Palestinian Information Center- www.uruknet.info?p=67837

A study prepared by the Gaza Strip’s Ministry of Planning confirmed an upsurge in settlement activity and Judaization carried out by the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) in occupied Jerusalem.

It highlighted that the IOA confiscated more than 23,000 of the Eastern Jerusalem’s 70,000 dunum total land area, and that about 35,000 thousand housing units were developed for Israeli settlers.

DAVE LINDORFF
 
Kevin Neish, a Canadian activist aboard the Mavi Marmara, witnessed the Israeli commando assault on the Flotilla bound for Gaza.

ThisCan'tBeHappening.Net, June 16, 2010

Kevin Neish of Victoria, British Columbia, didn’t know he was a celebrity until he was about to board a flight from Istanbul to Ottawa. "This Arab woman wearing a beautiful outfit suddenly ran up to me crying, 'It’s you! From Arab TV! You’re famous!’" he recalls with a laugh. "I didn’t know what she was talking about, but she told me, 'I saw you flipping through the Israeli commando’s book! It’s being aired over and over!’"

One Jew’s Hard Awakening

By Phil Rockstroh

June 16, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- Although my mother fled Nazi Germany, as a child, on a Kindertransport, with a few family valuables sown into her clothing, and I was brought up on the myths and hagiography of the Zionist state, I, over time, came to recognize the folly of the whole colonialist enterprise — the folly of ethnic exclusion and expulsion, the inherent tragedy of nationalism based on the delusion of religious birthright. With much sorrow, I came to the sad realization that the dream of the State of Israel was based on European chauvinism and exceptionalism. This reckoning has been a difficult one for me to bear — the hardest awakening of my adult life.

PFLP calls for increased solidarity to confront Netanyahu sham "commission"
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

PFLP, June 16, 2010

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called upon all to continue the Arab and international solidarity campaigns, convoys and actions to break the siege on Gaza, saying that Israeli statements indicating "easing" of the blockade of the Strip is an attempt to misinform and deceive the world in light of the exposure of their crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Pro-Palestinian activists said Tuesday they had sent another boat to challenge the Gaza blockade as Israel faced outrage abroad and questions at home over its botched raid on an aid flotilla in international waters that ended with soldiers killing nine activists.

The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) expressed its deep apprehension
and anger over the BBC coverage regarding freedom Flotilla.

The Freedom Flotilla which is a mere humanitarian mission has been
covered by a wide range of western media outlets in the last few days.
The BBC started to speak about the Boats of the flotilla only in the
last 2 days.

http://nagyelali.blogspot.com/

She was like an angel when I saw her dancing with a group of classmates in Alassria Cultural Center in Jabalia Refugee Camp. I didn’t see her for three years. I asked my friend Abdallah Abuzaiter, the instructor “isn’t she the girl from Abulaish family who joined our summer camp in Alassria before three years, didn’t she die in the last war on Gaza ?”.

Friends,

This story is a testament to the Internet. And to Anat Kam, the whistleblower, who is widely regarded in Israeli security circles as a traitor and will probably soon be charged with treason.

Anat (I’ll use her first name, though I don’t know her) is a 23-year old journalist who wrote for the popular Israeli portal Walla. Some months ago, Anat did the unthinkable: she passed on information that was decidedly newsworthy, but that the Shin Bet – Israel’s security services – did not want outsiders to have. It was a”hit list” – the names of Palestinians living in the West Bank who were on the Shin Bet’s “wanted” list. And it was a copy of the Shin Bet protocol stating that if these “wanted” figures are identified during the course of a military action, permission is granted to carry out “an interception”. Nice language for execution without trial. Reports are that Anat photocopied this classified information while serving in the IDF.

http://a-films.blogspot.com/2010/03/10mar12en.html

After the Palestinian refugee camp Nahr al-Bared was totally destroyed in a war in 2007, the Lebanese government promised the 30.000 refugees a quick reconstruction and the return to the camp. However, the government's words haven't materialized yet, while the camp remains under the tight grip of the Lebanese army.

Protest! Tuesday, March 9th - 6 pm
Outside the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
49 St. and Park Avenue, Manhattan

After the first anniversary of the war on Gaza
The Butcher of Gaza is coming to NYC!
He Belongs in Prison, Not the Waldorf!

On March 9 there will be a $1000-a-plate fundraising dinner for the Israeli Occupation Forces, which murdered 1,400 Palestinians, including more than 400 children, in Gaza last year.
The criminal Gabi Ashkenazi, Chief of IDF General Staff, will be there.
We will be there too!

Stand with the people of Gaza and all Palestine!
Demand the end of U.S support to Israel!
Arrest and prosecute Ashkenazi and all Israeli War Criminals!

For more information, please contact Indirizzo e-mail protetto dal bots spam , deve abilitare Javascript per vederlo or call 718-228-8636.
Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition - NY
http://www.al-awdany.org

Support our work!  Visit http://www.al-awdany.org/supportawdany.html to make a donation.

Kawther Salam
 
February 18, 2010

The assassination of Mohammed Mabhouh in Dubai was not the first International crime which Mossad death squads committed by using the fake or stolen European passports. There is a long record full of assassinations which were carried out by the Israeli death squads in Europe and in many other countries. The latest crime, the assassination of Mohammad Al-Mabhouh in Dubai and the full details which the police of Dubai exposed, raises once again the question about the relationship between the European countries and Israel, especially those countries in which the Mossad has carried out crimes in the past.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-gazas-defiant-tunnellers-head-deeper-underground-1894563.html

Robert Fisk: Gaza's defiant tunnellers head deeper underground

They are threatened with drowning by the Egyptians and punitively taxed by Hamas. Our correspondent meets the Palestinian smugglers bringing oranges, car batteries and bottle tops to a territory under siege

Wednesday, 10 February 2010

EPA: A Palestinian leads a calf through a smuggler's tunnel from Egypt into the southern Gaza Strip at the Rafah Refugee Camp

They are the real resistance. They are the lung through which Gaza breathes. True, missiles must pass along their subterranean tracks, Qassam rockets, too, Kalashnikov ammunition, explosives. But by far the greatest burden of the tunnellers of Gaza is the very life-blood of this besieged little pseudo-Islamic statelet: fresh meat, oranges, chocolate, shirts, trousers, toys, cigarettes, wedding dresses, paper, entire motor-cars in four bits, car batteries, even plastic bottle tops. The tunnellers of Gaza are bombed by the Israelis, they die in their own collapsing tunnels – and now they face a new Egyptian wall, even the fear of drowning. Terrorists they may be to the Israelis – the promiscuous use of this word makes it fairly meaningless these days – but heroes they are to the Palestinians of Gaza. Rich ones, too, perhaps.

Potential health risks for the population attacked with white phosphorus ammunitions in Gaza.
 
Ammunitions in use, on the ground, January 2009

By Prof. Paola Manduca, Prof. Mario Barbieri, Prof. Maurizio Barbieri and Newweapons Research Group

The Israeli response to the Goldstone commission on Gaza, a document of the Military Advocate General of the Isreal Defense Force (1), the army, has just been delivered to the UN. This paper is largely devoted to justify the investigation into the actions during the war have been entrusted to the Legal Commission of the IDF and not to the civil jurisdiction.

Hasan Abu Nimah, The Electronic Intifada, 13 January 2010

Israel is once again complaining that its "security" is being threatened by new eruptions of violence along the border with Gaza. About two dozen Qassam rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza in recent days. Although they fell in (and may have been deliberately targeted at) open areas, causing no damage or injuries, Israel took revenge with destructive air raids that did cause damage and killed several people, including a 15-year-old boy.

Before asking who should stop first, one should recall who started the latest ugly round of violence.

An up-to-the-point Open Letter:

Weekend Edition
January 8 - 10, 2010
Your Palestinian Gandhis Exist ... in Graves and Prisons
Calling Bono
By ALISON WEIR

Dear Bono,

In your recent column in the New York Times, "Ten for the Next Ten," you wrote: "I’ll place my hopes on the possibility — however remote at the moment — that...people in places filled with rage and despair, places like the Palestinian territories, will in the days ahead find among them their Gandhi, their King, their Aung San Suu Kyi."

Your hope has already been fulfilled in the Palestinian territories.

Unfortunately, these Palestinian Gandhis and Kings are being killed and imprisoned.

George Galloway Deported From Egypt

(AND VIDEOS)

By Viva Palestina

January 08, 2010 --- British MP George Galloway was officially deported from Cairo today (Friday), when Egyptian plain-clothes police officers bundled him onto a London plane.

Galloway had been trying to return to Rafah after news broke that seven of the Viva Palestina convoy members were said to be arrested. Police, who at one point were numbered at 25 mainly plain-clothes officers, refused to allow him to return.

NOT ONLY ISRAEL AND EGYPT WANTED THE MARCH BUSTED, ALSO HAMAS DEEPLY DISLIKED IT, EXPLAINS EYEWITNESS AND PRESTIGIOUS REPORTER AMIRA HASS...

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1141085.html

Amira Hass:  Pro-Gaza activists under siege - imposed by Egypt and Hamas

The departure from Ramses Street in Cairo, in about 20 buses, was set for the morning of Monday, December 28. However, the organizers of the Gaza Freedom March knew the buses would not arrive. Just as on Sunday night, the buses hired by a group of French activists never made it to their starting point - Cairo's Charles de Gaulle Street, near the French Embassy and across from the zoo.

Zaatar Association and Ajyal Association for creativity and development"

Concept Paper

Project name : Let's learn English
Project Duration: Five months 

Project Coordinator: Adham Khalil

Project budget: 5000$

Contact: Associazione Zaatar

Indirizzo e-mail protetto dal bots spam , deve abilitare Javascript per vederlo

Project background:

During our follow up to English teaching in Palestinian schools in the Gaza Strip, we have noticed that teachers use the old and normal teaching methods. As a result of that, students become uninterested in English language and they get low marks in English subject. In addition to the absence of families awareness of English language and teaching methods which affect negatively on their roles in helping their children to learn positively and do their home works.

children are more interactive with games, music, and activities. So that they will like to learn English if we use these methods through the process of education.

Objects of the project:

● Enhance the capacity of 5 English student in teaching English.
● Improve English language for 75 children .
● Improve English language for 75 women.
● Improve English language for 75 families.

by Ghada Karmi

Palestinian history is at one of its most serious and important junctures. The peace negotiations that commenced with the Oslo accords in 1993 are at an end. Even hardened devotees of the peace process with Israel have now given up and are adopting positions that threaten to disrupt the cozy status quo of the "peace process". The Palestinian president's announcement that he will not seek re-election, and the recent demand for UN recognition of a Palestine state on the 1967 territories are examples of this trend. It has become impossible for even the most pliant Palestinian leadership to ignore Israel's strategy of "talking and taking", its relentless colonization of the occupied territories, which doubled after the Oslo agreement and is ever more blatant and aggressive. The Palestinian maneuver, taking advantage of an assumed US frustration with Israeli intransigence on settlement building, is clearly designed to challenge the international community out of its inertia.

News Release - For Immediate Release - Tuesday, November 24, 2009
 
IDF Insists:

Berlanty Azzam can not complete the final 2 months of her degree in Bethlehem Gisha requests that the Court instruct the army to let Berlanty return to her studies in Bethlehem.

Berlanty has already missed almost a month of her studies; she was due to finish her BA in Business Management in less than two months.

Israeli army kidnapped 6200 children since 2000
Official report
Middle East Monitor

Palestinian children arrested by Israeli forces

An official report, received by Arab League from the minister of prisoners' affairs in the Palestinian Authority (Ramallah), revealed that the Israeli occupation forces have kidnapped about 6,200 Palestinian children since the beginning of Al Aqsa Intifada (2000), including approximately 337 children still detained in Israeli prisons and interrogation centers.

Nicolas Pelham

On 25 August, Israel put an end to Gaza’s single most impressive feat of underground engineering. For the three days the tunnel was operational, traders were able to make use of the first fully functioning road in and out of Gaza since Israel imposed its siege after Hamas’s electoral victory. The tunnel was cavernous, built to last, and had ramps allowing vehicles to drive in and out. Its sides were fortified with scrap iron taken by Gazans when, one winter day in 2007, they pulled down a small part of the eight-metre-high wall Israel had erected along much of Gaza’s 14-kilometre border with Egypt.

By Douglas Hamilton - Reuters India, 16 Oct 2009

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-43209920091016 

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The future Palestinian state some Israeli strategists have in mind would be bordered entirely by Israel, with large areas in its middle under Israeli control.

Israel would own the Jordan Valley, part of the central West Bank highlands above it, plus uplands to the west overlooking Jerusalem and Israeli cities on the coastal plain.

Ken Loach, screenwriter Paul Laverty and producer Rebecca O’Brien had a pithy response to Israeli attempt to smear them. Enjoy reading it!

Israeli attempt to shame Ken Loach only brings more attention to the occupation

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3787769,00.html 

The fallout from the Toronto Declaration continues. YNet is reporting that the Israeli distributor for English director Ken Loach’s film will not accept any profits from the screenings of his films in Israel. Instead, Nurit Shani, chief executive of Lev Cinema and Film, will use the money to promote Israeli films abroad. Responding to Loach’s consistent criticism of the Israeli occupation, and most recently his participation in the Toronto protest, Shani said, `I view his deeds as an act of hypocrisy, a burning slap in the face of democracy and the humanistic spirit of his films. His movies are of a great director, but his actions are of a small person.`

By Benjamin Joffe-Walt/Ramallah

Palestinians say Mohamed Othman is the first political prisoner arrested solely for promoting a boycott of Israel

October 11, 2009

Israel has extended the detention of a West Bank campaigner said by activist groups to be the first Palestinian to be imprisoned solely for advocacy of international boycotts against Israel.

Mohamed Othman, a 33-year-old resident of the West Bank village of Jayyous, had his detention extended by 12 days at a hearing at Salem military court in the north of Israel last week. Israel’s internal security service had requested a 23-day extension.

War and asbestos holes - di Adham Khalil - http://nagyelali.blogspot.com/

Walking through the narrow streets in Jabalia Refugee camp in northern of the Gaza Strip, we arrived to Mr. Basher Abueata's house. He lives with his family consists of eleven persons in a small and simple house. It covers by asbestos which is full of holes happened during the last war on Gaza when Israeli F16 shelled a house closed to his house. Fragments fell on his house and have made holes in asbestos.

Anne Candlin

One of the pictures being shown at the exhibition, Loss of Innocence: Gaza Children’s Art, in Liverpool, England.

AIC - October 5, 2009

Located in the beautiful Well of Liverpool Anglican Cathedral is a stunning exhibition, "Loss of Innocence: Gaza Children’s Art". Rod Cox, who collated the exhibition, drove from Cheshire, through Europe and North Africa to Gaza with the UK humanitarian aid convoy in March, following the 22 day assault on Gaza this year. He stayed to work on an art project with children. A group of younger children taking part in a psycho-social therapy programme and some older children attending a Girls High School, were asked to paint what they had experienced during Operation Cast Lead and what they hoped for in the future.

Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi

Bethlehem – Ma’an – Jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi called for Palestinians to form a unified campaign of peaceful, popular resistance to Israeli settlements in an interview made public on Sunday.

In an interview from Israel’s Hadarim Prison through his lawyers, Barghouthi said that “there is no Israeli peace partner.

Please read Mazim Qumsiyeh's excellent analysis

In the last two days, I attended two conferences, one in An-Najah National University in Nablus on American Studies in Palestine and one at AlQuds University on the future of Palestine.  The first was an interesting conference that showed there are so many Palestinians in different universities here who were educated in the US and who understand perfectly well how the US system works (sometimes their ideas are deeper and more relevant to US future than American Professors) and what it takes to change US foreign policy. The second conference was rather timely.  It had far more contentious subject matter exacerbated by the state of confusion created in the Palestinian body politic after the Oslo Accords and what transpired from dividing Palestinians: those inside 1948 areas, refugees, “West Bankers”, “Gazans”, the returnees (many who were with Arafat in Tunis etc.)  But we must all look in the mirror more and ask more questions.  Instead of trying to pontificate answers, perhaps we should set-up specialized committees of experts in those areas.

PCHR Condemns Israel's Granting of Permission for Settlers to Enter al-Aqsa Mosque and Use of Excessive Force against Palestinian Civilians

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the Israeli government's decision to allow Jewish settler groups to enter the yards of the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.  PCHR further condemns the use of excessive force by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) against Palestinian civilians who attempted to prevent the provocative entry of settlers into the Mosque.  PCHR reminds of similar incidents that took place 9 years ago when the former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, entered the yards of the al-Aqsa Mosque. This incident sparked the outbreak of the al-Aqsa Mosque, in which thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed or wounded.  PCHR calls upon the international community to immediately intervene and pressurize Israeli occupation authorities to stop all settlement activities in occupied Jerusalem.

Ray Smith*

Since the end of August, construction machines in the Palestinian refugee camp Nahr al-Bared are resting. The Lebanese State Council granted a two month moratorium for the reconstruction of the destroyed camp.

Nahr al-Bared, the most northern of the 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon was totally destroyed in a summer-long battle in 2007. Although a master plan for the reconstruction was already compiled by early 2008 and approved by the Lebanese government, the beginning of the construction works was delayed again and again. When in spring 2009 an archaeological site was discovered below the rubble of the former camp, hardly anyone among the refugees believed the reports. For the last two years they've been hearing too many – often flimsy – justifications for repeated reconstruction delays.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1115759.html  By Yitzhak Laor

Haaretz, 21/09/09

If anyone thought our leaders and anchors compete in their poor taste only when a pilot's widow is burying her pilot son, he should listen to them tussle like soloists in a lousy opera that could be called "That Awful Goldstone."

Israel doth protest too much

By Paul Woodward, War in Context, August 25, 2009

Organ trafficking accounts for around 10 per cent of the nearly 70,000 kidney transplants performed worldwide annually, although as many as 15,000 kidneys could be trafficked each year…

Trafficked organs are either sold domestically, or exported to be transplanted into patients from the US, Europe, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and especially Israel. — Jane’s Intelligence Weekly, March, 2008.

Books and paper banned from entering Gaza as new academic year begins, 200 more schools needed
 
23.08.09 - 22:24 

Gaza / PNN – With the academic year about to begin, the Gaza Strip is falling short on schools.

During the major Israeli attacks of late December and January, many schools were destroyed or partially destroyed. They have not been repaired or rebuilt because reconstruction materials are still banned under the siege.

Palestine Monitor

22 August 2009

The investigation into a brutal and frenzied attack by illegal Jewish settlers on Palestinian shepherds has been closed by the Israeli police because it was “not possible to identify the attackers” due to their masked identities.

The attack was caught on camera last year and shows four men coming from an illegal Jewish settlement to attack three local Palestinian shepherds with baseball bats. The attack was filmed by a relative, who had been given a camera by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem as part of its Shooting Back project. B’Tselem had handed video cameras to Palestinians in troubled areas so that they could document abuses against them.

August 22, 2009

Awakening Records is pleased to announce the release of the world's first animated peace music video on Palestine. Palestine will be Free' is performed by Awakening's latest music sensation - Maher Zain.

This is the first time an animated peace music video has been produced on Palestine: "We are recognised as pioneers and constantly pushing the bounds of creativity and innovation. This animated music video for our new star artist Maher Zain is just another step in that direction and certainly not the last", said Bara Kherigi, Director of Awakening Records. Destined to be an international success, the video features the story of a young brave Palestinian girl who never loses hope for a better future despite the harsh realities surrounding her.

www.maherzain.com

Repression allowed, resistance denied: Israels suppression of the popular movement against the Apartheid Annexation Wall

August 19, 2009 - Source: Stop the Wall

It has been five years since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its advisory opinion on the Wall in the occupied Palestinian territory  where they held in a unanimous opinion that it was illegal and should be dismantled. No significant advance in the situation on the ground has been achieved, and the Wall construction continues relentlessly. Instead, since the Court started its hearings in February 2004, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have intensified repression of the affected villages struggling against the Wall, killing the first activists. The gaze of the international community must now turn not only to the illegality and injustice of the Wall, but also to the plight of those still attempting to resist its construction. In villages across the West Bank, local residents have formed committees and taken on a campaign of mass popular resistance to the Wall, engaging in weekly, and even daily, demonstrations. These communities have faced a staggering level of repression and violence from the Israeli authorities. It is the aim of this report to investigate that repression and to determine its true extent and nature.

Israeli Policy of Ethnic Cleansing: Veteran Arab Village to Make Way for New Haredi City in Wadi Ara - Mustafa Abu Halaal and Yuad Winter, Haokets.

August 19, 2009

Recently plans have been greatly accelerated to establish a Haredi (Jewish ultra-orthodox) city in Wadi Ara, between Harish and Katzir. These latter two cities were already included in the 1990s in the "star plan" of Ariel Sharon, the stated goal of which was to separate  Arab cities and to prevent their development through the establishment of new towns for Jews only between them. Now the Ministry of Housing is planning to establish, in the area between Harish and Katzir, no less than 20,000 housing units for Haredis. "We must stop the Arab expansion in Wadi Ara," said Israel�s Minister of Construction and Housing, Ariel Atias.

GAZA CITY, 19 August 2009 (IRIN)- Arafat Hamdona, 20, has been confined to the cancer unit of As-Shifa, Gaza�s primary hospital, since he was diagnosed with maxillary skin tumours in June 2008. Red lesions protrude from his face, his features are distorted and his eyes swollen shut.

http://palsolidarity.org/2009/08/8092
Israel declares the shooting of American activist, Tristan Anderson to be an “act of war”
Posted on: August 18, 2009 - For Immediate Release

18 August 2009: Israel declares the shooting of American activist, Tristan Anderson to be an “act of war.”

Tristan Anderson, an American national, was critically injured on 13 March 2009 when he was shot with a high velocity tear-gas projectile during an unarmed demonstration against the Wall in the West Bank village of Ni’lin (report and video: http://palsolidarity.org/2009/03/5324 ).

http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=175&Itemid=1

Today, the first nonviolent demonstration for the children of Bil'in took place to protest against the night raids and the many arrests of young boys in the village. They carried banners and chanted slogans like "We want to sleep," "No more night raids," "Let us live," "We want Peace," and so on. The children lead the demonstration toward the Apartheid Wall with villagers and Palestinian and international activists following them. At the Wall they were met by two soldiers only who were on regular duty at the Wall.

Take action against suppression of Palestinian non-violent resistance in Bil’in
 
At around 3am on Monday morning, a large military force wearing combat
paint and masks invaded the West Bank village of Bil’in. Israeli
soldiers raided several homes, arresting 2 Palestinian children, 5
Palestinian adults including Mohammad Khatib of the Bil’in Popular
Committee Against the Wall and Settlements. The home of another member
of the Popular Committee was raided, but soldiers could not arrest him
because he was not present at home.

UN and International Agencies Fear Gaza Educational System Unprepared for new school year

Call for immediate opening of Gaza’s borders

28 July 2009

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator, representing UN aid agencies in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), and the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), represented by at least 25 NGOs, today demand full and unfettered access into and out of Gaza in particular to restore the Gazan educational system.

MORE THAN A CUSTOMS DISPUTE
Will EU Penalize Exports from Israeli Settlements?
By Ralf Beste and Christoph Schult

Is Europe really willing to express its aversion to Israeli settlements in the West Bank by slapping customs duties on products made in them? A tax court in Hamburg might soon provide an answer to this touchy issue.

In this my first week back in North America, I was reminded that there are two Americas: a decent caring one and one of delusion.  This is as if there are two trains heading to different destinations.  The hypocrisy train has big PR budgets, has a huge lobby that managed to get most of the politicians in its pocket and speaks of constant threats to poor Israel (and "democracy").  Its agents in the media like Wolf Blitzer (who used to be a Zionist lobbyist before he became a CNN anchor) push openly for confrontation with Iran after they pushed for confrontation with Iraq.  They now interview protestors in Iran who are opposed to the government but will not present the other side.  The same cabal refuses to even interview one Palestinian protestor fighting a far more repressive apartheid government of Israel.  That is the train that has many starry-eyed passengers, a train that uses double standards and contorted logic to justify ethnic cleansing and distracts attention from other realities with lies and new conflicts. This is the train whose willing and unwilling soldier passengers marshal on on the path of destruction thinking they have no choice.

Free Gaza Speaks about the Delayed Departure of the Hope Fleet

Subject: Public Advisory - We did not leave Cyprus today

PUBLIC ADVISORY

(25 June 2009, LARNACA) - This is not the statement we in the Free Gaza Movement intended to release today. We had hoped to announce that our two ships, the Free Gaza and the Spirit of Humanity, departed from Larnaca Port on a 30-hour voyage to besieged Gaza, carrying human rights activists who have travelled to Cyprus from all across the world for this journey, 3 tons of medical supplies, and 15 tons of badly needed concrete and reconstruction supplies.

you must be joking - a new translation in mahsanmilim

There are the usual forms of harassment, such as abusing the vendors, or chasing away taxi-van drivers everywhere.
Perhaps because, like land-grab and both loud and quiet transfer, denying people their sources of livelihood is part of official State policy. And the soldiers have standing orders to implement it, even if these orders do not appear in writing anywhere.

by Joy Ellison, Live from Palestine, 18 June 2009

A couple of months ago I had the great pleasure of
watching Palestinians successfully graze their sheep near
Avigail settlement, on land where they are regularly
attacked and harassed.

His name is Ezra Nawi.

We keep saying his name because we believe that the more people know him and know his name, the harder it will be for the Israeli military to send him quietly to jail.

And Ezra Nawi is anything but quiet.

He is a Jewish Israeli of Iraqi descent who speaks fluent Arabic.

Labour for Palestine: Second Issue of Jafa Now Available!

Labour for Palestine is pleased to announce the second issue of Jafa - Labour Bulletin in Solidarity with Palestine
This second issue has a special focus on Israel's war on Gaza. We publish here a range of solidarity resolutions that were passed by unions around the world, analysis of the aftermath, and discussion around next steps for labour solidarity. We also launch a new section, Histadrut Watch, which will monitor the activities of Israel's racist trade union federation.

REPORTS FROM THE WEST BANK

Make acquaintance with mahsanmilim

Dear All,

If you have not yet made acquaintance with mahsanmilim (www.mahsanmilim.com ) you should.  The true stories below are a sampling of the realities that Aya and Tamar work hard to monitor and relate.  There are also videos, even one of a woman giving birth at a checkpoint, and much more.

http://nagyelali.blogspot.com/2009/05/solidarity-with-gaza-fishermen.html

Everyday I hear in the news about firing on the Palestinian fishermen in Gaza. Yesterday I was invited to attend a strike to support the fishermen in Gaza port which was organized by the International campaign to end the siege on Gaza. Gaza fishermen take a risk to feed their children.

4:30pm, 15 May 2009: A 12-year old girl has been shot with 0.22 calibre live
ammunition in Ni'lin

Summer Amira, was shot by Israeli forces as she was standing on the roof of
her home. Amira was shot in her lower arm, near her elbow around 4:30pm.

15 May 2009

The Al-Ma'sara Committee against the Wall and Settlements has been
organizing and participating in demonstrations against the confiscation of
their land for the past two and a half years.

Thursday, 14 May 2009 00:04 Added by PT Editor Pal Tel Admin
 
Gaza Strip, May 14, (Pal Telegraph) - Another Palestinian child died in a very dramatic scene documented on T.V. A baby aged 2 died today from a heart defect made worse by lack of medical care due to the Israeli imposed siege.

Aljazeera's reporter, Tamer Al meshal, reveals one of the miseries resulting from the Israeli siege on Gaza . Feras As'ad Al Mazlom, an infant aged 2, was the only child of newly married couple As'ad and Amal.

Haaretz reporter Amira Hass arrested upon leaving Gaza 
 
By Haaretz Service 
 
Tags: Amira Hass, Gaza Strip   

Israel Police on Tuesday detained Haaretz correspondent Amira Hass upon her exit from the Gaza Strip, where she had been living and reporting over the last few months.

Hass was arrested and taken in for questioning immediately after crossing the border, for violating a law which forbids residence in an enemy state. She was released on bail after promising not to enter the Gaza Strip over the next 30 days.

Palestinian and Israeli Human Rights Organisations Release Joint Fact Sheet Calling for an End to International Donor Complicity in Israeli Violations of International Law

On 2 March 2009, major international donors convened in Sharm al-Sheikh to collectively respond to the destruction caused by Israel’s 23 day military offensive on the Gaza Strip. During the conference, a total of $4.5 billion was pledged in reconstruction funds for Gaza. In light of the extensive destruction across the Gaza Strip, especially the destruction of civilian homes and infrastructure, reconstruction is urgent.

da infopal

Genocidio a Gaza, Israele mette a tacere l'Onu: bloccate le indagini per crimini di guerra.

E' un altro colpo messo a segno dallo stato sionista contro la legalità e il diritto internazionali.

Sembra infatti che il Segretario generale Onu Ban Ki-Moon abbia ceduto alle pressioni israeliane e non abbia avallato il rapporto della commissione investigativa delle Nazioni Unite, che ha condannato Israele per i crimini commessi durante la guerra di Gaza.

More: www.savegaza.eu

By Sameh A. Habeeb

Italy, May 5, 2009-The climax to the Seventh Palestinians in Europe conference was the launch of the long anticipated ‘Hope for Gaza convoy’ The convoy moved to Gaza and recently is in the Mediterranean carried by a shipping boat.

MIDEAST: 60,000 Palestinians at Risk in Jerusalem, UN Warns

By David Cronin

JERUSALEM, May 1 (IPS) - A report published Friday by a United Nations agency has warned that the problems facing the people of Silwan, who are facing eviction from their homes, are replicated throughout East Jerusalem.

by Adham Khalil
Social worker
Gaza strip

Life will not stop, I will challenge the Israeli occupation and rise up despite of the hurts, said : Shireen Shamia, 26 years old, a Palestinian art teacher. Shireen lives in Jabalia Camp in northern of Gaza Strip. She has lost Two of her brothers . Israeli Occupation army shelled her house around ten o'clock in the morning on 19 January 2009 by F16 warplanes where she lives with  20 of  her family.

His name was Basem

April 20, 2009

His name was Basem, which means smile, and that is how he greeted everyone. But we all called him ‘Pheel’, which means elephant because he had the body the size of an elephant. But Basem had the heart of a child.

For Immediate Release:

4pm Friday, 24 April 2009: 10 demonstrators injured in Bil’in with
rubber coated steel bullets.

According to Luisa Morgantini, Vice-President of the European
Parliament, who participated in the protest, demonstrators gathered
near the spot where Basem Abu Rahme was killed by a high velocity tear
gas projectile on 17 April 2009 to erect a monument in his honor.

Monday April 13, 2009 by Translation - Saed Bannoura - IMEMC

He is a small child, yet he is confined to home arrest, not allowed to leave home with his parents, even for doctor visits.

This is not fiction, this is politics, the child is from the occupied Golan Heights, but he was born in Syria.

His mother and father are from Majdal Shams, one of the biggest villages in the Syrian Golan Heights, occupied by Israel.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

The preparations for the European "Hope" convoy due to arrive early May from Italy in the besieged Gaza Strip are going on at a rapid pace in the framework of efforts undertaken by pro-Palestine organizations in Europe to break the Israeli siege imposed on the Strip.

Following the murder of Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahme (ElFeel) during a popular demonstration against the wall

Saturday, 18.4.09, 19:30

March from King George St., Corner of Ben Zion
to the Ministry of Defense (Ha'Kirya), Tel Aviv

This time it happened in Bil'in. But same criminal Modus Operandi as occurred in March 13th. It is certainly carried out by the same criminal organization that attacked our comrade Tristan Anderson, and it is backed by a known funder of terrorist groups around the world located in a large office building in Washington DC. The funders actually do this quite openly, showing no shame whatsoever, with the hopes that the supporters of this terror organization will continue to give them backing, and that everyone else will keep quiet. This seems to be working, but there are signs that there is dissent growing. This same funder of terror in Palestine has been known to fund genocidal operations around the world, with near total impunity. From the genocide of East Timor, Guatemala, to the War against Vietnam and many other places all have been granted aid from this same organization. It is granting political and legal immunity, at this very moment, for those who have engaged in gross forms of torture, who are known to be living in the United States quite openly and freely, despite legal action being taken against them.

Thoughts for the family of Abraham, a martyr for justice.

May the earth be protected from the actions of the US Congress and this
entire regime.

Jim Harris

The most moral army in the world. Fact
 
By Yitzhak Laor   Tags: israel news  
 
On June 19, 1977, the Sunday Times marked the 10-year anniversary of the occupation with a wide-ranging expose on the torture of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The report concluded that torture was so widespread and systematic that it was impossible to dismiss these deeds as "'rogue' cops exceeding orders. It appears to be sanctioned as deliberate policy."

Date: 9 April 2009 By Nehemia Shtrasler
 
Julian Soufir wants to be let out. He doesn't even understand why he's being kept at the Abarbanel Mental Hospital. He says he's recovered and feels fine. His doctors say he has made progress and should be released in a few months. But he already wants to be put in less restrictive conditions and immediately afterward be granted parole. After all, Passover is the holiday of freedom and all he did was kill an Arab.

By: Abbas Hamideh
April 9, 2008 (originally appeared in Al-Awda's news letter "Until Return" and many others)
 
My father, Fakhri Quasim Hamideh was a survivor of the Massacre at Deir Yassin on April 9th 1948. Like most Palestinian refugees, his greatest wish since his forced expulsion in 1948 was to one day be able to return to his village in Palestine. Unfortunately 53 years later, on February 7, 2001, while driving himself to his regular doctor visit, he passed away at an Israeli check point in Ramallah. My Father was receiving kidney dialysis treatment on a regular basis at the Ramallah Hospital. Due to the delay at the Israeli check point that day he could not get through in time. He went into cardiac arrest and passed away inside his vehicle despite all efforts trying to get through the check point. There were witnesses who explained this to the family including the Palestinian ambulance medics and hospital officials in Ramallah. We flew to Palestine the next day for burial procedures and met with the hospital administration. My Dad was laid to rest in Ramallah away from his village of Deir Yassin. His dream to Return was now passed on to his children, the descendants of his beloved village of Deir Yassin!

Bahar and delegates of 14 countries boycott Israel's speech at IPU meeting 

ADDIS ABABA, (PIC)-- Dr. Ahmed Bahar, the acting speaker of the PLC, along with representatives of 14 countries and the Arab parliamentary union boycotted the speech of Israel's representative during the 120th meeting of the inter-parliamentary union (IPU) held in Addis Ababa in protest at the Israeli war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip.

PFLP slams Fateh and Hamas for their inability to achieve reconciliation

Saed Bannoura - IMEMC
Thursday April 02, 2009

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) slammed on Thursday Fateh and Hamas movements for failing to achieve reconciliation, and demanded the two factions achieve a deal that ends the internal rifts and restores unity.

http://palsolidarity.org/2009/04/5727

Justice for Tristan
http://justicefortristan.org/

Tristan Anderson, an American citizen, was critically injured during a demonstration in the West Bank village of Ni'lin. Anderson was shot in the head with a tear gas projectile from around 60 meters by Israeli forces on 13 March 2009. http://palsolidarity.org/2009/03/5324

The UN has appointed South African judge and former war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone to lead a fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip.

Mr Goldstone will investigate alleged violations of international law during the recent conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants.

25/03/2009

Parents of American Activist Tristan Anderson, Who was Critically Injured by Israeli Military: "We Want Justice for Our Son"

Written by Isabel Nicholson, Alternative Information Center (AIC)

Tristan Anderson, an American activist with the International Solidarity Movement, was shot in the forehead by the Israeli border police during a non-violent demonstration on March 13th in the West Bank Palestinian village of Ni’ilin. Tristan’s parents, Nancy and Michael Anderson, held a press conference today (March 23) at the Alternative Information Center (AIC) in Jerusalem to demand justice for their son.

IDF fashion 2009
 
By Uri Blau 
 
Haaretz, Sat., March 21, 2009 Adar 25, 5769, Tags: Israel News, IDF, Gaza 

The office at the Adiv fabric-printing shop in south Tel Aviv handles a constant stream of customers, many of them soldiers in uniform, who come to order custom clothing featuring their unit's insignia, usually accompanied by a slogan and drawing of their choosing. Elsewhere on the premises, the sketches are turned into plates used for imprinting the ordered items, mainly T-shirts and baseball caps, but also hoodies, fleece jackets and pants. A young Arab man from Jaffa supervises the workers who imprint the words and pictures, and afterward hands over the finished product.

By Richard Falk - 19 March, 2009

Le Monde Diplomatique

Lack of international action against Israel's war on Gaza illustrates the grand hypocracy of human rights rhetoric. But civilian groups can now use international law to show the 'legitimacy gap' of Israeli government tactics in the Palestinian territories, argues Richard Falk.

Haaretz

The 2nd installment of Haaretz’s story about Israeli atrocities against Gaza civilians is out.  I’ve translated large portions of the piece here.  I hope you’ll both read & circulate this important information:

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam

/2009/03/20/idf-testimony-of-possible-war-crimes/

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072466.html

Forwarded by the JPLO List

On Behalf Of Jewish Peace News

Rose Mishaan was a member of the National Lawyer's Guild delegation to Gaza shortly after the ceasefire.  Her devastating report is a must-read. Go to Mondoweiss, which originally posted it, to see pictures as well:

http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/03/us-eyewitness-in-gaza-as-a-world-we-utterly-failed-the-palestinians-of-gaza-we-stood-and-watched-the.html

 --rebecca vilkomerson

US Eyewitness in Gaza: 'The reality of a very real bloodbath set in...'

By Roxe Mishaan

It took me a month to write this email. In that month, I've been through a whirlwind of emotions, trying to find away to process the things that I saw. I still haven't figured it out.

PROTEST: THE BUTCHER OF GAZA IS COMING TO NEW YORK!

Waldorf Astoria (50th & Park)
NYC
Subway: 6 to 51st St./E/V to Lexington Ave.

Stand in Solidarity with the Palestinian People of Gaza and in outrage against an elite fundraising dinner ($1,000 a plate) for the Israeli Occupation Forces featuring its Chief of Staff. Over 1,300 Palestinians were murdered in cold-blood in the recent attacks on Gaza, and thousands more have died before and since due to the IOF's genocidal blockade. This is the criminal behavior which the "Friends" of the IOF want to raise more money to fund!

By Adam Entous Adam Entous
Wed Mar 11, 2:23 pm ET 

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The United States is protesting to Israel over seemingly random restrictions on deliveries to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip of harmless goods such as soap and toilet paper, diplomats said Wednesday. 

Diplomats fear day-to-day crisis management on Gaza was diverting the United States and other Western governments from bigger issues like the goal of restarting peace negotiations for a Palestinian state. 

6/03/2009 Haretz by Amira Hass  
 
GAZA - We had already visited this house, belonging to the Abu Eida family. It is the only one of the family's nine large houses that remained standing at the eastern edge of the city of Jabalya following Operation Cast Lead. The demolition of the family's houses and its four cement factories spells the loss of 40 years of hard work.

THIS WEEK I had a nostalgic experience. I met a parliamentary delegation from one of the European countries. What turned this meeting into a special occasion for me was its location.

The “Pasha Room” of the “American Colony” Hotel in East Jerusalem is a beautiful square hall, decorated in traditional Arab style. I was in this hall at the moment Yitzhak Rabin held out his hand to Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn at the Oslo agreement signing ceremony.

March 04, 2009

I'm writing you today because hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza are suffering terribly following the recent Israeli attacks-paid for by your tax dollars and mine.

Even before this horrifying assault, there were tremendous shortages of food, medicine, electricity and fuel because of the Israeli blockade that has been going on for nearly two years.

Nick Young is chief executive of the British Red Cross

According to Ali al-Hayek, head of the Palestinian Union of Businessmen and the owner of factories that manufacture cinderblocks, "It was not an ordinary soldier that blew up and destroyed all these buildings." Hayek, who has taken dozens of photographs of the different arenas of destruction, added: "Only an engineer knows how and where to attack a building made of concrete so that it will collapse completely, and not fall on the destroyers. A simple soldier will be afraid. This is an army that spent about three hours in every factory and demolished it or blew it up without coming under attack. It's not a five-minute wrecking job."

24/02/2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i09zKV7krhI

Palestinian farmers, accompanied by international Human Rights Workers (HRWs), were fired upon by Israeli forces in the village of Khoza’a, near Khan Younis, this morning. The farmers and HRWs were attempting to work on land around 300m from the ‘Green Line’.

Settlers run over Palestinian child, attack citizen and burn his car
 
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- An Israeli settler on Wednesday ran over the 8-year-old Palestinian child Islam Al-Ja'bari in Al-Khalil city and sped away while settlers south of Jenin city attacked a Palestinian man in his fifties and burnt his car.

OneWorld USWed Feb 18, 12:21 pm ET

WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (OneWorld.net) - At least 100,000 people remain homeless one month after the ceasefire in Gaza, with many living in squalid conditions without access to clean water and toilets.

Thousands of Palestinians now reside in makeshift "tent cities" that have sprung up in place of demolished neighborhoods, while tens of thousands more have been forced to move into cramped living quarters with family and friends, says Save the Children UK. More than half of the 100,000 people that have lost their homes are children, adds the international charity. (See the full report below.)

Jayyous, Qalqilya region:

Four international Human Rights Activists from the USA, Sweden and Germany are currently inside the Israeli blockade in the West Bank village of Jayyous, near Qalqilya.

7/02/2009 - www.uruknet.info?p=51603

Eric Ruder explains why Israel's offensive against Gaza will continue to claim lives for years to come.

7/02/2009 by BEN HUBBARD: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29069253/

5/02/2009 By Ilene R. Prusher 
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

After the war, Gazans seek answers on white phosphorus - Gaza doctors add to the growing number of accounts that suggest Israel used white phosphorus munitions against international norms of war.

28/01/2009 PCHR Palestinian Centre for Human Rights LTD (non profit)

European Union Failing its Obligations to Protect Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) demands that European Union (EU) immediately take action in order to protect human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The EU is currently failing in its obligations to effectively intervene in order to protect the lives of civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), especially civilians in the Gaza Strip, whose human rights are being massively violated by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). PCHR is dismayed by recent statements made by, and actions taken by, EU states regarding human rights violations in the OPT.

by: http://www.kawther.info/wpr/author/admin

I have decided to publish some names and photos of the Israeli military personnel who participated in the so-called "Operation Cast Lead", the offensive launched by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on the Gaza Strip between 27 December and 18 January 2009. The names of these criminals called my attention since the first day of their criminal attack against the Palestinian civilians in Gaza. I consider each person who took part in this IOF and each one whose name appears in this report as a war criminal who should be requested by an international court of justice, just like all other war criminals who were persecuted before…

PRESS RELEASE AND ACTION ALERT!

For Immediate Release Beirut,

Lebanon International Lawyers without Borders ( Indirizzo e-mail protetto dal bots spam , deve abilitare Javascript per vederlo ), OKOK, the International Coalition against Impunity ( Indirizzo e-mail protetto dal bots spam , deve abilitare Javascript per vederlo ) and the Sabra Shatila Foundation ( Indirizzo e-mail protetto dal bots spam , deve abilitare Javascript per vederlo ), Inspired by the work of the January 2009 BeirutForum09 Conference in Beirut, Lebanon, join with EAFORD,

THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION ( Indirizzo e-mail protetto dal bots spam , deve abilitare Javascript per vederlo ) in this important Petition Initiative: