May 30, 2011 - The story of Arab children, and especially Palestinian ones, is not only tragic in the context of Israeli violence, but one that also remains ignored, deliberately marginalised, and purposely suppressed in the US and Western media - and in Western political discourse. When Zionist terrorists began to attack Palestinian civilians in the 1930s and 1940s, Palestinian children fell victims. The most famous of these attacks include the Zionist blowing u p of Palestinian cafes with grenades (such as occurred in Jerusalem on March 17, 1937) and placing electrically timed mines in crowded market places (first used against Palestinians in Haifa on July 6, 1938). While the violence of the 1930s was the first introduction to the Middle East of such horrific terrorist violence, it is in the 1947-48 Zionist invasion of Palestinian villages and towns that Palestinian children were deliberately not spared... 

Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=78209 

May 30, 2011 - In the Jordan Valley, Palestinians are struggling just to remain on the land as the predatory settlements and occupation authority make everyday life an uphill battle. On 29 May, a group of Palestinians, internationals and Israeli activists joined the Jordan Valley Solidarity Project to help build a school out of mud bricks. Nearly the entire Jordan Valley is under Israeli control (categorized under Area C). Lacking permission to even build a rainwater colle ction device, most communities suffer from a constant threat of home demolition. The day of action was about supporting Palestinians in the Jordan Valley to continue their steadfast resistance in the land. The Jordan Valley represents nearly 30% of the West Bank, and therefore is crucial to a future Palestinians state....

Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=78204

Palestinian unity government to be formed by June 6th
Saed Bannoura  

Those Who Say Israel Should Fear the Wrath of Obama

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, 05.30.2011

Rabbi and writer

What I do have a problem with is the large number of commentators -- the vast majority Jewish -- who say that in defying Obama on the '67 borders Netanyahu has provoked the President's wrath and Israel will now suffer the consequences.

Read Post

A Peace Process Lagging Behind The Arab Spring
By Brita Rose

Given recent events in the Middle East at large this spring - a revolutionary fervor that has sparked a new dawn for the entire region, it is disappointing, if not tragic, that both the U.S. and Israeli governments seem intent on maintaining the status-quo

Poor Little Israel
By Cathy Stripe Lester

I’d like to see Israel be secure. For one thing, it would make us more secure, and even Arab countries would be more secure. But to be secure, Israel needs friends more than “defensible” borders

The U.S.-Israeli Train Wreck

by Jeff Gates / May 31st, 2011

President Obama hopes to head off a train wreck in September at the U.N. General Assembly. That’s when member nations plan to press for an independent Palestine. The Israel lobby is furious.

Critics doubt that the General Assembly has the authority to recognize Palestine. Yet protection of member sovereignty has been a goal of the U.N. since its founding. Thus the priority that Israel placed on U.N. recognition after President Harry Truman acknowledged Israel on May 14, 1948, eleven minutes after the Zionist enclave declared itself a state.

Truman refused to recognize this enclave as “the Jewish state.” Despite Barack Obama’s …

(Full article …)

The Wall

by Gilad Atzmon / May 31st, 2011

The Wall is a thought provoking new play based on Douglas Watkinson’s own experiences.

At the age of sixty, David visits a British military cemetery in Israel. For the first time in his life he is about to call upon the grave of his father Ralph who was blown up in 1947 at the age of twenty five by the Jewish Stern Gang.

The play is a unique encounter between David, a middle-aged Englishman, and his dead father Ralph, a young English Corporal at the time of the British Mandate. It is a meeting through which we, the audience, can ‘witness’ …

(Full article …)

Obama, Israel, and Palestine

by Gulamhusein A. Abba / May 30th, 2011

From the frenzy that was let loose on President Barrack Obama referring to the 1967 borders in his Middle East speech, one would think that he had announced a major shift in US policy on the Israel/Palestine issue, had abandoned Israel and was now pandering to the Palestinians!

Former Massachusetts Gov. and GOP’s leading presidential candidate Mitt Romney screeched that Obama had “thrown Israel under the bus”. Talk show hosts outdid one another in claiming that Obama was letting down Israel. Glen Beck denounced Obama for “betraying” Israel. Matt Drudge claimed that Obama had sided with the Palestinians. Former …

(Full article …)

Robert Fisk
Who Cares What Obama Says?

Arabeh Mayor Omar Nasser, do you agree with Netanyahu that Arabs live better here than elsewhere?

30 May 2011

Is there a democratic country in the world where there are unrecognized villages? In Israel there are. Is there a country in the world where there are laws that allow for admissions committees to prevent citizens from living in certain communities? In Israel there are. Is there a country with a true democracy where a bill like the Nakba Law can be passed or where citizenship can be revoked, including citizenship of tens of thousands of Palestinians from East Jerusalem? Is there a democratic state that rules over another people as Israel does over the Palestinians?

Lia Tarachansky: Historic protest in Ras al-Amud, Jerusalem

30 May 2011

For the first time in decades, Palestinian activists in Ras al-Amud, a neighborhood of Jerusalem south east of the Old City, invited Jewish Israeli activists to join them in their protest against a fortress settlement in their area. The neighborhood is the site of nearly daily confrontations between Palestinian youth and Israeli forces, and is sometimes referred to as the “daily intifada”.

Israeli national parks policy used to dispossess Palestinians

31 May 2011

An Israeli organization has warned against the dangerous repercussions of the implementation of a new Israeli plan to establish a national garden in the East Jerusalem towns of Issawiya and Al Tur.

The Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement has said that if the plan to establish the Mount Scopus Slopes National Park is implemented, it will cause great damage to land reserves intended for the future development of Issawiya and Al Tur and their 30,000 residents.

Read more...

British PM resigns as patron of the Jewish National Fund

31 May 2011

According to a pro-Palestinian organisation in the UK, British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has stepped down as a patron of the Jewish National Fund [JNF] following assertions that the JNF had played a role in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians during the Nakba or Palestinian Catastrophe, 63 years ago.
 
The Stop the JNF Campaign added that David Cameron had quietly ended his affiliation as an honorary sponsor of the JNF and that Downing Street had confirmed the move.
 
"This decline in political support for the JNF at the highest levels of the political tree may be a sign of the increasing awareness in official quarters that a robust defence of the activities of the JNF may not be sustainable," said the Stop the JNF Campaign spokesperson Dick Pitt.

Read more...

Lieberman to be indicted on charges of money laundering and abuse of power

31 May 2011

The Israeli daily newspaper, Haaretz, has revealed today, Tuesday 31st May, that the government's legal adviser, along with the Public Prosecutor's Office have prepared a draft indictment against the country's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who is accused of abusing his position, deception, witness intimidation and money laundering.
 
According to the draft, in 2001 and during the period in which he served as Minister of Infrastructure, Lieberman registered a company in the Virgin Islands to which he transferred $6.2 million between 2002 and 2008. The prosecution will also submit indictments against his daughter, his lawyer and his adviser.

Read more...

Israel's PR victory shames news broadcasters

31 May 2011

The propaganda battle over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has reached a new level of intensity. In 2004 the Glasgow University Media Group published a major study on TV coverage of the Second Intifada and its impact on public understanding. We analysed about 200 programmes and questioned more than 800 people. Our conclusion: reporting was dominated by Israeli accounts. Since then we have been contacted by many journalists, especially from the BBC, and told of the intense pressures they are under that limit criticism of Israel. They asked us to raise the issue in public because they can't. They speak of "waiting in fear for the phone call from the Israelis" (meaning the embassy or higher), of the BBC's Jerusalem bureau having been "leant on by the Americans", of being "guilty of self-censorship" and of "urgently needing an external arbiter". Yet the public response of the BBC is to avoid reporting our latest findings. Those in control have the power to say what is not going to be the news.

Read more...

Why June 5 matters

31 May 2011

I gasped as the first bullet struck a young man standing a few paces ahead of me. Watching him crumple to the ground, I struggled for breath and fought my natural urge to run. "Allahu Akbar!", the crowd roared around me. "Yalla, Shebab!" A half-dozen other men - none of whom could have been older than twenty, and most of whom looked much younger - rushed forward, retrieving their fallen compatriot and carrying him quickly to a waiting ambulance. A thin trail of blood marked their path, ending in a small, dark puddle where the first of the day's many gunshot victims had fallen.

Thousands of refugees and other Palestinians had gathered at the Erez Crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. An imposing military structure of massive concrete barriers and machine gunners' towers, the border wall separates Gaza Strip residents from the 78% of Palestine seized by the State of Israel in 1948. For the two-thirds of residents who are refugees, it also prevents their return to the homes from which they and their families were forcibly expelled that year. Palestinians throughout the world remember this Nakba, or catastrophe, every May 15 with gatherings, demonstrations, and resolutions to someday return.

Read more...

Week 10: Maher Younis - Palestinian political prisoner

31 May 2011

Maher Younis was born on 6th January 1958. He grew up in a modest family that believed in the justice of the Palestinian cause. He received his primary education in the village of Ara, and pursued vocational training in the city Al Khdera near Haifa. At the time of his arrest he was registered with the Hebrew University.

Maher was arrested on the night of 20th January 1983. Without warning, dozens of military jeeps had surrounded the family house before breaking into it. They quickly handcuffed him, placed a bag around his head, beat him, and then took him away to one of their interrogation centres.

The Israeli army continued to investigate him for more than six months without his family knowing the reason why, until the court hearing, when it was revealed and they were seeking the death penalty for the 1980 murder of an Israeli soldier, Avi Bromberg.

Read more...

• George Mitchell says, Well, 10 presidents and 19 secretaries of state also failed
• Shame: 9 of 15 signers of intolerant Congressional letter on Goldstone are Jewish
• Obama can’t stop talking about love (and that’s bad news for the Israel lobby)
• Not to be a buzzkill– but what Rafah opening does and doesn’t mean
• Netanyahu says ‘all men are created equal’ message on Lincoln Mem’l is a Jewish concept
• Pressure on Obama recalls similar pressure on Bush 20 years ago
• Renewing the Patriot Act, Obama believes ‘his being president is good for the world regardless of what he does’
• O I want to be in that number! (leopard spike heels outside Aipac)
• UK training Saudi forces used to crush Arab spring
• Netanyahu visit causes ‘New Yorker’ to contemplate ‘untenable’ Jewish future for Israel
• Knesset to consider bill to Hebraize names of Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem
• BDS flashmobs are largely led by women (who must contend with misogyny)
• David Cameron 2-step. Can Obama follow?
• Check out this Palestinian company’s documentary on the Gaza conflict, ‘A story of a war’
• Israeli raid of cucumber fields in occupied West Bank another sign of water battle to come

01/06/2011

Celebrating United Jerusalem - in Sheikh Jarrah
Adam Keller - Crazy County = "This year the settlers will hold their traditional Flag Dance on the streets of the Sheikh Jarrah Neighborhood." - "Have a nice Jerusalem Day!"

East Jerusalem residents face police violence: study
AFP - Yahoo News - "Residents do not view the Jerusalem District Police as a body meant to serve and protect them."" id

Returning to Safed in shackles
Budour Youssef Hassan - EI - "“A soldier stepped with his knee on my face. My eyes were looking at an old man laying still on the ground and hearing and smelling the gas bombs that have been fired at the peaceful demonstrators. As I was staring at the soldiers’ eyes, I saw fear.""

Israeli Association For Civil Rights Slams Israel`s Record In East Jerusalem
Kevin Murphy - IMEMC - "The report states that around 1,200 Palestinian children were questioned regards throwing stones in the past 18 months. The children are often taken from their bed at night and roughly questioned by Israeli interrogators in the absence of their parents or lawyers, the report claims." id

Holding the world in the middle’
MELANIE LIDMAN - J-Post - "“When it comes to taxes, you have an ID card, so they say come and pay; but when it comes to your rights, you don’t know if you’ll get them."" id

Settler housing starts drop by almost half in first quarter
TOVAH LAZAROFF - J-Post - "But this year, the number of finishes has spiked upward with the completion of 722 homes in the first quarter compared with 414 in the same time last year." id

Palestinians gear for Sunday march on Israel`s borders
Roee Nahmias - Ynet - " The highest flurry of activities is noted on Facebook, where various pro-Palestinian group have issued a similar call." id

Vote on Bedouin housing postponed
Attila Somfalvi - Ynet - " The plan offers the community large expanses of land, as well as upgraded infrastructure and State funding for construction." id

Despite promises, Lod`s Arab high school still without a home
Gili Cohen - Haaretz- ""I regret to say the Education Ministry keeps saying the school will be moved to a new building, but they haven`t started constructing it yet. I don`t know when they`re going to build it."" id

Jerusalem Day celebrations will not cover up the city`s rot and discrimination
Yossi Sarid - Haaretz - "The poet and Jerusalemite Gilad Meiri, who apparently also loves a different Jerusalem, has called in a poem "to liberate Jerusalem from Jerusalem Day."" id

30,000 Religious Zionists Expected To March Through East Jerusalem

Wednesday June 01, 2011 - 13:07

Israeli police presence in East Jerusalem has been increased to control a march of 30,000 religious Zionists through Arab neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem as part of Jerusalem Day celebrations, according to Haaretz. Full Story

Soldiers Invade Hebron, Neabry Areas, Kidnap Three Children

Wednesday June 01, 2011 - 12:55

Israeli soldiers kidnapped on Wednesday at dawn three children in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, and took them to an unknown destination. Troops installed roadblocks in the Hebron district, invaded several nearby villages and towns, broke into and searched several homes causing damage. Full Story

Arab League Forms A Committee To Monitor the Implementation of Unity Agreement

Wednesday June 01, 2011 - 12:36

The Ministerial Council of the Arab League held a session on Tuesday at night and decided to form a higher committee that will be tasked with supervising and monitoring the implementation of the reconciliation agreement between Fateh and Hamas. Full Story

Army Displaces Palestinian Village In the Jordan Valley

Wednesday June 01, 2011 - 12:20

Israeli soldiers attacked on Wednesday at dawn “Khirbit Yizra” village in the Jordan Valley of the occupied West Bank, and displaced its residents under the claim that the area is a “closed military zone”. Full Story

Hamas And Egypt Agree Measures To Ease Flow Of People Through Gaza

Wednesday June 01, 2011 - 11:37

Tensions between Hamas and the Egyptian regime over delays and restrictions of movement at the Egypt-Gaza Rafah border crossing have been eased in overnight talks, according to Maan News Agency. Full Story 

Protetests Announced For Naksa Day

Wednesday June 01, 2011 - 10:44

Refugees are preparing for a second display of mass civil disobedience on June 5th as part of commemorations of “Naksa Day”. Palestinian refugees plan to once again gather at Israel’s borders between Syria and Lebanon in a repeat of actions taken on Nakba Day of this year. Full Story

Through Lifta, We See Our Palestine
By Joharah Baker

Israeli bulldozers destroy farmer’s land in Al Ma’sara
International Solidarity Movement

Obama’s Foreign Policy Objectives

by Jack A. Smith / June 1st, 2011

You’ve seen the headlines in the last weeks and days:

The Arab uprisings, the killing of Osama Bin Laden, Washington’s efforts to keep troops in Afghanistan and Iraq beyond pullout schedules, Egypt’s reopening of the border with Gaza, Pakistan’s role in the Afghan war, President Barack Obama’s speeches on the Middle East and Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s intransigence, the Fatah-Hamas unity moves and plans to gain UN recognition of Palestinian statehood — and that’s not the half of it.

Each event looms large in the mass media and in political discourse, but each is only part of a much larger …

(Full article …)

National security adviser worked for Israeli firm accused of Iran dealings

1 June 2011

Yaakov Amidror, newly appointed head of National Security Council, worked with many Ofer-controlled companies; the Ofer brothers are uspected of illegal trade with Iran through subsidiaries registered abroad.

IOA Editor: While Israeli leaders continue to raise the Iranian Threat as a diversion from Israel’s enhanced colonial efforts, prominent Israeli security officials have been exposed in the upper management tier of a leading Israeli conglomerate suspected of illegally trading with Iran. Hypocrisy knows no bounds, and the same goes for propaganda.

Veteran Palestinian academic describes 'land swap' as a farce  

01 June 2011

In an exclusive interview with MEMO's Shazia Arshad, the veteran Palestinian academic, Dr Salman Abu Sitta, has dismissed the US-Israeli 'land swap' proposal as a farce and camouflage for ethnic cleansing. The idea has no legal standing and the Palestinians in the West Bank would never allow such an agreement to take place.

Abu Sitta said the 1947 UN partition plan never envisaged or proposed a racial or ethnic country, the type of which the Americans and Israelis are now advocating. The proposal of a Jewish state was based on the idea of a political structure - which would protect the right of the Palestinian inhabitants already living on the land to remain in their homes.

"When land swaps are discussed this historical perspective is usually ignored". They would, therefore, achieve two things: Israel would exchange lands it does not own and it would again commit acts of ethnic cleansing by supposed legal means.

Read more...  

Jerusalem mayor: settlements will continue regardless of political situation  

01 June 2011

During a special Knesset session on May 31, for the economy and internal affairs committees, Barkat called for the intensification of efforts toward the approval of a comprehensive reform plan for the settlement construction sector in the Occupied Palestinian Territories including Jerusalem.

Read more...  

Change and Reform bloc denounces extension of MP's detention  

01 June 2011

The Change and Reform Bloc of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) has denounced the Occupation Authority's decision to extend the detention of one of its members, Nayef Rajoub, for another six months. The bloc considered the decision to be part of an Israeli strategy to eliminate the symbols of Palestinian legitimacy.
 
In a press statement released on Tuesday, May 31, the bloc stated that the verdict reflected Israel's insistence on violating the immunity of Palestinian members of parliament, in view of the suspicious international silence and the farce of security cooperation with the Occupation.

Read more...  

$8.4 million European-Palestinian agreement to support Jerusalem projects  

01 June 2011

On Tuesday, May 31, the Palestinian Authority and the European Union signed a €6 million agreement (approximately $8.4 million) to support developmental, cultural, educational, health, humanitarian, and human law projects in Jerusalem.
 
The head of the Palestinian Authority President's office, Hussein Al Araj, who signed the agreement on behalf of the Palestinian side, was quoted by official PA media sources as saying that he hoped that the plan would receive Arab and Muslim support in combating Israeli schemes to Judaize Jerusalem.

Read more...  

Haniyah unveils memorial to Freedom Flotilla 1  

01 June 2011

The Palestinian prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyah, has unveiled a memorial at Gaza City's Port to the victims of Freedom Flotilla 1. The monument is inscribed with the names of the nine Turkish activists who were killed aboard Freedom Flotilla 1's lead ship, the Mavi Marmara, in May 2010. During the accompanying ceremony, the flags of all the states which took part in the Flotilla were flown with the Turkish flag taking pride of place as a tribute to the lead role the country has taken in efforts to break the siege on Gaza.

Read more... 

• Major New Weblog Features: The Anti Hypocrite Tools
• An open letter to Fouad Ajami on his misrepresentation of the Arab revolutions
• Are Palestinians standing up for an inclusive national identity?
• ‘Tablet’ says peace is only possible if Israelis study the Nakba
• Writing on the wall: ‘Coldplay’ endorses ‘Freedom for Palestine’ song
• Palestinians once weren’t smart and inventive, Walzer says, but now they are
• Then the song changed
• Some Arab children don’t count
• Challenging Israel’s stacked discourse on the right of return
• America is fed up with the ‘old man’s commiseration club’
• And this is just England
• More on the late Safire, gunnin for Israel
• All star ensemble– ‘We are the people, this is the time– Stand up, sing out for Palestine’
• 2nd class citizens: Palestinian city inside Israel hasn’t had phone or internet access for weeks following accident
• A (half-hearted) defense of the Congressional Democrats

For previous articles since 2004 go to respective sections

02/06/2011

Are Palestinian children less worthy?
Joseph Massad - Al Jazeera - What is it about Jewish and Arab children that privileges the first and spurns the second in the speeches of President Barack Obama, let alone in the Western media more generally? Are Jewish children smarter, prettier, whiter? Are they deserving of sympathy and solidarity, denied to Arab children, because they are innocent and unsullied by the guilt of their parents, themselves often referred to as "the children of Israel"? Or, is it that Arab children are dangerous, threatening, guilty, even dark and ugly, a situation that can only lead to Arabopaedophobia - the Western fear of Arab children?

Making history : A call for a shared narrative of the conflict
Marzouq El-Halabi- +972 - The Palestinian discourse must leave denial behind and engage seriously with the Jewish and Zionist questions. No more talk of the victorious and the defeated, victims and victimisers, but a new narrative shared by both sides of the conflict.

Jerusalem-area settlement asks nearby mosques to turn down loudspeakers
Amira Hass - Haaretz - Ibrahim Za`atra, who heads the Palestinian Authority`s religious affairs office in the Jerusalem area, confirmed to Haaretz that he had received a complaint from Ma`aleh Adumim, saying that municipal authorities in the settlement were seeking to lower the volume for the call to prayer - and the reading from the Koran that precedes it - from two mosques next to the settlement. Za`atra called the complaint "unacceptable interference in people`s lives and our freedom of religion."

Historic Protest in Ras al-Amud, Jerusalem
Lia Tarachansky - The Real News - For the first time in decades, Palestinian activists in Ras al-Amud, a neighborhood of Jerusalem south-east of the Old City, invited Jewish Israeli activists to join them in their protest against a fortress settlement in their area. The neighborhood is the site of nearly daily confrontations between Palestinian youth and Israeli forces, and is sometimes referred to as the "daily intifada". It is located in an area known as E1, or the "linchpin settlement" which if won over by settlers, would officially divide the West Bank into a south and a north half.

Following the opening of Rafah Crossing, Gisha`s new animated film asks:
Gisha - The film, which will be shared online through social media networks, challenges the commonly held belief that Israel no longer exercises control over Gaza and does not bear responsibility for what goes on there – an opinion voiced ever more strongly since the opening of Rafah.

Israeli settlers emboldened by Netanyahu’s US reception
Mel Frykberg - The Electronic Intifada - “In any case, the number of residents has long passed the point of no return. Hundreds of thousands of people live in Judea and Samaria [the term right-wing Israelis use to describe the occupied Palestinian West Bank], and over 100,000 live outside what is called the settlements blocs. No politician can uproot them,” said Dayan.

Israel`s PR victory shames news broadcasters Our latest analysis of news bulletins reveals how Israel continues to spin images of war
Greg Philo - The Guardian - Images of suffering do not now in themselves affect how audiences see the validity of actions in war. People see the images as tragic, but judgments as to who is right and wrong are now firmly in the hands of the spin doctors.

Israel’s Narcissism Shines Bright in Jerusalem
Joharah Baker - MIFTAH - Jerusalem, quite frankly should be an open city. This is really the only solution that would do justice to all those who wish to worship in it, to relive its history and to appreciate its beauty. Jews claim they are finally able to return to the Western Wall to pray. That would be fine if that were the case for other religions as well. Palestinian Muslims from the West Bank and Gaza cannot pray in Al Aqsa, the third holiest site in Islam and Palestinian Christians just kilometers away cannot worship in the church where Jesus was crucified.

The Middle East: all process, no progress
Carne Ross - The Guardian - The next few months will see yet more activity and diplomacy, risking distraction from the reality of continuing settlement building and mounting frustration of ordinary Palestinians living under an occupation that promises no end. With tension rising between Israel and its neighbours, and with it the risk of international conflict, no one can regard this situation as acceptable.

Trial of West Bank Protest Organizer, Bassem Tamimi, to Begin Sunday
Popular Struggle Coordination Committee - Tamimi, who is the coordinator of the Nabi Saleh popular committee, will plead not guilty to the charges against him. He will, however, admit to having organized demonstrations against settlement expansion and argue that it is i,n fact, the Israeli Occupation that should be on trial.

Juppe Presents Peace Plan. Says France Will Host Talks

Thursday June 02, 2011 - 15:19

The French Foreign Minister, Alain Juppe, has proposed a Middle East peace conference in Paris before the end of July in an attempt to restart the stalled Middle East peace process, according to AFP. Full Story

Thousands Of Zionists March In Jerusalem

Thursday June 02, 2011 - 02:06

Marking the so-called “Jerusalem Day”, approximately 30.000 Zionists marched in occupied East Jerusalem on Wednesday “celebrating 44 years of occupation and annexation of the holy city”, and clashed with Arab citizens. The settlers were marking the so-called “reunification” of Jerusalem according to the Jewish calendar. Full Story

 Army Invades A Village Near Tulkarem

Thursday June 02, 2011 - 00:54

Israeli soldiers invaded on Wednesday evening Kafr Al Lubbad village, east of the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, broke into a school construction site, and interrogated several residents. Full Story

Crushed Ice In Nuseirat:
My Gaza Refugee Camp Revisited
By Ramzy Baroud

My English teacher, Mohammed Nofal, remained as I had left him, funny and hospitable. A few of my friends have been killed, but many others have remained steadfast, building, repairing, educating and surviving. The astonishing level of determination that has always defined Gaza is much stronger than I remember it. No one seeks pity in this place

The Palestinian Question
By Dr. Habib Siddiqui

After years of waiting and betrayal, Palestinian peop;e have decided the right course of action: Ask the United Nations in September to recognize their state. The measure may not get them what they want, and the United States will veto it when it gets to the Security Council. But still, it is better than the current stalemate, and seems to be the only logical thing to do for the Palestinian people

Netanyahu And Obama: What's The Difference?
By Chandra Muzaffar

Two speeches made by a President and a Prime Minister within the short span of three days confirm what we have known all along: the US and Israeli governments have no interest in a just solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict

Watch: Jerusalem Day’s racist march, escorted by police
Noam Sheizaf

Majority of both Palestinians and Israeli expect new intifada
Harriet Sherwood

Noam Chomsky: "The U.S. and Its Allies Will Do Anything to Prevent Democracy in the Arab World"

The Six-Day War and a Possible Resolution

by Ron Forthofer / June 2nd, 2011

President Obama’s recent statements about using the 1967 borders as the basis for a settlement of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict sparked strong reactions. These reactions also show that many people are terribly misinformed about who started the Six-Day War.

Initially Israel said that it had been attacked and that its survival was at stake. However Israel began the fighting when it launched a sneak air attack on Egypt on June 5th. This Israeli attack essentially won the war since it destroyed the bulk of the Egyptian air force whose planes were still on the ground.

Since both U.S. and Israeli intelligence services confidently …

Second flotilla set to sail one year after massacre 

Eva Bartlett

Gaza City

1 June 2011

A gleaming new memorial towers over the center of Gaza City’s battered port, bearing the names of the Turkish solidarity activists who died one year ago when Israeli commandos firing machine guns air-dropped onto the Freedom Flotilla.

Read more about Second flotilla set to sail one year after massacre

More from Activism News 

(Full article …)

Israeli forces bulldoze crops in northern Gaza during harvest period  

02 June 2011

Israeli Occupation Forces have begun bulldozing agricultural crops in the north of the Gaza Strip just shortly before they were due to be harvested by farmers.
 
Farmers and eyewitnesses told Quds Press that just as farmers were preparing to harvest their annual wheat and barley crop near the border in the north of the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces brought in machinery and bulldozed the crops.

Read more...  

Occupation campaign against Palestinian leadership continues  

02 June 2011

Israel's occupation forces launched this week an aggressive campaign of arrests targeting a number of Palestinian leaders in the West Bank, particularly members of the Change and Reform Bloc within the Palestinian Legislative Council.
 
Most notably, the Deputy and Former Minister for Transport and Communications, Abdel Rahman Zeidan of Tulkaram and the Deputy for Hebron, Nizar Ramadan, were both detained.
 
The former member of the Legislative Council and Fatah leader, Hossam Khidr and the leader, Yasser al-Badrasawi, both from the city of Nablus, were also detained.

Read more...  

IDF official visits Cairo to renew talks on prisoner exchange with Palestinians  

02 June 2011

The head of the Cairo based Centre for Palestinian Studies has said that the Israeli Defence Ministry's Director of Policy and Political-Military Affairs, Amos Gilad, arrived in the city on Wednesday, June 1, to renew talks on the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.
 
Ibrahim Al Darraway told Quds Press that "There is some chance in the bid for the Egyptian efforts to penetrate - in a way accepted by all sides - the issue of the prisoner swap deal."

Read more...  

Arab League appoints committee to oversee implementation of Palestinian reconciliation agreement  

02 June 2011

During the June 1st extraordinary session of the Arab League, its Council decided to form a supreme committee to supervise and follow up on the implementation of the Palestinian national reconciliation agreement.
 
The committee will be headed up by Egypt with membership from Jordan, the UAE, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Qatar, Morocco, Yemen and the League's Secretary General.
 
At the close of the meeting on Tuesday, the League's Council explained that during the committee's first meeting, it would set up a working agenda and would thereafter submit regular reports to the Council.

The return of Palestinian Egypt  

02 June 2011

Egypt's decision to reopen the Rafah border crossing with Gaza was anticipated; nevertheless its timing had significant political import. It was not just a positive undertaking on the border, but it was also a decision linked to the meaning of Egypt's very existence. The country is seeking to restore its image as a crucial supporter of the Palestinian cause because Palestine has always been an Egyptian national cause.

With the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, which Egypt helped to push through, the decision to reopen the Rafah crossing has angered Israel and caused anxiety in the US; it has prompted intense pressure on Egyptian decision-makers, including unequivocal warnings directed at Cairo during the recent AIPAC conference attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and US President Barak Obama. The conference was a forum to express the growing fears resulting from Egypt's new policies; the Rafah decision was even described as a violation of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty.

Read more...  

• State Department blames flotilla participants for ‘risks’ they incur from Israel
• He wrote me back
• Slaughter and Rubin say Syrians are brave. What about this boy raising a flag in Gaza?
• Pitying ‘Coldplay”s angry commenters
• Is the lobby’s influence significant and pernicious?
• Fisk: US foreign policy in ME is based on idea that Arabs are stupider than the rest of us
• The children Obama will never mention or meet
• Ari Shavit says Arab spring and Jewish state are irreconcilable
• Palestinian boycott committee welcomes statehood resolution
• Mustafa Barghouthi’s 2-state/1-state straddle
• Palestinians consider legal maneuver to overcome US veto of statehood in Security Council come September
• Most American Jews would consider it a ‘major tragedy’ if Israel ceased to exist (but only 1/4 say ‘biggest tragedy of my lifetime’)
• Major New Weblog Features: The Anti Hypocrite Tools
• An open letter to Fouad Ajami on his misrepresentation of the Arab revolutions
•  
• Are Palestinians standing up for an inclusive national identity?

Bad News >From The BBC - Part 2: The ‘John Motson Approach To Analysing News’

http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=625:bad-news-from-the-bbc-part-2-the-john-motson-approach-to-analysing-news&catid=24:alerts-2011&Itemid=68

Time for a New 'Honest' Broker

- What more can be said about Netanyahu’s speech to Congress two weeks ago that has not already been said? It was careless, delusional, and at times, borderline repulsive; it made a mockery of the peace process, the plight of the Palestinian people...

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Jerusalem for All.

Jerusalem, the city of the faithful, is too important to be left to the present Israeli and Palestinian leadership. A united, open Jerusalem for All is a must. A city central to the believes of billions of Jews, Christians and Muslims must not be held...

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Israel's Imaginary Defensible Borders, Daniel Gordis's Closed Pro Israel Tent and Other Misguided Notions (Part 1)

Today, we'll begin the exploration of the meaning of "defensible borders" and "pro-Israel tent" with our word guides and leader candidates, Benjamin Netanyahu and Daniel Gordis. In Part Shtayeem we'll end our journey. I'll...

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For previous articles since 2004 go to respective sections

04/06/2011

Ex-Mossad chief`s comments on Iran place him on collision course with Netanyahu
Aluf Benn - Haaretz "Meir Dagan`s public warnings that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leading Israel into disaster places the former Mossad chief in a new role - head of the opposition. After two years of the prime minister`s complete control over the political message coming out of Jerusalem, there is finally someone who is standing up and warning the public of the risks inherent in a leadership that "is absent of vision and responsibility." ca

The Israeli right`s refusal to accept other versions of Zionism
Carlo Strenger - Haaretz - "Israel’s right is not confident enough to accept the truth of the country`s history, and instead propagates stories that no historian on earth would support." ca

500 Palestinians set for mass ‘fly-in’ to B-G Airport July
By OREN KESSLER - Jerusalem Post "Pro-Palestinian activists planning to send hundreds living abroad on commercial flights July 8; after holding protest rally at airport, arrivals plan to travel to the W. Bank to “express solidarity” with Palestinians.In the wake of “Nakba Day,” “Naksa Day” and an anticipated Gaza-bound flotilla later this month, pro-Palestinian activists are planning to send hundreds of Palestinians living abroad on commercial flights to Ben-Gurion Airport next month in a dramatic display of solidarity." ca

Israeli march breaks into violence on Jerusalem Day
Ma`an News Agency - "In the first Israeli "Jerusalem Day" rally to go through the heart of Palestinian East Jerusalem, marchers chanted "death to the Arabs" and lobbed vegetables at Palestinians." ca

Settlers, police clash at West Bank outpost
Ma`an News Agency - "Six Israeli police officers and five settlers were injured Thursday in clashes that erupted as police dismantled an illegal settlement outpost, a police spokesman said." ca

Lost and found in translation
Rania Khallaf - Al-Ahram Weekly "A one-day symposium convened last week at the American University in Cairo (AUC) was aimed at discovering yet more dimensions to the 25 January Revolution and examining the challenges it poses to translation techniques.The agenda at the symposium was a discussion of research and translation studies conducted at a spring semester entitled "Translating revolution".ca

Passion and fantasy
Ati Metwaly - Al-Ahram Weekly "Since 1 March, the day the Cairo Opera House resumed its activities after the January Revolution, this was the first evening on which the Cairo Symphony Orchestra filled or nearly filled the auditorium. It is well to remember that only one day earlier, on Friday 27 May, the minds of many people were set on Tahrir Square, while on 28 May many focused on the Manchester United football match; neither overshadowed enthusiasm for the concert. This is definitely an indicator that after weeks of stagnation and declining audience numbers, the time for the revival of classical music has finally come, and the concert programme is among reasons behind this important shift." ca

Taking on Thomas Friedman over unarmed resistance
Joseph Dana - +972mag "Having just returned from the Qalandia Nakba protests, I had witnessed exactly what Friedman dreams of taking place. I decided to pen a short letter to the editor of New York Times explaining what Friedman failed to mention. It was rejected by the paper. Thanks to the internet, the letter might have a second life. Here it is:" ca

PALESTINE/ISRAEL: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Jeff Halper - ICAHD newsletter "Imagine. September 22nd (or 23rd or 24th), the day after the Security Council recognizes Palestine as a member state within the 1967 borders and it is ratified in the General Assembly by more than 150 countries: The Palestinian flag joins that of 192 other member states, all of whose territorial integrity is ensured by the United Nations. Indeed, this is one of the most fundamental of UN tasks."

ICAHD Monthly Newsletter - June 2011
ICAHD - "Summer Rebuilding Camp 2011: Every year hundreds of Palestinians are forced from their homes, homes built on land they own. Since 1967 Israel has demolished more than 25,000 Palestinian homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. ICAHD rebuilds homes as an act of defiance, creating alternative facts on the ground."

For previous articles since 2004 go to respective sections

PCHR Weekly Report: 2 wounded, including child, 44 abducted by Israeli troops this week

Friday June 03, 2011 - 12:00

In its Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for the week of 26 May – 01 June 2011, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) found that a Palestinian child was wounded in Iraq Bourin village, south of Nablus. In addition, a Palestinian demonstrator was wounded in Bil'in, west of Ramallah. Full Story

Settlers Clash With Israeli Police, 11 injured

Friday June 03, 2011 - 10:58

Israeli Police spokesperson, Micky Rosenfeld, stated that six Israeli policemen and five settlers were injured during violent clashes that took place on Thursday when the Israeli police dismantled an illegal settlement outpost near the central West Bank city of Ramallah. Full Story

 Israeli Sources: “Peres Meets Abbas In Italy”

Friday June 03, 2011 - 09:31

Visiting Italy Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, held a meeting, on Thursday, with Israeli President, Shimon Peres, and the two held talks on the efforts to resume the stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. Full Story

 Netanyahu: “Israel Will Act Firmly Against Attempts To Cross Border”

Friday June 03, 2011 - 08:04

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, warned Thursday that Israel will act firmly against attempts to cross into the country while the Palestinian mark the “Naksa” day this coming Sunday. Full Story

Rishiq Denies Swap Deal Nearing

Friday June 03, 2011 - 05:32

Hamas political leader, Izzat Al Rishiq, denied on Thursday media reports claiming that a prisoner swap deal with Israel is approaching, adding that the deal remains in a deadlock due to Israeli objections and preconditions. Full Story

 US Issues Official Statement Against Gaza-bound Flotilla

Friday June 03, 2011 - 04:47

The US State Department issued an official statement reiterating its objection to the Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla, and stating that it raised the issue with the government of Turkey, as the United States believes that flotilla and any ship sailing to Gaza “would be regarded as an act of provocation”. Full Story

Family urges Amnesty Int'l to press Israel to release seriously-ill detainee
From Khalid Amayreh in Dura, Israeli-occupied West

Scottish Court to Rule on Whether Anti-Israel Protesters are 'Anti-Semitic'
Ken Ferguson

Another discriminatory bill moves ahead in the Knesset
Palestine Monitor

04/06/2011

Video exposing provocative Jerusalem Day march in all its ugliness
JustJerusalem - A recording of blue-white flag hooligans in Arab quarters of East Jerusalem chanting: Muhammad is dead / May your village burn / Death to the leftists / Slaughter the Arabs. But, right at the beginning: activists on a rooftop waving Palestinian and Solidarity flags. bz

Abbas OKs French peace bid
Reuters - Ynet - Abbas said the French plan "talks about President Obama`s vision ...in which he spoke about a (Palestinian) state with the `67 borders with borders with Israel, Egypt and Jordan." Under the plan discussed with Juppe, "neither side would carry out unilateral actions," Abbas added. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has yet to respond to the French proposal. bz

Israelis must brace for dark times
Carlo Strenger - Haaretz - Benjamin Netanyahu, Avigdor Lieberman and company are selling Israel’s citizens an illusion: they are positioning themselves as Rambo-heroes who will win against the world. bz

Ex-Mossad chief`s comments on Iran place him on collision course with Netanyahu
Aluf Benn - Haaretz "Meir Dagan`s public warnings that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leading Israel into disaster places the former Mossad chief in a new role - head of the opposition. After two years of the prime minister`s complete control over the political message coming out of Jerusalem, there is finally someone who is standing up and warning the public of the risks inherent in a leadership that "is absent of vision and responsibility." ca

The Israeli right`s refusal to accept other versions of Zionism
Carlo Strenger - Haaretz - "Israel’s right is not confident enough to accept the truth of the country`s history, and instead propagates stories that no historian on earth would support." ca

500 Palestinians set for mass ‘fly-in’ to B-G Airport July
By OREN KESSLER - Jerusalem Post "Pro-Palestinian activists planning to send hundreds living abroad on commercial flights July 8; after holding protest rally at airport, arrivals plan to travel to the W. Bank to “express solidarity” with Palestinians.In the wake of “Nakba Day,” “Naksa Day” and an anticipated Gaza-bound flotilla later this month, pro-Palestinian activists are planning to send hundreds of Palestinians living abroad on commercial flights to Ben-Gurion Airport next month in a dramatic display of solidarity." ca

Israeli march breaks into violence on Jerusalem Day
Ma`an News Agency - "In the first Israeli "Jerusalem Day" rally to go through the heart of Palestinian East Jerusalem, marchers chanted "death to the Arabs" and lobbed vegetables at Palestinians." ca

Settlers, police clash at West Bank outpost
Ma`an News Agency - "Six Israeli police officers and five settlers were injured Thursday in clashes that erupted as police dismantled an illegal settlement outpost, a police spokesman said." ca

Lost and found in translation
Rania Khallaf - Al-Ahram Weekly "A one-day symposium convened last week at the American University in Cairo (AUC) was aimed at discovering yet more dimensions to the 25 January Revolution and examining the challenges it poses to translation techniques.The agenda at the symposium was a discussion of research and translation studies conducted at a spring semester entitled "Translating revolution".ca

Passion and fantasy
Ati Metwaly - Al-Ahram Weekly "Since 1 March, the day the Cairo Opera House resumed its activities after the January Revolution, this was the first evening on which the Cairo Symphony Orchestra filled or nearly filled the auditorium. It is well to remember that only one day earlier, on Friday 27 May, the minds of many people were set on Tahrir Square, while on 28 May many focused on the Manchester United football match; neither overshadowed enthusiasm for the concert. This is definitely an indicator that after weeks of stagnation and declining audience numbers, the time for the revival of classical music has finally come, and the concert programme is among reasons behind this important shift." ca

For previous articles since 2004 go to respective sections

Qabha: “Real Reconciliation Does Not Exist In The West Bank”

Saturday June 04, 2011 - 14:25

Former Minister of Detainees, Hamas political official, Wasfi Qabha, stated that there are no real indications of reconciliation in the West Bank as the Palestinian security forces are still interrogating Hamas members and supporters. Full Story

06/06/2011

The mass flight of Haifa`s Arabs remains one of the most contested events of the 1948 war.
Shay Fogelman--Yet despite strong evidence to support Arab claims, Israeli historians remain economical with the truth. Here`s the story they don`t want you to know. [dn]

Can equality exist in the Jewish state?
Kieron Monks--As right-wingers dominate the Knesset, Arab citizens of Israel say institutional discrimination is getting worse. [dn]

A Palestinian call to engage with the ‘Jewish question’
Marzouq El-Halabi--The Palestinian discourse must leave denial behind and engage seriously with the Jewish and Zionist questions. No more talk of the victorious and the defeated, victims and victimisers, but a new narrative shared by both sides of the conflict. [dn]

Syria TV: 5 killed, 10 hurt as Palestinian protesters clash with IDF on border
Jack Khoury, Eli Ashkenazi, Amos Harel and Haaretz Service--Hundreds of protesters gather near border with Israel on Golan Heights as Palestinians mark 44 years to the beginning of the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel should heed ex-Mossad head`s Iran attack warning
Gideon Levy--There is no clearer symptom of the sickly state of public discourse in Israel than efforts at silencing Meir Dagan.

Private Israeli Guard opens fire on protesters
Private Israeli guard opens fire on protesters, protester hit by shrapnel | Ni`lin Village

Arms firms eye Paris air show order bonanza
Jorn Madslien--On the face of it, the Paris air show - to be held later this month - is all about the civil aviation and space industries. But the biennial exhibit is at least as much about billions of dollars of military spending. [dn]

Thousands rally in support of Palestine
Boaz Fyler--Leftist organizations hold march in Central Tel Avis under the banner `Israel says yes to a Palestinian state`; demonstrators call on Netanyahu to recognize that establishment of Palestine serves vital Israeli interests [there were probably 5-10,000 rather than 20,000 as reported below. DN]

[Gu_weekly] Uri on Rachel Avnery // Marching in Tel Aviv for Palestine in `67 borders // Abolish Jerusalem Day! (with link to video)
Gush Shalom--weekly

Walk, Bike, Summer in Palestine
Siraj Center--Always new program and new opportunities to visit Palestine, always also we keep inviting our friends to join our annual programs starting with the Palestinian Summer Celebration 2011, below please find a number of opportunities to visit Palestine in a very special and unique way: [dn]

For previous articles since 2004 go to respective sections

Activism 6 WATCH: Private Israeli security guard attacks protesters with live fire

By Joseph DanaPublished June 4, 2011

News 5 Israel to start collecting fingerprints from all citizens

By +972blogPublished June 4, 201

12 reported killed after Palestinian protesters attempt to cross border from Syria

Samuel Sockol and Joel Greenberg 1:11 AM ET

MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights — Israeli troops opened fire on scores of Palestinian protesters from Syria who tried to cross the frontier with the Israeli-held Golan Heights on Sunday, and state-run Syrian television said that 12 were killed.

06/06/2011

`August Burns Red` cancels Israel concert
US Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel - "August Burns Red", a popular Christian metalcore band from the USA, has cancelled their concert in Israel, which had been scheduled for June 9. The decision followed an intensive three months` campaign by internet and facebook. ak

The British band Coldplay promotes `Freedom for Palestine` song
Ynet - The well-known British band`s Facebook page invites fans to listen to `Freedom for Palestine`, a music video clip created by various artists, songs alternating with images of the security fence and Palestinian residents. ak

Palestinian groups threaten Italian `Israel Week`
Menachem Gantz - Ynet - Italian police have refused to handle security for an Israeli exhibit at Piazza Duomo, Milan next week as officers may have difficulty securing the open-air event. The exhibit of Israeli art, technology etc. intends "to present the unfamiliar Israel". bz

Tension Remains High on Syrian Border
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC - The Israeli Army deployed dozens of additional units at the border with Syria following Sunday clashes in which the army short and killed 23 protesters marking the Naksa Day, and injured more than 350. The clashes lasted until night hours on Sunday while dozens of protesters remained near the border area demanding their right to cross back into their occupied homeland. bz

Extensive reporting by Jerusalem Post on Naksa events, including a video
Yaakov Lappin & Herb Keinon - Syria claims "23 killed, 350 wounded" in border clashes; confrontation could go on for days as protesters set up camp in Kuneitra for the night; Assad desperate "to distract from slaughter within own country," IDF says. bz

Israeli left-wing leader: IDF used `excessive force` in Naksa Day protests
Haaretz Service - Avnery conceded that a country has a right to defend its borders and prevent illegal entrance to its territory, yet added that "in order to effectively protect its borders, the state should first know where its borders are and have them recognized by the international community – and this is a decision which Israel has been avoiding for years." See also http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/press_releases/1307301226

Dagan, Ashkenazi, Diskin, Peres Likely Foiled 2010 Netanyahu-Barak Attack on Iran
Richard Silverstein - Tikun Olam - Two Israeli newspapers have begun to outline a major internal struggle at the highest reaches of the Israeli government about a 2010 plan by Bibi and Barak to wage war against Iran. It almost seems fictional (& one of the accounts IS at least partially), but apparently is very true. bz

The battle for September
Akiva Eldar - Haaretz - If Netanyahu stands by his refusal from May to adopt the June 4, 1967 lines as the basis for negotiations on the permanent status agreement, Obama will be able to explain why he is not imposing a veto in September - says Prof. Gabriela Shalev, until September last year Israel’s ambassador to the UN.

The mass flight of Haifa`s Arabs remains one of the most contested events of the 1948 war.
Shay Fogelman--Yet despite strong evidence to support Arab claims, Israeli historians remain economical with the truth. Here`s the story they don`t want you to know. [dn]

Can equality exist in the Jewish state?
Kieron Monks--As right-wingers dominate the Knesset, Arab citizens of Israel say institutional discrimination is getting worse. [dn]

For previous articles since 2004 go to respective sections

Palestinian Killed In Tunnel Accident

Monday June 06, 2011 - 13:10

A Palestinian worker was killed on Monday at dawn when a siege-busting tunnel collapsed on him at the Gaza-Egypt border, in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, the Arabs48 news website reported. Full Story

Tension Remains High on Syrian Border

Monday June 06, 2011 - 11:33

The Israeli Army deployed dozens of additional units at the border with Syria following Sunday clashes in which the army short and killed 23 protesters marking the Naksa Day, and injured more than 350. Full Story

Israel Army Attacks Naksa Demonstration In Qalandia

Monday June 06, 2011 - 11:31

A fresh round of violence erupted during Naksa Day in the Golan and the West Bank as Palestinians marched for the right of return to their homes in what is now Israel. Full Story

June 4, 2011 - In 2005, following the arrest of several high profile Arab politicians and lobbyists living in Israel, the Shin Bet security agency made a statement justifying their actions: "The security service will thwart the activity of any group or individual seeking to harm the Jewish and democratic character of the State of Israel, even if such activity is sanctioned by the law." The statement highlighted a fundamental tension between democratic freedom i n Israel, and the need to maintain its Jewish character. Thwarting harm to that character has been extrapolated to require controls on Israel's Arab minority in many departments of society, from education to the right of dissent. The need to ensure Jewish demographic and institutional domination has prompted a raft of controversial policies and practises... 

Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=78365 

Salah: 1 million Turks registered for Gaza flotilla
Ma'an news  

June 4, 2011 - Under international law, Israel's 44 year occupation is oppressive and illegal for having: -- attacked a nonbelligerent state; -- annexed it forcefully; -- exploited its resources and people; -- stolen their land and property; -- violated their human rights by collective punishment, war and numerous crimes against humanity; and -- failed to recognize Palestinian self-determination under provisions of the December 1960 UN General Assem bly Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples and all UN resolutions before and thereafter affirming Palestinian self-determination...

Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=78363

“a system to defend Israel from outer space”
Max Ajl  

PALESTINE/ISRAEL: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
By Jeff Halper  

Before and After September: The Struggle for Palestinian Rights Must Intensify
Palestinian BDS National Committee  

Us Seeks To Maintain Central Role In Peace Process

Tuesday June 07, 2011 - 15:37

The US has signalled that it intends to maintain its leading position in facilitating Middle East peace talks with its announcement of discussions aimed at renewing the peace process.
Full Story

Three Arrested In Majdal Shams As Security Remains Tight

Tuesday June 07, 2011 - 12:52

Three men have been arrested in the Israeli Occupied Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams according to PNN. The three were protesting those killed during protests by Palestinian refugees during at the Syrian side of the border during Naksa Day. Full Story

Soldiers Kidnap Hamas Legislator in Nablus

Tuesday June 07, 2011 - 10:52

Israeli soldiers kidnapped on Tuesday at dawn Hamas legislator, member of the Change and Reform Parliamentary Bloc, Sheikh Ahmad Al Haj, after breaking into his home in the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Full Story

Non-violence activist addresses Israeli military court

Tuesday June 07, 2011 - 10:21

Non-violence activist Bassem Tamimi's address to Israel's Ofer military court during his trial for organizing protests in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. A military judge refused to allow Tamimi to read his full statement in court. Full Story

Lia Tarachansky: What does Zionism mean to you?

7 June 2011

Last Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of Israeli youth marched along the Green Line to celebrate Jerusalem Day, an annual commemoration of the Israeli occupation of the city in the 1967 war. The organization of the march was done under a Zionist banner. Three days later, thousands of Israelis marched in Tel Aviv in support of the Two State Solution. While many organizations participated, the overall slogan was “Netanyahu says no, Israel says yes to a Palestinian state”.

Jonathan Cook wins the Martha Gellhorn Special Award for Journalism

6 June 2011

Jonathan Cook, whose work appears regularly on the pages of the IOA, was awarded the Martha Gellhorn Special Award for Journalism. The award citation for Jonathan Cook reads: “Jonathan Cook’s work on Palestine and Israel, especially his de-coding of official propaganda and his outstanding analysis of events often obfuscated in the mainstream, has made him one of the reliable truth-tellers in the Middle East.”

Amira Hass: Israel-Palestinian conflict is in the eye of the beholder

6 June 2011

Israel is fighting against the memory of the Nakba, whereas others are searching for ways to give the Nakba its rightful place in teaching and education.

One World – Freedom for Palestine

6 June 2011

Week of release: 3 July 2011. Palestine is in crisis. Today, Palestinians face daily human rights abuse and live in crushing poverty in refugee camps and under Israeli Occupation. In response to this injustice, a group of international musicians are releasing the song Freedom for Palestine by OneWorld.

Coldplay removes link to ‘Freedom for Palestine’ single from Facebook

Settlers burn down al-Mughir village mosque in revenge attack

07 June 2011

Residents from al-Mughir village north west of the Ramallah district have stated that they awoke on Monday morning to find that the majority of the mosque had been burnt down.
 
The head of the village council, Faraj al-Nisan, said that worshippers were surprised when they headed to the dawn prayers to find that the mosque had been set on fire. They found burning tyres inside the building which presumably set it and a large portion of its contents ablaze and cracking its walls. Hebrew graffiti was also found scrawled on the mosques external walls with the message "this is the beginning of the revenge".

Read more...

Israelis prepare to emigrate and Palestinians to Return?

07 June 2011

The number of Israelis thinking of leaving Palestine is climbing rapidly according to researchers, while many more, with actual millennial roots but victims of ethnic cleansing, prepare to exercise their right of Return.

Perhaps historians or cultural anthropologists surveying the course of human events can identify for us a land, in addition to Palestine, where such a large percentage of a recently arrived colonial population prepared to exercise their right to depart, while many more, with actual millennial roots but victims of ethnic cleansing, prepare to exercise their right of Return.

Read more...

Islamic Council warns against new licences for Jewish museum in Muslim cemetery

07 June 2011

The legal advisor of the Supreme Islamic Council in occupied Palestine has warned the Israeli occupation authorities about building a Jewish museum in the historic Ma'man Allah Islamic cemetery in the occupied city of Jerusalem.

According to Mr Qais Nasser, the Municipality of occupied Jerusalem is considering a request for a new licence for the museum. It is expected to tell the district planning committee that it would like the application to be accepted.

Read more...

US delegation visits Cairo to study Egypt's new foreign policy

07 June 2011

A US delegation of members of both Houses of Congress has been touring the Middle East, beginning with Cairo to identify new aspects of Egypt's foreign policy. The delegation met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Al-Araby, who briefed them on the most important characteristics of the policy and its impact on various regional issues. Paramount is how Egypt is going to manage its role in the Israel-Palestine conflict; the American delegation is also going to visit Tel Aviv. The meeting included a discussion of the latest regional political and social developments.

Read more...

James Petras

How the Empire Destroys Its Own People

Kourosh Ziabari

Arab Revolution, Western Intervention - Interview

Doc Jazz

Palestine's 'Amandla!' Moment: Music and Palestine

Aijaz Zaka Syed

How about an Arab Lobby?

Stuart Littlewood

Mobilization for 'September Moment'

08/06/2011

West Bank travel restrictions take their toll on international aid budgets
Amira Hass - Haaretz - "...the organizations have added a full-time position to deal exclusively with the Israeli authorities which issue travel permits within the West Bank, to and from the Gaza Strip and to Jerusalem." id

Syria warns of more marches on Israeli border
Ian Deitch and Bradley Klapper - Yahoo - "...Israel should expect 600,000 refugees to march "at any time" back to their villages and farms from where their families were forcefully uprooted."

Is an attack on Iran in the works?
Victor Kotsev Asia Times - "In the past, Israeli analysts have speculated that the government would try very hard to free Shalit before any attack on Iran, because a regional war could mean that a deal is put off indefinitely."

Three Arrested In Majdal Shams As Security Remains Tight
Kevin Murphy - IMEMC - "The Israeli military has declared the Golan a closed military zone and has maintained a large presence there."

Israel Prepares To Approve 4100 New Units For Israeli Settlers In East Jerusalem
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC - "Israel insists that “unified” Jerusalem is its eternal capital, and that “it has the right” to build what it calls “residential areas” in and around the city."

UN’s 193rd member: Palestine?
Ronen Medzini - Ynet - “The rules of the game around here are about to change,” an official in Jerusalem summed up the issue." id

France to move forward on Mideast conference
AP - Ynet - "Alain Juppe says France will move ahead with its proposal to bring Palestinians and Israelis together at a peace conference later this summer despite US reservations." id

Journalist and activist Gideon Spiro arrested for “incitement”
Yossi Gurvitz - +972 - "One wonders how, precisely, the police would defend the arrest, when they would have to haul Spiro before a judge. One also wonders just how dangerous the police considered a 76-year-old man."

Marching through Tel Aviv for a Palestinian state
Adam Keller - Gush Shalom - ""Bibi had said No – We say Yes to a Palestinian State". Many activists felt that this obscured the issue of the borders, which are the main bone of contention."

Netanyahu condemns West Bank mosque attack as `criminal act`
Barak Ravid and Chaim Levinson - Haaretz - "This condemnation has not, however, been universal." id

For previous articles since 2004 go to respective sections

Settlers Burn Palestinian Crops Near Hebron

Wednesday June 08, 2011 - 17:46

The Palestine News Network reports that on Wednesday afternoon, extremist settlers set fire to crops owned by Palestinian farmers near Hebron. Full Story

UNRWA Claims West Bank Economy Not As Healthy As Perceived

Wednesday June 08, 2011 - 17:08

The UNRWA has released a report undermining recent media reports that the West Bank economy was booming under the PA and Israeli occupation, according to research author Salem Ajluni. Full Story

US Seeks To Maintain Central Role In Peace Process

Tuesday June 07, 2011 - 15:37

The US has signalled that it intends to maintain its leading position in facilitating Middle East peace talks with its announcement of discussions aimed at renewing the peace process.
Full Story

Settlers Torch A Mosque Near Ramallah

Tuesday June 07, 2011 - 13:17

Local residents of Al Mughayyir village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, reported Tuesday at dawn that fundamentalist settlers set the local mosque ablaze, and wrote racist graffiti on it walls, the Palestine Today reported. Full Story

Three Arrested In Majdal Shams As Security Remains Tight

Tuesday June 07, 2011 - 12:52

Three men have been arrested in the Israeli Occupied Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams according to PNN. The three were protesting those killed during protests by Palestinian refugees during at the Syrian side of the border during Naksa Day. Full Story

Uncivilized Relations:
Israel Confronts ItsNeighbours
By Brenda Heard

The turmoil that has beleaguered the Middle East for decades has been described many ways. On the 5th of June, however, the terminology turned vulgar. This enduring conflict was publically characterised as a ‘war between the civilized man and the savage’. Boldly announced with a plea to ‘support Israel/defeat Jihad’, the full page advertisement ran in the New York Post’s special section covering the city’s ‘Celebrate Israel’ parade

The Case For Palestine's UN Membership
By Francis A. Boyle

The votes are there already in the U.N. General Assembly to admit Palestine pursuant to the terms of its Uniting for Peace Resolution (1950). It is the U.N. General Assembly that admits a Member State, not the Security Council. Obama’s veto at the Security Council can be circumvented by the General Assembly acting under the Uniting for Peace Resolution to admit Palestine as a U.N Member State in September

Naksa Day Commemorates Decades of Israeli State Terror
by Stephen Lendman

Our demonstrations are in protest of injustice’ West Bank protest leader tells an Israeli military court
Joseph Dana

• Look at their eyes
• ‘Fayyadism’ revealed: UN report throws cold water on the economic mirage in the West Bank
• LGBT groups: Don’t harm other struggles for justice
• Amina Abdallah Araf, gay Syrian blogger?
• Weiner’s progressive defenders blind themselves to the rightwing views that may now ensure his survival
• Photo essay: Ten months of demolitions in Al Araqib
• Silence over EU science grants to Israel’s war machine
• Huh– Yale to close anti-Semitism shop
• ‘JTA’ reports that as much as 2/3 of Democratic money comes from Jewish donors
• Syrian arrest of ‘A gay girl in Damascus’ commands international attention
• Israeli defense establishment seems to want Netanyahu out
• U.S. media buys Israel’s Naksa spin that protesters were orchestrated
• Israel arrests 76-year-old Israeli journalist for incitement and 6-year-old Palestinian boy
• Wait– did Israel lay a minefield in Golan in last 3 weeks to kill protesters?
• ‘Mishigas’ and ‘mensch’ make primetime

June 8, 2011 - The Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RToP) is an International People’s Tribunal created following the international community’s inaction regarding Israel’s recognized violations of International law. The RToP proceedings, which comprise a number of sessions, deal with different aspects of the complicity and responsibilities of States, international organisations and corporations in the on-going occupation of Palestinian te rritories by Israel and the perpetuation of the violations of international law committed by Israel. They also aim to highlight the continuity and comprehensiveness of the Israeli policy that aims ultimately to render impossible the establishment of a Palestinian state....

Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=

Video: East Jerusalem: Sharing our house with settlers
Guardian

Army Breaks Into Al Aqsa Mosque Yards, Fires Gas Bombs At Worshipers

Friday June 10, 2011 - 21:32

The Al Aqsa Foundation for Wadf and Heritage stated Friday that Israeli soldiers broke into the yards of the Al Aqsa Mosque, in occupied East Jerusalem, attacked dozens of worshipers and fired gas bombs at them. Full Story

65-year-old Man Wounded By Army Fire Near Ramallah

Friday June 10, 2011 - 20:49

Israeli soldiers shot and injured on Friday a 65-year-old man during clashes that took place in Kafr Malik village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, between local residents of the village and Israeli soldiers and settlers. Full Story

Dozens Wounded In Bil'ins Weekly Nonviolent Protest

Friday June 10, 2011 - 19:37

Dozens suffered from the effects of tear gas inhalation when the Israeli army showered protestors with tear gas in the village of Bil'in, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday. Full Story

67 Children Dispossessed Or Affected By Demolitions In May

Friday June 10, 2011 - 12:03

The UN Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, has reported that the month of May shows the highest number of children made homeless or otherwise affected by Israeli demolitions in the West Bank for 2011.
Full Story

Tel Aviv's Gay Pride parade draws thousands‎
The Guardian

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is rarely on the radar. According to Tel Aviv's 30-year-old deputy mayor, Asaf Zamir, 16% to 17% of the city's 403000 ...

Video: Tel Aviv Gay Pride Parade

infolive.tv

Tel Aviv marchers seek Palestinian state‎ - Jweekly.com
Israel indicts Arab driver in Tel Aviv road attack‎ - Arab News
The Canadian Press

Leonard Nimoy Endorses Two-State Solution for Israel-Palestine‎
International Business Times

“The Palestinian-populated areas of Jerusalem would become the capital of Palestine; the Jewish-populated areas the capital of Israel,” Nimoy proposed. ...

Star Trek's Mr Spock urges two-state solution in Mid-East‎ - BBC News

Palestinian human rights commissioner presents 16th annual report to PLC

10 June 2011

The Commissioner General for Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, Dr Mamdouh Al-Akar, on Thursday, 9th June, presented the Commission's sixteenth annual report into human rights conditions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to Dr Aziz Dweik, Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council [PLC] and its deputies.

Dr Al Akar, along with a number of lawyers and advisers from the Commission visited the offices of the Change and Reform deputies in Ramallah. The deputies presented a report that is currently being prepared into violations of citizens' rights carried out in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian security agencies.

Read more...

Palestinian women prisoners strip-searched by Israeli special forces

10 June 2011

The Ahrar Centre for Prisoner Studies and Human Rights has reported claims that Palestinian female detainees have been strip-searched by Israeli special forces. The invasive tactic took place in HaSharon Prison a section of which was stormed by the troops in a violent fashion. Four women prisoners were targetted during the raid.

Ten female and five male guards, as well as an intelligence officer and the director of Room 2 (the special section) took part. They searched each woman in the room. According to the prisoners, each was stripped naked and searched in a humiliating manner.

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Britain's untouchables

10 June 2011

In the week that the British government announced its latest Prevent counter-terrorism strategy, events in the occupied Palestinian territories took yet another sinister turn; illegal Israeli settlers heightened their campaign of terror against Islamic sites. First, they burned Al-Mughir village mosque in the occupied West Bank and within hours they desecrated Al Aqsa Mosque with a toast of champagne and wine. To end the week, Tel Aviv announced that plans to build the "Museum of Tolerance" in the largest Islamic cemetery in historic Palestine will go ahead. For obvious reasons, these depraved incidents had a disturbing resonance throughout Britain's Muslim communities.

To his credit, Britain's Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, Alistair Burt, roundly condemned the burning of Al Mughir mosque as a 'provocative crime'. And yet his call to the Israeli authorities to investigate the incident fully will, almost inevitably and predictably, lead nowhere apart from a symbolic slap on the wrist, if that. Having taken this first step of condemnation, however, the government should now investigate thoroughly the reported links between Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law, and British organisations. If links are confirmed, the government must take appropriate action against those who support settlements, financially or otherwise.

Read more...

Pro-Israelis Turning U.S. into Islamophobic Police State

10 June 2011

The recent call by U.S. Senator Charles Schumer for increased rail safety funding and the creation of a "no-ride" list for Amtrak trains is yet another reminder of just who is stoking fear of Muslims in America.

In an interview last year with a Jewish radio talk show in New York, Senator Schumer said he believed that HaShem (an Orthodox Jewish term for "God") gave him the name "Schumer" — which means "guardian" — so that he could fulfill his "very important" role in the U.S. Senate as a "guardian of Israel." Presumably, Schumer's God-given role also includes turning the country he is actually paid to represent — the United States — into an Islamophobic police state.

Americans wondering what happened to their freedoms since 9/11 need to understand the key role played by ardent pro-Israelis like Schumer in undermining their civil liberties under the guise of protecting them from terrorism.

Read more...

• One missile, one playground: The will of Gaza
• Challenging anti-Semitism must be rooted in opposing racism, not defending Israel
• More lies Weiner told us (#9: Jordan River is eastern border of Israel)
• Stepping in where the international community has failed: An interview with Frank Barat
• If you were 12 years old and they were ethnically cleansing your neighborhood– well, you’d stop being a child too
• Imagine Wasserman Schultz talking about the ‘demographic’ threat to Arizona
• A young American Jew describes being arrested for standing in opposition to the Jerusalem Day parade
• In order to ‘strengthen the [Jewish] bond to Jerusalem,’ a Knesset bill proposes to change Arabic names of neighborhoods in Jerusalem to Hebrew names
• Activists from across Europe gather to build the campaign against Agrexco
• Has J Street abandoned the two-state solution? (and why the liberal Zionist vision for two states is not morally justifiable)
• Restrooms and sanitation at Umm-Al-Kheir (a story for Shavuot)
• How readily do liberal US Democrats cite ‘demographic’ need for two-state solution
• Going to a demo in Tel Aviv
• The Goldstone Report and Israeli criminality– what the Israeli left (and the US left) refuses to get its head around
• The race will not go on, Grand Prix cannot go ahead because of opposition

One Missile, One Playground

The Will of Gaza

by Ramzy Baroud / June 10th, 2011

A “Hamas commander” drove a beat-up gray van in northern Gaza and theatrically spoke on his walkie-talkie as I sat in the passenger seat. The van was almost barren, save for the most basic equipment propelling it to move forward over the bumpy roads of an overcrowded refugee camp.

Iyad was not here to show me any militant training camp, or even to assess the damage that had befallen the impoverished Gaza Strip during Israel’s devastating war, Operation Cast Lead, which killed and wounded thousands in 2008-09. Scars of the damage sustained during the three-week onslaught are still visible throughout …

(Full article …)

Jeremy Salt

An Arab Spring but No Summer?

Tamar Fleishman

The Naksa Day at Qalandiya

Uri Avnery

Hassan Hijazi: A Brown-haired Young Man

Jeff Halper

Where Do We Go From Here?

El Boujami, Matthew & Velasquez

Finding Kindred Spirits in Palestinian, Indigenous Struggles

12/06/2011

Weekly Collection of VIDEOS (including raw footage from the massacre at Majdal Shams)
Also: Jerusalem Day, Rafah Crossing, and Jewish-American kids deliver aid to... the richest suburb in the Upper Galilee. From Friendly Stranger. ao

Tamimi`s Statement to Military Court, with some more Background
"I was born at the same time as the Occupation and have been living under its inherent inhumanity, inequality, racism and lack of freedom ever since. Yet, despite all this, my belief in human values and the need for peace in this land have never been shaken"... Shortly after demonstrations in the village began, the Israeli Civil Administration served ten demolition orders to structures located in Area C, Tamimi’s house was one of them, despite the fact that it was built in 1965.

Twilight Zone / A burning issue
Gideon Levy--When two shepherd boys were badly burned after finding a metallic object, the IDF sent a team to scour the area. So why did another boy find a similar object in the same place just two days later? [dn]

Haaretz exclusive: Secret cables show Israel`s battle plan over Palestinian UN bid
Barak Ravid--Israel has started mobilizing its embassies for the battle against UN recognition of a Palestinian state in September, ordering its diplomats to convey that this would delegitimize Israel and foil any chance for future peace talks. dn

A Brown-haired Young Man
Uri Avnery--MY HERO of the year (for now) is a young brown-haired Palestinian refugee living in Syria called Hassan Hijazi. [dn]

Israel`s right to exist does not mean its government can act with impunity
Peter Beaumont--Legitimacy in international relations relates not to a single idea but to overlapping concepts, one of which is appropriate conduct [dn]

The brutal arrest on Jerusalem Day of Lucas Koerner - a 19-year old American Jew
Adam Horowitz - Mondoweiss - [Quoting Koerner] I myself had elected to wear, along with my keffiyeh, a kippah adorned with a small Palestinian flag. This last article of clothing on my head contributed, I believe, more than anything else to the climate of collective bewilderment." Includes video. bz

Protest in Nabi Saleh consumed by tear gas
Joseph Dana - +972 - Roughly 40 new (and many first time) Israeli supporters joined the demonstration today, led by IPCRI director Gershon Baskin. Tear gas canisters were fired directly at protesters, houses and even inside homes. One protester lost consciousness. All that in spite of Baskin repeatedly contacting the Israeli army and informing them of the high numbers of Israelis present and the desire to maintain a non-violent, unarmed demonstration. bz

White House waiting for Netanyahu to accept Obama’s peace talk principles
Natasha Mozgovaya - Haaretz - The Palestinians have been “fairly forthcoming on this score,” said the White House official in a conference call with U.S. Jewish leaders, and now the ball is in Netanyahu’s court. bz

Annals of Israeli Judicial Racism
Mondoweiss - Tikun Olam "A website called Patriotic Israel, which appears to be a settler-supported media outlet profiles Judge Uri Shtruzman, who wants readers of this august publication to understand “the truth” as he sees it (doesn’t it remind you of Jack Nicholson in , when he says: “The truth? You want the truth? You can’t HANDLE the truth!”). I do so love it when right wing Israeli nationalists say emphatically that they want us to know “the truth” about Arabs or about the Israeli-Arab conflict. It’s always of course the truth as THEY see it. Which of course is their opinion, their reading of history and an amalgation of facts mixed with opinion–but definitely not the truth." ca

For previous articles since 2004 go to respective sections

Army Invades Bilin Village

Sunday June 12, 2011 - 00:54

Israeli soldiers invaded on Saturday evening Bil'in village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and fired rounds of live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets and gas bombs in different directions leading to clashes with the locals. Full Story

Haniyya: “No Negotiations With the Enemy, No Concessions On National Rights”

Saturday June 11, 2011 - 06:46

Palestinian Prime Minister of the dissolved Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyya, stated on Friday that his movement is united and strong, and that the only language of negotiations with the occupation understands is the language of resistance. Full Story