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

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US blasts Israeli restrictions on American travelers in West Bank

19 August 2009

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday criticized Israeli restrictions placed on foreign nationals entering the West Bank via the Allenby Bridge, calling the new regulations ‘unacceptable’.

“We have repeatedly told the Government of Israel that the United States expects that all American citizens to be treated equally, regardless of their national origin or other citizenship,” a statement issued by the State Department said Wednesday.

Why is Israel limiting movement of Palestinian-Canadian businessman?

19 August 2009

For 15 years, Sabawi entered and left the country with no problems, as a senior partner in an insurance company and as chairman of a construction company. But in April, he was denied entry at Ben-Gurion International Airport.

IOA Editor: Quite a contrast to Natanyahu’s “economic peace plan” – Israel’s latest propaganda tool used to avert a meaningful dialog with the Palestinians, and to protect the Occupation.

Amira Hass: Fatah’s gauntlet

19 August 2009

The decision by Fatah’s Sixth Congress that the movement is sticking to negotiations as a means of achieving independence, statehood and peace is an admission that the use of arms during the second intifada was disastrous. That is a difficult admission for a movement founded on the sanctification of the armed struggle. And despite being tacit, it is a brave admission for Fatah at a time when most Palestinians are convinced that Israel does not want peace.

Nehemia Shtrasler: Israel wrecked Arafat, crowned Hamas, and gave birth to Al-Qaida in Gaza

18 August 2009

During the entire period of our rule in the territories, we have destroyed the existing leadership, which led to the rise of more extreme leaders. We destroyed the Palestinian Authority and Yasser Arafat, who had agreed to a two-state solution and was capable of “delivering the goods.” And we brought about Hamas’ seizure of the Gaza Strip. Now we are cultivating the third stage: Al-Qaida.

IOA Editor: This Israeli-centric commentary is rare in its honesty as to who is responsible for where the dialog between Israel and the Palestinians is. For Israel, the more extreme and violent the enemy, the easier it is to ‘prove’ the claim that “there is no one to talk to…” Whether this is brought about via an assassination campaign directed at Palestinian moderates (1980s), the derailing of the meaningful negotiations in Madrid by the introduction of Oslo, the settlement program, the violent crushing of the Intifada and the destruction of Palestinian national infrastructure, or the strangulation of and attack on Gaza – it all serves the same purpose: to crush Palestinian nationhood.

A dry and thirsty land

18 August 2009

IOA Editor: Very important coverage of Israeli policies intended to make life impossible for Palestinians in the West Bank – a key part of the greater offensive on the future of Palestine: By taking over land and shutting off access to natural resources, Israel can shut off the future for the Palestinians in Palestine.

The original Hebrew version header of this article read “200 West Bank villages are not connected to a pipe. That’s how Israel is drying out the residents of the PA”.

Ezra Nawi’s Appeal

18 August 2009

UPDATED 18 Aug 2009: Ezra Nawi’s sentencing hearing took place on August 16, 2009, and Jewish Voice for Peace was there with over 20,000 of your signatures. The judge will render her sentence on September 21st, 2009.

“I always knew that many people silently supported me, and that if I ever got into trouble they would stand behind me. This moment has come.”

Join Naomi Klein, Neve Gordon, Noam Chomsky and thousands of others and tell Israel not to jail Ezra Nawi, one of Israel’s most courageous human rights activists. His crime? He tried to stop a military bulldozer from destroying the homes of Palestinian Bedouins in the South Hebron region.

Ya’alon on Outpost Tour: Israel should mull resettling Homesh

17 August 2009

Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Monday urged Israel to consider resettling the evacuated West Bank settlement of Homesh, calling it a strategic asset in the face of Palestinian terrorism.

US group invests tax-free millions in East Jerusalem land

17 August 2009

American Friends of Ateret Cohanim, a nonprofit organization that sends millions of shekels worth of donations to Israel every year for clearly political purposes, such as buying Arab properties in East Jerusalem, is registered in the United States as an organization that funds educational institutes in Israel.

Akiva Eldar: Palestinian state is not synonym for terrorist entity

17 August 2009

Thus the excuses are running out one after another and the naked truth is being revealed: Netanyahu’s promise – “if they give they’ll get, if they don’t give they won’t get” – was based on the assumption that we would continue to be on the receiving end of Palestinian terror, which would release us from the need to allow them to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital. If even U.S. President Barack Obama does not ensure that they get what they deserve, we will all get what we deserve.

Jewish academic, wife of jailed leader among Rev. Council winners

16 August 2009

Loud applause broke out Saturday evening as it was announced that “brother” Dr Uri Davis had been elected to the Fatah movement’s largest governing body. Fatah conference spokesman Fawzi Salamah announced that the Jewish professor, who teaches Judaic studies at Al-Quds University in the West Bank, won 31st place out of 81 new members of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council.

Google launches Palestine-specific web domain

14 August 2009

“The new domain will give Arabic-speaking users in the Palestinian Territories, who use Palestinian ISPs, access to Google in Arabic and eventually, access to more locally relevant content,” the company said on its Arabia blog.

IOA Editor: Not surprisingly, we’re not hearing about Google filing a protest with Israel about disallowing the use of its new Palestinian service as a default by East Jerusalem residents.

Palestinian PM to Haaretz: It’s not our business whether Israel is Jewish

14 August 2009

Israel’s character is it’s own business. It is not up to the Palestinians to define it, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Thursday, when asked about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

Gideon Levy: Obama’s America is not delivering the goods

14 August 2009

He came into office amid much hoopla. The Cairo speech ignited half the globe. Making settlements the top priority gave rise to the hope that, finally, a statesman is sitting in the White House who understands that the root of all evil is the occupation, and that the root of the occupation’s evil is the settlements. From Cairo, it seemed possible to take off. The sky was the limit. Then the administration fell into the trap set by Israel and is showing no signs of recovery.

Amira Hass: Gazans detained in ‘giant pit’ during Cast Lead

14 August 2009

Forty Palestinians from the Gaza Strip were incarcerated in Israel Prison Service facilities during Operation Cast Lead at the beginning of this year, and 21 are still in prison. That’s a very small number, compared to the many hundreds the Israel Defense Forces arrested in Gaza, and as compared with the hundreds who were transferred for interrogation to various detention facilities in Israel before being released.

Ramzy Baroud: Fatah – A new beginning or an imminent end?

14 August 2009

Fatah has changed over the years. It started as a resistance movement of well-intended members, mostly students and young professionals in the 1950’s and 60’s. The young leadership was motivated by various factors, chief amongst them were the plight of the refugees, the lack of a truly independent Palestinian leadership and the failure of Arab governments to deliver on their promises to liberate Palestine. Resistance was in fact the core of Fatah’s liberation program.

Israeli Court Petition: Stop construction in Kochav Yakov Settlement

13 August 2009

Yesh Din, Palestinian village council head file petition to High Court of Justice demanding interim order against construction in nearby settlement on what they say is private Palestinian land be halted immediately.

Poll: 70% of Americans see Israel as US friend

13 August 2009

More than two-third of Americans regard Israel as an ally despite recent diplomatic tensions, a nationwide survey conducted by the U.S. polling firm Rasmussen Reports has revealed.

HRW: Israel, Investigate ‘White Flag’ Shootings of Gaza Civilians

13 August 2009

“The Israeli military is stonewalling in the face of evidence that its soldiers killed civilians waving white flags in areas it controlled and where there were no Palestinian fighters. These cases need thorough, independent investigations.”

Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch

Neri Livneh: First and foremost a doctor

13 August 2009

The doctors of the Israel Medical Association have now been enlisted into the ranks of mouth-shutting patriots. The IMA announced this week that it is severing ties with Physicians for Human Rights. The announcement was preceded by a letter from the IMA chairman, Dr. Yoram Blachar, who also serves as president of the World Medical Association. In it, he states that “the outrageous situation is that PHR’s activity serves as fertile ground for anti-Semitism, anti-Israelism and anti-Zionism.”

Israel toughens entry for foreigners with West Bank ties

13 August 2009

Israel has recently been putting up more obstacles for foreign nationals who enter [Israel] if they have family, work, business or academic ties in the West Bank. It now restricts their movements to “the Palestinian Authority only.” The people concerned are citizens of countries that have diplomatic ties with Israel, mainly Western countries.

Israel looks to West Bank beekeepers to meet honey demands

12 August 2009

It is difficult to increase honey production inside Israel. Ongoing urbanization and the destruction of natural forests have resulted in a dearth of land suitable for bee cultivation. The West Bank, by contrast, contains a great deal of relatively virgin land. It is very easy to plant it with vegetation that consumes little water while making the land suitable for bee cultivation

IOA Editor: Now that 100 years of Zionist settlement has greatly destroyed the natural environment in pre-1967 Israel, the reliance on the natural resources of the Occupied Territories is more important than ever. Unfortunately, West Bank-made honey for Israeli consumption is not likely to be boycotted by many.

Naturally, no mentioning of Palestinian beekeepers… On that, see story on West Bank economy

Israel split over calls to release jailed Palestinian leader

12 August 2009

A fierce debate has erupted among senior Israeli politicians over whether the jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti – regarded by some Israelis as an “arch-terrorist” and by others as the only man who can deliver a lasting peace – should be released from prison after his election to Fatah’s key central committee.

Livni: Barghouti is a murderer – he cannot be released

12 August 2009

“The fact that the Palestinians elected him or that someone here in Israel thinks that he can be a partner is not a sufficient excuse for his release,” Livni said.

IOA Editor: So much for “moderate” Israelis being more open to finding a basis for compromise with Palestinians as equal partners. Yet another ‘missed opportunity’ for the Occupier to reconcile with the Occupied: ‘Missed’ as a direct result of a calculated policy, not an oversight.

Fatah showed Palestinians democracy is more than just a slogan

12 August 2009

Several new delegates speaking Tuesday pointed out the first task that lies before them is rebuilding Palestinian faith in Fatah. The new leadership will proceed carefully to see whether it faces the same corruption accusations as its predecessor. If it avoids such pitfalls, Fatah is very likely to gain support in Gaza and the West Bank.

Growing support in Israel for Barghouti’s release

11 August 2009

There is growing support in the [Israeli] cabinet and in the Knesset for the release of jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, who is a top contender to replace Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the future, and who may be the most popular figure on the Palestinian street.

Apparent upsets in Fatah leadership election

11 August 2009

With 90% of the votes counted, Fatah’s old guard appears to have suffered major upsets in an election for the movement’s highest decision-making body, the Central Committee.

Dozens of rabbis fly over Israel praying to defeat swine flu

11 August 2009

“The aim of the flight was to stop the pandemic so people will stop dying from it,” Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri was quoted as saying in the mass-circulation daily Yedioth Ahronoth. “We are certain that, thanks to the prayer, the danger is already behind us,” [he] added.

IOA Editor: The most scientifically-advanced country (and The-Only-Democracy) in the Middle East now has God on its side, yet again, as an added measure of protection – this time against the swine flu. Beware, Swines!

State panel on Arab representation has no Arab members

10 August 2009

“Out of 20 percent of the population of the state, not one Arab could be found who would be qualified to be honored with serving on the committee?”

Israeli Interior Minister: US can’t stop settlement expansion

10 August 2009

Israeli Interior Minister and Knesset chairman call for Israel to continue to divide, and rule, the West Bank – expanding East Jerusalem to the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement by developing Area E1.

Rightist MKs scuffle with Arab families in East Jerusalem

9 August 2009

While the MKs were touring the neighborhood, a member of the Gawi family yelled at them “you learned the Apartheid laws from South Africa. East Jerusalem will be free, this is our land. We didn’t expel you, why are you expelling us?”

Jewish Fatah delegate nominated to Revolutionary Council

9 August 2009

Bethlehem – Ma’an – A Jewish member of Fatah was nominated for a spot on the movement’s Revolutionary Council on Saturday.

Uri Avnery on Amos Kenan: Lover of the country

8 August 2009

On the morrow of the Six-day War, Amos Kenan came to my editorial office. He was in a state of shock. As a reserve soldier, he had just witnessed the emptying of three villages in the Latrun area. Men and women, old people and children, had been driven out in the burning June sun on a foot march in the direction of Ramallah, dozens of kilometers away. It reminded him of sights from the Holocaust.

IOA Editor: Kenan’s checkered past should be obvious to any reader of these pages (and Avnery’s account of history often leaves one wondering). This piece is included here because of Kenan’s role in revealing Israel’s conduct in 1967, specifically, the war crimes and ethnic cleansing that took place in the Latroun area. On this, see Imwas: occupied and destroyed by Israel in 1967, elsewhere on the IOA website.

‘Sex and the City’ Star, Oxfam Part Ways

6 August 2009

The stunning actress is no longer working as a spokeswoman for human rights/relief organization Oxfam International because she also endorses the Ahava cosmetics line — which is manfactured in what Oxfam regards as “disputed” territory.

Israel waging war of nerves against Iran and Hezbollah

6 August 2009

This week’s reports by The Times of London give the impression that Israel is raising the bar in the war of nerves against Iran and Hezbollah. On Monday the newspaper reported that Iran had completed its nuclear research program, and that its progress toward building a nuclear bomb depends only on the decision of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The following day, it warned of the danger of escalation between Israel and Hezbollah on the Lebanese border.

Gideon Levy: From Sheikh Jarrah to Sheikh Munis

6 August 2009

It is impossible to ignore the injustices of 1948 while hundreds of thousands of refugees rot in the camps. No agreement will hold water without a solution to their plight, which is more feasible than Israel’s strident scaremongers suggest. But rulings like the current one make it harder to distinguish clearly between Sheikh Jarrah and Sheikh Munis, between the conquest of 1948 and the conquests of 1967. My house stands on land stolen by force, and it is the obligation of Israel and the world to redress the injustice without creating injustice and new dislocation.

Washington summons Israel envoy over East Jerusalem eviction

5 August 2009

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman summoned… Israel’s ambassador to Washington, to tell him that the United States views Sunday’s eviction of two Palestinian families from homes in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood as a “provocative” and “unacceptable” act that violates Israel’s obligations under the road map peace plan.