A force more powerful
17 May 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rLater this month, ships from all over the world will converge in the Mediterranean and set sail for the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip. This international coalition is called the Freedom Flotilla. Ewa Jasiewicz comments for The Electronic Intifada.

Gaza youth learn music and challenge the occupation
14 May 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rGAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) – Mohammed Omer, 28, is one of five teachers at the Gaza Music School in Tel al-Howa, Gaza City. Formerly in the al-Quds hospital Red Crescent complex, the school moved to its current location not far from the hospital after the complex was bombed and burned during the 23-day Israeli assault on Gaza. Eva Bartlett reports.

Arrest of Palestinian leaders in Israel “a dangerous development”
14 May 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThe recent arrest of two respected public figures from Israel’s Palestinian Arab minority in nighttime raids on their homes by the Shin Bet secret police—brought to light this week when a gag order was partially lifted—has sent shock waves through the community. Jonathan Cook analyzes.

Israel increasingly resembling a police state
13 May 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rRAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) – Israeli nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu has been sentenced to another three months imprisonment for allegedly refusing to perform community service in West Jerusalem. His arrest follows the detention of Palestinian leaders in Israel.

Irish activists urge divestment at CRH annual meeting
12 May 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rIreland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) activists are pressuring the Ireland-based international building materials group CRH to divest from its Israeli subsidiary Mashav. Last week, IPSC members attended the annual CRH general shareholders meeting as activist shareholders. Adri Nieuwhof and John Dorman report.

Israel imposing occupation tactics on its Palestinian citizens
11 May 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rSeveral examples, including the arrests of Ameer Makhoul and Omar Said, now point to an uncomfortable reality for the self-proclaimed “only democracy in the Middle East”: practices that have long been routine in the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza are being used in Israel to suppress dissent and limit civil liberties. The green line is increasingly blurry. Ben White comments.

A day in Jerusalem
11 May 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rJerusalem is only an hour and a half drive away from where I live in Gaza City. I grew up contemplating the moment I would see Jerusalem, but that day wouldn’t come until I graduated from the American University in Cairo and was promised by my parents that they might be able to make the necessary arrangements (an Israeli-issued permit) for me to visit the holy city. Yasmeen El Khoudary writes from the occupied Gaza Strip.

Israeli settlers attack Palestinian mosques
11 May 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rLUBBAN AL-SHARQIYA, occupied West Bank (IPS) – “There is immense anger as well as a feeling of vulnerability and fear when a place of sanctuary and holiness is subject to indiscriminate violence,” says Issa Hussein. “Despite living under a brutal military occupation and being subjected to regular attacks by Israeli settlers for decades, normally places of worship were spared.”

Fourth annual Houston Palestine film fest opens this week
10 May 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe Houston Palestine Film Festival is proud to bring Houston another year of great films and thoughtful discussion with its fourth annual film festival. This year’s program encompasses a wide range of films that highlight the unique strength and struggle of the Palestinian people.

Palestinian civil society slams OECD over Israel’s accession
10 May 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rPalestinian civil society represented by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee, a wide coalition of the largest Palestinian mass organizations and trade unions, issued a strong condemnation of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s decision today to welcome Israel as a member of the organization at its ministerial meeting to take place on 27-78 May.

Defying appeal from Gaza students, Atwood set to accept Israeli prize
8 May 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rOn Sunday, Booker Prize-winning author Margaret Atwood will accept the Dan David Prize at Tel Aviv University and her portion of the $1 million payout that goes with it. Meanwhile, a mere 40 miles away, students in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip will still be struggling to find the ways and means to continue their educations. Kristin Szremski reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Groups: Amitav Ghosh, don’t accept Dan David prize
7 May 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rWe wish to express our deep disappointment in your decision to accept the Dan David prize, administered by Tel Aviv University and to be awarded by the President of Israel. As a writer whose work has dwelled consistently on histories of colonialism and displacement, your refusal to take stance on the colonial question in the case of Israel and the occupation of Palestine has provoked deep dismay, frustration and puzzlement among readers and fans of your work around the world.

Artists thank Gil Scott-Heron for heeding boycott call
7 May 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rMore than 50 organizations and artists from eight countries have written to legendary political singer and poet Gil Scott-Heron to thank him for his decision to drop Israel from his current tour. The letter, facilitated by Adalah-NY, highlighted the parallels between the South African apartheid that Scott-Heron crusaded against decades ago and the Israeli system that currently subjugates Palestinians.

New Israeli order allows for mass expulsion from West Bank
7 May 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rRAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) – Several Palestinians have set up a protest tent in no-man’s land in the northern Gaza Strip, near the Erez border crossing into Israel, as they protest their deportation from the Israeli occupied West Bank into Gaza where Hamas authorities have refused them entry.

Rights orgs condemn arrest of Palestinian civil society leader
6 May 2010
This morning at 3:10am, Israeli Security Agency agents accompanied by Israeli police raided Ameer Makhoul’s family home in Haifa and arrested him. Makhoul is a human rights defender and serves as the general director of Ittijah – The Union of Arab Community-Based Associations and as the Chairman of the Public Committee for the Defense of Political Freedom in the framework of the High Follow-up Committee for the Arab Citizens of Israel.

Israel’s repression of its Palestinian citizens unites us in struggle
6 May 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rAmeer Makhoul, director of Ittijah and chairman of the Popular Committee for the Defense of the Political Freedoms, was arrested by Israeli police today during a raid of his home, two weeks after a travel ban was imposed on him by the Israeli Ministry of the Interior. Makhoul, a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship, submitted the following op-ed to The Electronic Intifada prior to his arrest.

The pretext of “security” along Gaza’s buffer zone
6 May 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr r”There was a single shot without any warning, and a young man was carried away,” Adie Mormech explained. Mormech, currently in Gaza, is a British activist with the International Solidarity Movement. She was an eyewitness at the 28 April demonstration at Nahal Oz, east of Gaza City, when Ahmed Deeb was fatally shot by an Israeli soldier. Eva Bartlett reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Quartet ex-envoy’s investment helps Israel greenwash settlements
6 May 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rFormer World Bank president and Middle East Quartet envoy James D. Wolfensohn is an investor in an Israeli company that is developing transport infrastructure for Jewish-only settlements built in the occupied West Bank in violation of international law, an investigation by The Electronic Intifada reveals.

Israel’s secret police surveilling Islamic leaders
4 May 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rJob interviews for the position of imam at mosques in Israel are conducted not by senior clerics but by the Shin Bet, Israel’s secret police, a labor tribunal has revealed. Sheikh Ahmed Abu Ajwa, 36, is fighting the Shin Bet’s refusal to approve his appointment as an imam in a case that has lifted the lid on Israel’s secret surveillance of the country’s Islamic leaders. Jonathan Cook reports from Jaffa.

Bereaved Gaza astronomer opens up the heavens
4 May 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rAs the sun set on a clear evening in Gaza City, Suleiman Baraka was setting up his telescope on the rooftop of the French Cultural Center as two dozen visitors waited anxiously to gaze into the stars. It was a rare occasion to break away—at least momentarily—from the siege on the ground in the Gaza Strip. Rami Almeghari reports for The Electronic Intifada.

I refuse to be complicit
4 May 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThree weeks after saying goodbye to Palestine, with the pictures and faces of all those I met at Aida still fresh in my mind, I received a much-needed wake-up call that profoundly changed my life in ways I never could have imagined or expected. Dina Elmuti writes for The Electronic Intifada.

At Berkeley, moral victory despite divestment vote loss
3 May 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rOn 28 April, University of California, Berkeley’s Student Senate narrowly missed an historic opportunity to divest its funds from United Technologies and General Electric which manufacture F-16 jets and Apache helicopters—weapons sold to the Israeli military and used against civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Dina Omar reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Under siege, Gaza organizes its own World Cup
3 May 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rGAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) – Football is the world’s most popular sport, boasting more than an estimated 2 billion fans. And despite its isolation from the world through Israel’s four-year-old blockade, the Gaza Strip is no exception. When a football match is on, tea and shisha cafes are packed with people gathered around the TV sets.

Will Obama adopt a dangerously simplistic peace plan?
3 May 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rA new conventional wisdom is rapidly taking shape that the United States can resolve the 130-year-old conflict in Palestine by advancing its own peace plan. Former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski and former US Congressman Stephen Solarz outlined such a plan in The Washington Post recently, and argued that President Obama could boost its prospects with a “bold gesture”—a trip, to Jerusalem and Ramallah in the company of Arab and other leaders to unveil it. Ali Abunimah comments.

Book review: a different sort of journey in “Touch”
30 Apr 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rFrom the very first page it is evident Palestinian author Adania Shibli’s new book Touch will be a different sort of journey, one that cannot be immediately defined, if at all. Patricia Sarrafian Ward reviews for The Electronic Intifada.