Israel’s War Against Palestine: Documenting the Military Occupation of Palestinian and Arab Lands

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Jonathan Cook: Israel steps up Jerusalem expulsions

14 April 2011

Hamoked director Dalia Kerstein: “There is clearly a policy to push Palestinians out of Jerusalem and Israel to reduce what is called here the ‘Palestinian demographic threat.’ It’s really a case of ethnic cleansing.”

Divestment: a strategy to end the Occupation

14 April 2011

New York University Students for Justice in Palestine’s divestment campaign targets predominately U.S. corporations whose products help make the occupation possible. Withdrawing material support from such companies challenges Israel’s ability to violate international law and oppress millions of Palestinians.

Israel to Turkey: Help us thwart upcoming Gaza flotilla

12 April 2011

Israel’s ambassador to Turkey reiterates Jerusalem’s opposition to the naval ‘provocation,’ says Israel would allow the pass of humanitarian aid through other channels.

Akiva Eldar: What exactly did Goldstone ‘retract’ from his report on Gaza?

12 April 2011

I asked Goldstone to help point out even a single word in the two reports that could justify his vague statement about the non-existence of the policy on harming civilians – while both reports repeatedly criticize Israel for not having investigated this issue at all. Apologizing politely, the South African freedom fighter said he had imposed media silence on himself. A pity…

Amira Hass: Supreme Court is on wrong side of West Bank separation fence

11 April 2011

A recent ruling demonstrates the bureaucratic machinery the state has created to restrict the Palestinians’ ability to enter, live and work on land west of the separation fence.

IOA Editor: This is an important news story which points to the ultimate effect of Israeli supreme court decisions: supporting Israel’s methodical process of ethnic cleansing, bit by bit — as the old Zionist saying goes, “duman here, and dunam there” — this time 9.5% of the West Bank territory. Next time what?

WikiLeaks – Israel

10 April 2011

Haaretz’ coverage of WikiLeaks documents concerning Israel is very interesting and well worth reading HERE.

Gideon Levy: Israel wouldn’t need propaganda if it changed its policies

10 April 2011

The world knows that this is a battle between the Israeli Goliath and the Palestinian David, and its heart is with the underdog. The world heard Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak of a two-state solution and was filled with hope. But after two years of total deadlock, hollow talk, illusions, Israel’s unreasonable setting of conditions and the construction of more and more settlements, the world has condemned Israel. No hasbara can change that.

Lia Tarachansky: On reporting from Palestine and Israel

9 April 2011

Paul Jay interviews Lia Tarachansky, The Real News Middle East correspondent. Tarachansky covers the political economy of the occupation, while also focusing on international law and its applicability to the conflict. Having grown up in an Israeli settlement in the heart of the occupied West Bank, Tarachansky speaks about how denial of narrative fuels a conflict where the two peoples, the Israelis and Palestinians, become further segregated, physically, socially, and psychologically.

Safed rabbi says struggle to keep the city Jewish moving forward

8 April 2011

Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu: “It is necessary to see this struggle as action completing the Law of Return and the declaration of a Jewish state, as a continuation of the redemption of lands by the founders of the state and as action completing the government’s decision on Judaizing the Galilee.”

Gideon Levy: Goldstone has paved the path for a second Gaza war

7 April 2011

Anyone who honored the first Goldstone has to ask him: What exactly do you know today that you didn’t know then? Do you know today that criticizing Israel leads to a pressure-and-slander campaign that you can’t withstand, you ‘self-hating Jew’?

Amira Hass: Mer-Khamis and binational resistance movement

6 April 2011

Juliano was angry. His rage was the kind that only a Jew like him, who was born on the left and craved equality until the end, can allow himself to express as a way of life. Palestinians must conquer the anger, mellow it; they must tame it, repress it, sublimate it. That’s the only way to stay both alive and sane (without getting arrested, wounded or killed ) under the conditions of physical and non-physical violence dictated by Israel.

Kenneth Roth: Gaza – the stain remains on Israel’s war record

5 April 2011

Most important, Israel has failed to investigate adequately the policy-level decisions that apparently lie behind the large-scale indiscriminate and unlawful attacks in Gaza. Those decisions are obviously the most sensitive because they involve senior officials, not just troops on the ground.

Ran Greenstein: Reflections on academic boycotts in the wake of the UJ-BGU campaign

5 April 2011

The past few years have seen an increase in calls for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. This is part of a broader campaign to apply pressure on the Israeli state and its agencies. A recent initiative to suspend relations between the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and Ben-Gurion University (BGU) in Israel received much media attention in South Africa and gave rise to controversy.

Jonathan Cook: Goldstone’s rethink

5 April 2011

Israeli leaders have barely hidden their jubilation at an opinion article … by the South African jurist Richard Goldstone reconsidering the findings of his UN-appointed inquiry into Israel’s attack on Gaza in winter 2008… Israel would certainly like observers to interpret Goldstone’s latest comments as an exoneration. In reality, however, he offered far less consolation to Israel than its supporters claim.

Israel pressing UN to halt new Gaza aid flotilla

4 April 2011

More than 1,000 leftists and pro-Palestinian activists are expected to take part in the flotilla, which sources say will include more than 20 vessels of various sizes.

Minister Ya’alon: Israel expects UN to fully rescind Goldstone report

4 April 2011

Comment by Deputy PM comes as Israel sets out to embark on a diplomatic and public relations campaign seeking to leverage in its favor the article published by Judge Richard Goldstone.

IOA Editor: For a ‘reality check,’ see Richard Silverstein: Goldstone’s tawdry turn, Israel’s false dance of vindication

Richard Silverstein: Goldstone’s tawdry turn, Israel’s false dance of vindication

4 April 2011

[Goldstone] writes that if he knew then what he knows now, the report would’ve been different. Note, he didn’t say the report would’ve vindicated Israel’s conduct. That’s the message the Hasbara apparatus is crowing from every treetop and it’s simply untrue.

Students on trip to IDF base simulated shooting targets with Arab headdress

4 April 2011

Incident took place during at a military base where students were being escorted as part of an ‘IDF preparation’ project, sanctioned by the Education Ministry.

Noam Chomsky: On Libya and the unfolding crises

4 April 2011

Libya is a different case. Libya is rich in oil, and though the US and UK have often given quite remarkable support to its cruel dictator, right to the present, he is not reliable. They would much prefer a more obedient client. Furthermore, the vast territory of Libya is mostly unexplored, and oil specialists believe it may have rich untapped resources, which a more dependable government might open to Western exploitation.

Coalition of Women for Peace: We will continue resisting the Occupation (video)

3 April 2011

A video ad declaring the continuation of the opposition to the Israeli Occupation (Hebrew, with subtitles).

Daniel Machover: Arrest warrant plans make a mockery of universal jurisdiction

3 April 2011

The rationale behind universal jurisdiction is that certain crimes – piracy, war crimes, genocide, torture, crimes against humanity and hostage taking – are so harmful to international interests that states are entitled, and in some cases even obliged, to bring proceedings, regardless of the location of the crime and the nationality of the perpetrator or the victim.

HRW: New laws marginalize Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel

1 April 2011

Human Rights Watch Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson: “These laws threaten Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel and others with yet more officially sanctioned discrimination… Israeli parliamentarians should be working hard to end glaring inequality, not pushing through discriminatory laws to control who can live where and to create a single government-approved view of Israel’s history.”

Moshé Machover: The long road to the Arab revolution

1 April 2011

There is a genuine problem, and it would be unfortunate to appear callous and uncaring about the fate of those in Benghazi who were penned in and faced the terrible prospect of being massacred… There is world public opinion – civil society – which has real humanitarian concerns, and then there is the so-called ‘international community’, which is the nom de guerre of the US and its followers.

Poll: Young Israelis moving much farther to the right politically

31 March 2011

Study shows increase in number of Jewish youths that put defining Israel as a Jewish state as a number one goal, while fewer youths recognize the importance of Israel’s identity as a democratic country… Support for Israel to eventually live in peace with its neighboring countries also fell significantly, from 28.4 percent 12 years ago to 18.2 percent last year.

Palestinian cleared of rape charges: The police treated us like dogs

31 March 2011

Four Palestinians released after being accused of rape, sexual abuse by 11-year-old boy from Bnei Brak; one of the men tells Army Radio that police beat them and didn’t tell them allegations against them.

IOA Editor: Israeli justice at work.

Israeli Arabs decry state ‘regression’ as thousands march on Land Day

30 March 2011

Higher Arab Monitoring Committee chair Mohammad Zeidan: “Israel is regressing into dangerous directions in its treatment of its Arab citizens.”

Israel may build artificial island off Gaza Strip coast

30 March 2011

Gidon Bromberg, director of Friends of the Earth Middle East: “Complete madness… This sort of thing makes no sense whatsoever… The environmental implications would be felt along the coast of Gaza and Israel… The public should be very sceptical.”

Lia Tarachansky: Israel’s new military ally

30 March 2011

It used to be that when you counted off Israel’s top allies, the obvious names came to mind. Germany, the UK, and of course, the US. These days, Canada seems determined to soar to the top of that list. Taking it straight from the horse’s mouth – Avigdor Lieberman – Israel’s Foreign Minister. While visiting Canada in 2009 he said, “Canada is so friendly that there was no need to convince or explain anything to anyone… We need allies like this in the international arena.” In fact Canada’s arms trade with Israel, its military cooperation with the Israeli occupation and its political support make Canada a very dear ally for Israel indeed.

Israeli Defense Ministry ordered to release internal documents on Gaza policies

30 March 2011

The ministry has been ordered to release information regarding the minimum nutritional requirements needed to sustain Gaza residents, names of officials responsible for policy of limiting the entry of goods into the strip.

UN’s Ban canvasses Latin American support for solution to Middle East conflict

30 March 2011

Ban Ki-moon: “Both sides must protect civilians and act in conformity with international law to prevent further escalation and loss of life… Time is of the essence in realizing the two-State solution. The occupation that started in 1967 is morally and politically unsustainable, and must end. The Palestinians have a legitimate right to the establishment of an independent and viable State of their own… A way must be found for Jerusalem to emerge as a capital of two States, Israel and Palestine… And there must be a just and agreed solution to the prolonged plight of the Palestinian refugees.”

1500 in Land Day protest in Lod (Lydda)

29 March 2011

Some 1,500 Israeli Arabs protested in Lod (Lydda) on Tuesday against government policies which affect Israel’s Arab sector, launching the events of Land Day, to be marked on Wednesday. The protesters were demonstrating against the government demolition of the houses of the Abu Eid family, which left some 50 family members, 30 of them children, without a home.

Workers’ strikes and protests in Israel (video)

29 March 2011

While the Middle East is undergoing massive national changes, Israel received little attention in global media until last week’s bombing in Jerusalem. But Israel has seen its own share of national struggles in recent months leading to a major labor victory in March. Israel’s massive labor association, the Histadrut, succeeded in taking the worker’s fight to the government, forcing the Prime Minister to acquiesce to many of their demands, including raising the minimum wage.

Israel passes law nixing citizenship for treason

29 March 2011

ACRI spokeswoman Ronit Sela: “MKs have made it clear that even though the wording of the bill is broad, it is very clearly aimed at Israel’s Arab citizens, and sends them a message that their citizenship is not guaranteed.”

Israel threatens unilateral steps if UN recognizes Palestinian state

29 March 2011

European diplomats have confirmed that such a message was conveyed several days ago. One diplomat said his country did not receive a serious response when asked what unilateral steps Israel might take. Another diplomat … said in light of the current deadlock in negotiations, international recognition of Palestinian statehood appeared unavoidable in September.

IOA Editor: The Israeli government is clearly concerned about the diplomatic front turning against it. But what could it do, “unilaterally,” that hasn’t been done in the past 43 years? Bomb? Annex? Re-Occupy?

Haneen Zoabi: Right is punishing me

28 March 2011

Israel’s Supreme Court began Monday to debate a petition filed by MK Haneen Zoabi (Balad), against a Knesset decision to revoke her rights for participating in the flotilla to Gaza last May.”The rightist consensus in the Knesset is trying to punish me and not allow me freedom of expression,” Zoabi said. Rightists who awaited her exit from the court called her a “terrorist”.

On Land Day, 30 March 2011, join international efforts to stop the Jewish National Fund

28 March 2011

On March 30, 2011, join the international campaign to Stop the Jewish National Fund. A key pillar of the colonization of Palestine – from the founding of the State of Israel to the present – has been the Keren Kayemet LeIsrael (KKL), commonly known in English as the Jewish National Fund (JNF). The JNF enjoys charity status in over 50 countries. This is despite its role in the on-going displacement of indigenous Palestinians from their land, the theft of their property, the funding of historic and present-day colonies, and the destruction of the natural environment.