The attempt to change the geography and demography of Jerusalem has been a relentless Israeli project since the occupation of the city in 1967 and its subsequent de jure annexation. While this “legal” annexation has been rejected by the international community as a violation of international law, action has been limited to verbal protests and condemnation. Read more »
The crisis with Jordan is much less public than the one with Turkey, but it is far more acute and stands in deep contrast both with the warm relationship of Netanyahu’s predecessor, Ehud Olmert, with the king, as well as Netanyahu’s close connection to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Read more »
The Sheikh Jarrah vigils started as an avowedly political act – an outcry against a system which allows Jews to reclaim property held in east Jerusalem prior to 1948, but prohibits Palestinians from doing the same in west Jerusalem… Silencing the drums of Sheikh Jarrah is akin to eroding the pillars of Israel’s freedom.
IOA Editor: Written from an Israeli-centric perspective, this commentary supports citizens’ right to protest. But it overlooks a 61-year long reality where the “pillars of Israel’s freedom” never applied to Israel’s Palestinian citizens. And, no country running a four-decade long violent colonial occupation project can make any claims to “freedom.” Read more »
[T]he move to “purge” east Jerusalem of its Arab residents saddens [MK Mohammed Barakeh] not only on a personal level but also because he feels “there is no peace process, no two-state solution without east Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.”
Recent Israeli repression of anti-Occupation activities:
Israel blocking NGO efforts with tourist visas
Night Raids and Arrests of West Bank Popular Leaders
Police arrest CEO of Israeli rights group in Sheikh Jarrah
Israeli authorities deny American journalist entry
Israel stages night-time Ramallah raid, arrests activist
Israel Crushes Local Dissent, Attacks Global Criticism Read more »
Sheikh Tamimi further warned that houses in the surround neighborhood are at risk resulting from the Israeli Antiquities Authority working a night and removing dozens of bags with stones from the excavation site south of the mosque.
More on the Jerusalem excavations: Chief Jerusalem digger admits excavation endangers Arab homes Read more »
Leftist activists have held weekly demonstrations in Sheikh Jarrah for the past three months, in protest of the eviction of Palestinians from their homes and their replacement with Jewish families. Read more »
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Tuesday that Israel would never cede control of united Jerusalem nor retreat to the 1967 borders, according to a statement. Read more »
Like many of the names that Israel assigned to the new streets in the eastern part of [Jerusalem], the militaristic names that the rapid-transit stops are supposed to bear reflect the situation accurately: occupation.
IOA Editor: As Segev points out, the renaming of streets and transit stops reflects the Occupation. But he leaves a great deal out: The Renaming of Palestine is an important last part of a process, specifically designed to erase the past, thus enabling the re-Making of History as the victor would like future generations to know it. The current story is only the latest example. After 1948, nearly 500 Palestinian villages were removed: not only were they physically obliterated by the then-young State of Israel, but their names were either erased (from all maps and road signs) or “Hebraized” – turned into Hebrew. This is an important, and sinister, element in the historical process generally known as Ethnic Cleansing. For Israel it means This land is ours, and ours alone. Read more »
[A]ccording to a senior official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bureau, “everything was carried out with transparency vis-a-vis the Americans, even if there are disagreements.”
IOA Editor: Indeed. The Obama Administration is well aware of Israeli development activities in Jerusalem and the Occupied Territories and is not doing what it can, and should, do to stop it. Read more »
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. Read more »
