Pro-Israel group monitoring, intimidating Columbia faculty
30 Apr 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rA student group at Columbia called Campus Media Watch, backed by the pro-Israeli media monitor the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), recently violated university regulations while urging students to “report” on allegedly biased utterances by Massad and other professors, according to faculty members and students. Jared Malsin reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Caterpillar equipment used in extrajudicial killing near Hebron
29 Apr 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rOn Monday 26 April 2010, Israeli occupation forces killed a Palestinian man, Ali Ismael Ali Swaiti, 45, in Beit Awwa in the West Bank district of Hebron, after demolishing a house while he was inside. Israeli occupation forces claim that Ali Swaiti had been wanted for several years.

Volvo equipment: Israel’s weapons to destroy al-Walaja homes
29 Apr 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rOn 16 April, approximately 100 Palestinian villagers and internationals walked towards the construction site of Israel’s wall in the occupied West Bank village of al-Walaja, four kilometers northwest of Bethlehem. Adri Nieuwhof reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Villages contaminated by settlement sewage
29 Apr 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rBEIT UMMAR, occupied West Bank (IPS) – Residents of this Palestinian village refuse to buy the idea that the flood of raw sewage from the adjacent Israeli settlement of Kfar Etzion, that destroyed vineyards and contaminated their drinking water, was an accident.

UC Berkeley set to vote on historic divestment bill
28 Apr 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rOn Wednesday 28 April, the UC Berkeley Student Senate will make a final attempt to pass a bill calling for divestment of university funds from companies that profit from Israel’s war crimes and occupation of Palestine.

Israel finds allies in Europe’s Christian fundamentalists
28 Apr 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rFlip through any issue of a major newspaper from the past decade and it is a safe bet you will be confronted with a warning about the dangers of religious extremism. So how could the mainstream media have failed to notice the growing influence of fundamentalists on the European Union’s relations with one of its nearest neighbors: Israel? David Cronin analyzes for The Electronic Intifada.

Palestinian prisoners hunger strike for better treatment
28 Apr 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rGENEVA (IPS) – Raed Abu Hammad, 27, was allegedly kicked to death by Israeli prison wardens on 16 April. This while Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have been on hunger strike since 7 April to press for better treatment.

US hegemony, not “the lobby,” behind complicity with Israel
27 Apr 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rMany of Israel’s critics blame an “Israel lobby” for the near-total complicity of the US in Israeli annexation, colonization and cleansing programs in the occupied West Bank. However, the lobby thesis does little to explain US foreign policy in the Middle East. Stephen Maher comments for The Electronic Intifada.

Palestinians resist threat of eviction in Jaffa
27 Apr 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rAmidst the crater-filled roads, crumbling art deco houses, Jewish-Israeli filled hummus joints and flashing blue lights of passing cop cars, Palestinian citizens of Israel are struggling to grasp onto the last neighborhood of Jaffa to remain a Palestinian majority—Ajami. Carmelle Wolfson reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Israeli forces shoot two Palestinians, international activist in Gaza
26 Apr 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rAt a nonviolent demonstration on 24 April attended by 150 persons against the forceful cessation of farming within what Israel defines as a “buffer zone,” two Palestinian demonstrators and one international activist were shot without warning.

Book review: Edward Said’s commitment in conversation
26 Apr 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe new book The Pen and the Sword—a collection of five interviews with Said conducted between 1987 and 1994 by David Barsamian, the founder of Alternative Radio—serves partly as a memoriam for Said himself and for the generation he represented. Robin Yassin-Kassab reviews for The Electronic Intifada.

Gaza’s calm determination
26 Apr 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rTo preserve my sense of purpose, and keep the Palestine struggle from becoming a lifeless abstraction, I need periodically to recharge my moral batteries by reconnecting with the actual people living under occupation and by witnessing firsthand the unfolding tragedy. From each trip I invariably carry away a handful of stark images that I fix in my mind’s eye to dispel the occasional hesitations about staying the course. When the memories begin to fade I know it is time to return. Norman Finkelstein writes in this excerpt from his new book, This time we went too far

Travel ban imposed on Palestinian leader in Israel
23 Apr 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThis morning, the Israeli Border Police prevented Mr. Ameer Makhoul, the Director of Ittijah – Union of Arab Community-Based Associations inside Israel, from leaving the country. Makhoul, who also serves as the head of the Popular Committee for the Defense of Political Freedoms, received a prohibition order from leaving the country upon his arrival to the Jordan River Crossing.

Israel winning its war on goats
23 Apr 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rGAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) – Nine-year-old Ismail spends every afternoon herding his family’s flock of sheep and goats, a scraggly group of roughly 20 animals. They live in a shanty house district near Tel al-Howa in Gaza City, where growth is sparse to non-existent.

Right of return not negotiable
22 Apr 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rWashington insiders are now touting a misguided Obama-dictated plan to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Most recently, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Stephen Solarz took to the pages of The Washington Post to float the idea of an imposed peace, which largely undermines non-negotiable historic Palestinian rights. As a Palestinian, I believe that any plan that seeks to sacrifice our inalienable human rights to ensure race-based majorities in Israel will fail. Ahmed Moor comments.

Veolia tries to spin its involvement in the occupation
22 Apr 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rBy participating in the touring Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition, the French transnational company Veolia Environnement is attempting to spin its image that has been tarnished by the exposure of its involvement in the Israeli occupation. Adri Nieuwhof reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Gil Scott-Heron: don’t play apartheid Israel!
21 Apr 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel is gravely disappointed by the announcement that well-known, progressive artist Gil Scott-Heron is due to perform in Israel on 25 May. We call upon Mr. Scott-Heron, a member of United Artists Against Apartheid in the 1980s and a featured singer on the breakthrough song “Don’t Play Sun City,” not to play apartheid Israel.

Hamas vows to carry out more executions
21 Apr 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rGAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) – The Hamas authorities in Gaza have vowed to carry out more executions of those on death row despite intense international criticism and condemnation from both Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups.

Video: US Jews break Israel’s “Law of Return”
20 Apr 2010
As US Jews, we have an automatic right to Israeli citizenship under Israel’s “Law of Return,” while many Palestinians have not been able to return home in over 60 years. It is not right that we may “return” to a state that is not ours while Palestinians are excluded and continuously dispossessed.

Gil Scott-Heron: don’t go to the moon
20 Apr 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rIn an open letter to musician Gil Scott-Heron, The Electronic Intifada’s Matthew Cassel urges him to cancel his upcoming concert in Tel Aviv: “Your scheduled concert in Tel Aviv is in direct violation of the call by Palestinian civil society for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. A similar boycott, which you full-heartedly supported, was called for in South Africa and helped bring an end to apartheid in that country.”

El Al sued for racial profiling
20 Apr 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rTwo Palestinian citizens of Israel have won $8,000 in damages from Israel’s national carrier, El Al, after a court found that their treatment by the company’s security staff at a New York airport had been “abusive and unnecessary.” Jonathan Cook reports.

Israeli forces besiege Prisoners Day commemoration
20 Apr 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rBEIT UMMAR, occupied West Bank (IPS) – A young Palestinian man died in Israeli custody as hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets of villages and towns across the West Bank and Gaza to commemorate Palestinian Prisoners Day on Friday, 16 April.

Book Review: Norman Finkelstein’s “This time we went too far”
20 Apr 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rDespite Israel’s attempts to spin its 2008 Gaza invasion, global public opinion of Israel has sunk to an all-time low. In his latest book, “This Time We Went Too Far,” Norman Finkelstein argues that Gaza marked a turning point in public opinion reminiscent of the international reaction to the 1960 Sharpeville massacre in South Africa. Ziyaad Lunat reviews for The Electronic Intifada.

Beit Sahour: a microcosm of Israeli colonization
19 Apr 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rHar Homa settlement’s impact on the Palestinian community has been devastating, with the town of Beit Sahour now dominated by the ever-expanding settlement. While many are aware of Beit Sahour’s famous nonviolent resistance during the first Palestinian intifada (1987-1993), less well-known is how Israeli rule continues to choke the town. Ben White reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Palestine’s first independent think tank launched
19 Apr 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rLast week, Al-Shabaka, The Palestinian Policy Network, was launched (www.al-shabaka.org). Al-Shabaka, which means “The Network,” is the first independent strategy and policy-related think tank for Palestinians and by Palestinians.