Meron Rapoport - Ha’aretz - July 6, 2007
In July 1950, Majdal - today Ashkelon - was still a mixed town. About 3,000 Palestinians lived there in a closed, fenced-off ghetto, next to the recently arrived Jewish residents. Before the 1948 war, Majdal had been a commercial and administrative center with a population of 12,000.
It also had religious importance: nearby, amid the ruins of ancient Ashkelon, stood Mash'had Nabi Hussein, an 11th-century structure where, according to tradition, the head of Hussein Bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, was interred; his death in Karbala, Iraq, marked the onset of the rift between Shi'ites and Sunnis. Muslim pilgrims, both Shi'ite and Sunni, would visit the site. But after July 1950, there was nothing left for them to visit: that's when the Israel Defense Forces blew up Mash'had Nabi Hussein.
This was not the only Muslim holy place destroyed after Israel's War of Independence.
According to a book by Dr. Meron Benvenisti, of the 160 mosques in the Palestinian villages incorporated into Israel under the armistice agreements, fewer than 40 are still standing. What is unusual about the case of Mash'had Nabi Hussein is that the demolition is documented, and direct responsibility was taken by none other than the GOC Southern Command at the time, an officer named Moshe Dayan.
The documentation shows that the holy site was blown up deliberately, as part of a broader operation that included at least two additional mosques, one in Yavneh and the other in Ashdod.
A member of the establishment is responsible for the documentation: Shmuel Yeivin, then the director of the Department of Antiquities, the forerunner of the present-day Antiquities Authority. Yeivin, as noted by Raz Kletter, an archaeologist who has studied the first two decades of archaeology in Israel, was neither a political activist nor a champion for Arab rights.
As Kletter explains, he was simply a scientist, a disciple of the British school and a member of the Mandate government's Department of Antiquities who believed that ancient sites and holy places needed to be preserved, whether they were sacred to Jews, Christians or Muslims. In line with his convictions, he fired off letters of protest and was considered a nudnik by the IDF.
"I received a report that not long ago, the army blew up the big building in the ruins of Ashkelon, which is known by the name of Maqam al-Nabi Hussein and is a holy site for the Muslim community," Yeivin wrote on July 24, 1950, to Lieutenant Colonel Yaakov Patt, the head of the department for special missions in the Defense Ministry, and sent a copy to chief of staff Yigael Yadin and other senior officers. "That building was still standing during my last visit to the site, on June 10 - in other words, the army authorities found no reason to demolish it from the conquest until the middle of 1950. I find it hard to imagine the site was blown up due to infiltrators, as they have not stopped infiltrating the area during this entire period."
The detonation, by the way, was extremely successful. Of the ancient and holy site, not so much as a stone remained.
==============
al majdal, is named after one of the depopulated Palestinian cities in the south of Palestine now known as the Israeli city of Ashkelon. Unlike many others towns and villages in Palestine, not all of the people of al-Majdal Jad, as it was known, had fled or were evicted from their town during the war of 1948. More than a 1,500 residents remained steadfast until 1950, when they were finally evicted by a combination of Israeli military force and bureaucratic measures reminicent of the current Israeli policy of ethnic cleansing applied against the Palestinian inhabitants in the eastern areas of occupied Jerusalem. Thus, Palestinians of al-Majdal Jad were turned into refugees, most of them finding shelter in the nearby Gaza Strip. Like other Palestinian refugees, they have not disappeared. They have remained close to their homes and lands. Of old age now, they, their children and grandchildren have built a new, temporary existence and identity as refugees. For the past 50 years, they have built new hopes and dreams based on the international recognition of their right of return, and struggled for the day when they would live as free citizens in al-Majdal/Ashkelon.
Showing posts with label meron benvenisti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meron benvenisti. Show all posts
Tuesday, 10 July 2007
Sunday, 8 July 2007
The Case for Shared Sovereignty
Meron Benvenisti, The Nation - June 18, 2007
The term "de facto binational state" is preferable to the occupier/occupied paradigm, because it describes the mutual dependence of both societies, as well as the physical, economic, symbolic and cultural ties that cannot be severed except at an intolerable cost. Describing the situation as de facto binational is not prescriptive but descriptive, and it does not indicate parity between Israelis and Palestinians--on the contrary, it stresses the total dominance of the Jewish-Israeli nation, which controls a Palestinian nation that is fragmented both territorially and socially.
The term "de facto binational state" is preferable to the occupier/occupied paradigm, because it describes the mutual dependence of both societies, as well as the physical, economic, symbolic and cultural ties that cannot be severed except at an intolerable cost. Describing the situation as de facto binational is not prescriptive but descriptive, and it does not indicate parity between Israelis and Palestinians--on the contrary, it stresses the total dominance of the Jewish-Israeli nation, which controls a Palestinian nation that is fragmented both territorially and socially.
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
Top architects accuse Israelis of oppression
Hugh Muir, The Guardian, Saturday May 26, 2007
Leading British architects have accused their counterparts in Israel of complicity in schemes that contribute to the "social, political and economic oppression of Palestinians".
The architects, including Will Alsop, Terry Farrell, Richard MacCormac, Royal Institute of British Architects president Jack Pringle and president-elect Sunand Prasad, have signed a petition organised by the group Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine.
"APJP asserts that the actions of our fellow professionals working with these enterprises are clearly unethical, immoral and contravene universally recognised professional codes of conduct," a spokesman said. "We ask the Israeli Association of United Architects (IAUA) to meet their professional obligations to declare their opposition to this inhuman occupation."
Mr Alsop told Building Design magazine that they felt compelled to act. "This is not against Israel, it's for Palestine," he said. "I think the Palestinians are living in a prison. I'd like fellow colleagues in Israel to feel some responsibility about this shabby treatment. Architects are a fairly humanitarian lot and perhaps they could help."
But the intervention was attacked by the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Its chief executive, Jon Benjamin, said: "What they are saying is that they have a certain view and that Israeli architects must publicly declare that to be their position as well." Mr Benjamin said Israeli Arabs and Jews were working together on numerous low-profile but worthy projects in the occupied territories: "The two sides should be encouraged to work together."
========================
Opposing the architects of the occupation
Esther Zandberg, Ha'aretz, May 28, 2007
About 200 British and Israeli architects and academics, including people of international renown, have signed a manifesto initiated by the British organization Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine, which calls on Israeli architects and planners to put an end to being "partners in social, political and economic oppression" in the occupied territories, "which violates the professional ethics acceptable to all."
The manifesto points to three representative projects currently promoted by the planning authorities: the master plan for the E1 region between the settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem, which will prevent Palestinian territorial contiguity; construction in Silwan in East Jerusalem, which involves the demolition of dozens of homes; and a plan to build a luxury neighborhood on the remains of the former Palestinian village of Lifta.
The organization considers participation in these projects, construction in the occupied territories and any planning in Israel that involves discrimination and repression, to be a blatant violation of international conventions, which require professional and ethical responsibility for the social and environmental consequences of planning and construction work. The organization has sent letters on the subject to the International Architects Association and to the Israel Association of United Architects. It has also turned to Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski and to Minister of Construction and Housing Meir Sheetrit on the matter.
===========================
A Civilian Occupation: The Politics of Israeli Architecture
By Rafi Segal, Eyal Weizman, Meron Benvenisti, Gideon Levy, Oren Yiftachel -Thursday, 27 November 2003
The original exhibit on which this book is based was banned. When this happened, the exhibitors were invited to mount the exhibit in New York.
Censored last year by the Association of Israeli Architects, A Civilian Occupation is the first attempt by Israeli architects, scholars, journalists, and photographers to highlight the role of Israeli architecture in the Middle East conflict.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the declared aim of the Zionist project has been to build a national home for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. From the settlement offensive of the Tower and Stockade villages in the 1930s, through the total planning of the state of Israel soon after its independence, to the colonization of the occupied territories from 1967 to the present, this book reveals how central Israeli architecture has been in securing that aim.
Leading British architects have accused their counterparts in Israel of complicity in schemes that contribute to the "social, political and economic oppression of Palestinians".
The architects, including Will Alsop, Terry Farrell, Richard MacCormac, Royal Institute of British Architects president Jack Pringle and president-elect Sunand Prasad, have signed a petition organised by the group Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine.
"APJP asserts that the actions of our fellow professionals working with these enterprises are clearly unethical, immoral and contravene universally recognised professional codes of conduct," a spokesman said. "We ask the Israeli Association of United Architects (IAUA) to meet their professional obligations to declare their opposition to this inhuman occupation."
Mr Alsop told Building Design magazine that they felt compelled to act. "This is not against Israel, it's for Palestine," he said. "I think the Palestinians are living in a prison. I'd like fellow colleagues in Israel to feel some responsibility about this shabby treatment. Architects are a fairly humanitarian lot and perhaps they could help."
But the intervention was attacked by the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Its chief executive, Jon Benjamin, said: "What they are saying is that they have a certain view and that Israeli architects must publicly declare that to be their position as well." Mr Benjamin said Israeli Arabs and Jews were working together on numerous low-profile but worthy projects in the occupied territories: "The two sides should be encouraged to work together."
========================
Opposing the architects of the occupation
Esther Zandberg, Ha'aretz, May 28, 2007
About 200 British and Israeli architects and academics, including people of international renown, have signed a manifesto initiated by the British organization Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine, which calls on Israeli architects and planners to put an end to being "partners in social, political and economic oppression" in the occupied territories, "which violates the professional ethics acceptable to all."
The manifesto points to three representative projects currently promoted by the planning authorities: the master plan for the E1 region between the settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem, which will prevent Palestinian territorial contiguity; construction in Silwan in East Jerusalem, which involves the demolition of dozens of homes; and a plan to build a luxury neighborhood on the remains of the former Palestinian village of Lifta.
The organization considers participation in these projects, construction in the occupied territories and any planning in Israel that involves discrimination and repression, to be a blatant violation of international conventions, which require professional and ethical responsibility for the social and environmental consequences of planning and construction work. The organization has sent letters on the subject to the International Architects Association and to the Israel Association of United Architects. It has also turned to Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski and to Minister of Construction and Housing Meir Sheetrit on the matter.
===========================
A Civilian Occupation: The Politics of Israeli Architecture
By Rafi Segal, Eyal Weizman, Meron Benvenisti, Gideon Levy, Oren Yiftachel -Thursday, 27 November 2003
The original exhibit on which this book is based was banned. When this happened, the exhibitors were invited to mount the exhibit in New York.
Censored last year by the Association of Israeli Architects, A Civilian Occupation is the first attempt by Israeli architects, scholars, journalists, and photographers to highlight the role of Israeli architecture in the Middle East conflict.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the declared aim of the Zionist project has been to build a national home for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. From the settlement offensive of the Tower and Stockade villages in the 1930s, through the total planning of the state of Israel soon after its independence, to the colonization of the occupied territories from 1967 to the present, this book reveals how central Israeli architecture has been in securing that aim.
Monday, 28 May 2007
Howard's dubious Jewish National Fund honor
Sonja Karkar, The Electronic Intifada, 21 May 2007
There is something worrying about a prime minister of a liberal, democratic country who imposes values on his country's citizens and those who wish to become citizens, yet does not adhere to those values when he regards it politically expedient to ignore them. This is precisely what Prime Minister John Howard has done in accepting the "honour" of having a forest named after him in Israel's Negev Desert and also the Jerusalem Prize for his support of Israel and its "values". And John Howard is in good company: Sir Robert Menzies and Bob Hawke -- both former Australian prime ministers -- also have forests in Israel named after them, as well as a former governor-general, Sir Zelman Cowen.
The naming of the John Howard forest was arranged by a quasi-private land agency, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) which deliberately discriminates against non-Jews in its allocation of long-lease agreements. This arrangement services Israel's apartheid policies aimed at bringing about the Judaisation of all of the land originally known as historic Palestine. The Israeli government relies on the JNF and international Zionist organizations to bring in Jews from abroad to settle on land forcibly taken from the non-Jewish inhabitants -- a practice which is discriminatory and illegal. Already the JNF holds 13 per cent of the land and now is currently advertising its "Blueprint Negev" as "A Miracle in the Desert". Only Jews will have access to the new development in keeping with the JNF's charter, which is focused on looking after Jews globally.
The Negev Desert was and is the home of the indigenous Bedouin Arabs who are now citizens of present-day Israel. Some 80,000 have been living in 45 unrecognised villages in the southern Negev Desert and although they have a right to vote in Israel's national elections and have a duty to pay taxes if they work, they have been calculatingly ignored when the Israeli government approves of planning projects for new Jewish communities. Their lands have been systematically confiscated and thousands of them have been forced to live in poor and densely populated shanty towns that is anathema to their traditional life on the land. These shanty towns are totally neglected by the Israeli government and the Bedouins have no access to even basic infrastructure like water, electricity and sewage. There are no roads or medical and welfare services and no municipal authority to administer services. The Bedouins, therefore, have no access to any authority that might issue permits for building and when out of necessity they do build, they live in constant fear of having their homes destroyed.
The similarity of conditions between the Bedouin Arabs and black South Africans during the Apartheid era is obvious. Like the white South Africans, Jewish Israelis seek to preserve their privileged position in Israel at all costs, tragically to the detriment of the non-Jewish citizens. All Israel's policies, therefore, are geared to ensure the exclusivity and security of the Jewish state. Thus, mass expulsions followed by home demolitions and razing of villages is a familiar story in Israel just as forced removal was the modus operandi in South Africa. Under Israel's former Prime Minister Sharon, a five-year plan was approved by the Israeli cabinet, to force the Bedouins living in the unrecognised villages to leave. There was no consultation, just a gradual increase in house demolitions, the spraying of herbicide on crops to stop land cultivation and the filing of eviction suits. Places were renamed and Jewish towns, villages and cooperatives were built in place of the Bedouin villages. The Bedouins, who once owned 94 per cent of the total land, have had their land declared state property. They now own less than three per cent, and those who refuse to leave their unrecognised villages, are called "squatters".
The JNF -- which has marketed itself in the last decade as a premier Zionist environmental organization -- plans to settle half a million Israelis in the Negev in 25 low density housing communities over ten years. But, what the JNF calls the last great natural reserve of Israel, has been the subject of legal proceedings by Bedouin Arabs wanting to reclaim their land, and John Howard's forest sits right in the middle of this disputed land. It would have been far more prudent for our prime minister to decline these honours than associate himself with a state that practices racial discrimination and human rights abuses against its own non-Jewish citizens. After all, Howard was at great pains to stop the Australian cricket team from playing in Zimbabwe as a protest against Robert Mugabe's "grubby" regime. Equally and clearly, the JNF's acts on behalf of Israel, do not measure up to our Australian values of a fair go, tolerance and inclusion. The prime minister ought to bring his values into line with the rest of Australia, instead of associating himself so unreservedly with Israel.
Sonja Karkar is the founder and president of Women for Palestine in Melbourne, Australia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ben-Gurion "sold" land belonging to Palestinian refugees to the Jewish National Fund
Meron Benvenisti, Ha'aretz, 29/05/2007
Of the more than 2.5 million dunams owned by the JNF, two million dunams were not purchased with the small coins put into the blue boxes, but were rather lands abandoned by Arabs that David Ben-Gurion, in a typical maneuver, "sold" to the JNF in 1949-1950. The first deal was clinched on January 27, 1949. It included the sale of a million dunams of abandoned land in various areas in return for about 18 million Israeli pounds.
This was an improper and also an illegal decision. The Israeli government sold the JNF lands that it did not own, but which had rather been captured in the war (and even the laws that it had enacted by then did not grant the state ownership of these lands). Ben-Gurion thereby achieved three aims. First of all, he transferred responsibility for the abandoned lands, on which new settlements were planned, from the Mapam party, which held the agriculture portfolio, to the JNF, which was under the influence of his own party, Mapai. Secondly, he could claim to have clean hands with respect to the continued confiscation of lands. And thirdly, he established a political fact that barred the way to the refugees' return.
A week before the decision on the sale of the million dunams, the United Nations General Assembly had passed Resolution 194, under which the refugees were to be permitted to return to their homes, and if they chose not to return, they would receive compensation. Ben-Gurion did not want Israel's sovereignty to be sullied by matters that stank of illegality, deviation from international norms and immorality.
The heads of the JNF knew very well that the sale was illegal, but it was important to them to establish that the JNF would continue serving as the institution that held the Jewish people's lands and developed them for purposes of settlement. They insisted that the government commit itself to "making (in the future) all the legal arrangements so that the lands will be registered under the JNF's full ownership under the laws of the State of Israel."
There is something worrying about a prime minister of a liberal, democratic country who imposes values on his country's citizens and those who wish to become citizens, yet does not adhere to those values when he regards it politically expedient to ignore them. This is precisely what Prime Minister John Howard has done in accepting the "honour" of having a forest named after him in Israel's Negev Desert and also the Jerusalem Prize for his support of Israel and its "values". And John Howard is in good company: Sir Robert Menzies and Bob Hawke -- both former Australian prime ministers -- also have forests in Israel named after them, as well as a former governor-general, Sir Zelman Cowen.
The naming of the John Howard forest was arranged by a quasi-private land agency, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) which deliberately discriminates against non-Jews in its allocation of long-lease agreements. This arrangement services Israel's apartheid policies aimed at bringing about the Judaisation of all of the land originally known as historic Palestine. The Israeli government relies on the JNF and international Zionist organizations to bring in Jews from abroad to settle on land forcibly taken from the non-Jewish inhabitants -- a practice which is discriminatory and illegal. Already the JNF holds 13 per cent of the land and now is currently advertising its "Blueprint Negev" as "A Miracle in the Desert". Only Jews will have access to the new development in keeping with the JNF's charter, which is focused on looking after Jews globally.
The Negev Desert was and is the home of the indigenous Bedouin Arabs who are now citizens of present-day Israel. Some 80,000 have been living in 45 unrecognised villages in the southern Negev Desert and although they have a right to vote in Israel's national elections and have a duty to pay taxes if they work, they have been calculatingly ignored when the Israeli government approves of planning projects for new Jewish communities. Their lands have been systematically confiscated and thousands of them have been forced to live in poor and densely populated shanty towns that is anathema to their traditional life on the land. These shanty towns are totally neglected by the Israeli government and the Bedouins have no access to even basic infrastructure like water, electricity and sewage. There are no roads or medical and welfare services and no municipal authority to administer services. The Bedouins, therefore, have no access to any authority that might issue permits for building and when out of necessity they do build, they live in constant fear of having their homes destroyed.
The similarity of conditions between the Bedouin Arabs and black South Africans during the Apartheid era is obvious. Like the white South Africans, Jewish Israelis seek to preserve their privileged position in Israel at all costs, tragically to the detriment of the non-Jewish citizens. All Israel's policies, therefore, are geared to ensure the exclusivity and security of the Jewish state. Thus, mass expulsions followed by home demolitions and razing of villages is a familiar story in Israel just as forced removal was the modus operandi in South Africa. Under Israel's former Prime Minister Sharon, a five-year plan was approved by the Israeli cabinet, to force the Bedouins living in the unrecognised villages to leave. There was no consultation, just a gradual increase in house demolitions, the spraying of herbicide on crops to stop land cultivation and the filing of eviction suits. Places were renamed and Jewish towns, villages and cooperatives were built in place of the Bedouin villages. The Bedouins, who once owned 94 per cent of the total land, have had their land declared state property. They now own less than three per cent, and those who refuse to leave their unrecognised villages, are called "squatters".
The JNF -- which has marketed itself in the last decade as a premier Zionist environmental organization -- plans to settle half a million Israelis in the Negev in 25 low density housing communities over ten years. But, what the JNF calls the last great natural reserve of Israel, has been the subject of legal proceedings by Bedouin Arabs wanting to reclaim their land, and John Howard's forest sits right in the middle of this disputed land. It would have been far more prudent for our prime minister to decline these honours than associate himself with a state that practices racial discrimination and human rights abuses against its own non-Jewish citizens. After all, Howard was at great pains to stop the Australian cricket team from playing in Zimbabwe as a protest against Robert Mugabe's "grubby" regime. Equally and clearly, the JNF's acts on behalf of Israel, do not measure up to our Australian values of a fair go, tolerance and inclusion. The prime minister ought to bring his values into line with the rest of Australia, instead of associating himself so unreservedly with Israel.
Sonja Karkar is the founder and president of Women for Palestine in Melbourne, Australia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ben-Gurion "sold" land belonging to Palestinian refugees to the Jewish National Fund
Meron Benvenisti, Ha'aretz, 29/05/2007
Of the more than 2.5 million dunams owned by the JNF, two million dunams were not purchased with the small coins put into the blue boxes, but were rather lands abandoned by Arabs that David Ben-Gurion, in a typical maneuver, "sold" to the JNF in 1949-1950. The first deal was clinched on January 27, 1949. It included the sale of a million dunams of abandoned land in various areas in return for about 18 million Israeli pounds.
This was an improper and also an illegal decision. The Israeli government sold the JNF lands that it did not own, but which had rather been captured in the war (and even the laws that it had enacted by then did not grant the state ownership of these lands). Ben-Gurion thereby achieved three aims. First of all, he transferred responsibility for the abandoned lands, on which new settlements were planned, from the Mapam party, which held the agriculture portfolio, to the JNF, which was under the influence of his own party, Mapai. Secondly, he could claim to have clean hands with respect to the continued confiscation of lands. And thirdly, he established a political fact that barred the way to the refugees' return.
A week before the decision on the sale of the million dunams, the United Nations General Assembly had passed Resolution 194, under which the refugees were to be permitted to return to their homes, and if they chose not to return, they would receive compensation. Ben-Gurion did not want Israel's sovereignty to be sullied by matters that stank of illegality, deviation from international norms and immorality.
The heads of the JNF knew very well that the sale was illegal, but it was important to them to establish that the JNF would continue serving as the institution that held the Jewish people's lands and developed them for purposes of settlement. They insisted that the government commit itself to "making (in the future) all the legal arrangements so that the lands will be registered under the JNF's full ownership under the laws of the State of Israel."
Sunday, 22 April 2007
The Legend of the Removed Checkpoints
The Legend of the Removed Checkpoints
Ran HaCohen, April 19, 2007
In this exceptional case, it took less than a week to expose the dirty deal between the government and the army. Scores and dozens of such deals – among the government, the army, and the settlers – are never exposed; the entire Israeli colonial project is based on such deals, made behind the back of all democratic mechanisms.
But this was an exception.
On Jan. 22, following an embarrassing UN report, the army had to admit:
"The Israel Defense Forces admitted yesterday that the 44 dirt obstacles it said had been removed from around West Bank villages did not actually exist.
-------------
But why bother to tell the truth when a lie is just as good?
Three months later, Israel is again counting on our short memory. In an official meeting between the Israeli prime minister and the Palestinian president, no less, the army airs once again the legend about the 44 "removed checkpoints."
The lie exposed in January is recycled as truth in April, and everybody is happy: Israel can claim it kept its promise, the Americans can claim progress in the "peace process," even President Mahmoud Abbas can claim an achievement.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
IDF source admits 44 barriers allegedly removed did not exist
Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent, 22/01/2007
The Temples of the Occupation
Meron Benvenisti, Ha'aretz, 01.01.2007
So far, of the dozens of checkpoints promised to be removed from the West Bank in a "gesture" to Mahmoud Abbas, not a single checkpoint has been dismantled.
Ran HaCohen, April 19, 2007
In this exceptional case, it took less than a week to expose the dirty deal between the government and the army. Scores and dozens of such deals – among the government, the army, and the settlers – are never exposed; the entire Israeli colonial project is based on such deals, made behind the back of all democratic mechanisms.
But this was an exception.
On Jan. 22, following an embarrassing UN report, the army had to admit:
"The Israel Defense Forces admitted yesterday that the 44 dirt obstacles it said had been removed from around West Bank villages did not actually exist.
-------------
But why bother to tell the truth when a lie is just as good?
Three months later, Israel is again counting on our short memory. In an official meeting between the Israeli prime minister and the Palestinian president, no less, the army airs once again the legend about the 44 "removed checkpoints."
The lie exposed in January is recycled as truth in April, and everybody is happy: Israel can claim it kept its promise, the Americans can claim progress in the "peace process," even President Mahmoud Abbas can claim an achievement.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
IDF source admits 44 barriers allegedly removed did not exist
Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent, 22/01/2007
The Temples of the Occupation
Meron Benvenisti, Ha'aretz, 01.01.2007
So far, of the dozens of checkpoints promised to be removed from the West Bank in a "gesture" to Mahmoud Abbas, not a single checkpoint has been dismantled.
Wednesday, 24 January 2007
IDF source admits 44 barriers allegedly removed did not exist
IDF source admits 44 barriers allegedly removed did not exist
Last update - 04:59 22/01/2007 Haaretz
Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent
The Israel Defense Forces admitted on Sunday that the 44 dirt obstacles it said had been removed from around West Bank villages did not actually exist.
Last Tuesday, the IDF announced that it had removed 44 dirt obstacles that blocked access roads to West Bank villages, to fulfill promises made by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting a month ago. Olmert had pledged measures to ease the lives of Palestinian civilians.
However, a military source admitted on Sunday that these obstacles"had either been removed before the political level decided on the alleviations or had been bypassed by Palestinians earlier, and a decision had been made not to rebuild them."
This statement confirms a claim made recently by United Nationsorganizations operating in the territories: that most of these barriers were not removed, because they had not existed for months.
In response, the IDF Spokesman's Office said: "The IDF recentlyremoved 44 barriers in an effort to ease the movement of the Palestinian population in Judea and Samaria. These actions are being carried out in line with assessments of the situation."
The IDF has erected close to 400 such dirt obstacles in recent years.
The Temples of the Occupation
Meron Benvenisti, Ha'aretz, 01.01.2007
So far, of the dozens of checkpoints promised to be removed from the West Bank in a "gesture" to Mahmoud Abbas, not a single checkpoint has been dismantled.
Impossible travel
Amira Hass, Ha'aretz,Saturday, 20 January 2007
All the promises to relax restrictions in the West Bank have obscured the true picture.
Last update - 04:59 22/01/2007 Haaretz
Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent
The Israel Defense Forces admitted on Sunday that the 44 dirt obstacles it said had been removed from around West Bank villages did not actually exist.
Last Tuesday, the IDF announced that it had removed 44 dirt obstacles that blocked access roads to West Bank villages, to fulfill promises made by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting a month ago. Olmert had pledged measures to ease the lives of Palestinian civilians.
However, a military source admitted on Sunday that these obstacles"had either been removed before the political level decided on the alleviations or had been bypassed by Palestinians earlier, and a decision had been made not to rebuild them."
This statement confirms a claim made recently by United Nationsorganizations operating in the territories: that most of these barriers were not removed, because they had not existed for months.
In response, the IDF Spokesman's Office said: "The IDF recentlyremoved 44 barriers in an effort to ease the movement of the Palestinian population in Judea and Samaria. These actions are being carried out in line with assessments of the situation."
The IDF has erected close to 400 such dirt obstacles in recent years.
The Temples of the Occupation
Meron Benvenisti, Ha'aretz, 01.01.2007
So far, of the dozens of checkpoints promised to be removed from the West Bank in a "gesture" to Mahmoud Abbas, not a single checkpoint has been dismantled.
Impossible travel
Amira Hass, Ha'aretz,Saturday, 20 January 2007
All the promises to relax restrictions in the West Bank have obscured the true picture.
Palestinians harassed in Hebron ‘cage’
Yifat Alkoby, a Jewish settler from the Hebron settlement of Tel Rumeida, is seen assaulting and swearing at women and girls from the neighboring Abu-'Ayesha family, who were forced to build a metal cage around their home to protect themselves from the repeated and violent attacks by Jewish settlers.
YNet: On tape: Palestinians harassed in Hebron ‘cage’
Ali Waked, January 10th, 2007
Abu-Aisha and his extended family live in a two-storey house. “The cage you see in the video is where we live. Not once do we open the door and not hear curse words or get stones and eggs thrown at us,” he said. “The latest fashion during this cold winter – the settlers spray us with cold water using a big fire hose located near the house.”
Abu-Aisha said “hell” is not a strong enough word to describe what his family is going through.
Press coverage of Hebron settler violence
ISM, January 11th, 2007
Senior official in West Bank Police responds to video clip revealed in Ynet showing settler cursing Palestinian family. Settler summoned for police investigation, but doesn’t show. B’Tselem, of all groups, asks not to turn her into scapegoat.
===================
Implement which law?
Meron Benvenisti, Ha'aretz, Friday, 19 January 2007
It's easy to condemn the vulgarity of the settler from Hebron, and it's easy to dismiss the Jewish enclave there as a gang of violent thugs. But they are only weeds that sprout from the rotten ground of the cruel regime that prevails beyond the Green Line. It's a regime based on ethnic discrimination and separation, double standards and an absence of the rule of law.
Perfect timing
Amos Harel, Ha'aretz, January 16, 2007
The video tape showing settler Yifat Alkobi abusing her Palestinian neighbors in Hebron was aired at a perfect time from the perspective of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz.
It gave them the chance to compete with each other in their expressions of shock over Alkobi's behavior and to promise, like so many prime ministers and defense ministers before them, to take care of settler violence in Hebron.
The truth is that as repellent as Alkobi's actions were, they are a marginal matter compared to the long-term unruly behavior of the settlers, who have been gradually banishing the Palestinians from their homes in Hebron's Israeli-controlled H2 sector surrounding the city's Jewish homes, with state backing.
Condemnations, not steps
It's likely that this time, too, the matter will end with condemnations rather than concrete steps against the settlers involved.
Yesterday Peretz's deputy, Ephraim Sneh, visited Hebron and expressed the requisite shock. True change? Not now. The army isn't interested in clashing with the settlers, the police are cautious and the courts support them, for the most part.
Here's the story: Jewish construction is continuing in Hebron while the state looks in the other direction.
The Israel Defense Forces boast about the economic improvement in the lives of Palestinians residing in the Palestinian-controlled H1 sector, thereby distorting the sad truth: At this rate, Palestinians won't be living in the H2 sector for much longer.
========================
Nigel Parry's Hebron Diary
A closer look at Hebron's 'Jewish community'
Monday, 8 January 2007
The Temples of Occupation
The Temples of the Occupation
Meron Benvenisti, Ha'aretz, 01.01.2007
So far, of the dozens of checkpoints promised to be removed from the West Bank in a "gesture" to Mahmoud Abbas, not a single checkpoint has been dismantled.It will be interesting to see what excuse they come up with after the weather improves. The plan to remove the roadblocks has been delayed over some excuse or another for several years, and in the meantime their number has multiplied.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Haaretz probe finds little has changed at West Bank roadblocks
Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz, 11 January 2007
Israel has made it only marginally easier for Palestinians to get through roadblocks in the West Bank, and in many cases, no changes have been made at all, a Haaretz investigation yesterday of roadblocks in the Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah and Nablus areas reveals. The insignificant improvements fail to meet the commitment Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas during their December 24 meeting in Jerusalem.
Virtual concessions / Making a mockery of the state
Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff, Ha'aretz, 11 January 2007
When the government and defense establishment declare their intention to mitigate some of the restrictions on the Palestinians in the territories, they're counting on the Israeli media's short attention span.
Announcing alleviations to the press is immediately rewarded with large headlines, the improvement of Israel's image overseas and an easing in U.S. pressure for concessions. Usually nobody checks whether the alleviations were actually carried out.
If the Palestinians complain that the mitigations were not implemented, we can always accuse them of ungrateful whining and issue a bunch of confusing data in response.
However, after a trip along West Bank roadblocks yesterday, Haaretz found that while the traffic flow in a small number of the roads improved, the situation is very far from the rosy picture Israel has painted.
Meron Benvenisti, Ha'aretz, 01.01.2007
So far, of the dozens of checkpoints promised to be removed from the West Bank in a "gesture" to Mahmoud Abbas, not a single checkpoint has been dismantled.It will be interesting to see what excuse they come up with after the weather improves. The plan to remove the roadblocks has been delayed over some excuse or another for several years, and in the meantime their number has multiplied.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Haaretz probe finds little has changed at West Bank roadblocks
Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz, 11 January 2007
Israel has made it only marginally easier for Palestinians to get through roadblocks in the West Bank, and in many cases, no changes have been made at all, a Haaretz investigation yesterday of roadblocks in the Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah and Nablus areas reveals. The insignificant improvements fail to meet the commitment Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas during their December 24 meeting in Jerusalem.
Virtual concessions / Making a mockery of the state
Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff, Ha'aretz, 11 January 2007
When the government and defense establishment declare their intention to mitigate some of the restrictions on the Palestinians in the territories, they're counting on the Israeli media's short attention span.
Announcing alleviations to the press is immediately rewarded with large headlines, the improvement of Israel's image overseas and an easing in U.S. pressure for concessions. Usually nobody checks whether the alleviations were actually carried out.
If the Palestinians complain that the mitigations were not implemented, we can always accuse them of ungrateful whining and issue a bunch of confusing data in response.
However, after a trip along West Bank roadblocks yesterday, Haaretz found that while the traffic flow in a small number of the roads improved, the situation is very far from the rosy picture Israel has painted.
Friday, 22 December 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
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
Sunday, 17 December 2006
Why Israel will never truly let go of Gaza: Tanya Reinhart, Sep 2006
Ramadan in Gaza: no celebrations due to lack of money for gifts and food
Maan News, September 23, 2006
The morning prayer in Gaza, and the first day of Ramadan fasting, were accompanied by flights of Israeli helicopters. It seems that the absence of salaries has deprived Gaza of the possibility of carrying out suitable preparations for this religious month.
In 9 hours in Gaza, IDF kills 5, including 3 children, and injures 7
Press Release, PCHR, September 21, 2006
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why Israel Will Never Truly Let Go of Gaza
Tanya Reinhart in The Independent Weekly, Adelaide
September 2006
Whatever the fate of the captive soldier Gilad Shalit, the Israeli army's war in Gaza is not about him. As senior security analyst Alex Fishman reported, the army was preparing for an attack months earlier and was constantly pushing for it, with the goal of destroying the Hamas infrastructure and its government. The army initiated an escalation on June 8 when it assassinated Abu Samhadana, a senior appointee of the Hamas Government, and intensified its shelling of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meron Benvenisti on the Lebanon War and the Palestinian Conflict
No war is compelled by circumstances. In this case, the response and its scale were not at all compulsory. But our response is always the same response, which we then make justify itself, calling it a war for existence. And someone like me, after seventy years of sitting in this country, is quite fed up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the name of security, but not for its sake
Amira Hass, Haaretz, 20/09/2006
"...the Israeli security services are careful to act within the framework of a clear political paradigm: maximum weakening, in every possible way, of the Palestinian national collective, so that it will not be able to realize its goal and establish a state worthy of the name, in accordance with international resolutions."
Detainee Paralyzed During Torture in Israeli Prison
Mustafa Sabri - PNN;
translated by Saed Bannoura, September 20, 2006
Every Palestinian detainee has his own story of the horrors of being held in Israeli detention facilities, but in the case of detainee Luay Al Ashqar, 28, from Saida village, near Tulkarem (in the northern part of the West Bank), the result and the outcome are clearly apparent on his body, which has been paralyzed due to Israeli torture.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COSATU Congress Adopts Middle East Resolution
September 22, 2006
The 1.8 million strong Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) ended its 9th Congress in Johannesburg yesterday (21st September). A resolution on the Middle East sponsored by the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA), the Witwatersrand and Eastern Cape regions was unanimously adopted.
Student conference calls for Palestine actions
Simon Cunich, Sydney, GLW, 20/09/06
The September 15 Students for Peace and Justice conference, attended by 50 anti-war activists from universities across Sydney and from Wollongong University, called for a week of campus solidarity actions with the Palestinian people on October 9-13.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jewish writer's answer to Israel's question
My Israel Question by Antony Loewenstein
reviewed by Kim Bullimore, Melbourne Palestine Solidarity Network, GLW, 20/09/06.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Next Palestinian Struggle
Ramzy Baroud, September 22, 2006
If any peace settlement fails to adhere to the democratic concept, according to which Palestinians wish to govern themselves, then Palestinians should ready themselves for another Oslo-style agreement, imposed from the top and rubber stamped by the PLO's Executive Committee, long-devoid of its democratic principles and dominated by the elitist few.
Ramzy Baroud teaches mass communication at Curtin University of Technology.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I went to Nablus
Sonja Karkar writing from Nablus, September 20, 2006
I only found out many hours later when we had returned to Jerusalem that Nablus had been closed that night and no one could leave or enter. This was the beginning of some of the most invasive sieges by Israel's military to implement ethnic cleansing. I have since learned that public records have been totally destroyed, ground into the dust by bulldozers, leaving thousands of Palestinians without any evidence of births and deaths or the precious travel documents that allow them to go outside and study or visit relatives. Old records documenting the history of generations of Palestinians from Nablus are gone too. All this to make them non-people, sub-human - without a past or present and certainly no future. How much more must the Palestinians endure in their caged existence before the world says this is enough and tells Israel to stop their relentless torture of a whole people?
Sonja Karkar is an activist with Women for Palestine of Melbourne, Australia.
Maan News, September 23, 2006
The morning prayer in Gaza, and the first day of Ramadan fasting, were accompanied by flights of Israeli helicopters. It seems that the absence of salaries has deprived Gaza of the possibility of carrying out suitable preparations for this religious month.
In 9 hours in Gaza, IDF kills 5, including 3 children, and injures 7
Press Release, PCHR, September 21, 2006
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why Israel Will Never Truly Let Go of Gaza
Tanya Reinhart in The Independent Weekly, Adelaide
September 2006
Whatever the fate of the captive soldier Gilad Shalit, the Israeli army's war in Gaza is not about him. As senior security analyst Alex Fishman reported, the army was preparing for an attack months earlier and was constantly pushing for it, with the goal of destroying the Hamas infrastructure and its government. The army initiated an escalation on June 8 when it assassinated Abu Samhadana, a senior appointee of the Hamas Government, and intensified its shelling of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meron Benvenisti on the Lebanon War and the Palestinian Conflict
No war is compelled by circumstances. In this case, the response and its scale were not at all compulsory. But our response is always the same response, which we then make justify itself, calling it a war for existence. And someone like me, after seventy years of sitting in this country, is quite fed up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the name of security, but not for its sake
Amira Hass, Haaretz, 20/09/2006
"...the Israeli security services are careful to act within the framework of a clear political paradigm: maximum weakening, in every possible way, of the Palestinian national collective, so that it will not be able to realize its goal and establish a state worthy of the name, in accordance with international resolutions."
Detainee Paralyzed During Torture in Israeli Prison
Mustafa Sabri - PNN;
translated by Saed Bannoura, September 20, 2006
Every Palestinian detainee has his own story of the horrors of being held in Israeli detention facilities, but in the case of detainee Luay Al Ashqar, 28, from Saida village, near Tulkarem (in the northern part of the West Bank), the result and the outcome are clearly apparent on his body, which has been paralyzed due to Israeli torture.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COSATU Congress Adopts Middle East Resolution
September 22, 2006
The 1.8 million strong Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) ended its 9th Congress in Johannesburg yesterday (21st September). A resolution on the Middle East sponsored by the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA), the Witwatersrand and Eastern Cape regions was unanimously adopted.
Student conference calls for Palestine actions
Simon Cunich, Sydney, GLW, 20/09/06
The September 15 Students for Peace and Justice conference, attended by 50 anti-war activists from universities across Sydney and from Wollongong University, called for a week of campus solidarity actions with the Palestinian people on October 9-13.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jewish writer's answer to Israel's question
My Israel Question by Antony Loewenstein
reviewed by Kim Bullimore, Melbourne Palestine Solidarity Network, GLW, 20/09/06.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Next Palestinian Struggle
Ramzy Baroud, September 22, 2006
If any peace settlement fails to adhere to the democratic concept, according to which Palestinians wish to govern themselves, then Palestinians should ready themselves for another Oslo-style agreement, imposed from the top and rubber stamped by the PLO's Executive Committee, long-devoid of its democratic principles and dominated by the elitist few.
Ramzy Baroud teaches mass communication at Curtin University of Technology.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I went to Nablus
Sonja Karkar writing from Nablus, September 20, 2006
I only found out many hours later when we had returned to Jerusalem that Nablus had been closed that night and no one could leave or enter. This was the beginning of some of the most invasive sieges by Israel's military to implement ethnic cleansing. I have since learned that public records have been totally destroyed, ground into the dust by bulldozers, leaving thousands of Palestinians without any evidence of births and deaths or the precious travel documents that allow them to go outside and study or visit relatives. Old records documenting the history of generations of Palestinians from Nablus are gone too. All this to make them non-people, sub-human - without a past or present and certainly no future. How much more must the Palestinians endure in their caged existence before the world says this is enough and tells Israel to stop their relentless torture of a whole people?
Sonja Karkar is an activist with Women for Palestine of Melbourne, Australia.
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