Israeli authorities deport African American political activists
1 Dec 2009
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rAl-Awda New York, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, condemns the racist denial of entry to Palestine of African American political activists Dhoruba Bin Wahad and Naji Mujahid by the Israeli occupation. Dhoruba Bin Wahad, a former US political prisoner and leader of the Black Panther Party, and Naji Mujahid, a student activist from Washington DC were deported en route to the International Conference on Palestinian Political Prisoners in Jericho that was sponsored by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Prisoners and ex-Prisoners Affairs.

Palestinians organize for the Gaza Freedom March
30 Nov 2009
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr r”From the besieged Gaza Strip, we call upon all peace lovers around the globe to come here to participate in our Gaza Freedom March that is aimed at breaking a repressive Israeli blockade on Gaza’s 1.5 million residents.” So said Mustafa al-Kayali, coordinator of the steering committee for the Gaza Freedom March. Rami Almeghari reports from the occupied Gaza Strip.

Discrimination keeps Palestinian women out of Israel’s workforce
30 Nov 2009
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIsrael’s finance minister was accused last week of trying to deflect attention from discriminatory policies keeping many of the country’s Palestinian Arab families in poverty by blaming their economic troubles on what he described as Arab society’s opposition to women working. Jonathan Cook reports.

Any given Friday
30 Nov 2009
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rAfter years of land appropriation and harassing Palestinian villagers, Efrat settlers have decided that they want to acquire more of Um Salomona’s farmland separated from the village by the main road for a cemetery. Raed, a Palestinian resident of the village, owns the land targeted by the settlers. He knows all too well that without strong action (and quite possibly, even with strong action) it is likely that his land—like thousands of other acres of Palestinian land in the West Bank—will be seized by the settlement. Jo Ehrlich writes for The Electronic Intifada.

Interview: Bilin activist continues to struggle despite injury
28 Nov 2009
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rEarlier this year, Khamis Fathi Abu Rahmah, 27, was shot in the head with a high-velocity tear gas canister while participating in a nonviolent demonstration against Israel’s wall in the occupied West Bank near the village of Bilin. Israeli soldiers used the same weapon a few months later and killed his cousin, Bassem Abu Rahme. The Electronic Intifada contributor Jody McIntyre spoke to Khamis Fathi Abu Rahmah about his life in Bilin.

Interview with PA dissident: “I cannot just stay silent”
27 Nov 2009
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rAbdel Sattar Qassem, a professor and author of numerous publications on Palestinian history and Islamic thought, is well-known for his pungent critiques of Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). As a result he has been imprisoned by both the Israelis and the PA. Most recently his car was blown up as a warning from the PA. Marcy Newman spoke with Professor Qassem on behalf of The Electronic Intifada at his home in the Palestinian city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

Book review: Post-September 11 “Homeland Insecurity”
26 Nov 2009
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rAfter the 11 September 2001 attacks there have been many books and articles regarding the misuse of justice and harsh treatment of Arab Americans and Muslims in the United States. Louise Cainkar’s extensive research and excellent analysis is the most complete published so far. Homeland Insecurity is an ethnography which took three years to complete and benefits from more than a hundred interviews. Barbara Aswad reviews for The Electronic Intifada.

Refugees remain skeptical of Nahr al-Bared reconstruction
26 Nov 2009
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rNAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (IPS) – More than two years after their refugee camp was destroyed in a war between the Lebanese army and the Islamist militant group Fatah al-Islam, Nahr al-Bared refugees Wednesday witnessed the start of the camp’s reconstruction. Their relief is mixed with skepticism, however. Established in 1949, the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in north Lebanon’s Akkar region has become home to more than 30,000 residents.

Palestinian trade unions unanimously support boycott movement
25 Nov 2009
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIn reaction to reports alleging that a Palestinian trade union official has stated his reservations about the Palestinian civil society campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), the full spectrum of the Palestinian trade union movement has expressed solid support for the BDS National Committee and for the global BDS campaign against Israel as an effective form of resisting its military occupation, war crimes and apartheid policies.

“We will have to kill them all”: Effie Eitam, thug messiah
25 Nov 2009
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rEitam, who since then has held several senior posts in the Israeli government, has recently toured the US as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “Special Emissary” to the “Caravan for Democracy” program of the Jewish National Fund (JNF). This is a marriage made in heaven. Since Israel was founded, the JNF has organized the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the settlement of Jews on their expropriated land; Eitam sees himself as the messianic soldier-prophet directing future expulsions of Palestinians from Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Jim Holstun and Irene Morrison comment for The Electronic Intifada.

Eid al-Adha highlights a Gaza family’s struggle to survive
25 Nov 2009
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rDaoud Suleiman Ahmad, 48, an unemployed construction worker, has been unable to find work for almost three years due to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. Life for Ahmad and his family in the al-Maghazi refugee camp has been desperately difficult, something that is particularly on his mind during the upcoming Eid al-Adha holiday. Rami Almeghari reports from the occupied Gaza Strip.

Palestinian schoolchildren face daily settler attacks
24 Nov 2009
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rAL-TUWANI, occupied West Bank (IPS) – Being able to travel to school in relative safety is something children all over the world take for granted. But, for Palestinian children living in the shadow of the ubiquitous and illegal Israeli settlements dotting the occupied West Bank, simply walking to school can be a terrifying experience. “It is really scary walking to school. We never know when the settlers will attack us and beat us,” says Rima Ali, 10.

A desperate throw of the dice
24 Nov 2009
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThe Palestinian “unilateralism” making recent news is more like a game of politicking—and a dangerous one at that. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas could be keen to push the proposal for unilateral statehood/Security Council recognition as a way of undermining Salam Fayyad’s own “two year plan,” amid worries that the US has already designated Fayyad to replace Abbas, just as Abbas himself was “empowered” by the US to sideline and eventually embrace the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Ben White comments for The Electronic Intifada.

Veolia and Alstom continue to abet Israel’s rights violations
24 Nov 2009
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rDespite mounting pressure to withdraw from the light rail project in Jerusalem designed to serve the needs of Israel’s illegal settlements, the French transportation giant Veolia is set to be highly involved in the project for the next five years. The company needs to support its new Israeli partner, the Dan Bus Company, which lacks the experience to operate the light rail. Adri Nieuwhof reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Hebron’s architecture of occupation
23 Nov 2009
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThe word “revenge” is scrawled in Hebrew on a Palestinian school in Hebron in the occupied West Bank. The windows are covered with screens and the play yard obstructed with more screens tipped with barbed wire, to obstruct the stones regularly pelted down by Jewish settlers. Sarah Lazare and Clare Bayard write from Hebron, occupied West Bank.

South Africa deports Israeli airline official spying on citizens
23 Nov 2009
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rSouth Africa deported an Israeli airline official last week following allegations that Israel’s secret police, the Shin Bet, had infiltrated Johannesburg international airport in an effort to gather information on South African citizens, particularly black and Muslim travelers. Jonathan Cook reports.

Palestinian students cross barriers to discuss boycott
23 Nov 2009
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe right of Palestinian students to an education was the main theme of a video conference between students from the occupied Gaza Strip and the West Bank on 12 November 2009, sponsored by the al-Quds Bank for Culture and Information Society and Bethlehem University. Bianca Zammit reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Tribute to terror leader Kahane planned by Israeli legislators
20 Nov 2009
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rA plan by right-wing legislators in Israel to commemorate the anniversary this month of the death of Meir Kahane, whose banned anti-Arab movement is classified as a terrorist organization, risks further damaging the prospects for talks between Israel and the Palestinians, US officials have warned. Jonathan Cook reports.

Israeli forces shoot at Gaza bird-catchers, farmers
20 Nov 2009
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rOn 15 November at 8:30am, a number of young men went as usual to the land near Gaza’s northern border with Israel planning to catch birds. Amjad Hassanain, 27, was among the bird-catchers hunting near the border fence when Israeli soldiers began shooting. Eva Bartlett reports for The Electronic Intifada.

The New York Mets and the business of terrorism
20 Nov 2009
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rWhen I first learned that the New York Mets were hosting a fundraiser for the nonprofit Hebron Fund in support of the Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, I honestly assumed it was a joke, albeit a poor one. When I realized this was an actual, planned event, I still found it almost impossible to believe. This is because, even aside from the devastating impact of settlement expansion on the prospects for peace in the region, I have had the misfortune to see the fruits of the Hebron Fund’s labors. Aaron Levitt comments for The Electronic Intifada.

Book review: A Palestinian century in a poet’s life
20 Nov 2009
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rMy Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness bills itself as “A Poet’s Life in the Palestinian Century.” To better understand Adina Hoffman’s biography of the Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali, however, consider it: “A Palestinian Century in a Poet’s Life.” But this syntactical slip doesn’t discredit Hoffman’s work. By deftly stacking shattered recollections atop dusty stones of history Hoffman has built a literary landmark—not only is My Happiness the first English-language biography of a Palestinian writer, it offers an evocative biography of pre-1948 Palestine. Mya Guarnieri reviews for The Electronic Intifada.

Bantustans and the unilateral declaration of statehood
19 Nov 2009
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rFrom a rumor, to a rising murmur, the proposal floated by the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Ramallah leadership to declare Palestinian statehood unilaterally has suddenly hit center stage. It’s no exaggeration to propose that this idea, although well-meant by some, raises the clearest danger to the Palestinian national movement in its entire history, threatening to wall Palestinian aspirations into a political cul-de-sac from which it may never emerge. Virginia Tilley comments for The Electronic Intifada.

Jahalin Bedouin suffer without representation
19 Nov 2009
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rBeyond the demolitions in its suburbs and the frequent, violent clashes around the al-Aqsa mosque, Jerusalem is the scene of a quieter shame. Southeast of the holy city live the Jahalin Bedouin, a community that has been repeatedly displaced and transferred, now enduring unimaginable poverty beside Jerusalem’s largest garbage dump. Kieron Monks reports.

British TV documentary tackles taboo of Israel’s lobby
19 Nov 2009
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rFor the first time a mainstream British television program has tackled the Zionist lobby head-on. Channel 4’s Dispatches, broadcast on 16 November, promised to hold the pro-Israel lobby up to rigorous public scrutiny and it succeeded. Presented by Peter Oborne, former political editor of the right-wing weekly The Spectator, Dispatches revealed the cozy relationship between Britain’s pro-Israel lobby and both the Conservative and Labour parties as well as its attempts to stifle criticism of Israel in the press. Diane Langford reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Sounds and struggle: Solidarity through music
18 Nov 2009
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rOn Wednesday, 11 November, more than 200 persons packed into La Sala Rossa, a slightly operatic Montreal venue, as part of the ongoing concert series “Artists Against Apartheid,” which is held in solidarity with the call from Palestinian civil society for boycott, divestment and sanctions from Israeli apartheid and is organized by Tadamon!, a Montreal collective working in solidarity with Palestine. Tyler Nadeau writes for The Electronic Intifada.