Nadine Gordimer: Stand against Israel’s apartheid too24 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe following is an edited open letter from Gaza lecturer Dr. Haider Eid to Nobel Prize-winning South African author Nadine Gordimer: The news of your conscious decision to take part in the “Israel at 60” celebrations has reached us, students and citizens of Gaza, as both a painful surprise, and a glaring example of a hypocritical intellectual double standard. My students, psychologically and emotionally traumatized and already showing early signs of malnutrition as a result of the genocidal policy of the country whose birth you will be celebrating, demand an explanation.
Crossing the Line interviews Dr. Eyad al-Sarraj24 Apr 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThis week on Crossing the Line: Haaretz recently reported that Egypt and Israel have agreed in principle that Egypt will assume responsibility for supplying electricity to the Gaza Strip’s 1.4 million residents. But will Israel, who had previously supplied Gaza with most of its electricity, allow for this to continue in the context of their ongoing siege on Gaza? Host Naji Ali speaks with Dr. Eyad al-Sarraj, founder and director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme about the ongoing siege and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
This land was theirs23 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIn my name, and in the name of Jewish people throughout the world, an indigenous population was almost completely expelled. Village names have been removed from the map, houses blown up, and new forests planted. In Arabic, this is called the Nakba, or catastrophe. In Israel, this is called “independence.” Hannah Mermelstein comments.
Israel suspends family visits to prisoners23 Apr 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rJERUSALEM/GAZA, 22 April (IRIN) – For families in the Gaza Strip with sons or daughters in Israeli jails, the past 11 months have been especially hard, as they could no longer visit their imprisoned relatives and have only had contact through brief written messages. “This issue is a humanitarian concern for us, for the families and the prisoners,” said Katharina Ritz, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Jerusalem.
Gaza fuel supplies on a knife edge22 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rJERUSALEM/GAZA, 23 April (IRIN) – Israel once again pumped industrial diesel to the Gaza Strip’s sole power plant on 23 April, just hours before it was scheduled to stop operations due to a lack of fuel. An Israeli official told IRIN about one million liters would be sent in, provided no “security incidents” took place. The plant said it needed about 3.5 million liters a week, though Israel has committed to transferring only 2.2 million. The amount sent in on 23 April could only be spun out for a few days.
Activists hang up on Motorola22 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIn March of this year, the US Campaign to End the Israeli occupation launched its newest corporate accountability campaign: “Hang Up on Motorola.” Motorola Incorporated and its fully owned subsidiary Motorola Israel benefit from Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Present in Israel since 1964, Motorola supplies the Israeli army with equipment. EI contributor Adri Nieuwhof reports.
US playwright Sarah Jones urged to cancel Israel performance21 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rUpon news of her upcoming performance in Israel, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel tells playwright Sarah Jones: If you perform in Jerusalem you will be taking part in a feast for war crimes, ethnic cleansing, dispossession, and continued oppression of a people. We urge you not to turn your back to the needs and rights of the Palestinian people and not to collude in Israel’s persistent human rights abuse, which is, after all, the worst enemy of art and culture.
Palestinian education delegation to UK gets special treatment21 Apr 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rFollowing a motion passed at the inaugural Congress of the University and College Union (UCU) in the UK last May, a tour of British universities by Palestinian trade union academics was authorized. However, the UCU has taken a strong line that only its members will be allowed to attend tour meetings and attendees are required to bring identification. Rumy Hasan comments.
Report: Family members used to pressure Palestinians in Israeli detention21 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr r”They said that if I confessed to everything they wanted, they would release my wife, and that she was in the isolation cell because of me.” This and similar testimonies of detainees interrogated by the Israeli intelligence during the past year indicate a phenomenon whose gravity must not be minimized: the use of a detainee’s family to “break” him.
Crossing the Line interviews author Michael Neumann21 Apr 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThis week on Crossing The Line: Many Palestinians and solidarity activists advocate for the one-state solution as the best for both Israelis and Palestinians. Host Naji Ali talks with author and professor Michael Neumann who argues that the one-state solution is an illustion rather than a practical and possible solution to the conflict.
EI exclusive: a pro-Israel group’s plan to rewrite history on Wikipedia20 Apr 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rA pro-Israel pressure group is orchestrating a secret, long-term campaign to infiltrate the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia to rewrite Palestinian history, pass off crude propaganda as fact, and take over Wikipedia administrative structures to ensure these changes go either undetected or unchallenged. A series of emails by members and associates of the pro-Israel group CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America), provided to The Electronic Intifada (EI), indicate the group is engaged in what one activist termed a “war” on Wikipedia.
Gaza police violently disperse peaceful assembly20 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rA police force violently dispersed a march in Rafah, Gaza organized by the Fatah Movement, honoring Palestinian and Arab Prisoners Day. Fatah announced that the march would start after Friday prayers. According to eyewitnesses, members of the police assaulted demonstrators. A journalist was also prevented from filming and his camera was confiscated.
Popular Conference: preserving collective identity20 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe goals of the National Popular Palestinian Conference to be held in Chicago in August 2008 include cultivating our national Palestinian-Arab identity, exploring grounds for cooperation and collective expression, and motivating and organizing the US-based Palestinian community to assume a greater role in realizing Palestinian national objectives and preserving our collective identity. Noura Erakat and Monadel Herzallah outline the goals and history of the conference.
The other evangelicals19 Apr 2008rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rLast week in The Guardian’s Comment is Free, Lee Marsden wrote about how Republican US presidential candidate John McCain has managed to pick up the support of Christian Zionist heavyweight John Hagee. While Hagee praises McCain’s position on Israel, McCain himself is presumably happy to receive the endorsement of a man whose Christians United for Israel organization links up with thousands of potential voters. Ben White comments on a different strain of American evangelicals seeking to counter the impact Christian Zionists have on US foreign policy.
Dubai called on to boycott Leviev stores over Israeli settlements18 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rNew York human rights activists, and representatives of the West Bank Palestinian villages of Bil’in and Jayyous called on the government and the people of the United Arab Emirates to boycott the jewelry stores of Israeli billionaire and diamond magnate Lev Leviev over his companies’ construction of Israeli settlements. According to a flurry of recent media reports, Leviev is opening jewelry stores in Dubai during 2008.
Thousands attend funeral of slain Gaza journalist17 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rGAZA CITY, 18 April (IPS) – Fadel Shana’a just had to go to the scene of the Israeli bombing. As a Reuters cameraman, that was his job. He wasn’t the only one killed, but through his pursuit of attacks as they happen, he was always more at risk than most others. Fadel Shana’a was killed Wednesday because he was in the firing line, but also because, eyewitnesses said, he had begun to film the tanks that were firing. A barrage of metal shrapnel pierced his body as a tank missile landed close to him.
Eight children, journalist among yesterday’s Gaza dead16 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIn the past 24 hours, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have escalated attacks against the Gaza Strip, while they maintained the tightened siege imposed on Strip. On Wednesday evening, 16 April 2008, and in less than half an hour, IOF killed 13 Palestinian civilians, including a journalist, eight children and two brothers, and wounded 32 others in Juhor al-Dik village.
Israeli forces in Gaza “willfully kill” journalist16 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the crime committed by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Wednesday evening, which took the life of Fadel Shana’a, a Palestinian journalist, when he carrying out his job in Gaza. PCHR expresses utmost concern over continued crimes committed by IOF against journalists and media professionals, which is a reflection of excessive use of force against civilians, and systematic targeting of journalists to prevent them from covering crimes committed against civilians.
No peace without Hamas16 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rLast week’s attack on the Nahal Oz fuel depot should not surprise critics in the West. Palestinians are fighting a total war waged on us by a nation that mobilizes against our people with every means at its disposal—from its high-tech military to its economic stranglehold, from its falsified history to its judiciary that “legalizes” the infrastructure of apartheid. Resistance remains our only option. Hamas founder Mahmoud al-Zahar comments.
Chicago Palestine Film Festival opens 25 April16 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe Chicago Palestine Film Festival committee is very excited to announce the selections and schedule for our seventh annual film festival. Our 14 selections this year come from Palestinian, American, European and other filmmakers. The festival will take place between 25 April and 8 May at the Siskel Film Center.
Israel doesn’t want to know Carter any more16 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rJERUSALEM, 17 April (IPS) – Three decades after he brokered the first-ever peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country, former US president Jimmy Carter has become persona non grata in the Jewish state. Both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak refused to meet with him during his four-day visit here. So did former prime minister and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who accused Carter of holding “anti-Israel views in recent years.”
My Nakba16 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rAs a third-generation Palestinian refugee, the Nabka is more than fleeing the homeland, and losing your identity. It is not having a single memory of the homeland that once was for your grandparents, and your parents. It is not having anything to tell your children, like the taste of your land’s fruits, the smell of its sand, about stories and experiences with your people. Najwa Sheikh writes from Gaza.
New Jewish lobby seeks to redefine “pro-Israel”16 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rWASHINGTON, 15 April – A new group of prominent US Jews who believe that the so-called “Israel Lobby” has been dominated for too long by neo-conservatives and other Likud-oriented hawks has launched a new organization to help fund political candidates who favor a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a stronger US role in achieving it.
Carter’s visit with Hamas’ Meshal15 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr r”Carter seems more comfortable with terrorists than with friends like Israel.” So said a newsflash on the Israeli daily Haaretz’s website last Sunday. The statement was attributed to the American pro-Israel group, the Anti-Defamation League, and was obviously a reaction to news that former US president Jimmy Carter was planning to meet with Hamas leader Khaled Meshal during an upcoming visit to Damascus. EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah comments.
Former intelligence officer tortured, killed in Gaza15 Apr 2008rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rOn 15 April 2008, the family of former Palestinian Authority General Intelligence captain Sami Khatab was informed by the police that his body was found on the ground about 700 meters north of Palestinian International University and about 200 meters east of the coastal road in Gaza City. Paramedics from Shuhda’a al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah were summoned to the area by the police after the body was found.
Electronic Intifada