09 February, 2010
Jerusalem Mayor To Raze 200 Palestinian Homes
By Jonathan CookJerusalem’s mayor threatened last week to demolish 200 homes in Palestinian neighbourhoods of the city in an act even he conceded would probably bring long-simmering tensions over housing in East Jerusalem to a boil
06 February, 2010
Please, Mr. President, Stop Talking Nonsense
By Alan HartThere are no more concessions the Palestinians can make for peace. President Obama’s statement that they must is absurd and obscene. Unclear is whether he was speaking out of ignorance of real history or from Zionism’s script
05 February, 2010
Human Rights Abuses In Israel
And Occupied Palestine
By Stephen LendmanFree expression is targeted, and Israeli Arabs threatened, denied equality, education, employment, and their citizenship without "declaring loyalty" to Israel - in other words, on condition they abandon their national identity, culture, language, and historic heritage that's the equivalent of asking Jews to renounce Judaism
04 February, 2010
Israel Stole $2bn From Palestinian Workers
By Jonathan CookOver the past four decades Israel has defrauded Palestinians working inside Israel of more than $2 billion by deducting from their salaries contributions for welfare benefits to which they were never entitled, Israeli economists have revealed
Israel Rewrote The Rules Of War For Gaza
By Eileen FlemingOn February 3, 2010, The Independent reported that a high-ranking officer who served as a commander during Operation Cast Lead, admitted that Israel’s army went beyond its previous rules of engagement on the protection of civilian lives
Gaza And Lebanon: Beware The Iron Wall,
The Coming War
By Ramzy BaroudWill it be Gaza or Lebanon first? Israel is sending mixed messages, and deliberately so. Hamas, Hizbullah and their supporters understand well the Israeli tactic and must be preparing for the various possibilities. They know Israel cannot live without its iron walls, and are determined to prevent any more from being built at their expense
The Holocaust In Israeli Political Discourse
By Yacov Ben EfratIt is taboo in Israel to compare the suffering of the Palestinians with that of the Jews in the holocaust. Anyone who does so is at once ostracized. The latest is film director and producer Yonatan Segal
31 January, 2010
Why Does The US Turn A Blind Eye
To Israeli Bulldozers?
By Robert FiskBoth the United States and Europe now stand idly by while the Israeli government effectively destroys any hope of a Palestinian state; even as you read these words, Israel's bulldozers and demolition orders are destroying the last chance of peace; not only in the symbolic centre of Jerusalem itself but - strategically, far more important - in 60 per cent of the vast, biblical lands of the occupied West Bank, in that largest sector in which Jews now outnumber Muslims two to one
Mitchell: The Kangaroo
By Uri AvneryGeorge Mitchell looks like a kangaroo hopping around with an empty pouch. He hops here and he hops there. Hops to Jerusalem and hops to Ramallah, Damascus, Beirut, Amman (but, God forbid, not to Gaza, because somebody may not like it). Hops, hops, but doesn’t take anything out of his pouch, because the pouch is empty
Petition! Civil Rights For Palestinian Refugees
In Lebanon
By Palestine Civil Rights CampaignPlease sign and circulate this petition! It involves an innovative twinning initiative. Each signer will be twinned with a person living in a Palestinian refugee camp located in Lebanon. The number of signers required to secure a personal twinning with each refugee is 433,000. Express your views to those who govern Lebanon and to the persons living in refugee camps. Civil rights should not be denied to any refugees!
29 January, 2010
Israeli Militarism, Local Conflicts Driving
Palestinian Children Crazy
By Kathlyn StoneMédecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders reports that short-term psychotherapy could be an effective treatment in specific psychiatric disorders, especially in children
22 January, 2010
The Lessons Of Boycott, Divestment And Sanctions
By Stephen LendmanBoycotting Israeli products successfully needs a transition to Palestinian ones, but much work is needed to achieve it, including effective promotion
19 January, 2010
The United States, Israel
And The Retreat Of Freedom
By Ali AbunimahThe world is suffering from a "freedom recession" according to a new report from the American think tank Freedom House. Freedom House's approach to Israel provides the starkest example of the abyss into which liberal thinking has fallen on the relationship between colonialism and freedom. Israel, we are told, "remains the only country in the [Middle East] region to hold a Freedom in the World designation of Free."
Israeli Democracy Or Hypocrisy
By Stephen LendmanAn October 2007 Haaretz editorial titled "Democracy or hypocrisy" contrasted the "occupying Land of Israel to the democratic Israel" in calling for a "debate about Israel's control over the lives of Palestinians deprived of civil rights," saying its democracy is flawed and not addressing it is hypocrisy
17 January, 2010
For Israel, A Reckoning
By John PilgerA new global movement is challenging Israel's violations of international law with the same strategies that were used against apartheid
12 January, 2010
Nablus Executions: Shoot First, Ask Questions Later
By Bridget ChappellThe brutal killing of three Palestinian men by Israeli military forces in Nablus on 26 December 2009 sparked grief and outrage across Palestine and brought the northern West Bank city to a standstill as thousands mourned the lethal attack. However, their voices are drowned out yet again by a well-played hand of Israel's propaganda machine and repeated by the mainstream media
10 January, 2010
"What Is The Lesson To Be Learned
From The Holocaust?"
By Silvia Cattori85-year old Hedy Epstein is back in the limelight. Last week in Cairo, she embarked on a hunger strike to protest the ongoing blockade of Gaza. A Jewish Holocaust survivor whose parents perished in Auschwitz in 1942, she emigrated to the US in 1948 and first visited Palestine in 2003. Revolted by the Israeli Government’s oppression of the Palestinians, she has devoted her life to drawing public attention to this reality. Back from a visit to Palestine, she was interviewed by Silvia Cattori
A Year After Losing A Father And Sons,
A Gaza Family Copes
By Rami Almeghari"Four months after the martyrdom of my husband and two of my sons, my granddaughter Lina was born -- the daughter of my martyred son Basel," said Fathiya Abu Jbarah. Fathiya is the widow of Jihad Abu Jbarah and mother of Basil, 30, and Usama, 21 who were killed on 4 January 2009 by an Israeli missile that struck their home in al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Their home was hit during Israel's 22-day air and land attack that killed more than 1,400 persons and wounded thousands of others
The Other Side Of Oslo Peace Process
By Ershad AbubackerThe post-Oslo Palestine has been a deep scar running deep in to the map of humanity. The tenacity and vision of world leaders behind Oslo and Camp David did promise a new beginning, but for ordinary Palestinians, it was the beginning of a new form of Israeli domination over the Palestinians
09 January, 2010
Egypt Bans Gaza Aid Convoys
By AljazeeraEgyptian authorities have announced that all aid convoys travelling to Gaza will be banned from travelling across Egypt after a riot broke out at the Rafah border crossing earlier in the week
Gaza Freedom March: Detained At The US Embassy
By Ali AbunimahHaving been held hostage, we were forced to negotiate our own release. It was a lesson -- if we needed one -- that when it comes to the siege of Gaza, the United States government is not part of the solution, but an active part of the problem. And, the United States is not beyond relying on the repressive police tactics of the Egyptian state to protect itself from the opinions of its own citizens
Will Egypt's Underground Wall End
The Gaza Tunnel Trade?
By Lina AttalahSelf-protection is the argument in use by the Egyptian government in explaining the wall construction, besides reaffirmations that the wall is built on Egyptian land, and hence it is a sovereign act. But the Egyptian opposition and Gaza activists dubb it as "the wall of shame"
08 January, 2010
Israeli Air Raids Kill Gazans
By AljazeeraIsrael has launched air raids against at least seven targets in the Gaza Strip, killing three people, Palestinian medics say
A Victory For Viva Palestina
By Eric RuderEric Ruder reports on Viva Palestina's success in bringing humanitarian supplies to Gaza, despite a harrowing assault by Egyptian police
"No Army, No Prison And No Wall Can Stop Us"
By Abdallah Abu RahmahWhether we are confined in the open-air prison that Gaza has been transformed into, in military prisons in the West Bank, or in our own villages surrounded by the apartheid wall, arrests and persecution do not weaken us. They only strengthen our commitment to turning 2010 into a year of liberation through unarmed grassroots resistance to the occupation
My Husband: Jailed For Protesting Israel's Wall
By Majida Abu RahmahOn International Human Rights Day in 2008, my husband Abdallah Abu Rahmah was in Berlin receiving a medal from the World Association for Human Rights. Last year on the same day, 10 December, Abdallah was taken away at 2am by Israeli soldiers who broke into our West Bank home. Abdallah was arrested for the same reasons he received the prize -- his nonviolent struggle for justice, equality and peace in Palestine/Israel
07 January, 2010
Viva Palestina Convoy Breaks Gaza Siege
By AljazeeraMembers of the much-delayed Viva Palestina convoy began passing through Egypt's Rafah border crossing into Gaza on Wednesday, waving Palestinian flags and raising their hands in peace signs
Viva Palestina's Bumpy Road
By Dr Hanan ChehataEgypt has had every opportunity to redeem and to recast itself in the role of the hero. Instead they have needlessly and voluntarily cast themselves in the role of villain
Palestine Uniting Humanity
By Salim NazzalWhat a fantastic view we are witnessing these days. People from the four corners of the earth are marching towards Palestine. They are peoples from 17 nationalities among them Americans, Arabs, Africans, Australians, Britons, Canadians, French, Malaysians, Norwegians, Turkish, Swedes, Venezuelans, and a Jewish woman. The occasion is sad, because it comes at the first anniversary of the Gaza onslaught, but the warm solidarity is converting the sad occasion into time of showing support and love towards the besieged Palestinians in Gaza
Israeli Theft Of Palestinian Property
By Stephen LendmanFor over 60 years, Israel has disposessed Palestinins of their land, incrementally, systematically, and illegally, intending at most to leave Palestinians cantonized and surrounded in the least valued portions, the rest being exclusively for Jews
06 January, 2010
Blocking Freedom Marcher/Viva Palestina
Aid To Gaza
By Stephen LendmanViva Palestina calls on friends and supporters to protest by any means possible and demand that the entire convoy be granted free access to Gaza. The situation remains fluid, so new developments are likely after this article is published. Follow them at vivapalestina.org and web sites reporting their progress, or lack of it
Gaza And The Path To Accountability
By Sunera ThobaniIn seeking to protect Israel from the Goldstone report and Israeli politicians from the threat of arrest in the UK, the British, American and Canadian governments might well be engaged in a battle to save their own skins in the face of an emboldened legal activism. Gaza may well be the gateway to anti-imperialist accountability in the 21st century
05 January, 2010
Israeli Use Of Painful Shackling
As A Form of Torture
By Stephen LendmanPublic Committee Against Torture in Israel reviews the "serious phenomenon" of shackling Palestinian detainees "in a systematic manner and throughout all stages of detention and interrogation." Its purpose is to dehumanize and inflict pain, suffering, punishment, intimidation, and discrimination as a way of lawlessly extracting information even though experts acknowledge that torture is ineffective, counterproductive, and, of course, illegal under all circumstances at all times with no exceptions allowed ever
04 January, 2010
Gaza Freedom March Marches In Cairo
Against Blockade
By Sharat G. LinDelegates of the Gaza Freedom March were defeated in their desire to travel to Gaza, but, as a result of the struggles in the streets and embassies of Cairo, they were more determined than ever that the blockade of Gaza by both Israel and Egypt must be lifted. Bitur Nabi Tammam of Bahrain saw the bright side, “Even if they don't allow us to cross, I think it has accomplished the purpose that from all over the world you see people left their families, left their homes, to come here to say 'freedom for Gaza,' 'freedom for Palestine,' 'open the gates!'”
03 January, 2010
Cairo Declaration To End Israeli Apartheid
By Gaza Freedom MarchersGaza Freedom Marchers approved a declaration aimed at accelerating the global campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli Apartheid
The Iron Wall
By Uri AvneryAs an Israeli, I protest against the Israeli blockade. If I were an Egyptian, I would protest against the Egyptian blockade. As a citizen of this planet, I protest against both
01 January, 2010
New Year, New Hope?
By Alan HartWith the dawn of a New Year is there any reason to hope that it will see real progress on ending the conflict in and over Palestine that became Israel and stopping the countdown to catastrophe for all?
On Gaza Drivers, Rumours And Egypt’s Steel Wall
By Ramzy BaroudNews of an enormous metal wall that Egypt erected at its border with Gaza has come to the fore. Palestinians, including some in the Hamas government never cease to refer to Egypt and Egyptians as “Sister Egypt” and “Egyptian brethren”. Why then are Sister Egypt and the Egyptian brethren taking part in this injustice and allowing Israeli violence to perpetuate? Money? Political validation? Attempts at regional relevance and fear of dismissal if they dare defy Washington’s will?
Israel's East Jerusalem Linked
Settlement Expansion
By Stephen LendmanOn February 1, 2009, the International Solidarity Movement reported that Israel continues its E 1 area homes and infrastructure work that includes linking its Ma'ale Adummim settlement with East Jerusalem and other settlements around it. It said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, while in office, promised to expand E 1 development - the land northeast of Jerusalem, west of Ma'ale Adummim comprising about 12 square kilometers, all of it illegally annexed
30 December, 2009
New Year Reopens Wounds Of The Old
By Eva BartlettFor many survivors of the last Israeli war on Gaza, time has not healed their wounds, physical or emotional
Displaced And Desperate In Gaza
By Safa JoudehWith the blockade in full force, those who lost their homes see no chance of rebuilding
Using False Accusations Of “Anti-Semitism”
As A Weapon To Silence Criticism Of
Israel’s Behaviour
By Ulli DiemerUlli Diemer argues that as world public opinion turns against Israel, its racist apartheid regime and its occupation, the Zionist state and its lobbies have turned to attempts to outlaw criticism of Israel by labelling it as “anti-Semitism” – attempts that need to be exposed and challenged as a serious threat to basic freedoms
Arresting Peaceful Protesters In Occupied Palestine
By Stephen LendmanFor decades, Israel has met peaceful Palestinian protesters disruptively with violence, arrests and at times unprovoked killings. It's no surprise that targeting them and their leaders is now common practice in cities and villages like Jayyous and Bil'in
29 December, 2009
The Good Out Of The Misery In Gaza:
Love In Action And Global Conscience
By Eileen FlemingHundreds of activists who had already traveled on their dime and given up their time to bring some much needed humanitarian aid to the innocents in Gaza and to participate in the Gaza Freedom March have now also given up food. Because the Egyptian government has denied over 1,300 nonviolent international activists entry into Gaza, hundreds of them began a hunger strike on December 28, 2009
Gaza One Year Later
By Stephen LendmanA December 2009 report prepared by Oxfam International, Amnesty International UK, United Civilians for Peace, Christian Aid, and a dozen other international NGOs (called NGOs below) titled, "Failing Gaza: No rebuilding, no recovery, no more excuses" is hard-hitting and to the point
Gazan Children Bear 'Scars Of War'
By Phoebe GreenwoodAhmed Awad, a child psychologist who worked as a counselling manager at the ministry of education until 2008, warns: "Every single child in Gaza is traumatised by what they experienced during the war. They all heard the aircrafts, the bombs and the shelling, they all feel unsafe. But around 60 per cent are still suffering from shock
28 December, 2009
Israel Resembles A Failed State
By Ali AbunimahOne year has passed since the savage Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, but for the people there time might as well have stood still. Since Palestinians in Gaza buried their loved ones -- more than 1,400 persons, almost 400 of them children -- there has been little healing and virtually no reconstruction
International Law And Israel's War On Gaza
By Francis A. BoyleEven if Oslo had succeeded, it would have resulted in the imposition of a bantustan upon the Palestinian People. But Oslo has run its course! Therefore, it is my purpose here today to chart a new direction for the Palestinian People to consider
An International Crime Called Gaza
By Dr. Elias AklehA fully pre-meditated international crime of genocide has been taking place during the last 62 years in the heart of the Arab World. The victims are the Palestinian people especially those in the Gaza Strip. The assassin is the worst ever terrorist group deceptively called the Israeli Defense Forces
Palestine/Israel: A Single State,
With Liberty And Justice For All
By Susan Abulhawa & Ramzy BaroudIt is time for our shared land to be the inclusive and diverse country it had been. It is time for leaders to follow the people’s determined movement toward a single democratic state, with liberty and justice for all, regardless of religion
The Occupied West Bank Latroun Villages
By Stephen LendmanOn June 6, 1967, when Israeli forces invaded Gaza and the West Bank, on the second day of the so-called Six-Day War (June 5 - 10, 1967), they entered three Palestinian villages in the Latroun salient - Imwas, Yalo and Beit Nouba, forcibly expelling the residents, numbering over 10,000 at the time. Forty-two years later, their former homes gone and land expropriated, the survivors remain displaced, unable to return in violation of international law and Article 11 of UN Resolution 194
27 December, 2009
Israeli Troops Kill 6 In West Bank, Gaza
By AFPIsraeli troops killed six Palestinians on Saturday in two separate operations, including a raid in the West Bank targeting members of president Mahmud Abbas' Fatah movement
One Year After Israeli Assault,
Gaza Is Still On The Brink
By Sharat G. LinOn 27 December 2008, Israel launched “Operation Cast Lead” on the Gaza Strip with the announced objective of stopping Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, most notably in the town of Sderot close to the northern border between Israel and Gaza, and halting the flow of arms through tunnels from Egypt into Gaza
Israel: A Monster Beyond Control?
By Alan HartOn the first anniversary of the beginning of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip – in my view it was a demonstration of Israeli state terrorism at its most naked – it’s not enough to say that the governments of the Western powers (and others) are complicit in Israel’s on-going collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians, 53% of whom are children. What is actually happening in the blockaded Gaza Strip, and less obviously on the occupied West Bank, is the continuation by stealth of Zionism’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine
Gaza’s Shrinking Borders:
16 Years Of The Oslo Process
By Sharat G. LinForty-two years of military occupation and sixteen years of the Oslo Process have made Gaza a smaller place. Already one of the most densely-populated strips of land in the world, its population has grown during this period from less than 360,000 in 1967 to 1.5 million today. Meanwhile, its borders have not only become more impermeable, but they have been progressively closing in on what some have called “the world’s largest open air prison.”
23 December, 2009
Breaking Palestine's Peaceful Protest
By Neve GordonPalestinians have a long history of nonviolent resistance but Israel has continuously deployed methods to destroy it
22 December, 2009
Gaza: A Christmas Remembrance
By William A. CookHerman Melville realized that the superior white Christian civilization epitomized absolute savagery and that cannibals treated others with more humanity than these self-identified enlightened men. That understanding of the civilized white man struck me with its absoluteness, its certainty, its expressive force the moment I opened my file of little four year old Kaukab Al Dayah, whose tender face rests on top of the rubble of her home, an unsuspecting victim of white Zionist brutality that delivered her family a missile as a Christmas gift just over a year ago
Gaza Must Be Rebuilt Now
By Jimmy CarterWe can wait no longer to restart the peace process. The human suffering demands urgent relief
20 December, 2009
Net Around Israeli War Crimes Suspects Tightens
By Adri Nieuwhof & Ziyaad LunatEfforts by human rights organizations, lawyers and activists in Palestine and Europe to hold Israeli war crimes suspects to account have gained momentum over the past few years. Last week, former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni cancelled a visit to the UK over threats of a lawsuit under the country's universal jurisdiction laws
17 December, 2009
The Potentially Widespread Contamination
Of The Soil Of Gaza Due To Israeli Bombing
By Professors Mario Barbieri, Maurizio Barbieri &
Paola ManducaSummary of the findings of a study done by Professors Mario Barbieri, Maurizio Barbieri & Paola Manduca
Steel Walls Cannot Contain
The Struggle For Freedom
By Hasan Abu NimahAs if the siege of Gaza were not already bad enough, Israel and Egypt are working even harder to tighten the prison which holds Gaza's 1.5 million people. Egypt is building a steel wall along its 10-kilometer-long border with the Gaza Strip, according to recent media reports. This wall apparently extends not only above ground, but deep into the ground in an attempt to prevent Palestinians digging the tunnels that have become a lifeline for the territory
Get The War Criminals Arrested Now
By Khalid AmayrehThe recent arrest warrant issued in London for former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is more than justified. This woman, along with two other Israeli leaders, Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak, stood at the helm of the Israeli government that ordered, supervised and charted the genocidal onslaught against the Gaza Strip this time last year
The Lobby Within
By Ramzy BaroudDon’t be surprised when you hear that the US continues to block the path for peace in the Middle East. At least now you know why
15 December, 2009
For Palestinians, Every Day Is Kristallnacht
By Paul Craig Roberts“Settlers attack West Bank mosque and burn holy Muslim books” was a London Times headline on December 11, 2009. These attacks, together with the demolition of Palestinian homes, the uprooting of Palestinians’ olive groves, the innumerable checkpoints that prevent Palestinians from accessing schools, work, and medical care, the Israeli Wall that denies Palestinians access to the land stolen from them, and the isolation and blockade of the Gaza Ghetto, are part of the Israeli government’s policy of genocide for the Palestinians
“Saving Israel” Or Assisting It To Commit Suicide?
By Alan HartA Jewish friend in Canada drew my attention to an article in the Jewish Ledger, an independent weekly newspaper in Westport, Connecticut. The headline over it is “Saving Israel” Expert says American Jews key to Israel’s survival. I have rarely read such dangerous nonsense. It’s the voice of Zionism, deluded as ever, but with more than a hint of panic
13 December, 2009
What Did The Palestinian Say To The Policeman?
By Liz GalinovicBefore Liz Galinovic travelled through Palestine, she didn't expect to find the locals laughing
12 December, 2009
Outrage In Palestine
By Salim NazzalThe disgusting view of the fundamentalist Jewish colonizer driving his car several times over the Palestinian young man Wasim muwasada has invoked extreme rage among Palestinians
11 December, 2009
Another EU Policy Statement Will Not
Stop Israel's Colonization
By Hasan Abu NimahDespite the usual hype, the document, a version of which was published by the Israeli daily Haaretz on 2 December, does not contain much that should cause Israel any undue worry. It is no more than a fine tuning of long-stated, and ineffectual EU positions. The statement is of course "balanced" -- meaning it goes out of its way not to offend the Israeli occupier and lawbreaker -- and it is strewn with cliches and contradictions
Decrypting The Palestinian Political Crisis:
Chile 1970-73, Palestine 2006-09
By Emilio DabedA historical analysis and comparison of Chile in the period 1970-1973 and Palestine in the period 2006-2009. The article also offers a contextual analysis of the current internal Palestinian crisis
09 December, 2009
The West Bank Wall: Living By The Gate From Hell
By Ellen CantarowMuch is heard of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but the story of the determined, long-term nonviolent resistance of many Palestinian villagers to the loss of their lands, striking as it may be, is seldom told. Here’s my report from just one village on the West Bank
Does Israel’s Ambassador
To The U.S. Have A Point?
By Alan HartI am giving notice of the one question I will ask and to which only a “Yes” or “No” answer is required. The question is this. Prime Minister, in exchange for peace with the whole Arab and wider Muslim world, is your government prepared to withdraw from all Arab land occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem but on the understanding that if all the parties agreed, it would remain an undivided city and the capital of two states?
Targeting Civilians In Gaza
By Stephen LendmanFor over six decades, targeting civilians and inflicting collective punishment have been standard Israeli practice. But after the 2006 Lebanon war, it was named "Dahiya" after the Beirut suburb the IDF destroyed in the conflict. Dahiya tactics were central to the overall war strategy to inflict mass civilian deaths, injuries, destruction, and human suffering on 1.5 million Gazans
Who Will Save Gaza's Children?
By Victoria BrittainNever mind Copenhagen, an environmental catastrophe is going on right now – contaminated water is poisoning babies in Gaza
05 December, 2009
Dead Palestinian Babies And Bombed Mosques:
IDF Fashion 2009
By Uri BlauDead babies, mothers weeping on their children's graves, a gun aimed at a child and bombed-out mosques - these are a few examples of the images Israel Defense Forces soldiers design these days to print on shirts they order to mark the end of training, or of field duty
Israel’s Impunity For War Crimes
By Ghali HassanDoes the death of a Palestinian worth the same as that of a Jew? For six decades, Israeli Jewish leaders with utter impunity have been killing defenceless Palestinians and justifying their crimes as “self-defence” of Israel and all Jews. Absolving the Israeli regime of culpability of war crimes has always been a U.S.-Western ritual. The message is: Jews are above the law and killing Palestinians is Israelis’ right to commit war crimes
Will Congress Criminalize Anti-Semitism
And Israeli Criticism?
By Stephen LendmanEnding "America's last taboo" is the way forward toward a viable, sustainable Middle East peace, possible only when 42 years of occupation end and Palestinians are again free - so far, what Israel and Washington won't allow or even consider
Australia Hosts War Criminal Ehud Olmert
By Sonja KarkarThe news that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was in Australia and was welcomed by the honorable members of our parliament came as somewhat of a shock. It is one thing to have allowed a man charged with corruption and suspected of war crimes into Australia at all; it is another thing that he was listed as a distinguished guest in Hansard -- the official record of parliamentary proceedings -- and received a resounding "hear, hear" from our elected representatives
30 November, 2009
"We Will Have To Kill Them All":
Effie Eitam,Thug Messiah
By Jim Holstun & Irene MorrisonEffie Eitam called Palestinians "creatures who came out of the depths of darkness" who were "collectively guilty" and who could be indiscriminately killed not only if they had "blood on their hands" but because of "the evil in their heads." "We will have to kill them all," he said
29 November, 2009
“…And A Little Child Shall Lead Them”
By Uri AvneryThe role of the little child, so it seems, falls to Obama. If he accepts, God forbid, Friedman’s advice and leaves the picture, the vision will turn into a nightmare. The Israeli government will increase the oppression, the Palestinians will turn to unbridled terrorism, the entire world will be dragged into bloody chaos
28 November, 2009
Deception Has Always Been
The Name Of Zionism’s Game
By Alan HartWhat is behind Netanyahu's offer of construction freeze in the West Bank. Simple. He is seeking to make peace with the Obama administration. And its response suggests that with the help of the Zionist lobby and its stooges in Congress he’s got that matter firmly under control
25 November, 2009
The New York Mets And The Business Of Terrorism
By Aaron LevittI encountered racist graffiti with such statements as "Gas the Arabs" and "Fatimah, we will rape all Arab women." I repeatedly observed settlers throwing stones and clods of earth at young Palestinian girls on their way to elementary school; yelling racial epithets at Palestinians walking in the streets; pushing, kicking, and spitting on Palestinian children and (occasionally) adults who were quietly minding their own business; and hurling large stones down on Palestinian homes and residents from settlement balconies
Think Bethlehem This Christmas
By Eileen FlemingBethlehem was the birthplace of King David and Jesus, but today it is an open-air prison, occupied by Israel's military forces and encircled by Israel's wall
23 November, 2009
Federation? Why Not?
By Uri AvneryLately, the term “federation” has come into fashion again. Some people believe that it can serve as a kind of compromise between the “Two-State Solution”, now a world-wide consensus, and the “One-State Solution” that is popular in some radical circles. “Federation” sounds like a miracle: there will be both “two states for two peoples” and a single entity. Two in one, one in two
20 November, 2009
Bantustans And The Unilateral Declaration Of
Statehood
By Virginia TilleyThe Ramallah PA's suddenly serious initiative to declare an independent Palestinian state in non-sovereign territory must surely force fresh collective realization that this is a terribly pragmatic question. It's time to bring closer attention to what "Bantustan" actually means. The Palestinian national movement can only hope someone in its ranks undertakes that project as seriously as Israel has undertaken it before it's too late
19 November, 2009
One Year Later…And The Doors To The World’s
Largest Prison Are Still Sealed Shut
By Pam RasmussenIt’s time to show Israel that the world will no longer accept this wanton and cruel suffocation of human potential. Visit www.gazafreedommarch.org to find out how you can help, either actively on the ground in Gaza or here at home
17 November, 2009
The Latest Palestinian Strategy –
Clever Or Stupid Or Both?
By Alan HartThere is a case for saying that those leaders of the discredited PNA (Palestine National Authority) who are proposing to unilaterally declare an independent state on the West Bank and Gaza Strip and seek to get UN Security Council backing for it are being clever
Arab Teens Need ‘Protecting From Israeli Justice’
By Jonathan CookAn Israeli judge made an historic ruling last week when he decided that an Arab teenager needed “protection” from the justice system and ordered that he not be convicted despite being found guilty of throwing stones at a police car during a protest against Israel’s attack last winter on Gaza
13 November, 2009
The Disastrous Presidency Of Mahmoud Abbas
By Rannie AmiriThough it appears doubtful the quisling Abbas will actually resign, its mere suggestion should still be cause for celebration among Palestinians. Even if it ultimately does not come to pass – at least for now – let them rejoice
Edward Said And Barak Obama
By Prof. Haidar EidAn Open letter from a Palestinian Resident of Gaza to the President of the United States of America, Mr. Barak Hussein Obama
11 November, 2009
Israeli Jews And The One-State Solution
By Ali AbunimahDoes solid Israeli Jewish opposition to a one-state solution mean that a peaceful one-state outcome is so unlikely that Palestinians should not pursue it, and should instead focus only on "pragmatic" solutions that would be less fiercely resisted by Israeli Jews?
10 November, 2009
How Israel Won The Settlement Battle Again
By Ramzy BaroudWhen British Foreign Secretary David Miliband uttered a few words regarding the illegality of the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, many wanted to believe that London was taking a sharp stance against Israel’s continued violations of international law. Alas, they were wrong
09 November, 2009
A Line In The Sand
By Uri AvneryMahmoud Abbdas is fed up. The day before yesterday he withdrew his candidacy for the coming presidential election in the Palestinian Authority. He feels betrayed. And the traitor is Barack Obama
07 November, 2009
U.N. Affirms Israeli-Hamas Goldstone Report
By Thalif DeenThe Goldstone report, which was favourably voted by the 47-member Human Rights Council in Geneva last month, received overwhelming support Thursday in the 192-member General Assembly. The vote was 114 in favour and 18 against, with 44 abstentions
Goldstone And Gaza
By Jimmy CarterWithout ascribing blame to either of the disputing parties, it is imperative that the United States and the international community take steps to assure that the rebuilding of Gaza be commenced, and without delay. The cries of homeless and freezing people demand relief
Why I Am Not A Zionist
By Kevin CovalI am a Jewish person who stands with Palestinian people relegated to second-class citizenship and Israeli soldiers who refuse to enact racist militarism. I am not a nationalist; therefore I am not a Zionist. I am against the oppression of any person and people. I am not a builder of walls. I believe in equity and democratic practice, therefore I am not pro-Israel. I am an advocate for truth, justice and reconciliation. I believe in this. I believe in this now. I believe in the work ahead
04 November, 2009
Israel's Right To Exist?
By Alan HartThe truth of the time was that the Zionist state, which came into being mainly as a consequence of pre-planned ethnic cleansing, had no right to exist and, more to the point, could have no right to exist UNLESS … Unless it was recognised and legitimized by those who were dispossessed of their land and their rights during the creation of the Zionist state. In international law only the Palestinians could give Israel the legitimacy it craved
30 October, 2009
Harvesting In Death Zone, With A Song
By Eva BartlettHarvesting is a political act at the Gaza border with Israel
27 October, 2009
Israel Rations Palestinians To Trickle Of Water
By Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International has accused Israel of denying Palestinians the right to access adequate water by maintaining total control over the shared water resources and pursuing discriminatory policies
Palestinian Election: Weapon Against The People
By Dr. Elias AklehPalestinian election under the Israeli occupation is a big joke. It is meant to give the illusion of Palestinian freedom and autonomy, and to keep the people busy with something other than their legitimate resistance to the occupation. Palestinians can regain their country and assert their rights only by resisting the Israeli occupation and not by fake elections
25 October, 2009
What's At Stake In The Deal For Gilad Shalit
By Jonathan Ben EfratInstead of discussing the price of Shalit’s release, we should be discussing the price of a peace agreement. Whoever is willing to dismantle the settlements, to give back the occupied territories up to the Green Line (the pre-1967 border), to come up with a fair solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees and to enable, finally, the establishment of a viable Palestinian state will ensure that there'll be no more Gilad Shalits. But as long as Israel refuses to do what everyone knows it must, the next kidnapping is merely a question of time
21 October, 2009
Israeli Police Don Arab Disguise
By Jonathan CookCivil rights groups in Israel have expressed outrage at the announcement last week that a special undercover unit of the police has been infiltrating and collecting intelligence on Israel’s Arab minority by disguising its officers as Arabs
The First Step: Israel Into The Dock
By Dr. Alan SabroskyThe UN Human Rights Council (HRC) Resolution based on the Goldstone Report is a damning condemnation of Israel. The original meaning of being "caught red-handed" was literally being "caught bloody-handed," with the victim's blood on one's own hands. In Gaza, Israel has been caught red-handed in that literal sense, and for the first time in its history, is approaching the dock in the international court of opinion and, hopefully, of justice as well
19 October, 2009
Family Who Lost 29 Members In Gaza War
By Amira HassRichard Goldstone visited the Gaza City neighborhood of Zaytoun in late June to tour the compound of the extended Samouni family. Twenty-nine members of the family, all of them civilians, were killed in the Israel Defense Force's winter assault - 21 during the shelling of a house where IDF soldiers had gathered some 100 members of the family a day earlier
Challenging The Dahiya Doctrine
By Brenda HeardThe common denominator of the Haaretz article and the Goldstone Report and the UN Human Rights Council Report is the challenge to the Israeli military concept known as the “Dahiya doctrine.” The Goldstone Report states that “The Israeli military conception of what was necessary in a future war with Hamas seems to have been developed from at least the time of the 2006 conflict in southern Lebanon. It finds its origin in a military doctrine that views disproportionate destruction and creating maximum disruption in the lives of many people as a legitimate means to achieve military and political goals.”
16 October, 2009
Abbas And The Goldstone Report:
Our Shame Is Complete
By Ramzy BaroudPalestinians who are now calling for change following the UN episode, must consider the Oslo culture in its entirety, its ‘revolutionary’ millionaires, its elites and contractors. A practical alternative to those corrupt must be quickly devised. The Israeli wall is encroaching on Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank, and a new war might be awaiting besieged Gaza. Time is running out, and our collective shame is nearly complete
14 October, 2009
After The Bombing, Drug Addiction Strikes Gaza
By Donald MacintyreUnder siege and grappling with joblessness, factional violence and the aftermath of war, Gazans are turning to pills as they seek to escape reality
12 October, 2009
The Travails Of The Palestinian Authority
While Palestine Vanishes
By Sonja KarkarThe fallout from the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to endorse the Goldstone Report’s passage through the United Nations is not just painful for the Palestinians, but also for all those who support the Palestinian cause. This is yet another wound inflicted by the Authority on the Palestinian struggle for liberation from a long and brutal Israeli military occupation. And yet again, Israel gets a “get out of jail free” card as the Palestinians are forced to focus on their own inept and corrupt leadership
10 October, 2009
U.S. ‘Personality Assassination’ Of
A Palestinian Ally
By Nicola NasserPalestinian consensus on condemnation has created a volatile environment of insecurity for Abbas. An ongoing personality assassination process has put his personal safety in jeopardy. In the behind the scenes intrigues of the Middle East politics, he might pay with his life for rubber – stamping U.S. advice, to be the second potential victim after late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for “putting all their eggs in U.S. basket.”
08 October, 2009
After Goldstone, Hamas Faces Fateful Choice
By Ali AbunimahThe uproar over the Palestinian Authority's (PA) collaboration with Israel to bury the Goldstone report, calling for trials of Israeli leaders for war crimes in Gaza, is a political earthquake. The whole political order in place since the 1993 Oslo accords were signed is crumbling. As the initial tremors begin to fade, the same old political structures may appear still to be in place, but they are hollowed out. This unprecedented crisis threatens to topple the US-backed PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, but it also leaves Hamas, the main Palestinian resistance faction, struggling with fateful choices
A Poverty Of Leadership
By Osamah KhalilWhether or not the clumsy attempt to shelve the Goldstone report on last winter's Gaza attacks is the tipping point for Mahmoud Abbas's rule, the succession process has been underway for several years. However, it is being coordinated by the US and Israel and is no reflection of the wishes and desires of the Palestinian people. Abbas's likely successor is Salam Fayyad, who somehow manages to be an even more uninspiring and unpopular character
Israel Mulls Banning Islamic Movement
By Jonathan CookThe Israeli government announced yesterday it would consider banning Israel’s Islamic Movement at the next cabinet meeting, in a significant escalation of tensions that have fuelled a fortnight of bloody clashes in Jerusalem over access to the Haram al Sharif compound of mosques
07 October, 2009
Tensions Mount Again At Al-Aqsa
By Jonathan CookTension over control of the Haram al Sharif compound of mosques in Jerusalem’s Old City has reached a pitch unseen since clashes at the site sparked the second intifada nine years ago
How Israel Bought Off UN’s War Crimes Probe
By Jonathan CookGoldstone report's fate sealed by threats to Palestinian economy
The Gaza War's Effect On Women
By Stephen LendmanThe Palestinian Centre for Human Rights' (PCHR) new report, titled "Through Women's Eyes," highlights "the Gender-Specific Impact and Consequences of Operation Cast Lead" and the ongoing siege, including 12 case study examples "through the victims' words."
30 September, 2009
The Goldstone Report: Fierce But Toothless
By Yacov Ben EfratAs things look now, the Goldstone Report will go to the shelf, the Occupation will continue, and so will Palestinian suffering. To cope with the present reality is more complex than putting people on the stand for war crimes. The reality is that Israel is ruled by the Right, which is nowadays attracting part of the Left. On the Palestinian side, the reality is a war between two rival factions that care more for power than for their people
Israel's Ofra Settlement On
Unauthorized Palestinian Land
By Stephen LendmanUnder international and local laws, Ofra's settlement is illegal. No jurisdictional area was set for it. It doesn't have a valid outline plan, and at least 58% of its land is lawfully registered under Palestinian names in the Land Registry
23 September, 2009
Goldstone Commission Gaza Conflict Findings
And Reactions
By Stephen LendmanA UN September 15 press release stated that the Mission concluded that "there is evidence indicating serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by Israel during the Gaza conflict, and that Israel committed actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity."
18 September, 2009
Israel/America: A Rambling Poem
By Remi KanaziRemi Kanazi recently appeared on GRITtv with Laura Flanders to perform a spoken word poem entitled Israel/America: A Rambling Poem
17 September, 2009
Lebanon’s Palestinians 27 Years After
The Sabra Shatila Massacre
By Franklin LambPressure is building this hot summer and fall in Lebanon’s refugee camps with warnings coming from Palestinian, that 27 years after the Sabra Shatila massacre, explosive conditions exist in nearly all of Lebanon’s camps
10 September, 2009
Israel’s Arab Citizens Call General Strike
By Jonathan CookThe increasingly harsh political climate in Israel under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government has prompted the leadership of the country’s 1.3 million Arab citizens to call the first general strike in several years
Israel Blocks Money To Gaza’s Disabled
By Jonathan Cook
Injured workers denied benefit paymentsThe Tangled Course To Middle East
Peace Crisis And Not Conflict
By Dan LiebermanThe Tangled Course to Middle East Peace A 180 degree rotation of the elements in the present peace process combined with Israel no longer being favored and no longer allowed to frame the process provides a direction for solving the Middle East crisis
08 September, 2009
Palestinians 'Seriously Considering' One-state
By Jimmy CarterA more likely alternative to the present debacle is one state, which is obviously the goal of Israeli leaders who insist on colonizing the West Bank and East Jerusalem. A majority of the Palestinian leaders with whom we met are seriously considering acceptance of one state, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. By renouncing the dream of an independent Palestine, they would become fellow citizens with their Jewish neighbors and then demand equal rights within a democracy. In this nonviolent civil rights struggle, their examples would be Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela
04 September, 2009
Prof Yehuda Hiss: The Missing Link
In Palestinian Organ Theft?
By Jonathan CookThe hyperventilating by Israel’s leaders [1] over a story published in a Swedish newspaper last month [2] suggesting that the Israeli army assisted in organ theft from Palestinians has distracted attention from the disturbing allegations made by Palestinian families that were the basis of the article’s central claim
Fighting For The Right To Walk
By Ramzy BaroudSince the conclusion of Israel’s war last year, the Palestinian Ministry of Health declared that 344 Gaza patients have reportedly been added to the swelling number of casualties
The Beginning Of The End Of The Middle East Crisis:
Resolving The Displaced Persons Problem
By Dan LiebermanThe solution of the Middle East crisis starts with those who have suffered the most, continue to suffer and should be relieved of their suffering. The solution of the Middle East crisis starts with the Palestinian displaced persons
A Palestinian State Within Two Years?
By Yacov Ben EfratOn Tuesday, August 25, 2009, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad presented his plan to establish a Palestinian state within two years. He stressed the internal changes that must be made in order to build its legal, economic and social infrastructure
17 August, 2009
Fatah: A New Beginning Or An Imminent End?
By Ramzy BaroudThe long delayed Fatah Congress, held in Bethlehem on August 4 has underscored the obvious: the all-encompassing movement which was meant to exact and safeguard Palestinian national rights has grown into a liability that, if anything, will continue to derail the Palestinian national project. This comes at a time when the Palestinian people are in urgent need of a collective response that is strong enough to withstand Israeli military pressure and coercion at home
Israel Begins Sell-Off Of Refugees’ Land
By Jonathan CookPrivatisation to subvert Palestinian hopes of restitution
People, Not Politicians, Working To End
The Israeli Occupation
By Michael GalvinWhen the world looks at the future of Palestine these days, the principal question is unfortunately "What will Obama do?" How far will he go in putting pressure on the new right-wing Israeli government, and how will they react? Yet, our "messiah complex" which credits politicians with being able to solve everything single-handedly allows the world to forget about the action that is going on on the ground inside Israel/Palestine by both Israelis and Palestinians against the occupation, and the struggles they encounter
US Turns Blind Eye To Israel's
New Separation Policy
By Jonathan CookIsrael welcomes American Jewish settlers, bars Palestinian-Americans
10 August, 2009
Gaza 's Kite Runners
By Ramzy BaroudWhen seen from a distance, kites in Gaza may look quite ordinary. But while Gazan children, in many respects, are just children, their kites are hardly ordinary. Often adorned by the red, black, green and white of the Palestinian flag, Gazan children's kites are expressions of defiance, hope and the longing for freedom