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

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Eric Walberg: Boycotting apartheid

24 September 2010

The BDS campaign continues to pick up steam.

NLG calls on State Department to intervene in the case of Ameer Makhoul

24 September 2010

The National Lawyers Guild, in coordination with other legal and grassroots human rights organizations, addressed this letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, calling upon the State Department to act on the case of Ameer Makhoul, Palestinian human rights advocate and leader.

Libby Lenkinski Friedlander: A partner, not a threat

24 September 2010

I want [Abdallah Abu Rahma] and other Palestinian grass-roots nonviolent organizers to be free to carry on their political struggle together with Israeli partners and supporters. For the past nine months … Abdallah Abu Rahma has been in detention … because Israel has apparently decided that civic activism, nonviolent protest or any kind of dissidence in Palestine is illegal.

UN Human Rights Council: Gaza Flotilla report

23 September 2010

Report of the international fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance.

Gaza flotilla attack: UN report condemns Israeli ‘brutality’

22 September 2010

UN report: “The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence. It betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality. Such conduct cannot be justified or condoned on security or any other grounds. It constituted grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law.” The panel concluded that there was “clear evidence” of wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment and wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health – all crimes under the Geneva Convention.

Read the UN Human Rights Council Gaza Flotilla report

Egypt accuses Israel of gall in nuclear row

22 September 2010

Israel is the only Middle East power believed to possess nuclear weapons, but it has never officially confirmed or denied this, opting instead for a policy of ambiguity.

Jonathan Cook: Israel jails Arab activists for vague ‘contact with a foreign agent’

22 September 2010

A vague security offence of “contact with a foreign agent” is being used by Israel’s secret police, the Shin Bet, to lock up Arab political activists in Israel without evidence that a crime has been committed, human rights lawyers alleged this week.

Chris Hedges: Wisdom of the Terrorist’s Son

22 September 2010

Zak Ebrahim: “I came from an extremist background … I was exposed to the things Americans fear most about Islam. But I promote peace. I am not a fanatic. We must embrace tolerance and nonviolence. Who knows this better than the son of a terrorist?”

Lamis Andoni: Palestinians and the ‘Jewish State’

22 September 2010

The basis of the Palestinian claim to nationhood and independence rests on the fact that Israel was established on Palestinian land. But Israel is demanding that Palestinians not only forget but legitimise their own dispossession by accepting the essentially racist claim that Israel is a Jewish state.

Frank Gehry, Daniel Barenboim join Ariel boycott campaign

21 September 2010

World-renowned architect Frank Gehry and the legendary pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim joined the international campaign in support of the Israeli actors’ refusal to perform in the new cultural center of Ariel, according to the website of Jewish Voices for Peace.

Akiva Eldar: Freeze Lieberman

20 September 2010

The demand to suspend settlement building is no excuse [to torpedo direct talks] – it’s as legitimate a position as the Palestinians can have. Why should they relinquish a condition that has the support of the entire world, with the sole exception of Israel?

IOA Editor: Eldar is correct in pointing to the reasonableness of the Palestinian position on the settlement freeze. And his focus on Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman is understandable, even if not entirely logical – Netanyahu, at whose pleasure Lieberman serves, is not terribly different. Most importantly, based on past performance, Eldar’s pointing to Livni as a replacement for Lieberman misses the mark entirely: During Israel’s attack on Gaza, Livni was a leading participant in Israel’s crimes, indistinguishable from the rest. It is doubtful that Livni would move Netanyahu towards a viable peace agreement, as Eldar wishes, because there’s nothing to support the suggestion that either Netanyahu or Livni would be willing “to evacuate most [settlements] permanently.”

Abbas won’t negotiate if Israel ends settlement curbs

20 September 2010

Abbas: “The negotiations will continue as long as the settlement (construction) remains frozen, but I am not prepared to negotiate an agreement for a single day more.”

Facts on the Ground: Peace Now’s iPhone/iPad Settlement Monitoring app

20 September 2010

Peace Now’s interactive West Bank settlement activity map and database. Now available also as an iPhone/iPad app.

How dozens of Israeli Arab ‘espionage’ arrests ended in minor convictions

20 September 2010

Dr. Omar Said, the Kafr Kana resident who was released last week after five months in jail, is one of dozens of Israeli Arabs who have been detained over allegations of security and espionage offenses. As in most of these cases, the story opened with massive media coverage and serious suspicions, but ended with a limited indictment – contact with an enemy agent – and a relatively short jail sentence.

Netherlands cancels tour by Israeli mayors over settlers’ presence

19 September 2010

“The Local Councils are led by mayors from all over the political spectrum for Israel’s citizens. These kinds of actions only hurt the cause of advancing peace…”

IOA Editor: This would be accurate if you substituted the word “colonization” for the word “peace.”

IDF still using banned weapon against civilian protestors

19 September 2010

The Israel Defense Forces continues using the Ruger 10/22 rifle to disperse protests even though it has been prohibited by the military advocate general, a hearing at a military court revealed last week. A brigade’s former operations officer told the court he wasn’t even aware of the prohibition.

NYC book launch: Midnight on the Mavi Marmara, edited by Moustafa Bayoumi

18 September 2010

Please join us for the launch of the Haymarket Books edition of Midnight on the Mavi Marmara. Panel Discussion with editor Moustafa Bayoumi and contributors Max Blumenthal, Arun Gupta, Adam Horowitz, Rashid Khalidi, Alia Malek and Phil Weiss on the Impact of Gaza Freedom Flotilla Attack.

28 Sept 2010, 7:00pm; Alwan for the Arts – 16 Beaver St. NYC

Joel Beinin: Contesting Past and Present at Silwan

18 September 2010

Sheikh Jarrah Jewish protest organizer: It is designed to produce “a transition from protest to struggle…. We are there to struggle in a subversive way.” The protest organizers are consciously striving to create a conflict between the many “left Zionists” among whom it has become fashionable to attend the weekly demonstrations in Sheikh Jarrah … and the Israeli state apparatus.

Adalah-NY and Artists Against Apartheid: Why we are boycotting the Batsheva Dance Company

18 September 2010

Israeli Foreign Ministry: “We will send well-known novelists and writers overseas, theater companies, exhibits… This way you show Israel’s prettier face, so we are not thought of purely in the context of war.” While efforts to promote a positive image of Israel abroad persist, Palestinians continue to suffer from Israeli state policies.

Israel says it won’t extend settlement curbs

17 September 2010

Israel reiterated its refusal to to extend curbs on settlement building that expire this month, despite US pressure and Palestinian threats to walk out of peace talks. “The prime minister has not changed his position on this issue, there is no question of extending the moratorium,” a senior government official told AFP.

IOA Editor: The use of the term “US pressure” is worthy of a reality check. The US has just concluded an arms deal in which it gave Israel, $2.75 billion worth of F-35 fighter jets. In view of Israel’s insistence on continued settlement construction, the US could have put that deal, or other military aid, on hold. Not doing so renders such reported “pressure” meaningless. This is part of a continuing Israeli-American game of appearances: a colonization process masquerading as a peace process.

Adam Shatz: Short cuts

17 September 2010

The more people in the West worry about Iran’s weapons, sceptics claim, the less they’ll worry about Israel’s siege in Gaza, or its own extremist clerics, one of whom – Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party, a member of Netanyahu’s coalition – recently called for the annihilation of the Arabs.

Israel decides to buy F-35 fighter jets, despite row over cost of deal

16 September 2010

The entire deal will be funded by American military… In a bid to maintain Israel’s technological gap ahead of Arab states, the F-35 deal was pushed through instead of upgrading the air force’s F-15s and F-16s. This approach sticks to the principle that Israel is the first country in the Middle East to receive the newest fighter aircraft.

IOA Editor: It is unclear why this is treated as though “Israel decided to buy…” while the story states that the “entire deal will be funded by American military.” Another whopping gift to Israel, and to corporate America, from the US taxpayer.

Amira Hass: Where has the hypocrisy gone?

15 September 2010

No one thinks to ask about the consensus among the residents of Palestinian cities and villages on whose land the settlements have been built. The millions of Palestinians don’t count at all.

UK: TUC votes for campaign of boycott and disinvestment

14 September 2010

The motion called for the General Council to work closely with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign to actively encourage affiliates, employers and pension funds to disinvest from, and boycott the goods of, companies who profit from illegal settlements, the Occupation and construction of the Apartheid Wall.

East Jerusalem housing plans cast new shadow over Israel-Palestinian peace talks

14 September 2010

In a move that could strike a blow at already fragile peace talks, Jerusalem city planners will in the coming weeks discuss a scheme to build over a thousand housing units beyond the Green Line.

Yitzhak Laor: Guide for the holiday traveler

14 September 2010

Israel does not want to recognize the Palestinian minority within its borders because it seeks to continue to grant privileges to Israeli Jews and to Diaspora Jews, at the expense of the cheap labor, land and water of its Palestinian citizens.

CodePink: CEO of Israeli Cosmetics Firm Ahava Rattled by Growing Boycott

14 September 2010

In a recent, quietly circulated letter from the desk of Yaacov Ellis, CEO of Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories—a company at the center of a growing international boycott campaign—and directed at the company’s retail partners, Ellis deploys specious information about his own company’s business practices, contradictory claims about Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, and unfounded innuendo about boycott campaign supporters.

Folk Music Legend Pete Seeger Urged to Abandon Israel Event

14 September 2010

Folk music icon Pete Seeger has been urged by over 40 organizations, along with musicians close to him, to cancel his participation in a November internet event organized by Israeli groups, including the Jewish National Fund.

Israel pushes EU to upgrade ties in light of renewed peace talks

13 September 2010

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has asked senior EU officials to renew the process of upgrading Israel’s relations with the organization, in view of the renewal earlier this month of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. In April 2009, the EU suspended the upgrade process after PM Netanyahu announced a reassessment of the peace process and Israeli-PA talks were subsequently suspended.

Poll: Fewer than half of Israelis see themselves as secular

13 September 2010

8% of Jewish Israeli adults define themselves as ultra-Orthodox, 12% as religious, 13% as traditional-religious, and 25% as traditional but ‘not very religious,’ according to [Israel's] Central Bureau of Statistics survey.

Peace Now: 2,066 settlement homes to be built as soon as freeze ends

12 September 2010

New report indicates an overall of 13,000 previously authorized West Bank housing units, construction sites could be built after the Sept. 26 freeze expiration date.

Noam Chomsky on Palestine / Israel (video)

10 September 2010

A conversation with Noam Chomsky on Palestine/Israel, covering Zionism, the nature of statehood, bi-national / one-state / two-state solutions, the right of return, and the BDS movement – its actions, and their impacts on the Palestinian people. Filmed September 2nd, 2010.

Gideon Levy Interview: Against the Stream

8 September 2010

Zionism in its present meaning, in its common meaning, is contradictory to human rights, to equality, to democracy, and [Zionist leftists] don’t recognise it. It’s too hard for them to recognise it, to realise it. And therefore their position is an impossible position, because they want everything: they want Zionism, they want democracy, they want a Jewish state, but they want also rights for the Palestinians… it’s very nice to want everything, but you have to make your choice and they are not courageous enough to make the choice.

Theodore Bikel: Legitimizing an obstacle to peace

8 September 2010

I have often spoken out in opposition to cultural boycotts … but in the political arena, artists make a statement by their presence or their absence.

Avi Shlaim: This time in Washington, honest brokerage is not going to be enough

7 September 2010

[Netanyahu's] rhetoric has changed, but his policy can still be summed up in one ominous word: politicide – to deny the Palestinian people any independent political existence in Palestine. This world view identifies him not as a genuine partner to President Abbas on the road to peace but as the proponent of permanent conflict.

Making History: Support for Israeli Artists Who Say NO to Normalizing Settlements

7 September 2010

It’s thrilling to think that these Israeli theatre artists have refused to allow their work to be used to normalize a cruel occupation which they know to be wrong, which violates international law and which is impeding the hope for a just and lasting peace for Israelis an Palestinians alike. They’ve made a wonderful decision, and they deserve the respect of people everywhere who dream of justice. We stand with them.