Al-Walajah, a symbol of Israeli ethnic cleansing9 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rWhile American officials continue to claim that the mission of US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell is by no means over, and that he will still pursue his efforts to convince the Israeli government to agree to some sort of settlement freeze, Israeli plans for further colonization of Palestinian land continue undisturbed. The latest Israeli plans call for the destruction of the West Bank village of al-Walajah for the second time in six decades. Hasan Abu Nimah comments.
Israel’s export of occupation police tactics9 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rPalestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation would have to be suppressed and the population pacified if the occupation was to be sustainable. Thus began an evolutionary relationship that continues to this day, that of the Palestinian resistance versus Israel’s policy of permanent occupation. Jimmy Johnson analyzes for The Electronic Intifada.
From boycotts to Bilin: An interview with Jonathan Cook9 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rJonathan Cook is a British journalist based in Nazareth, the largest Palestinian city in Israel, whose work is regularly published by The Electronic Intifada. His latest book, Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair, was published by Zed Books last October. He recently sat with Jeff Gore to discuss his work and his analysis of the current situation on the ground.
Following al-Aqsa clashes, Israel mulls banning Islamic movement8 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe Israeli government announced yesterday it would consider banning Israel’s Islamic Movement at the next cabinet meeting, in a significant escalation of tensions that have fueled a fortnight of bloody clashes in Jerusalem over access to the Haram al-Sharif compound of mosques. The move followed the arrest of the movement’s leader, Sheikh Raed Salah, on Tuesday on suspicion of incitement and sedition. Jonathan Cook reports from Nazareth.
After Goldstone, Hamas faces fateful choice8 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe uproar over the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) collaboration with Israel to bury the Goldstone report, calling for trials of Israeli leaders for war crimes in Gaza, is a political earthquake. The whole political order in place since the 1993 Oslo accords were signed is crumbling. As the initial tremors begin to fade, the same old political structures may appear still to be in place, but they are hollowed out. This unprecedented crisis threatens to topple the US-backed PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, but it also leaves Hamas, the main Palestinian resistance faction, struggling with fateful choices. Ali Abunimah comments for The Electronic Intifada.
A poverty of leadership7 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rWhether or not the clumsy attempt to shelve the Goldstone report on last winter’s Gaza attacks is the tipping point for Mahmoud Abbas’s rule, the succession process has been underway for several years. However, it is being coordinated by the US and Israel and is no reflection of the wishes and desires of the Palestinian people. Abbas’s likely successor is Salam Fayyad, who somehow manages to be an even more uninspiring and unpopular character. Osamah Khalil comments for The Electronic Intifada.
Volvo providing armored buses for Israeli settlements7 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rFollowing reports published by The Electronic Intifada on the use of Volvo equipment in the demolition of Palestinian houses in 2007, the Volvo Group stated that it did not condone the use of its equipment for such purposes. Claiming to have no control over the use of its products, Volvo affirmed that its Code of Conduct decries unethical behavior. In spite of these claims, The Electronic Intifada has found that through its Volvo Buses branch, the Volvo Group is providing armored buses to transport Israeli settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Haram al-Sharif sovereignty under threat7 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rTension over control of the Haram al-Sharif compound of mosques in Jerusalem’s Old City has reached a pitch unseen since clashes at the site sparked the second Palestinian intifada nine years ago. Ten days of intermittently bloody clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in Jerusalem culminated yesterday in warnings by Palestinian officials that Israel was “sparking a fire” in the city. Israel’s Jerusalem Post newspaper similarly wondered whether a third intifada was imminent. Jonathan Cook reports from Nazareth.
Israeli highschoolers choose jail over occupation army service6 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIsraeli youth who refuse to cooperate with Israel’s military occupation are sent into a lengthy and relentless labyrinth of court martials and consecutive jail terms in what Israeli lawyer Michael Sfard calls a “price tag” meant to deter other young Israelis from non-participation. “Otherwise,” he says, ”[the Israeli government’s] argument says, everyone—of ideological or personal reasons—will refuse to serve.” The Electronic Intifada contributor Nora Barrows-Friedman recently interviewed two young Israeli women who have refused to serve in the army.
How Israel bought off UN’s war crimes probe6 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIsraeli diplomats suggested on Sunday that Washington had promised the Palestinian Authority, in return for delaying an inquiry into accusations Israeli war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip, that the US would apply “significant pressure” on Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to move ahead on a diplomatic process when the US envoy, George Mitchell, arrives in the region tomorrow. But, according to Israeli and Palestinian analysts, diplomatic arm-twisting was not the only factor in the PA’s change of heart. Jonathan Cook reports.
Review: Darwish, between the national and the human6 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr r”All beautiful poetry,” wrote the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, “is an act of resistance.”. At a time when the US unconditionally backs Israel’s war against the Palestinians, and when everyone agrees that books are on their way out, two new, beautifully produced translated collections of Darwish’s work from independent American publishers are real acts of resistance. Raymond Deane reviews for The Electronic Intifada.
UN must act on Goldstone and the PA must be dissolved5 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rSuccumbing to US pressure and unabashed Israeli blackmail, Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the Ramallah Palestinian Authority (PA), was reportedly personally responsible for the decision to defer UN Security Council consideration of the Goldstone report. This dashed the hopes of Palestinians everywhere as well as those of international human rights organizations and solidarity movements, that Israel would finally face a long overdue process of legal accountability and that its victims would have a measure of justice.
Time to re-engage with people power5 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rBereft of any credible or legitimate leadership, the Palestinian people will have to look to themselves to continue their struggle for freedom, justice and equality. Indeed, their struggle has been at its best, for example, during the first intifada of the 1980s, when the official leadership—at the time in exile in Tunis—was actually least involved in it. No wonder, then, that the Israeli response to the grassroots autonomy of the first intifada was to usher the official leadership back into Palestine; the first intifada then stalled, and things have gone downhill ever since. Saree Makdisi comments for The Electronic Intifada.
Palestinian orgs: Justice delayed is justice denied5 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rOn 2 October 2009, the Palestinian leadership—under heavy international pressure lead by the United States—deferred the draft proposal at the Human Rights Council endorsing all the recommendations of the UN Fact Finding Mission (the Goldstone Report). This deferral denies the Palestinian peoples’ right to an effective judicial remedy and the equal protection of the law. It represents the triumph of politics over human rights. It is an insult to all victims and a rejection of their rights.
Review: Gannit Ankori’s “Palestinian Art”2 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIn 2006 Israeli art historian Gannit Ankori published Palestinian Art (Reaktion Books LTD, London), a 200-plus page text that attempts to “emphasize the broad range and richness that characterize Palestinian art, as well as its specific manifestations and individual narratives. Maymanah Farhat writes for The Electronic Intifada, the first in a series reviewing recent surveys of Palestinian art.
Abbas helps Israel bury its crimes in Gaza2 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rJust when it seemed that the Ramallah Palestinian Authority and its leader Mahmoud Abbas could not sink any lower in their complicity with Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the murderous blockade of Gaza, Ramallah has dealt a further stunning blow to the Palestinian people. The Abbas delegation to the United Nations in Geneva (officially representing the moribund Palestine Liberation Organization) abandoned a resolution requesting the Human Rights Council to forward Judge Richard Goldstone’s report on war crimes in Gaza to the UN Security Council for further action. Ali Abunimah comments for The Electronic Intifada.
Obama must match rhetoric with principle1 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rUS President Barack Obama has placed restoration of the stature of the United States among his primary foreign policy goals. He has already achieved substantial progress in Europe, where polls indicate that he is widely admired. The president’s June Cairo University speech also won praise in the Arab and Muslim worlds. Yet many across the globe still await the substantive policy changes implied by his inspiring words. George Bisharat comments.
Answering critics of the boycott movement1 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe list of successful boycott, divestment and sanctions actions has now become too long to list, yet, there are still many out there who do not believe in this movement and have reservations on a number of grounds, offering two main concerns that are rarely tackled, and when they are it is only cursory. The first is the criticism of why a boycott movement against Israel and not countries like China, Sudan or the US. The second concerns the argument that boycott is against dialogue. Sami Hermez comments for The Electronic Intifada.
Nahr al-Bared reconstruction delays protested1 Oct 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rSince the end of August, construction equipment in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, near the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, has stood unused after the Lebanese State Council granted a two month moratorium for the reconstruction of the camp. Nahr al-Bared, home to approximately 30,000 refugees, was destroyed during a three-month-long battle between the Lebanese army and the militant group Fatah al-Islam in the summer of 2007. Ray Smith reports for Electronic Lebanon.
Gaza solidarity organizer under house arrest in Israel30 Sep 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rNine months after he helped to organize protests against Israel’s attack on Gaza, Samih Jabareen is a prisoner in his home in Jaffa, near Tel Aviv. The 40-year-old actor and theatre director is one of dozens of Arab political activists in Israel who have faced long-term detention during and since Israel’s winter assault on Gaza in what human rights groups are calling political intimidation and repression of free speech by the Israeli police and courts. Jonathan Cook reports.
Night raids in Bilin target activists29 Sep 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rFor the last three months, residents of the West Bank village of Bilin have been subjected to constant night raids by the Israeli military in retaliation for the village’s five-year campaign of nonviolent resistance against Israel’s wall being constructed on their land. Members of the Bilin Popular Committee have been arrested as well as teenagers and young boys from the village in order to obtain forced confessions against committee members. Bilin Popular Committee’s Media Coordinator Abdullah Abu Rahme tells the story of the 16 September 2009 raid of his home to The Electronic Intifada contributor Jody McIntyre.
Jerusalem Palestinians defining their own future29 Sep 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rOCCUPIED EAST JERUSALEM (IPS) – Almost a year ago a barely noticed event took place in Sawarha, a Palestinian neighborhood in the Israeli-occupied part of the city. On that November day, Israeli Jerusalemites were voting in a new mayor and a new city council. On that same day, in this neighborhood home to 25,000, people were ignoring the Israeli-run elections. Instead, they were focused on electing their own local council.
False promise of integration for Palestinian soldiers in Israel28 Sep 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rDemands from Israel’s chief commander this month that all Israeli citizens should be required to perform national service has turned the spotlight on a rarely discussed group of soldiers: members of Israel’s Palestinian minority. Though no official statistics are available, an estimated 3,000 of Israel’s 1.3 million Palestinian citizens have broken one of their society’s biggest taboos and are currently serving in the occupied territories. Jonathan Cook reports.
Patrick Henry’s call28 Sep 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rInstead of the patronizing call we constantly hear for a Palestinian Gandhi, one would hope to see the emergence of international support for a Palestinian Patrick Henry. The call “Give me liberty or give me death” awakens strong emotions even today, more than 320 yeas after Patrick Henry gave the speech that crystallized perhaps more than any the American colonies’ call for independence from the English crown. Miko Peled writes from Kibbutz Zikkim.
Book casts new light on Palestine’s ethnic cleansing28 Sep 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIn recent years, a growing number of accounts of the 1948 war have corrected and exposed the founding myths of Israel, including claims by its leaders that the Palestinian people did not exist or were invented. The latest addition is Rosemarie M. Esber’s meticulously documented history Under the Cover of War: The Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians. Esber uses British archives and oral testimonies from Palestinian survivors to demonstrate that there was a purposeful, systematic pattern by which Zionist forces depopulated Palestinian cities and villages before the end of the British mandate on 15 May 1948.
Electronic Intifada