Boycott group to UNESCO: Protect heritage of all cultures17 Feb 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe following is an open letter sent to Director-General of UNESCO Koichiro Matsuura on 14 February 2008: On behalf of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, we are writing to express our deep concern about your statements, quoted in The Jerusalem Post, during your recent visit to Israel. These statements were one-sided, completely ignoring Israel’s continuous crimes against Palestinian history and heritage.
YMCA headquarters attacked in Gaza City15 Feb 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThe undersigned civil society organizations utterly condemn an attack on the YMCA headquarters in Gaza City in the early hours of the morning of 15 February 2008. Unidentified militants broke into the YMCA headquarters, planted explosive devices and subsequently completely destroyed the library. The undersigned organizations ask the dismissed government to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into this crime, which is a continuation of a number of similar attacks targeting national, cultural and civil society organizations in the Gaza Strip.
Open letter: “Award for tolerance” hides story of discrimination14 Feb 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe following letter was sent by Montreal filmmaker Malclom Guy to the Rendez-Vous du Cinéma Québecois on 12 February: I accepted the invitation from the Rendez-Vous du Cinéma Québecois to join this year’s jury in good faith. But after examining in more detail the political and financial basis of the prize I must refuse to have my name associated with it. Behind this noble sounding “award for tolerance” hides a story of intolerance, division and discrimination.
“Shocking” rate of malnutrition in donor-dependent Gaza14 Feb 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr r”We receive 20-25 new referrals every day, and we see approximately 350 children a week here at the centre. Last year we treated more than 8,400 children here in Gaza city, plus another 8,000 children at our centre in Khan Younis. All of them were under five years old, and all of them were malnourished.” Najah Zohod is the Nutritional Director of the Ard al-Insan Child Nutrition Center in Gaza City.
British commentary pages ignore Gaza’s plight14 Feb 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rArab Media Watch expresses concern at the lack of critical commentary in the British press on Israel’s recent decision to intensify its siege of the Gaza Strip by withholding vital fuel supplies and increasing military attacks. Israel’s actions have resulted in civilian deaths, a worsening humanitarian crisis, the breach of Gaza’s border with Egypt, and bleaker prospects for the resumption of peace talks. Nonetheless, there has been no comment whatsoever in The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Star and Evening Standard.
Photostory: A day in Ma’ale Adumim14 Feb 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rIt is only a fifteen minute bus ride from Jerusalem to the Ma’ale Adumim settlement. After entering through guarded gates, one’s first impression is of a Miami-style suburb. The town at noon seems almost abandoned because the major part of Ma’ale Adumim residents head off to work in Jerusalem during the day. But once reaching the fence that surrounds Ma’ale Adumim, an odd feeling begins to creep over oneself. This neatly planned concrete patchwork seems totally out of place in the surrounding arid Palestinian landscape. Toon Lambrecht goes inside one of the Israel’s largest settlements in the West Bank.
“I feel as if I were living in South Africa”13 Feb 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr r”On behalf of the landowners, the Shahadeh family, and the residents of the village of al-Mashhad, I want to send a message to people everywhere—the Jewish National Fund, to the Nazareth Illit Municipality, to the Members of Knesset and the government, and to the residents of Israel. We don’t want the [Land Day] events of 1976 to repeat themselves, but I have to say that not one meter of land will be taken from us unless we die on our lands.”
No Valentine break for Gaza flower producers13 Feb 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rRAFAH, Gaza Strip, 14 February (IPS) – After generations of occupation, Valentine’s Day has meant little in the Gaza Strip. But the flowers that lovers presented in Europe has. Majed Hadaeid, 43, knows that better than most, as he watches livestock make a meal of the flowers he had hoped to export to Europe. “I have 130 dunams [32 acres],” he says. “All carnations, in 30 different colors, and varieties yielding 16-17 million blossoms per year.”
Living, but in denial13 Feb 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rI cannot remember a time, especially in the last three years, when the collective that comprises Lebanese social life was not anticipating some form of political violence, elevated at times to an outright expectation of civil war. Traversing through different parts of Lebanon the conversation is the same: will war break out? When? Who will start it? Who will fight? Sami Hermez comments for Electronic Lebanon.
How the EU helps Israel to strangle Gaza13 Feb 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rHow is Israel able to strangle the Gaza Strip when there is supposed to be an international crossing between Gaza and Egypt not controlled by Israelis? David Morrison looks at how the Agreement on Movement and Access, signed more than two years by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, allowed Israel to control the border without being physically present through the the agreement’s European Union third party mechanism.
Lebanese government’s plan to rebuild Nahr al-Bared12 Feb 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rBEIRUT, 13 February 2008 (IRIN) – The government launched a preliminary master plan on 12 February to rebuild Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, destroyed in a battle last year between the army and militant Islamists. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said losses from the battle were great on all levels. “As we release the preliminary plan, we look to the Arab and international communities to meet us with the necessary assurances and funding to ensure its success.”
A new struggle for life after war12 Feb 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rTyre enjoys a reputation as a laid back summer resort with a “liberal” lifestyle in the heart of south Lebanon—with its striking Roman ruins, ancient Christian fishing harbor, and bustling beachfront. But during the off-season—and compounded by the negative impact of the summer 2006 conflict with Israel, the ongoing political crises in Beirut and skyrocketing prices nationwide—the town’s family-owned retail shops and businesses, farmers and fishermen barely make a living. Rebecca Murray writes from the southern Lebanon city.
Call for entries: Expressions of the Nakba12 Feb 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe year 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the Nakba (the catastrophe): the expulsion and dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes and land in 1948. The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is currently soliciting entries for a commemoration of the Nakba through personal expressions in the form of visual arts, essays, poetry, music, video and digital media for its “Expressions of al-Nakba” international competition.
Lebanon’s new proxy force12 Feb 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThe US and Israel—the two states committing the only military occupations in the region—are having an adverse influence on Lebanese internal affairs. But the people wait, unsure of what the future holds for Lebanon. The question for many is no longer if, but when will the situation quickly deteriorate into an armed internal conflict reminiscent of Lebanon’s recent history. EI editor Matthew Cassel comments.
Jerusalem off the radar12 Feb 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rRecently, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was reported to have suggested that the question of Jerusalem would be “left to last” in negotiations with the Palestinians. This was apparently on account of the issue being “too sensitive and complex,” as well as fears that talks on Jerusalem would cause the departure of religious right-wingers from Olmert’s ruling coalition. Domestic political considerations will certainly have played a part in the prime minister’s thinking, but there is another possible motivation for leaving this “final status issue” for further down the road. Ben White analyzes for EI.
UNRWA Gaza appeal making very slow progress11 Feb 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rJERUSALEM, 11 February (IRIN) – A UN special appeal for the Gaza Strip has managed to bring in only a small percentage of the US$9.8 million needed for urgent food aid and cash assistance for the enclave’s most vulnerable refugees. On 6 February, UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, began to distribute food aid in Gaza funded by a $100,000 donation from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Red Crescent Society. The money came in response to the special appeal issued by UNWRA in late January.
“Where are you from?”11 Feb 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rFor Palestinian expatriate nationals like me who have managed to find their way back to Palestine in order to contribute in some fashion, what’s on the horizon is far from clear. Our foothold is tenuous; we are here on sufferance by the Israelis who control the borders and the areas between towns and villages and let us in carefully or not at all. Rima Merriman writes from Jenin.
Israeli foreign ministry’s token Arab11 Feb 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIshmael Khaldi has been all the rage amongst Israel advocacy groups in the United States, especially in the liberal San Francisco Bay Area. An Arab Bedouin who embraces his Israeli citizenship and has worked for the Israeli police as well as Israel’s occupying army, he was a dream come true for the Israeli consulate, which decided to hire him as Deputy Consul to San Francisco in December 2006. Yaman Salahi reports on Khaldi’s private talk to a group of University of California, Berkeley students organizing “Israeli Apartheid Week.”
Damaging frost compounds farmers’ woes10 Feb 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rHEBRON, WEST BANK, 10 February (IRIN) – A recent cold snap with sub-zero temperatures has caused farmers in the West Bank to incur losses of nearly US$14.5 million, according to initial estimates by the Palestinian ministry of agriculture (MoA) set out in a 6 February joint “fact sheet” with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The winter cash crop is the most profitable and ”[as] a direct result of the frost, thousands of farmers have lost their main source of income for the next [few] months,” the “fact sheet,” which was emailed to IRIN, said.
Photostory: Solidarity with Gaza10 Feb 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rAs Israel tightened its siege on the Gaza Strip, Palestinians and solidarity activists demonstrated their support for the people of Gaza. The above images were sent to The Electronic Intifada from around the world and document various actions, demonstrations and vigils in solidarity with Gazans under siege.
Israel’s “next logical step”10 Feb 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr r”The next logical step” for the Israeli government “will have to be a decision whether to target the top political leadership” of Hamas. So said an Israeli official quoted in The Jerusalem Post. Tzahi Hanegbi, a senior member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Kadima party and chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, echoed the call, arguing that “There’s no difference between those who wear a suicide suit and a diplomat’s suit.” Ali Abunimah comments.
Book review: “Israel and the Clash of Civilisations”10 Feb 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rMuch debate on conflict in the Middle East is beset by contradictions and unanswered questions. In his second book, Nazareth-based English author Jonathan Cook seeks to cut these Gordian knots, and in the process proposes an uncompromisingly grim diagnosis of what is happening in the world’s most unstable region, and why it is happening. Raymond Deane reviews for EI.
New York and London protesters call for Valentine’s boycott of Leviev9 Feb 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rForty-five protesters called on Madison Avenue shoppers to boycott the jewelry store of Israeli billionaire and settlement magnate Lev Leviev this Saturday, the last major shopping day before Valentine’s Day. The protest was the seventh organized by the New York activist group Adalah-NY since Leviev’s store opened in mid-November.
Israeli forces kill one, injure 24 and destroy property in Gaza9 Feb 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIsraeli Occupation Forces (IOF) stepped up their attacks against the Gaza Strip, launching aerial attacks on different parts of the Strip. The IOF launched two raids on Rafah, killing a policeman and causing considerable material damage in al-Shaboura refugee camp in Rafah. Also, IOF jet planes launched four attacks on a training site under construction and one attack on a steel factory in al-Zaitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, destroying it.
Seven Gazans killed in day of Israeli air, shelling attacks6 Feb 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rOn 7 February 2008, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed seven Palestinians, raising the number of victims from its military attacks to seventeen persons since the beginning of this month, and 96 persons since the beginning of 2008 in the Gaza Strip. The IOF launched seven attacks in different parts of the Gaza Strip since last night, of which the most affected areas were Khan Younis, al-Nuseirat, and other areas in northern Gaza.
Electronic Intifada