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

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Amira Hass: Disloyalty on the part of the occupied

7 July 2010

Were it not for Mohammed Abu Tir’s red beard, this would perhaps be only a marginal news item: Israel is working to expel four Palestinian residents of Jerusalem affiliated with Hamas from the city of their birth.

B’Tselem: ‘Settlements control 42% of West Bank’

6 July 2010

Unhappy settlers: “The fact that B’Tselem decided to publish it on the day of Netanyahu’s meeting with Obama to try to make it go badly reveals the organization’s face as a systemic harmer of Israeli interests,” said Dani Dayan, chairman of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

B’Tselem’s Report:
By Hook and By Crook: Israel’s Settlement Policy in the West Bank

Israel worried coastal gas facilities may make tempting Hezbollah target

6 July 2010

The defense establishment is demanding that the state delay approval for the construction of gas reception terminals on a strip of Israel’s coastline.

IDF soldiers face penalty after uploading Hebron dance video to YouTube

5 July 2010

Video of IDF soldiers, armed and wearing bulletproof vests, patrolling as a Muslim call to prayer is heard. Then the music changes and they break into a Macarena-like dance.

Gideon Levy: And if thousands of prisoners go free?

5 July 2010

As opposed to the conventional thinking, the tens of thousands of Palestinians in Israeli prisons are human beings; as opposed to the conventional thinking, they also have families whose worlds have been destroyed. Most of them are not murderers, some are political prisoners in every way; others are various kinds of “bargaining chips” or throwers of stones and Molotov cocktails and carriers of kitchen knives.

Leading Israeli figures accuse police of targeting leftist East Jerusalem protesters

5 July 2010

A number of prominent Israeli jurists, intellectuals, writers and leftist public figures co-sign letter that charges Jerusalem police with ‘illegal and inequitable’ conduct towards Sheikh Jarrah protesters.

Emily Henochowicz – Activist Grapples with Aftermath of Disfigurement

2 July 2010

Stuart Henochowicz: “I certainly don’t think Emily is a self-hating Jew … I think she is an ethical Jew of the highest order. I think she is what Jewish people should be about. I don’t think Emily should be a poster person for anyone … Emily is her own person … The Palestinians have been living in a cage for 43 years, so my heart goes out to them. … This is what Emily saw.”

IOA Editor: Emily surely isn’t a (self) hating person. The term “self-hating Jew” is a trick as old as the Occupation itself. Some of us continue to be subjected to it — for decades now — simply because we challenge the legitimacy of the Occupation. The same people using such name-calling also try twisting our criticism of the Occupation, calling us “delegitimizers.”

More on Emily and her artwork:
Images: Art – Emily Henochowicz

EU-Israel talks skirt around Jerusalem police headquarters

1 July 2010

Talks aimed at reaching an intelligence-sharing agreement between the European Union and Israel have skirted around the location of Israel’s national police headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem… “The negotiations so far have not touched upon the issue of the location of the main office of the Israeli police in East Jerusalem,” a Europol spokesman [stated].

Terry Crawford-Browne: To end the occupation, cripple Israeli banks

1 July 2010

[B]anking sanctions impact quickly upon financial elites who have the clout to pressure governments to concede political change. Trade sanctions, by contrast, impact hardest on the poor or lower-paid workers, who have virtually no political influence. SWIFT will, however, only take action against Israeli banks if ordered to do so by a Belgian court, and then only in very exceptional circumstances. Such very exceptional circumstances are now well-documented by the UN-commissioned Goldstone report.

John Mearsheimer: Sinking Ship

1 July 2010

Israel’s botched raid against the Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla on May 31 is the latest sign that Israel is on a disastrous course that it seems incapable of reversing. The attack also highlights the extent to which Israel has become a strategic liability for the United States. This situation is likely to get worse over time, which will cause major problems for Americans who have a deep attachment to the Jewish state.

Norman Finkelstein: This Time We Went Too Far

1 July 2010

Published by OR Books – 31 March 2010

Buy the book HERE

Ken Livingstone reviews Jonathan Cook’s “Israel and the Clash of Civilisations” (video)

1 July 2010

Ken Livingstone, the host of Epilogue book review program, calls Jonathan Cook’s book “Israel and the Clash of Civilisations” “shocking” and “devastating.”

Jury clears activists who broke into Brighton arms factory

1 July 2010

Five activists who caused £180,000 damage to an arms factory were acquitted after they argued they were seeking to prevent Israeli war crimes… The five admitted they had broken in and sabotaged the factory, but argued they were legally justified in doing so.

Israel arrests Hamas official for failing to leave East Jerusalem

30 June 2010

Israel Police arrested Hamas official Mohammed Abu Tir on Wednesday for failing to comply with orders to leave his East Jerusalem home… In early June, Jerusalem police confiscated Abu Tir’s Israeli identity card, along with those of three other Hamas legislators – Mohammed Totach, Khaled Abu Arafa, and Ahmed Atoun – giving them until July to leave Jerusalem.

EU: Israel’s East Jerusalem demolitions a peace obstacle

30 June 2010

Jewish “settlements and the demolition of homes are illegal under international law, constitute an obstacle to peace and threaten to make a two-state solution impossible,” [EU foreign affairs chief Catherine] Ashton warned in a statement.

Miri Weingarten: Israel’s anti-boycott belligerence

30 June 2010

A new “anti-boycott bill”, the third in a series of proposed laws that aim to curtail the ability of civil society to criticise Israeli government policy, will punish Israelis or foreign nationals who initiate or promote a boycott of Israel.

Gaza Freedom Graffiti in the Warsaw Ghetto

30 June 2010

Israeli and Polish activists met in the ruins of Warsaw’s old Jewish Ghetto; they sprayed ‘Liberate All Ghettos’ in Hebrew, followed by ‘Free Gaza and Palestine’ in English on a wall of an original block in the ghetto…

Stephen Zunes: Congress Jumps to Israel’s ‘Self-Defense’

30 June 2010

Ironically, a number of progressive organizations … have called on the peace and human rights community to support the re-election and to donate money to some of the right-wing Democrat senators, including Barbara Boxer, Ron Wyden, and Russell Feingold, who defend attacking peace and human rights activists and lie about the circumstances to justify it.

David Shulman: Mud and Hope in South Hebron

30 June 2010

The continuing struggles against the occupation, on the ground in the territories, take their usual grim course, but inside Israel hardly a day passes without some new and sickening jolt. The country is in the grip of violent nationalist paranoia spiked with inventive forms of wickedness and active hatred for Palestinians, of an intensity I’ve never seen before.

6,800:1

29 June 2010

6,800 Detainees are currently imprisoned by Israel, including 300 children, 34 women, 213 detainees in administrative detention, and 11 elected legislators. Nearly 1,500 detainees are ill and need urgent medical attention, dozens of them requiring surgeries and constant hospitalization… Gilad Shalit is the only Israeli held by the Palestinians.

ALSO: Boy receives second administrative detention order

Jerusalem politicians face expulsion: Israel creating loyalty test, warn lawyers

29 June 2010

Hassan Jabareen (Adalah): “Under international law, an occupying power cannot demand loyalty from the the people it occupies. Palestinians in East Jerusalem are ‘protected persons’ in law and cannot be expelled.”

Gilbert Achcar: Israel – the writing on the wall

29 June 2010

Successive Israeli cabinets have worked to enforce on the ground in Jerusalem and the Occupied Territories a situation that they could present as irreversible. Have they now reached the point where the biblical book of Daniel’s prophecy is once again relevant?

Noam Chomsky: The Iranian Threat

28 June 2010

Dan Plesch, director of the University of London Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy: “They are gearing up totally for the destruction of Iran … US bombers and long range missiles are ready today to destroy 10,000 targets in Iran in a few hours … The firepower of US forces has quadrupled since 2003.”

Top Israeli military leadership will change hands within six months

28 June 2010

Many senior military officials believe that Netanyahu and Barak prefer to remove anyone who might disagree with them on military policy. Ashkenazi is known to have close ties with Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, who made a brief unscheduled visit to Israel on Sunday. The apparent purpose of the visit, at least in part, was to gauge the mood in the country and make sure that Jerusalem is not planning to do anything wild in Iran.

IOA Editor: Unclear what the actual purpose of the reportedly “unscheduled visit” was. What if it was a planned visit to coordinate the timing of a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran? If so, “leaking” this sort of a statement would be the appropriate psywar. Anybody’s guess.

Turkey bars Israeli military plane from airspace

28 June 2010

Senior Turkish diplomat: If Israel fails to meet the demands, Turkey will downgrade its diplomatic representation to the level of a charge d’affaires … Ankara would consider no new cooperation agreements with Israel … [and] existing deals were being reviewed.

Jerusalem master plan: Expansion of Jewish enclaves across the city

28 June 2010

The Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee is set to approve an unprecedented master plan that calls for the expansion of Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, a move largely based on construction on privately owned Arab property.

Noam Chomsky: City Magazine (Tel Aviv) Interview

27 June 2010

[Israel's] refusal to negotiate in 1971 led to the grimmest moment in [its] history, and preference for expansion over security and diplomacy has had dire consequences since, with perhaps worse to come. Israel often speaks of an “existential threat.” The most immediate and severe “existential threat” is its unwillingness to pursue diplomatic options that are open.

US army chief: I always try to see challenges from Israeli perspective

27 June 2010

The IDF views Mullen as someone who is capable of effectively presenting Israel’s stance in Washington. Officials hope that Mullen will become convinced during his visit that Israel acted appropriately during the May 31 raid of the Mavi Marmara, and that Israel should be allowed to investigate the event independently, without U.S. interference.

Robert Fisk: Fighting talk – The new propaganda

27 June 2010

So an “occupation” becomes a “dispute”. Thus a “wall” becomes a “fence” or “security barrier”. Thus Israeli acts of colonisation of Arab land, contrary to all international law, become “settlements” or “outposts” or “Jewish neighbourhoods”. It was Colin Powell … who told US diplomats to refer to occupied Palestinian land as “disputed land” – and that was good enough for most of the US media.

G8 ‘fully believes’ Israel will attack Iran, says Italy PM

27 June 2010

Berlusconi: “Iran is not guaranteeing a peaceful production of nuclear power [so] the members of the G-8 are worried and believe absolutely that Israel will probably react preemptively.”

Mullen to make unplanned stop in Israel after Afghanistan visit

26 June 2010

Over the last year, the cooperation between the Israeli and American militaries has grown tremendously in a string of joint exercises and the constant exchange of intel … The IDF views Mullen as someone who is capable of effectively presenting Israel’s stance in Washington. Officials hope that Mullen will become convinced during his visit that Israel acted appropriately during the May 31 raid of the Mavi Marmara, and that Israel should be allowed to investigate the event independently, without U.S. interference.

Palestinian Ministry of Health: Israel prevents delivery of oxygen to hospitals

26 June 2010

Seven oxygen machines donated to the Palestinian Authority by a Norwegian development agency were seized by Israeli officials en route to hospitals in the West Bank and Gaza, the Ramallah-based health ministry said.

New Israeli Bill to Outlaw Boycott of both Israel and Settlements

25 June 2010

The bill was introduced by 25 Knesset members, of both coalition and opposition parties. The bill would outlaw a wide range of BDS activities, both inside and outside of Israel and in the Occupied Territories, heavily penalize participants, and be applied one year retroactive to its effective date. Also, this proposed law would require the state of Israel to monitor the views and actions of activists abroad.

Jonathan Cook: Blockade ‘eased’ as Gaza starves more slowly

25 June 2010

[U]ntil Gaza’s borders, port and airspace are its own, its factories are rebuilt, and exports are again possible, the hobbled economy has no hope of recovering. For the overwhelming majority of Palestinians in Gaza, mired in poverty, the new list of permissible items – including coriander – will remain nothing more than an aspiration.

Rela Mazali: A Call for Livable Futures

25 June 2010

Each of us, each of you, can draw the line through BDS and act as a caring, responsible citizen of the world. To end Israel’s 43-year-old occupation. To end the unacceptable, criminal siege of Gaza. To end racist laws and policies inside Israel, openly targeting the Palestinian citizens of Israel. To end more than sixty years of ongoing dispossession of the Palestinian people.

Lev Luis Grinberg: How to Break the Siege of Gaza?

25 June 2010

No commission of inquiry into the killing of civilians on the Mavi Marmara is necessary. What is necessary is to end the siege, rebuild the Gaza Strip and implement viable border controls enabling people and goods to enter and exit the beleaguered strip without leading to violent outbursts that will re-impose a siege. Israeli policy has deteriorated to a virtual economic stranglehold of the Gaza Strip, with the international community accepting it.