December 2009
48 posts
Truth cast in lead
from http://themagneszionist.blogspot.com/2009/12/never-again.html
by Michael Sfard:
Cast Lead was our second war of independence. In the first, we liberated ourselves from two thousand years of living under the control of others. In the second, we liberated ourselves from the ropes of Jewish heritage and morality that have been binding us for years.
A year has passed, just a year, but we can...
'Punish, humiliate, terrorise' →
By Ben White
“As the one year anniversary of Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip is marked, it is vital to re-examine Operation Cast Lead within the wider context of Israel’s approach to both Gaza and the Palestinians.
There is a danger that the scale of the devastation and the international protests which followed the war can deflect attention from the broader Israeli policies...
'Our kids can’t live with Arabs’ →
This is on top of the fact that the state is stealing Palestinian land to make this hostel in the first place:
“Dozens of parents and their disabled children protested Thursday opposite the Welfare Ministry in Jerusalem over plans to house their children in a hostel located in an Arab neighborhood.
“My daughters have trouble integrating into any society because of their retardation – it...
Neve Gordon, Breaking Palestine's peaceful protest →
“But over the past five years, Palestinians from scores of villages and towns such as Bil’in and Jayyous have developed new forms of pro-peace resistance that have attracted the attention of the international community. Even Palestinian Authority prime minister Salam Fayyad recently called on his constituents to adopt similar strategies. Israel, in turn, decided to find a way to end...
Where is the Palestinian Gandhi? In Israeli... →
“Question: Where can Israel find the Palestinian Gandhi? Answer: Exactly where they put him, in administrative detention. Not that I’m in any way playing into the Palestinian Gandhi dialogue, I think its actually pretty diversionary/racist. But sometimes you have to laugh in order not to cry right?”
read on for a great article…
Steps to Create an Israel-Palestine →
“In recent years the idea of a one-state solution has been anathema to Israelis and their supporters worldwide. This has been fueled by the fear of the “demographic threat” posed by the high Palestinian birthrate. Indeed, many Israeli supporters of a two-state solution came to that position out of fear of this demographic threat rather than sympathy with Palestinian national...
The Birthplace of Jesus Is ‘Under Siege’ This... →
“As millions of Americans celebrate Christmas with their loved ones today, one group of people will commemorate the holiday in a state of virtual “siege.” Palestinian Christians in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, are living under an occupation that is squeezing the city’s only hope for economic recovery — tourism.”
Israel admits harvesting Palestinian organs →
Watch“Green Zone” is a must watch 20 minute documentary about Israel’s discriminatory policies in occupied East Jerusalem.
Jerusalem mayor cuts health funds for Arab... →
“Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on Thursday rejected municipal recommendations and cut funding for a toddler health-care center in East Jerusalem, while approving aid to a similar center in a Jewish neighborhood. The funds would have gone to opening a branch of the “Drop of Milk” (Tipat Halav) program, which provides prenatal and toddler health-care services in Silwan, an Arab...
The Interview Ha’aretz Doesn’t Want You To See →
One On One with the Leader of the Electronic Intifada
Meet Ali Abunimah, the son of a Jordanian diplomat, a Palestinian activist, and the man who brings the hottest news of the struggle to thousands of people. His message: Forget two states, one will be tough enough to get right.
Net around Israeli war crimes suspects tightens →
“Efforts by human rights organizations, lawyers and activists in Palestine and Europe to hold Israeli war crimes suspects to account have gained momentum over the past few years. Last week, former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni cancelled a visit to the UK over threats of a lawsuit under the country’s universal jurisdiction laws.”
The end of the road for the “Jewish AND... →
“A new amendment into the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom might officially turn Israel into a democracy for Jews only.
…
If the current amendment is accepted, it will be the Israeli legal codex – not some political practices, which come and go – that will make Israel an ethnic democracy, or “a democracy for Jews only”. This will make it much harder to fight the claim that...
Gaza must be rebuilt now | Jimmy Carter →
“Of more immediate concern, those under siege in Gaza face another winter of intense personal suffering. I visited Gaza after the devastating January war and observed homeless people huddling in makeshift tents, under plastic sheets, or in caves dug into the debris of their former homes. Despite offers by Palestinian leaders and international agencies to guarantee no use of imported...
'Ofra residents use dogs to keep Palestinians off... →
Settlers in Ofra are using attack dogs to keep Palestinians from cultivating land they own near the settlement, the human rights organization Yesh Din charged in a petition filed in the High Court of Justice earlier this week.
Mustafa Barghouti - When Will It Be Our Time? →
“If Israel insists on hewing to antiquated notions of determining the date of another people’s freedom then it is incumbent on Palestinians to organize ourselves and highlight the moral repugnance of such an outlook.
Through decades of occupation and dispossession, 90 percent of the Palestinian struggle has been nonviolent, with the vast majority of Palestinians supporting this method of...
UN: Much of West Bank closed to Palestinian... →
Israeli apartheid continues to be exposed:
“Israel effectively allows Palestinians to build in only 1 percent of Area C, the 60 percent of the West Bank over which it retains full control, according to a new report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The report also said that so far this year Israel has demolished 180 Palestinian structures in Area C....
Gaza, a year on: The (mental) siege continues →
Ging acknowledges that this is not a “typical human emergency” made visible by “emaciated bodies and an overwhelmed medical service” – though he points out that 80 per cent of Gazans are dependent on food aid, that the medical services are overloaded but somehow coping, and that the water and sewage infrastructure is on the brink of crisis with 80m cubic litres of raw...
Only possible conclusion left is that Israel... →
“At some point, the endless series of Israeli provocations against peace must force us to reach the only possible conclusion that remains: Israel simply has no interest in peace, not with the Palestinians, not with the Syrians, not with the Iranians. The country has learned to thrive by binging and purging militarism, and it is time we all accepted this.”
UK issues new guidance on labelling of food from... →
Products coming from the illegal Israeli settlements will no longer be labeled as coming from the West Bank, and will instead be distinguished as “Israeli settlement produce,” a major step forward for the international anti-settlement campaign.
Israeli prisons as revolutionary universities →
“I was first imprisoned in 1982 at the age of 16. In prison I found what I was not expecting to find: I found inside the prison what I could not find outside of it. In prison I found Palestine’s political, national, revolutionary university. It was in prison that I realized that knowledge is what paves the road to victory and freedom.”
What it means to advocate the ‘Sri Lanka model’... →
“A disenfranchised people will continue to strive for independence and self-determination. The Tamils have been wishing for a homeland for decades due to the government’s ongoing discrimination against them. The Palestinians have also been denied natural justice since 1947.
Advocating the Sri Lanka model as an effective way of fighting terrorism is an attractive prospect for those who...
Another nonviolent Palestinian leader is jailed by... →
To join an effort to call for the immediate release of Mr. Abu Rahmah and other illegally detained, nonviolent Palestinian activists, please see the forms available at Jewish Voice for Peace here.
Gaza Freedom March less than one month away →
“The Gaza Freedom March that will take place in Gaza on 31 December is an historic initiative to break the siege that has imprisoned the 1.5 million people who live there. Conceived in the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and nonviolent resistance to injustice worldwide, the march will gather people from all over the world to march — hand in hand — with the people of Gaza to demand...
Palestinian prisoners are irrelevant in the Jewish... →
The "Illegal Settlements Myth" Myth →
Swimming in the dirty sea of Gaza →
“It’s become almost common knowledge that on any given day, anywhere from 40-50 million liters of untreated or partially treated sewage flow from Gaza’s sewage treatment plants into the Mediterranean Sea, and an additional 20 million liters seep into the ground, threatening other water sources.”
London School of Economics set to twin with Gaza... →
“The motion was put forward by the school’s Palestine Society and called “To twin thisunion with the Islamic University of Gaza to show solidarity with the students there who have had their campus bombed and their colleagues killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces.”
The US cash behind extremist settlers, by Andrew... →
“Non-profit organisations like the Hebron Fund play a substantial role in fueling the Middle East conflict, but largely fly under the radar in the US. They brazenly hold public fundraisers, and the media generally ignore them.”
Shattering Israel's image of 'democracy' →
“A struggle over land, home demolitions, and an Israeli government working with Jewish agencies to “develop” the land for the benefit of one group at the expense of another. It could be a picture of the illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, but in fact, it’s inside Israel – in the Negev.”
Human rights 'with conditions': Israeli... →
“Racism towards minorities is on the rise. Among the populations targeted are Arabs, members of the gay, lesbian and transgender community, work immigrants, refugees, haredim, and immigrants from the former Soviet Union. In addition, the report’s authors noted that there was significant violation of the rights to a decent standard of living, education, health, adequate housing, and...
Edward Said on Intellectuals and the Question of...
“Nothing in my mind is more reprehensible than those habits of mind in the intellectual that induce avoidance, that characeristic turning away from a difficult and principled position that you know to be the right one, but which you decide not to take. You do not want to appear too political, you want to keep a reputation of being balanced, moderate, objective. Your hope is to remain within...
Noam Chomsky delivers The Edward Said Memorial... →
Lebanon's Palestinians: refugees for life →
“The refugees that remain live in dire conditions in 12 camps across the country of four million inhabitants.
They rely heavily on UNRWA for educational, health and other assistance because under Lebanese law they are banned from practising most professions or from owning property.
While their presence in Lebanon was supposed to be short-lived, their chance of ever returning to their...
Palestinian citizens of Israel: New findings →
WatchGritTv - Fishing in Gaza.
