Desmond Tutu: Israel refused fact-finding mission to Gaza

Nobel laureate Tutu to head UN rights probe of Israeli killing of Palestinian civilians
Report, UN News, 29 November 2006
Former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu will head the United Nations Human Rights Council fact-finding mission into Israeli military operations in Gaza established after 19 Palestinian civilians were killed in an attack on the town of Beit Hanoun earlier this month.

Tutu to head mission to Beit Hanoun
11/29/06 Al Jazeera.net
Desmond Tutu, the South African Nobel laureate, is to lead a UN fact-finding mission to investigate the killing of 19 Palestinians in their homes in Beit Hanoun earlier this month.

The United Nation Human Rights Council said the mission would report back by mid-December.Luis Alfonso De Alba, the president of the UNHRC, said that Tutu will travel to Gaza to "assess the situation of victims, address the needs of survivors, and make recommendations on ways and means to protect Palestinian civilians against further Israeli assaults".
Artillery bombardment

The UN Human Rights Council voted on November 15 to set up the fact-finding mission into the deaths during an Israeli artillery bombardment.

The former Anglican Archbishop chaired the South African Truth and Reconciliation after the end of the apartheid regime.

Thirty-two countries in the 47-member Council, mainly from Asia, Africa and the Middle East, voted for the resolution setting up the mission.

Eight countries, including Canada and European nations such as Britain and Germany, opposed the move.

Six nations, including France, Switzerland and Japan, abstained.

Nineteen Palestinians were killed on November 18 in the Israeli shelling of private homes in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun, which Israel blamed on a "technical malfunction".

Tutu is a former Anglican Archbishop in South Africa.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Lack of Israeli cooperation prevents UN fact-finding mission to Beit Hanoun
Report, UN News, 11 December 2006
Israel's lack of cooperation has prevented a fact-finding mission from the United Nations Human Rights Council from visiting Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, where an Israeli attack last month killed 19 Palestinian civilians, the head of the team, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu, said today.

Dorothy Naor - December 12, 2006
For those of you who have been wondering about the delay in Desmond Tutu's fact finding mission re the shelling of Beit Hanoun, now weknow: Israel delayed and delayed issuing a permit for the investigation until the Bishop understood the message: he was not tobe allowed into Gaza (this Israeli conduct was to be expected fromIsrael's past performance on such issues).

Such a 'democracy' is Israel! Freedom of speech? Nonsense! It's policy is no opinion allowed but the official Israeli one published by its best propagandists, as, for instance, Mark Regev. Of course this official Israeli opinion on Beit Hanoun states that the shelling that killed 19 people (most caught unawares in bed asleep) was"unintended." That won't bring the 19 back to life or the seriously injured back to health or the psychologically injured back to normal, any more than will George Bush's favorite word for human lives:"collatoral damage."

Desmond Tutu: Israel refused fact-finding mission to Gaza
Last update - 16:29 11/12/2006 Haaretz
By The Associated Press
"We find the lack of cooperation by the Israeli government very distressing, as well as its failure to allow the missing timely passage to Israel," Tutu told reporters after UN officials said Israel had blocked his UN fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip.

Tutu finds blocking of Gaza mission by Israel 'distressing'
Ellen Teague, LONDON - 19 December 2006
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former Anglican Archbishop of Capetown and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, has been unable to reach the Gaza Strip for a UN fact-finding mission because Israel would not cooperate with the visit. In a statement issued from Geneva last week, he said he and the assembled fact-finding team found "the lack of co-operation by the Israeli Government very distressing, as well as its failure to allow the mission timely passage to Israel". They had resisted entering Gaza through Egypt because they wanted to visit Israel as well and had "hoped for meetings with members of the [Israeli] Government at a high level".

The UN had appointed the Archbishop to lead a mission to the town of Beit Hanoun in Gaza, where 19 Palestinians were killed during Israeli military operations last month. The visit was to follow a UN Human Rights Council's resolution calling for a mission to "make recommendations on ways and means to protect Palestinians against further Israeli assaults". Israel has apologised for the 8 November attack, calling it the result of a technical error. Archbishop Tutu said the visit intended to look at human rights and humanitarian law violations by both sides, with a view to contributing "to the creation of a climate conducive to negotiations". In the statement, concern was expressed about the "humanitarian crisis of very serious proportions" in Gaza. "This is a time in our history that neither allows for indifference to the plight of those suffering," it commented, "nor a refusal to search for a solution to the present crisis in the region".

© Independent Catholic News 2006

24.11.06

White Sisters?
Paul Heywood - Smith QC, November 20, 2006
The Australian government's silence regarding Mr. Tamir's comments and its rejection of Senator Allison's bill raises some troubling questions regarding Australian foreign policy. To what extent do Mr. Tamir's comments reflect the Australian government's perception of Australia's place in the world?

Two White Sisters in Asia: Israel and Australia
M. Shahid Alam, November 7, 2006
Perhaps, it is this changing global scenario that is causing some Israelis to emphasize their root constituency: white solidarity. Is this why Ambassador Naftali Tamir is advising Israel to forge a deeper partnership with Australia? It is possible that deep down, some Australians too feel beleaguered among a 'sea of Asians,' even though no Asian country threatens Australia. Perhaps, the Ambassador speaks as an insider. Perhaps, that is why he thinks it might be a good idea to exploit these Australian fears.


Israel's white Australia policy!
Mark Elf, Friday, October 13, 2006
Check this out. It's a report in Ha'aretz about how the Israeli ambassador to Australia has suggested that Israel and Australia should unite on the basis of the whiteness of the populations that count in those two states.

As'ad AbuKhalil: The glorious country of Micronesia (which had sent one soldier into Iraq to support the American occupation) is in the news again: "Voting "no" were the United States, Israel, Australia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Palau. Abstaining were Canada, Ivory Coast, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu."

U.N. assembly presses Israel to withdraw from Gaza
Saturday November 18, 06:36 AM
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Friday to deplore a deadly Israeli artillery attack in Gaza, six days after the United States vetoed a similar measure in the Security Council.

The assembly voted 156-7 with six abstentions to approve a resolution put forward by Arab states that also urged the Jewish state to immediately withdraw its troops from Gaza.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iraq war was good for Israel: Olmert
Dan Williams, Wednesday November 22, 3:16 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Iraq war was a boon for Israel's security, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday, voicing fresh endorsement for a Bush administration sapped by the unpopularity at home of its Middle East policies.

WEXNER ANALYSIS: ISRAELI COMMUNICATION PRIORITIES 2003
For a year - a SOLID YEAR - you should be invoking the name of Saddam Hussein and how Israel was always behind American efforts to rid the world of this ruthless dictator and liberate their people. Saddam will remain a powerful symbol of terror to Americans for a long time to come. A pro-Israeli expression of solidarity with the American people in their successful effort to remove Saddam will be appreciated.

Peretz's office admits 'irregularities' in use of cluster bombs during war
Meron Rapoport, Ha'aretz, November 21, 2006
Meanwhile, for the first time yesterday, the IDF admitted targeting populated areas with cluster munitions. In a statement released by the IDF Spokesman's Office, "the use of cluster munitions against built-up areas was done only against military targets where rocket launches against Israel were identified and after taking steps to warn the civilian population." The statements released by the minister's office contradict Israel Defense Forces' claims - made both during and after the war - regarding the use of cluster munitions.

Civilians bear brunt of abuses, UN rights chief says
Report, UN News, November 23, 2006

International court on trial
Ian Black
Israel, another significant non-signatory, fears prosecutions over its behaviour in occupied Palestinian territories - such as the incident in which 18 Gazan civilians were killed by shelling this month. Still, the court's reach is fairly limited. Though the UN security council can ask the ICC to launch investigations, it has no police force or coercive powers of its own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Swedish human rights worker viciously attacked by Jewish extremists in Hebron
ISM Hebron, November 18, 2006
A 19-year old Swedish human rights worker had her cheekbone broken by a Jewish extremist in Hebron today. Earlier the same day at least five Palestinians, including a 3-year-old child, were injured by the settler-supporting extremists, who rampaged through Tel Rumeida hurling stones and bottles at local residents. Palestinian schoolchildren on their way home were also attacked. The Israeli army, which was intensively deployed in the area, did not intervene to stop the attacks.

Nigel Parry's Hebron Diary

International Solidarity Movement updates

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hollow Visions of Palestine's Future
Jonathan Cook, November 18, 2006
Peace will need more than David Grossman - or Uri Avnery.

A project of dispossession can never be a noble cause
Ahdaf Soueif, November 17, 2006
Israel's liberal intellectuals lament the malaise that grips their country - but refuse to face up to the ethnicide at the heart of it.

Realities of death - November 2006
The value of life has little to do with the value accorded to death and the latter, writes Azmi Bishara, is determined as much by who did the killing as by the identity of the victim.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Israel ups the stakes in the propaganda war
Stewart Purvis, November 20, 2006
Amir Gissin talked last week of plans to get Israeli video onto sites like YouTube which he said were viewed by opinion "shapers". And his cousin Dr Ra'anan Gissin, formerly Ariel Sharon's media adviser, has endorsed the idea of having picture power at the country's disposal ready for future conflicts. Referring to Israel's opponents, he put it in his usual direct way: "You need to shoot a picture before you shoot them."

SourceWatch: Hasbara refers to the propaganda efforts to sell Israel, justify its actions, and defend it in world opinion. The premise of hasbara is that Israel's problems are a matter of better propaganda, and not one of an underlying unjust situation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bright lights and promises
The new Palestinian government of technocrats may bring an end to sanctions, and hope for the peace process reports Khaled Amayreh.
Fatah is likely to take the Foreign Ministry and a number of other service- oriented portfolios. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Palestinian Democratic Initiative headed by Mustafa Barghouti and the Third Way, headed by former minister of finance Salam Fayad, are all expected to take part in the upcoming government.

A committed intellectual - November 2006
Mustafa Barghouti reflects on the work and life of Edward Said.

Propaganda and war
Edward Said, September 2001
Never have the media been so influential in determining the course of war as during the Al-Aqsa Intifada, which, as far as the Western media are concerned, has essentially become a battle over images and ideas. Israel has already poured hundreds of millions of dollars into what in Hebrew is called hasbara, or information for the outside world (hence, propaganda).

Perpetual discord - November 2006
Dina Ezzat is shocked by the Arabs' endless ability to accommodate Israeli violations and American arrogance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Killing Hope in Beit Hanoun
Ramzy Baroud, November 18, 2006

The Worst Ramadan

A prayer in paradise
Gideon Levy, Haaretz, November 23, 2006
The kindergarten teacher is lying on a stretcher, covered with blood. The minibus is parked alongside. From somewhere to the left, the army cannon is firing shells. The children are lying on the ground next to one another. That is how one of the children described the morning when they were driving to their kindergarten in Beit Lahia and an Israel Defense Forces shell or missile - the army spokesman refuses to say - exploded several meters away and mortally wounded the teacher before their eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Caterpillar Homewrecker's Visit to London
Tom Hayes, November 24, 2006
On Wednesday around 50 protesters including the rhythms of resistance samba band turned out to 'greet' Mike Baunton, the Vice President of Caterpillar, who was due to speak at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers' Annual Dinner.

The message of the bulldozers
Jeff Halper, November 19, 2006
Israel's policy of demolishing Palestinian homes is part and parcel of an overall policy of displacement in which 80% of the Palestinians have been pushed from what has become Israel. Almost half of the entire Palestinian people (those living in the Occupied Territories) are being confined to a truncated Bantustan. Millions of refugees continue to languish in camps and 'Israeli Arabs', Palestinian citizens of Israel, find their own status increasingly threatened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Artist Suzanne Klotz's Indispensable Guide to the Holy Land
Mulham Assir, November 24, 2006
Her commitment to the Palestinian cause is above all else spiritual. A deeply compassionate and genuine humanist, Klotz believes that the spiritual teachings of all major religions are the same. She also believes that Zionism has not only perverted and misrepresented Judaism to both Jews and Christians but is also misrepresenting and demonizing Muslims and Islam to the world. Her current work is a collection of 99 books she is creating, each representing one of God's attributes.

Karen Armstrong: How Religious Movements Prolong the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Carlton Cobb, CNI, November 20, 2006

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peace never - November 2006
In Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Dina Ezzat seeks out the Israeli drive for peace.

Nine Israeli human rights organizations speak out about Gaza
Statement, Israeli human rights organizations, November 17, 2006

Israel/Palestine: Violence Hasn't Worked
Vivienne Porzsolt, November 22, 2006

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Palestinians hail Irish academics' support of Palestine
David Lundy, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, November 21, 2006
Irish academics were thanked this week in an open letter, signed by over 100 academics and 1,000 students of Birzeit University near Ramallah, Palestine. The thanks were addressed to the 61 Irish academics who wrote a public letter in September calling for a moratorium on EU aid to Israeli universities, until Israel abides by international law and basic human rights norms.

Why The Academic Boycott Is Necessary
Lawrence Davidson, November 2006

Witnessing an Undercover Operation in Ramallah

A Tale of Two Sisters: Witnessing an Undercover Israeli Operation in Ramallah
Annemarie Jacir, occupied Palestine, 15 November 2006

Emily Jacir's blog from Ramallah
Today is November 15th. Today is our supposed "Independence Day". A joke. Was almost killed today. This will be brief and inarticulate. I am still in shock.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Book Review: The Second Palestinian Intifada by Ramzy Baroud
Fred Wilcox, 7 November 2006
Palestinians who resist the occupation suffer terrible consequences, but they are not alone. An Israeli sniper in the Jenin refugee wounded Ian Hook, a United Nations coordinator. Mr. Hook bled to death when the IDF refused to permit an ambulance to take him to a hospital. On the same day Hook was murdered, Israeli soldiers shot and wounded a twenty-three year-old Irish activist, Caoimhe Butterly, who was standing in the line of fire between the IDF and Palestinian children.

Treacherous Road to Oslo Begins Here
Ramzy Baroud, November 13, 2006

Pinochet in Palestine
Joseph Massad, 9 - 15 November 2006

Academic set for Palestinian 'unity' leadership
Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem, 14 November 2006

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gaza: While the world looked elsewhere, another week of death and misery
Donald Macintyre In Beit Hanoun, 11 November 2006

How a Beit Hanun Family was Destroyed
Amira Hass, November 13, 2006

Not Without my Daughter
Gideon Levy, November 13, 2006
Above all, this is the story of a little girl whose life was ruined during the festive first trip in the family car that her father had bought, when it was hit by an air force missile. Perhaps it was supposed to kill a wanted man, but instead it hit the new car and wiped out an innocent family. But no less than that, this is also the story of her father, Hamdi Aman, a young man of 28 who lost his small son, his wife, his mother and his uncle during the cursed family outing, and whose life's work is now his disabled daughter's rehabilitation.

Preparing for the next invasion
Amira Hass, Haaretz, 15 November 2006
The management of the Beit Hanun hospital decided to dig a well in the hospital's yard. By Saturday, laborers and bulldozers were already on the job. That is how the hospital is readying itself for the next invasion by the Israeli army.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

US vetoes Security Council draft resolution on Israeli operations in Gaza
Report, UN News, 11 November 2006
Exercising its veto in the Security Council today, the United States blocked a draft resolution that won the endorsement of 10 other members and would have called for a United Nations fact-finding mission in response to a recent Israeli operation in Gaza resulting in at least 18 civilian deaths.

UN expert urges Israel to stop destruction in Gaza, calls for military sanctions
Report, UN News, 13 November 2006

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Dissenting Note on the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917
On the Anti-Semitism of the Present Government
By Lord Montague

South Africa seen as model for Palestine
Ali Abunimah, The Chicago Tribune, 13 November 2006

Lieberman And Israeli Apartheid
Saree Makdisi, 15 November, 2006
The only thing that distinguishes Avigdor Lieberman from run of the mill politics in Israel is that he is willing to take Israel's vision of itself to its logical conclusion. Rather than tolerating non-Jews as second or third class citizens, he wants them out altogether. The issue, then, is not that Lieberman is more racist than other Israeli politicians. It is, rather, that he shamelessly utters what most of his peers dare not say aloud.

The Anatomy of a Beautiful Soul
Raymond Deane, The Electronic Intifada, 9 November 2006
Of Israeli literature's "three wise men", Grossman is the one who universally gleans most respect. When the "three wise men" came out against the recent Lebanon war two weeks after it had started, this was widely reported and totted up to their credit. The fact that they had initially backed it enthusiastically wasn't reported at all.

Poetic license
Meron Benvenisti, Ha'aretz, 16 November 2006

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

French troops 'came close to shooting down Israeli jets'
Angela Charlton in Paris, 10 November 2006
The French government has demanded that Israel stop mock raids over Lebanon after French peacekeepers came within seconds of shooting down Israeli warplanes.

Military sales to Israel challenged
Richard Norton-Taylor, Wednesday November 15, 2006

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Contract of the Distilled Egotism
Benny Ziffer (Tziffer), Zalman Amit (translator)
Ha'aretz, November 8, 2006
We already have experience with one thousand and one cases where Palestinians were killed by mistake.

No one is guilty in Israel
Gideon Levy, November 14, 2006
A few hours after the disaster, while the Gaza Strip was still enveloped in sorrow and deep in shock, the air force was already hastening to carry out another targeted killing, an arrogant demonstration of just how much this disaster does not concern us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How Gaza Offends Us All
Jennifer Loewenstein, Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford University's Refugee Studies Centre, 11.09.2006
What a terrible shame it is that Gazans have not yet attained the status of Human in the eyes of the Western powers, for the resistance there will continue to be an enigma until this changes. For now, however, the slaughter will continue unabated.

Cultural diplomacy
Jessica Robertson Wright, The Jerusalem Fund, 13 November 2006
With reactions ranging from bugged-out eyes to shocked silence, I have started tempering my response to the job question by mumbling that I work for a Middle Eastern nonprofit. However, my husband, who loves to rile people up and dismisses my soft-pedaling, usually leans over when he hears me and chimes in with a hearty "It's a Palestinian organization." And there the conversation dies.

The Democrats Don't Care
Kathleen and Bill Christison, 13 November 2006

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Photostory: The Old City of Nablus
November 14th, 2006 Posted in Journals, Nablus Region,
Photos by Bill Dienst MD, November 13th
Nablus, population 113 thousand, is the West Bank's second largest city: second only to East Jerusalem. Founded during the time of the Romans, it is over 2000 years old.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear student, what does Dad think of the army?
Meron Rapoport, Ha'aretz, 15 November 2006
The homeroom teacher did not tell the students the truth, and maybe she didn't know it herself. Those questionnaires were not meant "to remain with the youth counselors." They were meant to reach the Education Corps and to help it find "problematic clients," the young people who are not happy about army induction and to give them personal attention. The IDF uses the direct-mailing method. The product it is marketing with this method is the military draft.

Israel opted for cheaper, unsafe cluster bombs in Lebanon war
Meron Rapoport, Haaretz, 14 November 2006
The main reason for the use of the U.S.-made weapons: Israel uses military aid funds to purchase cluster bombs from the U.S., and in order to buy IMI-made bombs, the Israel Defense Forces would have to dip into its own budget.

How Israel put Gaza civilians in firing line
Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor, Sunday November 12, 2006
The IDF has claimed a fault in the artillery radar system's co-ordinates for the missiles changed the margin of error from 25 to 200m, but that still does not explain why it waited until the following day to return fire to a general area - a policy that the Israeli peace group B'Tselem describes as a 'war crime'.

Grave suspicion of extrajudicial execution of two wounded Palestinians
B'Tselem - 8 November 2006
B'Tselem's investigation indicates that Salim Abu al-Heijah and Mahmoud Abu Hassan were executed by soldiers while they lay wounded, unarmed and posed no risk to the soldiers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For Evangelicals, Supporting Israel Is 'God's Foreign Policy'
David D. Kirkpatrick, The New York Times,14 November 2006

Christian Zionism: An Egregious Threat to Middle East Understanding
Report, Council for the National Interest, 26 October 2006

Save a Jew, Save Yourself!
10.25.2004
Mark Ames reviews The American Prophecies by Michael D. Evans

http://www.christianzionism.org/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As'ad AbuKhalil reviews Time Magazine's
The Middle East: The History,the Conflict, the Culture, the Faiths
12 November 2006

Norman Finkelstein on Jimmy Carter's Peace Not Apartheid (New York: 2006)
10 November 2006

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Photostory: How to Harvest Olives In Palestine
Omar, with photos, editing, and English translation by Dr. Bill
Dienst writing from Qraawa-Beny-Zed, occupied Palestine, 13 November 2006

Academic Boycott: "We do not want to continue business as usual"

We overcame our fear
Jameela al-Shanti in Beit Hanoun
Thursday November 9, 2006
Yesterday at dawn, the Israeli air force bombed and destroyed my home. I was the target, but instead the attack killed my sister-in-law, Nahla, a widow with eight children in her care. In the same raid Israel's artillery shelled a residential district in the town of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip, leaving 19 dead and 40 injured, many killed in their beds. One family, the Athamnas, lost 16 members in the massacre: the oldest who died, Fatima, was 70; the youngest, Dima, was one; seven were children. The death toll in Beit Hanoun has passed 90 in one week.

Israel kills 18 in shelling of Gaza town
08 Nov 2006 07:43:17 GMT, Source: Reuters
Nidal al-Mughrabi
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Israeli tank shells killed 18 civilians in Gaza on Wednesday including 13 members of one family, Palestinian officials and residents said, in one of Israel's deadliest strikes in the territory in months.UN officials voice 'shock and dismay' at deadly

Israeli shelling of Gaza civilians
Report, UN News, 8 November 2006

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Women of Beit Hanoun
Eliza Ernshire, November 7, 2006
The winter rains have started and the temperatures are falling everyday. Unsealed roads are fast becoming muddy tracks. The heavens are weeping too, witness to the frightful events that are unfolding now in that devastated and forgotten strip of land that we call Gaza, home to 3 million Palestinians.

Gaza women killed in mosque siege
Friday, 3 November 2006, 22:15 GMT
The BBC's Matthew Price in Jerusalem says that in television footage of the incident, some men are visible in the crowd, but there is no evidence that they were carrying guns.

Israeli troops open fire on women outside mosque
Staff and agencies, 3 November 2006

Video: http://multimedia.repubblica.it/home/463524

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/help/3681938.stm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A blog by Dr. Mona El-Farra, a physician by training, a human rights and women's rights activist by practice, in the occupied Gaza Strip.
http://fromgaza.blogspot.com/

Laila El-Haddad, journalist, mom, occupied Palestinian-all packed into one.
http://a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Casualties Mount in New Israeli Attack on Gaza
Thursday, November 2nd, 2006
Amy Goodman interviews Jennifer Loewenstein, visiting research fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford University, currently in Gaza City.

Listen to Maj. Gen. Stern
Gideon Levy, 7 November, 2006
In recent months, almost no day has gone by without Palestinians being killed in Gaza. Instead of asking why, we get a prime minister who boasts to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee about "300 terrorists" dead within four months, as if killing in itself were an enormous achievement. This is the lesson from Ehud Olmert, and it is immeasurably more grievous than all his alleged corruption affairs.

Another Hamas Peace Plan Ignored
Ira Chernus, 4 November 2006

Video: Norman Finkelstein on Hamas, current crisis
Lebanon, Hezbollah (Burlington, VT, 09.30.2006)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a six-day barrage, Israel leaves Gaza town to count dead
Sa'id Ghazali in Beit Hanoun and Eric Silver in Jerusalem
Published: 08 November 2006

Beit Hanoun: Israelis pull out leaving trail of death
Rory McCarthy in Beit Hanoun
Wednesday November 8, 2006
Hours after the Israeli military pulled out of the town of Beit Hanoun yesterday morning, Talal Nasr was at the cemetery to search for a spot to bury the body of his 13-year-old daughter.

Olmert to press on with Gaza offensive
Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
Monday November 6, 2006

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gaza: ICRC deplores the death of two Palestine Red Crescent volunteers carrying out their humanitarian duties
5-11-2006 Press Release 06/121

International Red Cross says Israeli forces hit clearly marked ambulance workers November 5, 2006
The Associated Press

Red Cross deplores the deaths of two paramedics in Gaza
Report, ICRC, 6 November 2006
Palestinian friends and relatives attend the funeral of paramedic Ahmed al-Madhoun, 43, who was killed during clashes with Israeli forces in Beit Hanoun in Gaza, 4 November 2006.

Red Cross: IDF hit clearly marked ambulance workers
Last update - 07:59 06/11/2006

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Transcripts of Campus Conflict & Vincent/Danby Interview
Dateline, SBS - November 8, 2006

Targeting the University
Joseph Massad, 3 June 2005

Neocon Man
Eyal Press - April 22, 2004
Pipes conceded to me that there was an element of "wishful thinking" among supporters of the war, "including in myself." He might have been more sober-minded had he listened to some of the arguments being made by members of the profession he once, a long time ago, aspired to join.

Pipes' personal views on the conflict can be traced back to the early days of the struggle. In 1923, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, an ideological father to the Israeli right wing, wrote that there would be no peace until the Arabs in Israel were psychologically crushed. "As long as the Arabs preserve a gleam of hope that they will succeed in getting rid of us, nothing in the world can cause them to relinquish that hope," he declared.

"AIPAC has undertaken a massive effort to educate all congressional candidates on the value of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Nearly every candidate has met with AIPAC professional staff members and submitted a position paper summarizing his or her views on U.S. policy toward the Middle East. A non-partisan organization, AIPAC has for decades worked with Republican, Democratic and Independent members of Congress to strengthen the ties between the United States and Israel."
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2006/11/aipac-has-undertaken-massive-effort-to.html

Israel Comes First - Pelosi at AIPAC
Joshua Frank, 31 May 2005

Blaming the lobby
Joseph Massad, March 2006

A Note of Dissent: On the Israel Lobby Piece by Mearsheimer and Walt
As'ad AbuKhalil, Friday, March 17, 2006
Since I returned from Qatar on Thursday, I must have received a copy of the Israel Lobby article by Mearsheimer and Walt from more than 20 different sources, at least. It is clear that this is one of those pieces that get wide circulation over the internet (the internet? that is where Walid Jumblat "found" evidence that Shib`a Farms are not Lebanese). I of course read it with interest. This is what I think. I will be referring to the full text that appeared as a Faculty Research Working Papers Series by the Kennedy School of Government.

Debating the Lobby in Manhattan - Israel Sends in the Clowns
Michael J. Smith, 29 September 2006

The Demographics of American Jews
Lenni Brenner, 24 October 2003

The Lobby and the Great Protestant Crusader
The NYT Confronts Mearsheimer and Walt--Not Quite Head On
Lenni Brenner, 17 March 2006

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Academic Boycott: "We do not want to continue business as usual"
Birgit Althaler, 8 November 2006

Final Report of the Conference
"The Struggle Continues: Boycotting Israeli Apartheid"