting flares and firing into the air, a village council official told Ma’an. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the troops entered the area following a report that a Molotov cocktail had been thrown at an Israeli settler car driving inside the….
Rights group: 2 civilians injured as factions clash in Gaza
8/19/2010 – GAZA (Ma’an) —Two civilians were injured in clashes between rival factions in Gaza Tuesday night, a rights group said. Clashes erupted between militants from the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, the Al Quds Brigades, and the militant faction of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, known as the National….
37 detained for Hebron family clash over land
8/20/2010 – HEBRON (Ma’an) — An investigation was opened into a family brawl which saw one man shot and 37 detained in a village south of Hebron on Wednesday night, police said. Police said officers were dispatched to Bani Na’im village shortly after 9p. m. after a resident called and alerted them that a….
Armed Gaza group claims clash with Israeli force
8/19/2010 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, claimed to have confronted an Israeli force operating inside Gaza on Thursday morning. A statement from the group said the forces were operating inside Gaza near the Karni crossing, east of the Ash-Shaja….
UN: Lebanon, Israel seek to mark border
8/20/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Lebanon and Israel agreed to work faster to define their shared border following deadly clashes earlier this month, a UN official said Wednesday night. In a landmark meeting, Alberto Asarta Cuevas, commander of the UNIFIL peace-keeping force in Lebanon, convened with Israeli and Lebanese army officials at the Ras Al Naqoura….
Lebanon to ratify cluster bombs treaty
8/20/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Lebanon agreed Tuesday to ratify the international ban on cluster munitions. In a move welcomed by UN officials, Lebanon’s parliament approved the ratification of the international convention prohibiting the manufacture, use, and stockpiling of the device. The convention has been ratified by 39 states and signed by 108 since….
US unsure over timing of Quartet statement
8/20/2010 – WASHINGTON (Ma’an) —The Quartet is still working the details of a forthcoming statement, a US State Department official said Wednesday, which could set the parameters for direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.” We’re not at the point yet where a statement has been agreed to,” US State Department spokesman Phillip Crowley said. While….
PLO defends Abbas statements on Jewish rights
8/20/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The PLO responded Wednesday to a letter to Mahmoud Abbas authored and endorsed by Palestinian academics and intellectuals questioning the Ramallah-based government’s ability to lead. The 22 July letter, signed by dozens of scholars, activists, and civil society leaders, specifically expressed concerns that Abbas had denied Palestinians their basic…. Related: July 22 letter
Ban delivers update on Goldstone follow-up
8/19/2010 – NEW YORK (Ma’an) — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made no comment Tuesday, on submissions by Israeli and Palestinian commissions tasked with follow-up on recommendations made by the Goldstone report. Following a request by the UN General Assembly, Ban submitted to the body a 247-page report on progress and updates, which was described by….
Hamas prison leader says peace talks dangerous
8/19/2010 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — “Direct talks would lead to a massive failure of the Palestinain National Project” a letter smuggled out of an Israeli prison from a Hamas leader read. The letter, delivered to a Hamas office in Ramallah earlier in the week, contained a warning from Abdul Khalek Al-Natsheh, calling for Palestinian factions to….
EU: Aid to PA not linked to peace talks
8/19/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Aid to the Palestinians “is not linked to negotiations in any way,” the head of operations at the Office of the EU Representative in Jerusalem said Thursday. Roy Dickenson categorically rejected the PA’s accusations that donor countries were withholding assistance as the international community pushes for a return to….
Hamas says PA detained 2 for political reasons
8/19/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – Palestinian Authority officers have detained two men affiliated with Hamas, the party said Thursday. The detentions, Hamas said in a statement, were carried out in Nablus and Qalqiliya. Ma’an could not independently verify the report, which said the detentions were carried out for politically motivated reasons….
Customs agents crack down on spoiled goods
8/19/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — PA forces and customs officials have ramped up efforts to curb the sale of spoiled goods during the month of Ramadan, with officials reporting seizures and improved mechanisms for removing items them from market. Bethlehem prosecutor Ala At-Tamimi said Wednesday that three traders from Bethlehem were booked and charged following a….
Nablus police detain 18 for payment fraud
8/19/2010 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — Palestinian police said they detained 18 city residents who had complaints filed against them for failure to pay debts to other citizens and businesses. According to a police statement, the debt of the 18 combined reached 138,000 shekels. All of those detained were charged and will face court proceedings, a statement….
Indefensible borders
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – JERUSALEM – Harvard law professor and noted Israel advocate Alan Dershowitz has said that the best way to win over the ‘undecideds’ when he’s speaking in universities on ‘the case for Israel’ is to show that…
Environmental hazards know no boundaries — Jewish and Arab local councils cooperate to save the environment in the Galilee
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – NEVE ILAN – The Central Galilee is known for its expansive open spaces, nature reserves and breathtaking views, but these won’t last long if action isn’t taken to organise proper waste removal and upgrade outdated sewage…
Wallaje in the balance
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – JERUSALEM – It is hard to describe a more absurd event than the one which took place on a Tuesday at the end of May, on a dirt road in the outskirts of the village of…
The human element
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – EAST MEREDITH, NY – During a historical visit to Jerusalem in 1979, late President Anwar Sadat of Egypt proclaimed that the Arab-Israeli conflict is largely psychological. Inherited notions about history and deeply felt convictions about the…
Five star hotel upgrades Ramallah business sector
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – Washington — As Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad continues his initiative to build the Palestinian state from the ground up, the de facto PA capital of Ramallah has grown into the West Bank’s business hub….
Palestinian builds bridges at Yad Vashem, Muslim leaders visit Auschwitz
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – Washington – 21-year-old West Banker Mujahid Sarsur grew up like many Palestinians and Arabs knowing little about the Holocaust, but now he’s working to bring Palestinians to Yad Vashem , Israel’s official Holocaust memorial, The Associated Press…
AP tells journalists: Don’t call it ‘Ground Zero mosque’
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – New York – The Associated Press standards department issued an advisory on Thursday to the company’s journalists cautioning them not to refer to a proposed Islamic community center in New York as the “Ground Zero mosque”…
NYC Islamic center opponent ‘admires terrorist’
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – New York – The leader of a group opposing the Park51 Islamic community center in Manhattan is an avowed admirer of Rabbi Meir Kahane , the founder of two designated terrorist groups, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (…
Paris artist started in Israel, stayed in Palestine
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – Washington — While so many artists focus on the conflict when exploring the Palestinian people, French anthropologist-cum-photographer Valerie Jouve prefers to excavate the soul of a place that has its “own culture, its history, and its…
UN’s Ban issues Goldstone update
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – Washington – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued his second follow-up report on Tuesday about the status of the Goldstone report, which accuses Israel and Palestinian militias of committing war crimes during Israel’s 2008-2009 attack on Gaza….
EU: Palestinian aid not leverage for direct talks
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – Washington — The European Union has denied allegations aid is “in any way” contingent upon the Palestinian Authority’s return to direct peace negotiations, Ma’an News Agency reported Thursday. “Aid is being given to eliminate poverty amongst…
UN says Israel, Lebanon cooling tensions
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – Washington — Israeli and Lebanese authorities have assured they wish to avoid an escalation of tensions along their shared border, AFP News Agency reported Thursday. UNIFIL soldiers, sporting their iconic blue hats, have been stationed in…
Four Israeli soldiers arrested for flotilla theft
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – Washington — Investigators have arrested four Israeli soldiers, including one officer, suspected of stealing property from the confiscated May 31 flotilla ships, adding further scandal to a crisis that has already worsened Israel’s international image, Ynet…
Lebanese, Algerian ships head for Gaza
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – Washington – Talk of the all-female Lebanese aid ship en route to Gaza has been in the news all summer, and AFP reported Thursday that the Mariam will sail for Cyprus, the first leg of the…
‘I would gladly kill Arabs – even slaughter them’
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – Washington – Eden Abergil, the Israeli soldier disgraced for posting Facbook photos of herself posing with blindfolded Palestinian detainees, reportedly wrote on a friend’s Facebook page on Thursday that she would “gladly kill Arabs — even…
In Pictures: Ramadan in Gaza
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – Photos by Mariam Hamed Gaza – Palestinians in Gaza are beset by siege which has caused a stagnated economy and limited access to food, medical and development aid. But as the month of Ramadan progresses, vendors…
UN: Israel restricts Gaza land, sea use
Palestine Note 19 Aug 2010 – Report says 178,000 people affected by live-fire zones Washington – When Israel completed its disengagement from Gaza in 2005, it claimed to have abandoned the Strip completely, but a UN report released on Thursday noted that…
UN unveils latest Goldstone results
AlJazeera 19 Aug 2010 – Human Rights Watch criticises Israeli and Hamas war crimes investigations as biased.
Increase In Miss Using State Cars; 400 New Cars Installed In service This Year
PNN – Ramallah — PNN — Exclusive —sources from the Palestinian Ministry of Transportation said on Thursday that there is an increase in chaos and miss use of state-owned cars. Mohamed Al Halak, Director…
PCHR: Israeli Forces killed One Palestinian And Arrested 14 Others This week
PNN – Ghassan Bannoura — PNN- This week Israeli military attacks on Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Gaza left one fighter killed and another worker injured. the Palestinian Center for Human Rights…
UN Report: Israel’s Military impose Restrictions On Access To Land And Sea In The Gaza Strip
PNN – UN — PNN – Over the past ten years, the Israeli military has gradually expanded restrictions on access to farmland on the Gaza side of the 1949 ‘Green Line’, and to fishing…
Israeli And The Palestinian Authority Responds To The UN Gaza Prob.
PNN – UN — PNN – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has issued his second report to the General Assembly on the follow-up to the report made by the United Nations fact-finding mission into the deadly…
Israeli Soldiers Steal From Gaza Flotilla Activists
PNN – Tall Aviv — PNN – Israeli media announced on Thursday that Israeli soldiers have looted from the Free Gaza flotilla ships during the May attack. An officer was arrested by the Israeli…
Palestinian Intelligence Force Founder Dies Of Cancer
PNN – Ramallah – PNN – The Palestinian Authority announced the death of Ameen Al Hindi, 70 years old, in a Jordan hospital after succumbing to Cancer case. Al Hindi was born in Gaza…
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Two Persons Wounded in Armed Clashes Between Al-Quds Brigades and National Resistance Brigades East of Khan Yunis
Palestinian Center for Human Rights Field Update On Tuesday evening, 17 August 2010, armed clashes erupted between militants from the al-Quds Brigades and others from the National Resistance Brigades in Khuza’a village, east of Khan Yunis. As a result, two civilian bystanders were wounded by shrapnel. This incident is part of the state of security chaos and misuse of weapons currently prevailing in the Occupied
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (12 -18 August 2010)
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Barak to resume interviews for IDF head
Jeruslalem Post 20 Aug 2010 – All candidates to replace Ashkenazi exonerated in “Galant Affair.”
Ahmadinejad ready for fuel swap talks
Jeruslalem Post 20 Aug 2010 – Report: US convinces Israel – Iran a year away from nuclear weapon.
‘We need new criteria for selecting top officers’
Jeruslalem Post 20 Aug 2010 – Knesset soon to receive comptroller’s probe on senior IDF appointments.
Survey: ‘The whole world is against us’
Jeruslalem Post 20 Aug 2010 – Large majority of Americans, however, still view Israel as ally.
Ground forces aim for new rocket systems
Jeruslalem Post 20 Aug 2010 – IDF Artillery Corps seeks new budget to aid future conflict with Hizbullah.
PM, Lieberman disagree on NY consul-general
Jeruslalem Post 19 Aug 2010 – Meanwhile, temporary replacement Ido Aharoni to fill position.
Russia: Israel need not fear reactor
Jeruslalem Post 19 Aug 2010 – Teheran more pragmatic than you think, embassy officials tell ‘Post.’
Police have ‘potential suspect’ in Galant forgery
Jeruslalem Post 19 Aug 2010 – Ashkenazi to work on IDF image; IDF chief, Barak, and other top army officials cleared of any involvement; A-G says no need for delay now in choosing new chief of staff.
‘Lebanese ship to sail to Gaza’
Jeruslalem Post 19 Aug 2010 – Cypriot ambassador to Lebanon says boat will be sent back from Cyprus.
Ashkenazi: Great damage done to IDF
Jeruslalem Post 19 Aug 2010 – IDF chief, Barak, and IDF General Staff cleared of involvement.
Police: Galant document forgery
Jeruslalem Post 19 Aug 2010 – Ashkenazi, Barak, and others cleared of involvement
56% Israelis: ‘The world’s against us’
Jeruslalem Post 19 Aug 2010 – Peace Index survey finds that 54% Jewish population say Israel is isolated.
‘Algerian ship leaves for Gaza’
Jeruslalem Post 19 Aug 2010 – Religious and political figures are aboard blockade-breaking vessel.
UNIFIL: Both sides want border calm
Jeruslalem Post 19 Aug 2010 – Israel and Lebanon trying to speed up marking of border on the ground.
International Solidarity Movement
UN report: IDF barring Gazans’ access to farms, fishing zones
8/20/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – Haaretz – Humanitarian affairs office: Israel restricts entry to 17% of Gaza lands, 85% of beachfront zone, enforces restrictions with live fire. Over the last ten years, the Israel Defense Forces have increasingly restricted Palestinian access to farmland on the Gazan side of the Israeli-Gaza border as well as to fishing zones along the Gaza beach…. Related: UN OCHA Report (PDF)
Dark days in Al Buwayra: a week of settler attacks
8/19/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – Al Buwayra is a small village located on the outskirts of Hebron, with about 560 inhabitants. Most people are farmers, growing grapes and vegetables to support themselves. The situation in the village is critical, and villagers are repeatedly being attacked by settlers from the illegal Kyriat Arba and Harzina settlements which surround the village as….
Provocations continue: settler rally in Al Buwayra
8/19/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – Al Buwayra / Bakav Valley – About 4 pm on 18 August 2010, a group of international activists witnessed an large number of Israeli settlers walking in groups up to “Hill 18″in Al Buwayra, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Hebron. Settlers there had made an outpost in the very heart of the village, and over….
Early morning settler attack on Palestinian family in Hebron area
8/19/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – Bakav Valley – Atta Jabr is a farmer who lives with his family on a hill, near Road 60. They live in the Bakav Valley, around Hebron. They live close to Harsina settlement and an illegal outpost. At around 5:00am on Wednesday morning, 18 August 2010, Atta and his family were awoken by the sound….
Barak: I knew all along Galant document was forgery
Ha’aretz – IDF chief expresses relief over announcement that senior IDF officers not implicated in Galant document, thanks police for swift probe.
5-year-old boy dies after electrocuted in public pool
Ha’aretz – Itai Freum succumbed to his wounds after he was seriously injured by electric current transmitted by a wire connected to a water pump.
Report: Police suspect IDF reserve officer in Galant document forgery
Ha’aretz – Document believed to be a forgery purports to outline a PR campaign by front-runner in race to succeed Gabi Ashkenazi as IDF chief.
‘I would gladly kill Arabs – even slaughter them’
Ha’aretz – In new bid to defend publishing controversial images, former IDF soldier Eden Abergil writes on Facebook ‘In war there are no rules.’
Settlement rabbi arrested on suspicion of incitement to racism
Ha’aretz – Rabbi Yosef Elitzur co-authored the book ‘The King’s Torah’ which condones the murder of non-Jews.
Netanyahu to IDF: Focus on Israel’s security, not Galant affair
Ha’aretz – Prime Minister calls on Israel’s defense establishment to stop focusing on document that sparked a row over appointment of the next IDF chief of staff.
Report: U.S. assures Israel nuclear Iran not imminent
Ha’aretz – White House says assessment that it will take at least a year before Iran develops nuclear weapons dims prospects of a preemptive Israeli strike.
Quartet ‘aims to start Mideast peace talks September 2’
Ha’aretz – World powers will invite Israelis and Palestinians to begin direct peace talks on September 2 in Washington, diplomatic source says.
U.S.: Israel, Palestinians ‘very close’ to direct Mideast peace talks
Ha’aretz – State Department says all parties, including the Quartet, will release separate but simultaneous statements saying the stalled talks will resume early next month.
Cyprus to Lebanon: We will turn back Gaza-bound aid ship
Ha’aretz – Cyprus Lebanon envoy says ship will not be allowed to dock; crew, passengers will be deported to their country of origin., Women instructed to carry blood type info in case ‘…
UN report: IDF barring Gazans’ access to farms, fishing zones
Ha’aretz – Humanitarian affairs office: Israel restricts entry to 17% of Gaza lands, 85% of beachfront zone, enforces restrictions with live fire.
Report: Gaza-bound aid ship departs Algeria
Ha’aretz – Algerian-sponsored aid ship sets sail for Gaza with religious leaders and political officials on board, Channel 10 reports.
UN seeks to clearly mark Israel-Lebanon border, after deadly clash
Ha’aretz – Border clash earlier this month erupted when Israeli soldiers pruned a tree both Lebanon and Israel claimed was on their side of the border.
UN releases Israeli, PA responses to Goldstone; no input from Hamas
Ha’aretz – UN Report: Israel has launched more than 150 probes into its role in 2008-2009 Gaza war; Human Rights Watch: Hamas appears to have done nothing to investigate its culpability.
Egypt police clash with smugglers along Israel border
Ha’aretz – Egyptian policeman injured in a battle with group assisting African migrants to cross to Israel from Sinai.
IOF raids villages of south Nablus
19 Aug 2010 – Nablus, August 19, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raided the villages of south Nablus yesterday under the pretext of searching for “wanted Palestinians and weapons”. Eyewitnesses said to SAFA Palestinian news agency that IOF raided number of houses in Madama, Orata, Beta, Huara, Abones, Jma’n and Asera villages. The sources added that IOF evacuated the houses from…
Israel shells east Gaza
19 Aug 2010 – Gaza , August 19, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) — Israeli artillery shelled Thursday empty lands in east of Gaza city, no injuries were reported, local sources said. Eyewitnesses said to SAFA Palestinian news agency that number of Israeli military vehicles stationed near Nahal Oz military site and searched that area then shelled number of shells. Every now and then , Israeli tanks shell…
Algeria aid ship heading to Gaza
19 Aug 2010 – Gaza , August 19, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) — An Algerian aid ship carrying 60 containers of medical supplies is ready to set sail to the Gaza Strip, WAFA Palestinian news agency reported Thursday. Sources said that the campaigns was organized by the Algerian Union of Muslim Scholars, national characters, businessmen, NGOs and Algerian citizens from all over Algeria. The humanitarian aid…
Jailed Hikers: the Untold StoryThe three Americans Iran has charged with espionage are not who you think they are
Uruknet August 19, 2010 -… The Iranian government has charged them with espionage, an allegation that friends and colleagues find ludicrous and ironic, considering the three are vocal critics of U.S. foreign policy and intervention in the Middle East. In early interviews, his friends’ mothers talked about their children’s journalism and solidarity work in the Middle East and their desire…
1948 and Israel’s deceptive bargaining position
Uruknet August 19, 2010 – The refrain from Israeli politicians and the country’s allies and apologists is familiar: There can be no peace deal until the Palestinians “recognize” Israel as “a Jewish state.” While this can sound reasonable to the casual listener in the West, this demand actually points to critical flaws in the “peace process” and the way in…
Peace Talks in the Shadow of Demolitions
Uruknet August 19, 2010 – While President Barack Obama pressures Palestinians to re-engage in direct peace talks, and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu loftily counsels President Mahmoud Abbas not to miss the opportunity, recent demolitions within the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel continue unabated and unaddressed. According to OCHA, July and August have marked the highest number of demolitions this year….
Ex-soldier in Facebook scandal would ‘gladly kill Arabs’
Uruknet August 19, 2010 – The ex-soldier criticized for uploading photos of herself on Facebook posing with Palestinian detainees wrote that she would “gladly kill Arabs — even butcher them” the Israeli press said Thursday. Eden Abergil attracted attention when photographs depicting her smiling in front of blindfolded, handcuffed Palestinians, in an album titled “IDF – Best years of my…
Palestine: Occupied, Divided, Isolated, Oppressed and Unaided
Uruknet August 19, 2010 – Imagine the following: You’re ruthlessly oppressed in an occupied country under a system of institutionalized racism, affording rights solely to Jews. You have no recognized nation, no right of citizenship, no democratic freedoms or civil liberties, including no power over your daily life. You live in constant fear, collectively punished, politically denied, and economically strangled…
India employing Israeli oppression tactics in Kashmir
Uruknet August 19, 2010 – The 2010 summer in the disputed area of Jammu and Kashmir, administered by India, has been marked by popular protests by Kashmiris and crackdowns by India’s military. The stream of violence has left more than fifty dead, mostly young protestors. The situation in Kashmir has some parallels with Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and…
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (12 -18 August 2010)
Uruknet August 19, 2010 – Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (12 — 18 August 2010): Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF killed a Palestinian resistance activist and wounded a worker in the Gaza Strip and an Israeli human rights defender in the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, on…
UN silence on Goldstone sends report to obscurity
The National 19 Aug 2010 – The UN secretary-general released the Palestinian and Israeli replies with no specific recommendations for further action, indicating a desire to let the issue fade.
Likud, Kadima and Labour: Hollow Rivalry
Alternative Information Center – Last week journalists and analysts of the various newspapers recommenced digging through the rivalry, hollow from an ideological perspective, that exists between Netanyahu and the opposition, which includes Kadima from outside the government and Labour of…
UN Welcomes Advance Enabling Palestinian Refugees to Work in Lebanon
WAFA – NEW YORK, August 19, 2010 (WAFA)- Two United Nations agencies have welcomed the recent decision of Lebanese lawmakers to allow Palestinian refugees to work legally in the country, stressing that the
Israeli Soldier Suspected of Theft from Gaza Flotilla Ship
WAFA – TEL AVIV, August 19, 2010 (WAFA)- Israeli Military Police arrested an Israeli officer suspected of stealing laptop computers from activists aboard the Gaza-bound aid ship raided by Israeli commandos
UN report: Israeli Army Bars Gazans’ Access to Farms, Fishing Zones
WAFA – JERUSALEM, August 19, 2010 (WAFA)- Over the last ten years, the Israeli army has increasingly restricted Palestinian access to farmland on the Gazan side of the Israeli-Gaza border as well as to
West Bank Women Strive to Make a Difference
WAFA – , August 19, 2010 (WAFA)- The motto of the first summer camp for female
A rather depressing mud fight
The Guardian 19 Aug 2010 – Why can’t the Israelis use their own mud to make beauty products, rather than Palestinian mud? Last weekend my friend Clayden went on an anti-Ahava demonstration. Quite right, too. I should have gone with him, because…
Israel: New Peak in Arbitrary Razing of Palestinian Homes
Relief Web 19 Aug 2010 – Source: Human Rights Watch
OPT: Persons displaced as a result of the June 1967 and subsequent hostilities: Report of the Secretary-General (A/65/283)
Relief Web 19 Aug 2010 – Source: UN General Assembly
La s?©curit?© des travailleurs humanitaires: une pr?©occupation essentielle de l’action humanitaire de l’UE
Relief Web 19 Aug 2010 – Source: European Union
Security of Humanitarian aid workers: A concern at the heart of the EU’s humanitarian action
Relief Web 19 Aug 2010 – Source: European Union
New Book Assembles Eyewitness Accounts from Mavi Marmara
IPS A growing number of activists is contradicting the claims of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) regarding the Gaza Freedom Flotilla debacle in May, including a large faction of both Israeli and U.S. Jews.
Palestinians: Arab states are not paying
YNet News – Palestinian authority upset at Arab states for cutting aid, urges them to honor….
Arabs terrorists preparing for war with Israel
YNet News – Hezbollah reportedly builds tunnel system ‘more impressive than Paris….
MK Zoabi: IDF killers have no problem stealing
YNet News – Arab MK who was on broad Turkish ship says she isn’t surprised by looting affair….
Another IDF suspect in flotilla looting affair
YNet News – Military Police arrest another soldier on suspicion of involvement in looting….
Israeli wins world’s most prestigious math prize
YNet News – Great honor for Israel: Hebrew University Professor Elon Lindenstrauss first….
UNIFIL commander: Israel, Lebanon don’t want escalation
YNet News – Head of UN force deployed in south Lebanon says all parties working closely to….
UN releases rival reports on Gaza conflict
YNet News – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon introduces results of Israeli, Palestinian….
Steinitz demands ultimatum for Iran
YNet News – The US should issue a strict ultimatum to Iran, warning that the possibility of a military strike will turn into reality within weeks should Tehran fail to curb its …….
Police: Barak, Ashkenazi cleared in Galant affair
YNet News – The police announced Thursday that the IDF chief of staff, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and army brass were not involved in the forgery of the ‘Galant document’, after …….
Quartet, US see direct talks soon
YNet News – Diplomatic sources said Thursday a Mideast Quartet statement on the renewal of peace talks would be published Friday, and US officials said an agreement between Israel …….
Cyprus bans Gaza-bound ship from its waters
YNet News – A Lebanese ship carrying aid and women activists who want to “break the blockade on Gaza” will set sail Sunday from Lebanon despite warnings that they will not be allowed …….
Sad birthday: Send Gilad your wishes
YNet News – Another sad birthday: On August 28, kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit will turn 24, makring his fifth birthday in Hamas captivity. Ynetnews invites its readers to send …….
Palestinian Information Center
Ki-moon issues second report on Gaza war
PIC 20 Aug 2010 – UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon issued his second report on the Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip that started at the end of 2008 and caused thousands of Palestinian causalities.
Israeli investigators assault prisoner to force out confession
PIC 20 Aug 2010 – According to the international Tadhamun foundation for human rights, Israeli investigators physically assaulted prisoner Noureddine Samhan when questioning him at the Jalama interrogation center.
Natshe: Resuming direct talks clones past years of failure
PIC 20 Aug 2010 – Detained Hamas leader Abdul Khaleq Al-Natshe described the return to direct negotiations between the PA in Ramallah and the IOA as “cloning” of previous failed experiences over 18 years.
Palestinian scholars slam PA for fighting Islam in W. Bank
PIC 20 Aug 2010 – The association of Palestinian scholars denounced the Palestinian Authority for fighting Islam and religious devotion in the West Bank and thus giving a free service for the Israeli occupation.
Israeli soldiers suspected in Freedom Flotilla thefts
PIC 20 Aug 2010 – Israeli military police arrested several IOF soldiers suspected of selling laptops stolen from the Freedom Flotilla when it was attacked by Israeli forces while en route to the Gaza Strip.
Algerian aid ship sails for El-Arish
PIC 20 Aug 2010 – An Algerian ship loaded with relief and medical material bound for Gaza left the Algiers port on Wednesday night on its way to the Egyptian port of El-Arish, the Algerian radio announced.
Shawa: Positive initiative approved to quickly solve power crisis in Gaza
PIC 20 Aug 2010 – The Palestinian NGO Network says a solution for the electricity crisis in Gaza could be well underway after initiatives were approved by the governments in Gaza and Ramallah.
IOF troops detain 3 West Bankers, storm village after attack on IOF vehicle
PIC 20 Aug 2010 – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up three Palestinian West Bankers on Wednesday night and launched a large-scale combing operation in Madma village, Nablus district.
Haneyya: Still no clear visions for the national reconciliation
PIC 20 Aug 2010 – Haneyya stated that there are big differences in the visions obstructing the national reconciliation, but he expressed hope that the Palestinian parties would overcome these difficulties.
Islamic Action: Direct talks a threat to Jordan, Palestine
PIC 20 Aug 2010 – Jordan’s largest political party spoke out Wednesday against going into direct negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel, warning the state against giving support to the PA in that regard.
Hamas Blames Fatah for Religious Oppression and Gaza Power Crisis
The Media Line 18 Aug 2010 – Gaza-based NGO accuses Palestinian Authority of oppressing Hamas in the West Bank The ongoing animosity between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority has taken on religious dimensions, in tune with the month of Ramadan. A report issued…
Israeli Army Investigates Looters of Turkish Aid Ship
The Media Line 18 Aug 2010 – Israeli military police have arrested two Israeli servicemen, including a second lieutenant, for reportedly stealing half a dozen laptops from impounded ships trying to break the naval blockade of Gaza with aid for Palestinians. Over 700…
U.N. Report Criticizes Israel’s Gaza Restrictions
New York Times 19 Aug 2010 – A new study asserts that Israel has never clearly told those living in Gaza where they may and may not live and operate.
U.S. Persuades Israel That Iran’s Nuclear Threat Is Not Imminent
New York Times 19 Aug 2010 – The Obama administration has persuaded Israel that it would take roughly a year for Iran to complete a nuclear weapon, according to American officials.
World Briefing | Middle East: Iran: Nuclear Talks Linked to Sanctions
New York Times 19 Aug 2010 – Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Wednesday that Iran would not conduct talks with the United States on its nuclear program unless sanctions were lifted and military threats ceased.
Justifying Pogroms and Infanticide
Palestine Monitor – With thick beards, wide-brimmed hats, black suits and long curls, almost 300 rabbis and settlers filled the Conference for the Independence of Torah last night in Jerusalem’s Ramada Renaissance Hotel. From wrinkled elders to pimply adolescents, they all came to proclaim rabbinical autonomy from the law….
‘Cordoba House’ controversy has one Pakistani American looking for a back-up plan
Mondoweiss – Most Muslims thought, and perhaps still think, that the rising Islamophobia across Europe would never be able to set a strong foothold in the United States. The Cordoba House project controversy (so-called “Ground Zero Mosque”) made me realize that Muslims have a long way to acceptance…
The 9/11 holocaust and the ground zero mosque
Mondoweiss – Another way of saying “sacred” is to say “off-limits.” Something can be sanctified by placing a barrier around it constructed from rigid taboos. The most extreme among those taboos dictates not only silence but also exclusion. In such a way, for many Americans, 9/11 has been…
Bigot or colorful activist? Washington Post is neutral on Islamophobes
Mondoweiss – Yesterday, the Washington Post profiled some of the “conservative writers and bloggers critical of Islam” that have been fueling the national uproar over the proposed Muslim community center that would sit two-and-a-half blocks away from Ground Zero. Michelle Boorstein looks at figures such as Pamela Geller…
Eden Abergil responds to critics: ‘I can’t afford Arab-lovers to ruin the perfect life I live! I’ve got no remorse and no regrets.’
Mondoweiss – An example of the ‘Eden Abergil meme’ (Photo: Dimi’s Notes ) Dimi Reider reports on the Eden Abergil meme sweeping the internet, which includes the image above. Evidently all the attention is getting to Abergil, and Reider translates a Facebook debate where she takes on one of…
Eid al-Fitr, 9/11, and my status in America
Mondoweiss – I came across a news headline that said “Eid festival expected to fall on 9/11. US protesters demand it be moved to another day out of respect for victims”. This isn’t just ridiculous or absurd. This is blatant prejudice. And this is my testimonial. For those…
Settlers Attack as a Palestinian Villagers try to Secure Water in the South Hebron Hills
Joseph Dana 19 Aug 2010 – Israel and the West Bank are experiencing record temperature this week. The heat always brings the issue of water access to the forefront of Palestinian minds in the South West Bank. The issue of water in Area C of the South Hebron Hills in the West…
Israeli Conveyor Belt Justice at the Ofer Military Court
Joseph Dana 19 Aug 2010 – Early this week, in the middle of a extreme heat wave, I found myself sitting in the open air pen which is known as the waiting area of the Ofer military court in the West Bank. The Ofer military court is one of the main court…
Hudson Inst primary financial backer of NGO behind campaign to purge Israeli universities of “leftists”
Coteret 19 Aug 2010 – Shira Beery provided significant research for this post. —— Newly uncovered documentation reveals that The Hudson Institute, an influential and activist neoconservative think-tank, has provided nearly $500,000 to the Institute for Zionist Strategies (IZS),an Israeli NGO at the forefront of an ongoing campaign to purge Israeli…
Muslims have more reasons to hate the US than the other way around
Palestine Think Tank 19 Aug 2010 – WRITTEN BY Khalid Amayreh I don’t think that most Muslims hate ordinary Americans who believe in the general principle of “live and let live.” Moreover, I don’t think that most Americans would unhesitatingly embrace Israeli Nazism if they had the slightestchance to know the truth about…
Peace Talks in the Shadow of Demolitions — BADIL press statement
Palestine Think Tank 19 Aug 2010 – According to OCHA, July and August have marked the highest number of demolitions this year. As of the end of July, OCHA reports Israeli forces have destroyed over 230 structures effectively displacing and/or affecting over 1100 Palestinians, including 400 children since the beginning of 2010. Over…
Kourosh Ziabari — Israel will attack Iran: Will Israel attack Iran?!
Palestine Think Tank 19 Aug 2010 – Those who mastermind the U.S.-directed psychological operation against Iran have obliviously forgotten that we’re now accustomed to seeing the uninteresting, exhausting charade of “will attack Iran”; you put the subject for it, either the United States or Israel. Over the past five years, Iran has been…
Palestinian Female Prisoners and the Struggle for Freedom
Sabr 19 Aug 2010 – My Palestine 18/08/2010 — reham alhelsi Palestinian women have always stood side by side with their fathers, brothers, husbands, comrades to resist the Zionist occupation, to fight for freedom and legitimate rights. They are the first to go to the streets to protest the brutality of…
US Mid-East talks plans ‘ready’
BBC 19 Aug 2010 – The US is preparing to release a statement establishing details for direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, the BBC has learned.
In Palestine, Barriers Rise Between Ramadan Gatherings
Antiwar.com 20 Aug 2010 – AZZUN ATMA, Northern West Bank — For seven years Majda Abdul Qader Sheikh, 38, has not been allowed to visit the home of her parents, just a few hundred meters from her house. “I tried to get a special visitor’s permit for a quick visit during…
New Book Assembles Eyewitness Accounts from Mavi Marmara
Antiwar.com 20 Aug 2010 – A growing number of activists is contradicting the claims of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) regarding the Gaza Freedom Flotilla debacle in May, including a large faction of both Israeli and U.S. Jews. This faction was evidenced by the distinguished array of Jewish scholars, journalists and…
Hamas must rebrand and take the wind out of Israel’s and America’s sails — by Stuart Littlewood
Sabbah report 20 Aug 2010 – By Stuart Littlewood* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz In the five years since I became interested in the Palestinians, only two things of positive note have happened in the occupied territories. The Palestinians held full and fair elections in 2006 to establish themselves as a democracy…
Lebanon scatters a little chicken feed and labels it ‘manna from heaven’ — by Franklin Lamb
Sabbah report 20 Aug 2010 – By Franklin Lamb* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz “Palestinian guests in Lebanon are working with total freedom. First of all we do not refer to them as “refugees”. They are our brothers who are suffering and in a very difficult situation that they did not cause…
Video: More Israeli soldiers posing with dead or bound Palestinians
Sabbah report 20 Aug 2010 – “Breaking the Silence” posts more photos of Israeli soldiers posing with prisoners and massacred Palestinians: [[This is content summary only. Visit Sabbah Report website for full content, and more!]]
Articles
Engagement should start at home
Abdaljawad Hamayel, Ma’an News Agency8/19/2010
‘Islam’ in the West has become perhaps the most controversial topic, arousing suspicion, prejudice and racism. The proposed Islamic Community Center in Lower Manhattan has provoked an intense debate in the U.S. specifically as the highly contested midterm election draws closer.
When Samuel P. Huntington wrote his thesis of the ‘clash of civilizations’ over a decade ago it was brushed off by many intellectual circles as simplistic, holistic and polemic. Today, nine years after the fall of the towers, two wars, and thousands killed a true understanding of Islam has not emerged among political circles or the wider publics in the West.
Islam as word has come to signify ‘the enemy’ for many in the West and Muslims as the manifestation of the threat and as the personification of the binary opposite of what it means to be ‘Western’. The genuine threat felt by many Americans of building a community center that seeks tolerance, interfaith dialogue and a liberal attitude in redefining Islam showcases exactly that. Not to mention the rise of the European right, the banning of minarets in Switzerland and a successive set of policies and controversies that have been conducive in igniting what can only be termed as ‘cultural wars’.
This is not to say that in a globalizing world, cultural misunderstandings and grievances are not bound to happen, but the current trend in the Western world is alarming, specifically when an Islamic center that seeks to build bridges is admonished, and attacked belligerently by some in the far right and is rejected astonishingly by 68% of Americans, as a recent CNN poll suggests. The political machine that has blown the story out of proportion is playing on this populist sentiment and is parallel to Al-Qaeda’s manipulation of anti-colonial, anti-American sentiment in pushing its own political agenda. more.. e-mail
Israeli Loyalty Oaths
Neve Gordon, CounterPunch8/19/2010
And the State, Is It Loyal?
Several weeks ago, hundreds of students demonstrated in front of Ben-Gurion University’s administration building. About a third of the protestors were expressing their opposition to the government’s decision to attack the relief flotilla, while the remaining two thirds came to support the government. At one point the pro-government protesters began chanting: ‘No citizenship without loyalty!’
While loyalty is no doubt an important form of relationship both in the private and public spheres, unpacking its precise meaning in the Israeli context reveals a disturbing process whereby the democratic understanding of politics is being inverted.
As Israeli citizens, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman want us to prove our loyalty to the flag by supporting a policy of oppression and humiliation. We must champion the separation barrier in Bi’lin and in other places throughout the West Bank. We have to defend the brutal destruction of unrecognized Bedouin villages, and the ongoing land grab both inside Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We must support the checkpoints and the silent transfer in East Jerusalem. We are also expected to bow our heads and remain silent every time government ministers, Knesset members and public officials make racist statements against Arab citizens. We must support the neo-liberal policies that continuously oppress Israel’s poor, and we are obliged to give our blessing to the imprisonment of Gaza Strip’s 1.5 million residents. more.. e-mail
Top Israeli Generals and Intel Officials Oppose Striking Iran
Gareth Porter, CounterPunch8/13/2010
What Jeffrey Goldberg Didn’t Report
Pro-Israeli journalist Jeffrey Goldberg’s article in “The Atlantic” magazine was evidently aimed at showing why the Barack Obama administration should worry that it risks an attack by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Iran in the coming months unless it takes a much more menacing line toward Iran’s nuclear programme.
But the article provides new evidence that senior figures in the Israeli intelligence and military leadership oppose such a strike against Iran and believe that Netanyahu’s apocalyptic rhetoric about an Iranian nuclear threat as an “existential threat” is unnecessary and self-defeating.
Although not reported by Goldberg, Israeli military and intelligence figures began to express their opposition to such rhetoric on Iran in the early 1990s, and Netanyahu acted to end such talk when he became prime minister in 1996.
The Goldberg article also reveals extreme Israeli sensitivity to any move by Obama to publicly demand that Israel desist from such a strike, reflecting the reality that the Israeli government could not go ahead with any strike without being assured of U.S. direct involvement in the war with Iran.
Goldberg argues that a likely scenario some months in the future is that Israeli officials will call their U.S. counterparts to inform them that Israeli planes are already on their way to bomb Iranian nuclear sites.
The Israelis would explain that they had “no choice”, he writes, because “a nuclear Iran poses the gravest threat since Hitler to the physical survival of the Jewish people.” more.. e-mail
West Bank boycott campaign impacting settlement economy
Electronic Intifada: 19 Aug 2010 – Grassroots Palestinian boycott campaigns across the occupied West Bank to take Israeli settlement products off the shelves of local stores have made an impact on the Israeli settlement economy, to the unease of the Israeli government, noted the Israeli daily Haaretz this week.more
Fighting expulsion and Western hypocrisy in Jerusalem
Electronic Intifada: 19 Aug 2010 – Earlier this summer, Israel arrested Muhammad Abu Tir, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and Hamas. Israel also ordered two other PLC members, Muhammad Totah and Ahmad Attoun and the Palestinian Authority’s former minister of Jerusalem affairs Khaled Abu Arafeh to leave their home town of Jerusalem. Rahela Mizrahi writes for The Electronic Intifada.more
Al-Araqib residents fear fourth demolition
Electronic Intifada: 19 Aug 2010 – JERUSALEM (IPS) – On the eve of the start of Ramadan last week, Israeli police demolished the Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Negev desert. It was the third time within two weeks that the village had been razed. Unfazed, the Bedouin villagers immediately began rebuilding.more
India employing Israeli oppression tactics in Kashmir
Electronic Intifada: 19 Aug 2010 – The 2010 summer in the disputed area of Jammu and Kashmir, administered by India, has been marked by popular protests by Kashmiris and crackdowns by India’s military. The stream of violence has left more than fifty dead, mostly young protestors. The situation in Kashmir has some parallels with Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, even borrowing the term intifada to describe the uprising. But the connection is more than analogy. Jimmy Johnson analyzes for The Electronic Intifada.more
Justifying Pogroms and Infanticide
Palestine Monitor: 19 Aug 2010 – With thick beards, wide-brimmed hats, black suits and long curls, almost 300 rabbis and settlers filled the Conference for the Independence of Torah last night in Jerusalem’s Ramada Renaissance Hotel. From wrinkled elders to pimply adolescents, they all came to proclaim rabbinical autonomy from the law. Rabbis should be able to argue within their religious teachings without legal consequence – even if they call for blood. “There is justification for killing babies if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us, and in such a situation they may be harmed deliberately, and not only during combat with adults,” wrote Rabbi Yitzhar Shapira in The King’s Torah. Photo from 2008 rally, by Rita Castelnuovo. The rabbis congregated after an investigation focused on the publication and promotion of a book called Torat haMelekh or The King’s Torah , allegedly inciting violent settler attacks in the West Bank. “It’s just disgusting,”…more
Trapped at Ground Zero
Palestine Chronicle: 19 Aug 2010 – By Ramzy Baroud The controversy over the right of Muslim Americans to build community center and mosque a short distance from the site of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is both strange and outright inappropriate. It should never be necessary for law-abiding Americans to justify exercising their right to freely practice their own religion. This right is in accordance to the First Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights that has constituted the foundation of American freedom for over 200 years. But in the age of Guantanamo-like gulags filled with bearded Muslim men, such principles are disregarded. The very ideals that have been celebrated in the United States for generations are being trampled upon, violated and abused. United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton can reference American ideals and speak of democracy while justifying the peculiar elections in Afghanistan, or the bewildering sectarian “democracy” underway in Iraq. However, when…more
Hamas Must Re-brand
Palestine Chronicle: 19 Aug 2010 – By Stuart Littlewood — London In the five years since I became interested in the conflict in Palestine, only two things of positive note have happened in the Occupied Territories. The Palestinians held full and fair elections in 2006 to establish themselves as a democracy‚Ķ and much good it did them. And in Gaza these amazing people have resolutely survived a vicious land and sea blockade imposed by Israel and aided and abetted by the western powers as soon as those elections put Hamas into government. They have resisted almost daily air strikes and armed intrusions for four years and courageously withstood the cowardly Israeli blitzkrieg of 20 months ago. And during all that time they have endured unending barbarity and betrayal, which would have brought a lesser nation to its knees. They have come through. I often wonder if the British could have clung on through the London blitz,…more
And the State, is It Loyal?
Palestine Chronicle: 19 Aug 2010 – By Neve Gordon Several weeks ago, hundreds of students demonstrated in front of Ben-Gurion University’s administration building. About a third of the protestors were expressing their opposition to the government’s decision to attack the relief flotilla, while the remaining two thirds came to support the government. At one point the pro-government protesters began chanting: ‘No citizenship without loyalty!’ While loyalty is no doubt an important form of relationship both in the private and public spheres, unpacking its precise meaning in the Israeli context reveals a disturbing process whereby the democratic understanding of politics is being inverted. As Israeli citizens, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman want us to prove our loyalty to the flag by supporting a policy of oppression and humiliation. We must champion the separation barrier in Bi’lin and in other places throughout the West Bank. We have to defend the brutal destruction of unrecognized…more
Playing the Never Again Card, Again
Palestine Chronicle: 19 Aug 2010 – By Jeff Gates The phony intelligence used to induce our March 2003 invasion of Iraq has been dusted off. This time it’s being deployed to take us into Iran. Same scam. Same storyline. Same fraud—even featuring some of the same players. Except that this time around their deception lacks the broader context required to gain traction for their phony content. That key difference makes today’s perpetrators far more transparent—for those willing to look. Those foisting on us this latest fraud also face another challenge: Americans now realize it was Israel and its advocates who fixed that false intelligence around a Zionist agenda. That realization adds combustibility to the facts now fueling Israel’s fast-fading legitimacy. Each week brings new insights that undermine generally accepted truths about 911 and our response to that mass murder on U.S. soil. As the costs continue to rise in both blood and treasure, the credibility of…more
The Secrets in Israel’s Archives
Palestine Chronicle: 19 Aug 2010 – By Jonathan Cook – Nazareth History may be written by the victors, as Winston Churchill is said to have observed, but the opening up of archives can threaten a nation every bit as much as the unearthing of mass graves. That danger explains a decision quietly taken last month by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to extend by an additional 20 years the country’s 50-year rule for the release of sensitive documents. The new 70-year disclosure rule is the government’s response to Israeli journalists who have been seeking through Israel’s courts to gain access to documents that should already be declassified, especially those concerning the 1948 war, which established Israel, and the 1956 Suez crisis. The state’s chief archivist says many of the documents “are not fit for public viewing” and raise doubts about Israel’s “adherence to international law”, while the government warns that greater transparency will “damage foreign…more
Isn’t Tolerance an American Virtue?
Palestine Chronicle: 19 Aug 2010 – By George S. Hishmeh – Washington, D.C. Observing the shameful and venomous debate raging in the US over plans for a Muslim civic centre and a mosque in downtown Manhattan two blocks from Ground Zero, I could not help but recall the time when my father took me to visit Syria and Jordan while I was a student at the American University of Beirut. One of the most striking revelations for me, as a Christian, was seeing the tomb where the head of John the Baptist was said to lie inside the famous Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. Many years later, after I moved to the US, I took my family on an extensive tour of Spain. My youngest child, Leila, was fatigued by the number of churches, mosques, synagogues and other historic buildings we visited. I could only convince her to make one more sightseeing and educational stop when I…more
A Terrible Disease of the Mind: Part II
Dissident Voice: 19 Aug 2010 – My family and I long to return to the Gardens of Cordoba (Qurtuba). We agonise with every breath to re-inhabit the castles of Seville (Ishbeelyah). In our veins, there runs an eternal longing to walk again in the footsteps of our forefathers in Zaragoza (Saraqusta). We yearn to once again cultivate the orchards of Valladolid (Balad Al Waleed). We shall strive, by military means if necessary, to see the blessed day when we can tread along the rose-scented pathways of the splendid palace of Al Hambra (Al Hamra’a) in Granada (Ghirnata). Every stone and every particle of sand in that Iberian holy land belongs to me and to my people, exclusively. No Spaniard terrorist has the right to obstruct the will of God and deny my family the legal title to the land of our ancestors. It is God who had given us Andaluc’a (Al Andalus), and it is God…more
Israel Can’t Win a War against Itself
Dissident Voice: 19 Aug 2010 – If the sign of a healthy, living organism is its ability to develop and mature in harmony with its surroundings, then Israel must be declared dead, or at least terminally moribund. Its politicians, generals and armies of hasbarats regurgitate the same tired boilerplate to justify Israel’s strangulation of Palestine, and are still obsessed with sabotaging discussion of the Holocaust¬Æ and the dispossession of Palestinians in 1947—1948 that led to the creation of the Zionist entity. In 1997, I wrote a column called “Israel can’t hide from its history forever,” and in the intervening 13 years Israel has shown no signs of moral or political growth, much less the ability to outrun its past. In fact, it is plumbing ever-greater depths of depravity to prevent the world from discussing why Israel continues to deprive Palestinians of the basic necessities of life, humiliate them, murder their children, and steal their…more
And the State, Is It Loyal?
Dissident Voice: 19 Aug 2010 – Several weeks ago, hundreds of students demonstrated in front of Ben-Gurion University’s administration building. About a third of the protestors were expressing their opposition to the government’s decision to attack the relief flotilla, while the remaining two thirds came to support the government. At one point the pro-government protesters began chanting: ‘No citizenship without loyalty!’ While loyalty is no doubt an important form of relationship both in the private and public spheres, unpacking its precise meaning in the Israeli context reveals a disturbing process whereby the democratic understanding of politics is being inverted. As Israeli citizens, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman want us to prove our loyalty to the flag by supporting a policy of oppression and humiliation. We must champion the separation barrier in Bi’lin and in other places throughout the West Bank. We have to defend the brutal destruction of unrecognized Bedouin villages, and…more
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