Hebron’s living hell
23 Feb 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rOur sobering taste of life in Hebron included other devastating stories and the presence of Israeli guard towers, camouflage netting, checkpoints, a wall spray painted with graffiti that included a tribute to the Golani brigade, one of the Israeli army’s most aggressively violent units, and to Betar, a right-wing youth organization. I passed a concrete block obstructing the road, spray painted with an arrow and the words “This is apartheid.” Alice Rothchild writes from Hebron.

Israel subjecting rights groups to “McCarthy techniques”
22 Feb 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThe Israeli government and its right-wing supporters have been waging a “McCarthyite” campaign against human rights groups by blaming them for the barrage of international criticism that has followed Israel’s attack on Gaza a year ago, critics say. Jonathan Cook reports.

Harvard Fellow calls for genocidal measure to curb Palestinian births
22 Feb 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rA fellow at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Martin Kramer, has called for “the West” to take measures to curb the births of Palestinians, a proposal that appears to meet the international legal definition of a call for genocide. Kramer, who is also a fellow at the influential Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), made the call early this month in a speech at Israel’s Herzliya conference, a video of which is posted on his blog.

Israel’s contemptuous response to Goldstone findings
22 Feb 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rSubmitted to the UN on 29 January, the Israeli government’s response to the UN-commissioned Goldstone fact-finding report falls far short of a credible investigation and continues Israel’s long-standing policy of refusal to investigate and convict those responsible for crimes committed during its military campaigns. Sayed Dhansay comments for The Electronic Intifada.

Scattered in death as in life
22 Feb 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rMamilla cemetery is estimated to be over 800 years old and was in continuous use until 1948 when the Western part of Jerusalem was conquered as Israel was created. The battle over Mamilla cemetery encapsulates many aspects of Israel’s approach to Palestinian rights since the conflict began, and it is worth considering five here. Nadia Hijab comments.

PACBI issues clarification concerning intellectual responsibility statement
19 Feb 2010
PACBI’s recent statement entitled “Intellectual Responsibility and the Voice of the Colonized,” which criticizes the research project that led to the publication of the book, The Power of Inclusive Exclusion: Anatomy of Israeli Rule in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, has stirred a healthy debate and mostly constructive discussion among various scholars.

Jerusalem families come out against museum built on ancestors’ graves
19 Feb 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rMembers of prominent Palestinian families from Jerusalem came out last week in protest against plans by the Simon Wiesenthal Center to build a Museum of Tolerance on top of part of the ancient Mamilla Cemetery where their ancestors are buried. One family member behind the initiative said it is not just symbolic, but instead a full-blown campaign. Marian Houk reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Israeli media first to report Haitian organ theft rumor
19 Feb 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThere is considerable speculation following the removal of Lady Jenny Tonge on 14 February from her position as health critic for the Liberal Democratic Party in the UK’s House of Lords following her statement calling for an inquiry into claims that the Israeli military stole organs during its relief work in Haiti last month. Jillian York reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Scandinavian financial institutions drop Elbit due to BDS pressure
19 Feb 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rDespite Israel’s oppressive tactics against it, the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement has marked additional victories with many institutional investors divesting from or blacklisting Israeli military contractor Elbit Systems. Adri Nieuwhof reports for The Electronic Intifada.

PACBI: Intellectual responsibility and the voice of the colonized
17 Feb 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 (PACBI) has recently encountered a number of projects that while intending to empower the colonized Palestinians, in essence end up undermining their will and choice of method of struggle for freedom, justice and self-determination. The publication of a new book entitled The Power of Inclusive Exclusion: Anatomy of Israeli Rule in the Occupied Palestinian Territories belongs to this category.

Review: A (happily) partial memoir of the second intifada
17 Feb 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rEmma Williams is a doctor who worked in Britain, Pakistan, Afghanistan, New York and South Africa before accompanying her husband, a UN official, to Jerusalem in October 2000. This account of their three years in Palestine, It’s easier to reach heaven than the end of the street – a Jerusalem memoir, was originally published in the UK in 2006 and now appears in a revised and updated US edition. Raymond Deane reviews for The Electronic Intifada

Poland tightens military alliance with Israel
17 Feb 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rPoland’s military has embarked on a “Polonization of Israeli technology” drive, coupling Israeli weapons-manufacturing technology with Polish manpower and raw materials. Poland’s Bumar Group has a 10-year offset deal worth $400 million with Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to produce Spike missiles for drones and helicopter gunships. Ewa Jasiewicz comments.

“At least there’s food in prison!”
17 Feb 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr r”This morning,” my neighbor Mona explained to me, “I told my husband that since the kids are out of school and he didn’t need to go into town, I would cook something special and we would have a party.” Mona has a wry sense of humor and I started to wonder what the punch line would be. Joy Ellison writes from al-Tuwani, occupied West Bank.

Israel’s new strategy: “sabotage” and “attack” the global justice movement
16 Feb 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIsrael’s influential Reut Institute has identified the global movement for justice and peace as an “existential threat” and called on the Israeli government to “attack” and possibly engage in criminal “sabotage” of this movement in what Reut believes are its various international “hubs” in London, Madrid, Toronto, the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Ali Abunimah comments for The Electronic Intifada.

Palestinians fight Jewish-only housing in Jaffa
16 Feb 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rOver the past few days graffiti scrawled on walls around the mixed Jewish and Arab town of Jaffa in central Israel exclaims: “Settlers, keep out” and “Jaffa is not Hebron.” Although Jaffa is only a stone’s throw from the bustling coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv, Arab residents say their neighborhood has become the unlikely battleground for an attempted takeover by extremist Jews more familiar from West Bank settlements. Jonathan Cook reports.

E-book on Jewish National Fund’s role in colonization of Palestine released
16 Feb 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThe Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign has published an e-book on the Jewish National Fund (JNF) that meets a need for an affordable introduction to the activities of the JNF, an organization supported financially by the British taxpayer but whose activities in Israel/ Palestine are politically-driven, and whose politics are nakedly racist. This little book reveals how a British charity works openly for the dispossession of Palestinian Arabs and the establishment of fully segregated Jewish-only communities and areas that exclude Arabs.

Defending Palestinian children: An interview with Rifat Kassis
15 Feb 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rDefence for Children International-Palestine Section aims to protect the rights of children and minors living in occupied Palestine. The Electronic Intifada contributor Adri Nieuwhof recently interviewed director Rifat Kassis about DCI-PS’s work and the special situation of Palestinian children growing up under occupation.

Israel bombs Gaza’s agricultural sector to the brink
15 Feb 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rSince the first constraints of the siege on Gaza were imposed nearly four years ago, the destruction of Gaza’s agricultural sector and potential to provide produce and economy to a severely undernourished Strip has dramatically worsened. With Palestinians in Gaza now largely dependent on the expensive Israeli produce that is inconsistently allowed into Gaza, the plight of the farmers reverberates throughout the population. Eva Bartlett reports from the occupied Gaza Strip.

Elton John: Don’t stand on the wrong side of history again
15 Feb 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 (PACBI) calls upon Elton John, as a world-famous artist and a public supporter of key human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Oxfam, not to perform in Israel, a state that maintains an illegal and inhumane system of occupation, colonization and apartheid and that has been widely accused by leading UN experts and human rights organizations, including Amnesty, of committing war crimes and other grave violations of human rights.

PACBI: All Israeli academic institutions complicit in apartheid
12 Feb 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIn response to the recent decision by the Israeli government to upgrade the status of the so-called Ariel University Center of Samaria to a full university, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel reiterates its call for a boycott of AUCS and all other Israeli academic institutions due to their complicity in maintaining Israel’s occupation, colonization and apartheid against the Palestinian people.

Israel wields iron fist against nonviolent resisters
12 Feb 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rWael al-Faqeeh has been held without charge by the Israeli military since his arrest on 9 December 2009. The 28 January hearing that lasted approximately three minutes here in Salem court resulted in the extension of his detention by a further ten days. Bridget Chappell writes for The Electronic Intifada.

Israeli immigration police abducting international activists in West Bank
12 Feb 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe Israeli courts ordered the release this week of two foreign women arrested by the army in the West Bank in what human rights lawyers warn has become a wide ranging clampdown by Israel on nonviolent protest from international, Israeli and Palestinian activists. Jonathan Cook reports.

UN called on to investigate repression of human rights defenders
12 Feb 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rA joint report submitted by Addameer, The Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the Wall) and the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) to Special Rapporteurs of the UN Human Rights Council examines the ongoing, systematic campaign of repression levied by Israel against Palestinian human rights defenders active against the Annexation Wall.

Rights orgs: Israel’s Gaza investigation falls short of justice
12 Feb 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rInformation and material available to date suggest that the parties responsible for investigating the violations committed during the Gaza conflict have not met the standards prescribed by international instruments. The investigations carried out by the Israeli military authorities fall short of complying with international standards of proper investigations into alleged violations of international law.

Rights group targeted over Goldstone report
11 Feb 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rWASHINGTON (IPS) – A campaign of attacks against the New Israel Fund (NIF), a US-based progressive organization that supports human rights groups in Israel, has gained attention in both the Israeli and US media, raising questions about the role played by foreign non-profits and nongovernmental organizations in influencing Israeli government policy.