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Podsjećam da akcija prikupljanja sredstava za pomoć stanovništvu Gaze bosanskohercegovačke humanitarne nevladine organizacije „Međunarodni forum solidarnosti – EMMAUS“ traje još do prosinca (decembra) ove godine.
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DODATNI LINKOVI
Palestina/Izrael:
A privatized Nakba
Palestinians describe the Israel Land Administration Law (ILA) quietly passed by the Israeli Knesset in 2009 as the final stage in the 62-year process of displacement from their homeland. The legislation is expected to have a long-term, disastrous impact on Palestinian lives and precludes the possibility of a negotiated resolution to the conflict. ... In contrast to most countries, Israel has retained state control over and ownership of the bulk of its land. During the establishment of the state in 1948, Israel expelled more than 700,000 Palestinians from approximately 400 villages and cities -- what Palestinians call the Nakba or catastrophe. Since then publicly-owned lands have accounted for 93 percent of the state's territory. "The state nationalized all the land in 1948 in order to facilitate the misappropriation of Palestinians and the reallocation of land in favor of Jews," Shir Hever, an economist for the Alternative Information Center, commented to The Electronic Intifada. Israel has operated a system wherein Israelis and Palestinians leased their property from the state. However, in August 2009, the Knesset made the first move to end this system by enacting the ILA, also referred to as the Land Reform Law. This law allows the state to transfer ownership of all developed land to an individual, private company or corporation. With egregious disregard for international law, Israel's Land Reform Law applies not only to land within Israel proper, but also to occupied East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights, which Israel annexed in violation of international law in 1981. The passage of this bill has grave consequences for internally-displaced Palestinians living in Israel and Palestinian refugees everywhere. Palestinians have long maintained a legal claim to return to the land from which they were forcefully evicted from and have held on to the hope to do so.
Ostalo:
Mubarak's Critics See Hypocrisy in U.S. Support
In the latest example of a widespread campaign of media repression, Kareem Nabil, an Egyptian blogger who completed a four-year prison term, was still being detained and beaten at the State Security Intelligence (SSI) headquarters in Alexandria by security officers, according to the New York- based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information. Nabil had been released from Burj al-Arab Prison on Nov. 6. He was subsequently re-arrested by security officers in Alexandria without charges. A student at Cairo's state-run religious university, Al- Azhar, Nabil was convicted in 2006 by an Alexandria court of insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak, who he called a dictator. ... The government's efforts to stifle opposition to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) have included firing an influential newspaper editor, revoking the licenses of TV channels, arresting bloggers, changing the rules governing political slogans, and fabricating infractions to disqualify opposition candidates from running. ... The Obama administration has been most outspoken regarding the emergency laws, whose renewal it regards as a broken promise. It has also publicly condemned the June murder of blogger Khaled Saeed, who was dragged out of an Internet café and beaten to death on the street. He had recently posted a video online exposing police corruption. Human rights advocates charge that the government has kidnapped bloggers and Internet activists, tortured them, and then imprisoned them until the bruises on their bodies have disappeared so there is no evidence of abuse.
France says Afghanistan is a trap
The war in Afghanistan is a trap for all parties involved and France will discuss how to draw down its troop presence at a NATO summit this week, the newly-appointed defence minister said on Wednesday. ... France has about 3,500 troops in Afghanistan, although the U.S.-led war has been largely unpopular at home. At least 50 French soldiers in Afghanistan have been killed since 2001.
Information on the heroic battle of Vukovar (August 25 - November 18, 1991), excerpted from English Wikipedia:
The Battle of Vukovar was an 87-day siege of the Croatian city of Vukovar by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), supported by various Serbian paramilitary forces, between August–November 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence. It ended with the defeat of the local Croatian National Guard, the destruction of Vukovar, the death of at least 3,000 people as well as ethnic cleansing of at least 20,000 Croats from the city and surroundings.
According to some estimates, Serbian gunners fired up to a million shells into Vukovar.
Vukovar was defended by a force of some 1,800 defenders drawn from the locals, the 204th brigade of the Croatian National Guard (ZNG) and Interior Ministry forces. None of these were trained military formations. Despite their small numbers and poor weaponry, they were far better motivated than their opponents [...]
The attacking force was a mixture of JNA soldiers, conscripts from the Serbian Territorial Defense Forces (Teritorijalna Obrana or TO), Chetniks (Serbian nationalist paramilitaries) and local Serb militiamen. At its largest, it numbered about 50,000 troops. Although it was in theory far stronger than the Croatian forces and was much better equipped, it suffered from often low morale, poor leadership, and constant desertions, which reduced the strength and capability of many units [...]
From August 25, Vukovar was under constant artillery and rocket bombardment. [...] By September 30, the town was almost completely surrounded; all roads in and out of the town were blocked and the only route in was via a track through a perilously exposed cornfield.
During the period of September 14 to 20, JNA launched some of the largest tank and infantry attacks at the city. One of the major tank attacks in this period was started on September 18 from the north on Trpinjska Street; launched by the JNA's 51st Mechanized Brigade's one Mechanized Battalion of about 30 tanks and 30 APCs. When the first tanks reached the Croatian lines, the leading column was ambushed and came under heavy fire from Croatian small arms weapons and rockets, directed from the roofs and basements along the street. The Croatian ambush would typically funnel the Serbian armoured columns into "killing fields", and then the RPG gunners would knock out the first and last tank in the line, thereby trapping the rest of tanks in the middle. Serbian tanks were unable to depress their tank barrels low enough to fire into basements. The column was almost completely wiped out. As a result, an area where the fighting occurred was nicknamed "Tank Graveyard". In total, about one hundred armoured vehicles were destroyed there [...]
From mid-October 1991 to the fall of the city in mid-November, Vukovar was surrounded by JNA and Serbian forces. Its remaining inhabitants – who included some several thousand Serbs – took refuge in communal bomb shelters [...]
A crisis committee was established, operating from a nuclear bunker underneath the municipal hospital. It organised the delivery of food, water and medical supplies, keeping to a minimum the number of civilians on the streets and ensuring that each bomb shelter was guarded and had at least one doctor and nurse assigned to it.
The hospital was kept busy dealing with hundreds of wounded people; in the latter half of September, it had received between sixteen and eighty wounded each day, three quarters of them civilians. Despite the building being clearly marked with the Red Cross symbol it was shelled and bombed along with the rest of the city. On October 4, the Yugoslav Air Force attacked it, destroying its operating theater. One bomb fell through several floors, failed to explode and landed on the foot of a wounded man, who survived.
Despite the attacking forces' numerical superiority and far greater firepower, they were unable to dislodge the Croatian defenders. The JNA's attempts to storm the city were beaten back with heavy losses in manpower and equipment. [...]
Unable to engage the defenders directly, the army instead resorted to intensive long-range artillery bombardments supported by occasional Yugoslav Air Force bombing raids. By the end of October, much of Vukovar had been reduced to ruins. [...] By November 15, the defenders had been reduced to isolated pockets, and they surrendered on November 18. [...]
The fate of those captured at Vukovar, both military and civilians, was grim. Many appear to have been summarily executed by Serbian paramilitaries; journalists visiting the town immediately after its fall reported seeing the streets strewn with bodies in civilian clothes.
The defenders of the northern pocket of Borovo Naselje were unable to escape and most are reported to have been killed. Many of the defenders of Vukovar proper were also killed although some, including the commanders, successfully broke through JNA lines and escaped to government-held territory. Of the non-Serb civilian survivors, most were expelled to government-held territory but around 800 of the men of fighting age (civilians and captured soldiers alike) as well as many other civilians were imprisoned in Serbian prisons and POW camps. Majority from Vukovar ended up in the Sremska Mitrovica camp. Although most were eventually freed in prisoner exchanges, some reportedly died after being tortured.
Many of the Croatians in the Vukovar hospital (around 260 people plus several medical personnel) were taken by JNA and Serb paramilitary forces to the nearby field of Ovčara and executed there (Vukovar massacre). Three JNA officers, Mile Mrkšić, Veselin Šljivančanin and Miroslav Radić were indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on multiple counts of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws of war. The three indictees were either captured or handed themselves in during 2002 and 2003 and stood trial in October 2005. On September 27, 2007, Mrkšić was sentenced by the ICTY to 20 years' imprisonment for murder and torture, Šljivančanin was sentenced to five years' jail on charges of torture, but was acquitted on charges of extermination, and Radić was acquitted. Slavko Dokmanović was also indicted and arrested for his role in the massacre, but committed suicide in 1998 days before judgement was to be announced.
The Serbian chetniks (paramilitary) leader Vojislav Šešelj has been indicted on a variety of war crimes charges including several counts of extermination in relation to the Vukovar hospital massacre, in which his "White Eagles" were allegedly involved. In addition, Croatia has tried a number of Serbs for war crimes committed at Vukovar – although most of the original indictees either died before they could be tried, or had to be tried in absentia – and in December 2005 a Serbian court convicted fourteen former paramilitaries for their involvement in the hospital massacre.
Although the initial attack on Vukovar has not been the subject of war crimes charges, the ICTY's indictment of Slobodan Milošević characterised the overall JNA/Serb offensive in Croatia – including the fighting in Eastern Slavonia – as a "joint criminal enterprise" to remove non-Serb populations from Serb-inhabited areas of Croatia. Milošević was also charged with responsibility for exterminations, deportations and destruction of property conducted in Vukovar, as well as involvement in the hospital massacre.
Serbian courts later sentenced 14 former militiamen to jail terms of up to 20 years for the killing of at least 200 prisoners of war seized at a Vukovar hospital. A re-trial was ordered by Serbia's supreme court over alleged irregularities in the proceeding.
By the end of 1991, the official figures issued in Croatia showed that approximately 3,210 Croats were killed and 17,393 people wounded during the conflict. Most of the casualties were sustained during the siege of Vukovar. The exact numbers of casualties at Vukovar is still unknown. According to official Croatian figures, published by Croatian Ministry of Defence in 2006, Croatia lost 879 soldiers killed and 770 wounded in Vukovar only. According to Croatian general Anton Tus, about 1,100 of Vukovar's defenders were killed and 2,600 defenders and civilians were listed as missing; another 1,000 Croatian soldiers were killed on the approaches to Vinkovci and Osijek. He noted that the intensity of the fighting can be judged by the fact that the losses in Eastern Slavonia between September–November 1991 constituted half of all Croatian war casualties during the whole of 1991. In his book Croatian history, published 2004, Croatian historian Ivo Goldstein wrote that Croatian military losses in the Battle of Vukovar were 2,500 military dead (including forces which helped defence of Vukovar outside the town). The CIA estimates Croatian casualties at around 4,000-5,000 dead across Eastern Slavonia.
Informacije iz biltena palestinske nevladine organizacije za prava djeteta DCI-Palestine o palestinskoj djeci u izraelskom zatočeništvu s podacima za listopad 2010. koji se u cijelosti na engleskom može pročitati na linku.
Izraelski vojni pravosudni sustav svake godine pritvori i procesuira oko 700 palestinske djece, među kojima neka imaju tek 12 godina. Djeca najčešće bivaju optuživana za gađanje kamenjem. Većina ove djece zatočena je u Izraelu, u suprotnosti s člankom 76. Četvrte ženevske konvencije.
Ukupan broj palestinske djece u izraelskom zatočeništvu na kraju svakog mjeseca počevši od siječnja 2008. (Aver. - prosjek)
Prema posljednjim podacima koje je prikupio DCI-Palestine u izraelskom se zatočeništvu 31. listopada 2010. nalazilo 256 palestinske djece u dobi između 12 i 17 godina, što je 13 djece manje u odnosu na prethodni mjesec.
Broj palestinske djece u dobi između 12 i 15 godina u izraelskom zatočeništvu na kraju svakog mjeseca počevši od siječnja 2008.
31. listopada 2010. u izraelskom se zatvoru nalazilo 34 palestinske djece u dobi između 12 i 15 godina, 2 djece više u odnosu na prethodni mjesec.
Broj palestinskih djevojčica u izraelskom zatočeništvu na kraju svakog mjeseca počevši od siječnja 2008.
U listopadu 2010. u izraelskim zatvorskim ustanovama nije bilo palestinskih djevojčica.
Broj palestinske djece u izraelskom administrativnom pritvoru na kraju svakog mjeseca počevši od siječnja 2008.
Emadu Al-Ashrabu (17) početkom studenog 2010. po četvrti je put produljen administrativni pritvor za dodatnih 3 mjeseca. Emad se u administrativnom pritvoru, bez optužnice i suđenja, nalazi od 26. veljače 2010. Moatasem Nazzal (16) se u izraelskom administrativnom pritvoru bez optužnice i suđenja nalazi od 10. ožujka 2010.
Primjeri uhićivanja i zlostavljanja palestinske djece od strane izraelske vojske u listopadu 2010.
Baha' R. (13 godina)
Izraelski su vojnici 11. listopada uhitili 13-godišnjeg dječaka iz Silwana u Istočnom Jeruzalemu, na okupiranom palestinskom teritoriju, i optužili ga da je bacao kamenje. Oko 17 sati Baha' je skupa s prijateljima stajao ispred kuće svoje sestre. U tom su ih trenutku napala 10 muškaraca u civilnoj odjeći. Čini se da se radilo o pripadnicima izraelskih sigurnosnih snaga. Muškarci su Bahu odvukli u obližnju džamiju i zatim počeli pucati iz oružja i ispaljivati suzavac na ljude koji su se nalazili ispred džamije. Bahi su ruke vezali na leđima, a majicu mu navukli preko očiju kako ništa ne bi vidio. Baha' je osjetio djelovanje suzavca koji su muškarci ispaljivali. Ubrzo nakon toga, Bahu su smjestili u izraelsko vojno vozilo gdje su ga udarali rukama i nogama. Potom su ga prevezli do istražnog centra Al Mascobiyya ("Ruske zgrade") na drugom kraju Jeruzalema, gdje su ga ispitivali o tome tko je bacao kamenje na vojnike. Baha' je ubrzo priznao da je bacao kamenje "jer sam se toliko uplašio jer su me tukli kad su me uhitili i jer sam bio sam u sobi za ispitivanje". Baha' je pušten na slobodu u 23 sata istog dana uz jamčevinu od 5000 šekela (1400 američkih dolara).
Msallam O. (10 godina)
18. listopada 2010. izraelski su vojnici uhitili i optužili da je bacao kamenje 10-godišnjeg dječaka iz Silwana u Istočnom Jeruzalemu, na okupiranom palestinskom teritoriju. Msallam je stajao ispred prosvjednog šatora u četvrti al-Bustan u Silwanu gdje se okupila skupina mladića koji su bacali kamenje na koloniste, prosvjedujući na taj način protiv planova da se sruše kuće mještana u toj četvrti. Msallam nije prekrio lice jer nije namjeravao bacati kamenje, već je samo htio vidjeti što će se dogoditi. Odjednom je 15 muškaraca u civilnoj odjeći iskočilo iz 2 bijela kombija, a 3 među njima pograbila su Msallama. Jedan ga je držao za vrat. Msallamu su ruke vezali na leđima plastičnim lisicama, a jedan ga je muškarac pitao tko je bacao kamenje i zatim počeo 10-godišnjaka udarati šakom u glavu, te mu naredio da začepi kad je dječak počeo vikati. Zatim su Msallama odvukli 100 metara dalje i stavili ga u prtljažnik jednog vozila. Oko 30 minuta kasnije vozilo se zaustavilo i Msallamu su naredili da izađe iz prtljažnika. Msallam je vidio da se nalaze u blizini Magrepskih vrata i Silwana. Msallam je tamo prestrašen na hladnoći morao stajati 30 minuta, a zatim su ga ponovo strpali u prtljažnik vozila i prevezli u istražni centar Al Mascobiyya ("Rusku zgradu"). Msallama su ispitivali u nazočnosti njegovog oca i pitali ga zašto je bacao kamenje, što je on poricao, te je također odbijao reći tko je bacao kamenje. "Ovog te puta neću staviti u zatvor, ali slijedeći puta hoću, a morat ćeš i platiti novčanu kaznu", rekao je 10-godišnjem Msallamu ispitivač. Msallam je pušten na slobodu istog dana.
Mohammad G. (12 godina)
Vojnici su 12-godišnjeg dječaka iz Silwana u Istočnom Jeruzalemu, na okupiranom palestinskom teritoriju, uhitili 25. listopada 2010. na putu do škole i optužili ga da je bacao kamenje. Mohammad je bio na putu u školu u 8 sati ujutro kad su neka djeca počela bacati kamenje na teško naoružane izraelske policajce u četvrti. Policajci su u terenskim vozilima počeli ganjati svu djecu i Mohammad je pobjegao "jer se bojao da će ga istući". Uhvatili su ga zajedno s ostalom djecom i strpali u stražnji dio velikog bijelog vozila proizvođača GMC. U vozilu se također nalazilo oko 7 policajaca koji su tijekom 15 minuta vožnje neprestano Mohammada dlanovima udarali po glavi. Prevezli su ga u istražni centar Al Mascobiyya u Jeruzalemu. Po dolasku, djeca su izvedena iz vozila i poredana licem okrenuta prema zidu. Jedan im je policajac zaprijetio "ako čujem kako netko od vas diše, razbit ću vas". Djeca su nasuprot zidu morala stajati oko 2 sata. Nakon 2 sata Mohammada je ispitivao zapovjednik Shadi u nazočnosti dječakove majke i pitao ga zašto je bacao kamenje na izraelsku policiju. Dječak je tvrdio da nije bacao kamenje. Ispitivač mu je na njegovo poricanje odgovorio uvredom. Mohammad je odbio potpisati papir koji su mu nudili i odveden je van gdje je ponovo licem okrenut prema zidu skupa s ostalom djecom stajao još 30 minuta. Zatim je odveden pred sud i kažnjen novčanom kaznom od 250 šekela, te mu je određen kućni pritvor od 14 dana. Nakon toga Mohammada su držali u jednoj prostoriji 4 sata i za to mu vrijeme nisu dali ni hrane, ni vode, niti ga odveli na WC. Na slobodu je pušten oko 17 sati.
U izvještaju koji je organizacija DCI-Palestine 23. listopada 2010. dostavila Pododboru za ljudska prava EU-a vezano uz zatvorske uvjete u kojima su u izraelskom pritvoru držana palestinska djeca između ostalog stoji:
- da je 58 % palestinske djece pritvoreno na teritoriju Izraela, u suprotnosti s člankom 76 Četvrte ženevske konvencije.
- da do 42,5% palestinske djece zatvorenika nije prikladno odvojeno od odraslih zatvorenika, u suprotnosti s odredbama međunarodnog prava.
- da se 55% palestinske djece zarobljenika žali na neprimjerenu hranu, vodu ili smještaj.
- da većina palestinske djece zarobljenika ne prima posjete obitelji tijekom prva 3 mjeseca svog zatočeništva, te da niti jednom palestinskom djetetu zatvoreniku nije dopušteno da telefonski kontaktira sa svojom obitelji.
- da su djeca u istražnom i pritvornom centru Al Jalame rutinski izložena ozbiljnom zlostavljanju i mučenju, uključujući smještanje u neudobne položaje, onemogućavanje spavanja i stavljanje u samicu.
Izvor i više informacija na engleskom: Detention Bulletin October 2010
DODATNI LINKOVI:
Palestina/Izrael
Police, Bedouin clash as state demolishes condemned Negev mosque
Izraelske vlasti srušile džamiju u beduinskom gradu Rahatu u Negevu (7. studeni 2010.)
U beduinskom gradu Rahatu u Izraelu izbili su neredi u subotu (6. studenog) navečer kad su izraelske snage došle u taj grad kako bi srušile džamiju koja je izgrađena bez građevinske dozvole. Tisuće mještana navodno su policajce koji su osiguravali rušenje gađale kamenjem, a policija im je uzvratila suzavcem. Nekoliko je prosvjednika uhićeno. U općini Rahat proglašen je zbog rušenja džamije opći štrajk, a građani su već u nedjelju ponovo počeli graditi srušenu džamiju.
Israel is right to be concerned
Izrael brine da bi izraelski dužnosnici mogli biti uhićeni i optuženi za zločine protiv čovječnosti u Ujedinjenom Kraljevstvu. Nedavno je svoj posjet Londonu otkazala čelnica izraelske stranke Kadima Tzipi Livni, a pretprošli je tjedan isto učinio zamjenik izraelskog premijera Dan Meridor. Zahvaljujući univerzalnoj jurisdikciji u Ujedinjenom se Kraljevstvu za ratne zločine i zločine protiv čovječnosti može suditi čak i kada se oni nisu dogodili na tlu Ujedinjenog Kraljevstva i kada među žrtvama nema britanskih državljana.
Palestine: Roadmap to Peace?
Jonathan Cook: Why Palestinians may one day thank Netanyahu
The war of 1948 that created Israel led to the first and most significant division: between the minority of Palestinians who remained inside the new territory of Israel and the refugees forced outside its borders, who today are numbered in millions. Since 1967, Israel has fostered many further splits: between the cities and rural areas; between the West Bank and Gaza; between East Jerusalem and the West Bank; between the main rival political movements, Fatah and Hamas; and between the PA leadership and the diaspora. Israel's guiding principle has been to engender discord between Palestinians by putting the interests of each group into conflict, said Dr. Ghanem. "A feuding Palestinian nation was never likely to be in a position to run its own affairs."
The Palestinians of Israel are poised to take centre stage
Throughout the Arab areas of Jerusalem, as in the West Bank, the government is pressing ahead with land expropriations, demolitions and settlement building, making the prospects of a Palestinian state ever more improbable. More than a third of the land in East Jerusalem has been expropriated since it was occupied in 1967 to make way for Israeli colonists, in flagrant violation of international law. ... About 87,000 Bedouin live in 45 "unrecognised" villages, without rights or basic public services, because the Israeli authorities refuse to recognise their claim to the land. All have demolition orders hanging over them, while hundreds of Jewish settlements have been established throughout the area. ... At the weekend, a mosque in the Bedouin town of Rahat was torn down by the army in the night. By Sunday afternoon, local people were already at work on rebuilding it, as patriotic songs blared out from the PA system and activists addressed an angry crowd. The awakening of the Negev Bedouin, many of whom used to send their sons to fight in the Israeli army, reflects a wider politicisation of the Arab citizens of Israel. Cut off from the majority of Palestinians after 1948, they tried to find an accommodation with the state whose discrimination against them was, in the words of former prime minister Ehud Olmert, "deep-seated and intolerable" from the first. That effort has as good as been abandoned. The Arab parties in the Israeli Knesset now reject any idea of Israel as an ethnically defined state, demanding instead a "state of all its people". The influential Islamic Movement refuses to take part in the Israeli political system at all. The Palestinians of '48, who now make up getting on for 20% of the population, are increasingly organising themselves on an independent basis – and in common cause with their fellow Palestinians across the Green Line.
Major Dutch pension fund divests from occupation
The major Dutch pension fund Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW), which has investments totaling 97 billion euros, has informed The Electronic Intifada that it has divested from almost all the Israeli companies in its portfolio. PGGM, the manager of the major Dutch pension fund PFZW, has adopted a new guideline for socially responsible investment in companies which operate in conflict zones. In addition, PFZM has also entered into discussions with Motorola, Veolia and Alstom to raise its concerns about human rights issues. All three companies have actively supported and profited from Israel's occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip.
The great book robbery of 1948
Between May 1948 and February 1949, librarians from the Jewish National Library and Hebrew University Library entered the desolate Palestinian homes of west Jerusalem and seized 30,000 books, manuscripts and newspapers alone. These cultural assets, which had belonged to elite and educated Palestinian families, were then "loaned" to the National Library where they have remained until now. Furthermore, across cities such as Jaffa, Haifa, Tiberias and Nazareth, employees of the Custodian of Absentee Property gathered approximately 40,000-50,000 books belonging to Palestinians. Most of these were later resold to Arabs although approximately 26,000 books were deemed unsuitable as they contained "inciting material against the State [Israel]" and were sold as paper waste. This untold story of the Nakba has remained hidden over the years until, by complete accident, Israeli graduate student Gish Amit stumbled across archives documenting the systematic looting of Palestinian books.
The Great Book Robbery
The Great Book Robbery is a multifaceted cultural heritage project. It has two major components, a documentary film to be produced, broadcast and screened internationally and this very website which will grow into a multi-function platform. ... 60,000 Palestinian books were systematically looted by the newly born State of Israel during the 1948 war. The story of the stolen books is not only at the heart of our project but also the launching pad of a much bigger and wider endeavor: We intend on communicating the scope and depth of the Palestinian tragedy through the destruction of Palestinian culture in 1948.
Jonathan Cook: Rabbis provoke riots in Israel's "most racist" city
Meanwhile, the mayor of Upper Nazareth, Shimon Gapso, who is also allied with Yisrael Beiteinu, has announced plans to build a new neighborhood for 3,000 religious Jews to halt what he called the city's "demographic deterioration." Hundreds of Palestinian families from neighboring Nazareth have relocated to the Jewish city to escape overcrowding. Today, one in eight of Upper Nazareth's 42,000-strong population is Palestinian. ... Hatia Chomsky-Porat, who leads Galilee activists for Sikkuy, a group advocating better relations between Jews and Palestinians, said: "The political atmosphere is growing darker all the time. Racism among Jews is entirely mainstream now." In Safed, the Palestinian student body, heavily outnumbered by nearly 40,000 Jewish residents, has tried to keep a low profile. However, one small act of defiance appears to have further contributed to Jewish residents' fears of a "takeover." Inhabitants awoke recently to find a Palestinian flag draped on the top of a renovated mosque -- one of the many old stone buildings in Safed that attest to the city's habitation long before Israel's establishment. In 1948, when Jewish forces captured the town, Safed was a mixed city of 10,000 Palestinians and 2,000 Jews. All the Palestinian inhabitants were expelled, including a 13-year-old Mahmoud Abbas, now the president of the Palestinian Authority who continues to hold office under controversial emergency decrees extending his expired term.
Activism roundup: Netanyahu disrupters tell of "mob mentality"
Jewish American and Israeli activists with the Young, Jewish and Proud project of US-based Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) successfully disrupted a speech given by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 8 November. Netanyahu was attempting to deliver a thirty-minute address during the Jewish Federation's General Assembly conference in New Orleans. One by one, in carefully-orchestrated intervals, five activists stood up and repeatedly shouted different ways in which Israeli policies "delegitimize" the state while holding a banner with the same message. The activists were attacked by conference attendees after they stood up and confronted Netanyahu, and were escorted out of the room by police officers and security personnel.
Ostalo:
AWOL Soldier Refusing Deployment Because of Severe PTSD
As the war in Afghanistan stretches into its tenth year, now the longest war in US history, Jeff's story has become all too familiar in a military that is overextended and exhausted, pushing soldiers beyond their mental and physical capacities in order to fill the ranks. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been marked by staggering rates of trauma and suicide. Between 20 percent and 50 percent of all service members deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered PTSD. Suicide rates among active duty service members are twice as high as that of the civilian population and veterans with PTSD are six times more likely to attempt suicide.
Help Put This Ad On Air - Go to BuildingWhat.org
9/11 Families Ask: What Happened to the Third Building That Collapsed in the WTC Attacks?
NIST's report, released years after the 9/11 Commission Report, argued that the "new phenomenon" of thermal expansion could bring down a steel frame structure. The scientists added that their findings made them worry numerous other structures could be prone to the same style of collapse. In spite of their conclusions, only three skyscrapers are known to have officially collapsed from hydrocarbon fires weakening steel supports, and all of them fell on Sept. 11, 2001. Oddly enough, that same day the BBC reported that building seven had fallen some 23 minutes before it went down and featured a reporter speaking about the third dose of tragedy even as the tower remained standing behind her. Discovery of the mistaken and ill-timed reportage has since fueled talk of an international conspiracy, but the network insists it was simply mistaken and has adamantly denied allegations that it received advance notice of the collapse. "Building seven came down, went into a sudden collapse across the full width and length of the building, for 2.25 seconds, which amounted to 105 feet or eight stories, eight 13-foot-tall stories -- it was in full free-fall acceleration, " explained Tony Szamboti, a mechanical engineer who appeared on Fox News with McIlvaine. "That is impossible because, in a natural collapse, columns would have to buckle," he said. "When columns buckle, there is a minimum resistance. ... It would slow down." "What are you suggesting brought it down?" Geraldo asked. "I'm suggesting there was some form of demolition devices in that building," he replied. "... I'm not saying I know what it is. I'm saying that it was at freefall acceleration and the NIST admitted to that." Geraldo agreed that it looked like a structure "being demolished by the professionals who can actually collapse a building right into its own footprint".
Building What?
Building 7 was a 47-story skyscraper that was part of the World Trade Center complex. It would have been the tallest high-rise in 33 states. It collapsed at 5:20 pm on September 11, 2001. It was not hit by an airplane and suffered minimal damage compared to other buildings much closer to the Twin Towers.
White House Says Child Soldiers Are Ok, if They Fight Terrorists
The phenomenon of child soldiers, like genocide, slavery and torture, seems like one of those crimes that no nation could legitimately defend. Yet the Obama administration just decided to leave countless kids stranded on some of the world's bloodiest battlegrounds. The administration stunned human rights groups last month by sidestepping a commitment to help countries curb the military exploitation of children. Josh Rogin at Foreign Policy reported that President Obama issued a presidential memorandum granting waivers from the Child Soldiers Prevention Act to four countries: Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Yemen.
naoružani izraelski kolonist cilja palestinske prosvjednike tijekom prosvjeda u blizini ilegalnog izraelskog naselja Bracha, južno od Nablusa na Zapadnoj obali (AFP)
Jonathan Cook: Israeli police shoot legislator
Izraelska policija ozlijedila knessetske zastupnike tijekom rasističke povorke u arapskom gradu (28. listopad 2010.)
Izraelska je policija u srijedu, tijekom nasilnih sukoba koje su isprovocirali desničarski židovski ekstremisti i rasistička povorka koju su ekstremisti organizirali kroz izraelski grad Umm al-Fahm u kojem živi većinsko palestinsko stanovništvo, ranila 2 palestinskih knessetskih zastupnika. Među ozlijeđenima se našla i Haneen Zoabi, parlamentarka koja je postala glavna meta mržnje u izraelskoj javnosti i nakon svog sudjelovanja u pokušaju probijanja izraelske blokade i dostave humanitarne pomoći na flotili brodova primila stotine prijetnji smrću. Zoabi je dojavila da je pogođena u leđa i vrat gumenim metcima dok se pokušavala skloniti s područja na koje je policija otvorila vatru. Zoabi sumnja da su je namjerno gađali policijski snajperi nakon što su je prepoznali. Policija je njene tvrdnje demantirala, te tvrdi da su protiv antirasističkih prosvjednika upotrijebljeni samo suzavac i šok granate. Navodno je raspoređeno oko 1500 policajaca kako bi se suprotstavili stotinama palestinskih građana Izraela i židovskim prosvjednicima u gradu. Policija je priznala da su protiv palestinskih prosvjednika korištene specijalne paravojne snage, te tajna jedinica koju obično koriste na palestinskim prosvjedima na okupiranoj Zapadnoj obali. U sukobima je ozlijeđen i Afu Aghbaria, knessetski zastupnik arapsko-židovske komunističke stranke. Među ozlijeđenima je i jedan policajac koji se maskirao u arapskog prosvjednika, pripadnik jedinice mistaravim (hebrejski za "prerušeni u Arape"), ranjen kad je policija greškom na njega ispalila šok granatu. Zoabi je oštro kritizirala policijsko nasilje ustvrdivši da policija predstavlja veću prijetnju za arapske građane Izraela od fašista koji su došli održati svoju rasističku povorku u Umm al-Fahm. Povorku su organizirali ekstremni desničarski kolonisti povezani s pokretom Kach koji se zalaže za protjerivanje Palestinaca iz Izraela i okupiranih palestinskih područja. Pokret Kach službeno je zabranjen 1994. godine, no nastavio je otvoreno djelovati među nekim kolonističkim skupinama. Organizatori povorke tražili su zabranjivanje Islamskog pokreta u Izraelu koji svoje sjedište ima u gradu Umm al-Fahm. Čelnik Islamskog pokreta, šeik Raed Salah, naljutio je Izraelce predvođenjem kampanje za skretanje pozornosti međunarodne javnosti na, kako tvrdi, pokušaje izraelskog preuzimanja kompleksa Haram al-Sharif, uključujući džamiju al-Aksu. Salah, koji trenutno izdržava tromjesečnu zatvorsku kaznu zbog sukoba s izraelskim sigurnosnim snagama u blizini džamije Al-Akse, je također bio na Mavi Marmari i nakon napada tvrdio da su ga izraelski specijalci na brodu pokušali ubiti. U rasističkoj povorci sudjelovao je Michael Ben Ari, bivši pripadnik Kacha i zastupnik desničarske stranke Nacionalna zajednica. Čelnici izraelskih Palestinaca su osudili postupanje policije i upozorili da su sukob isprovocirali prerušeni policajci koji su se uvukli među palestinske prosvjednike i počeli bacati kamenje, što je taktika koju jedinica mistaravim dokazano koristi tijekom prosvjeda na Zapadnoj obali. Zatražili su da država istraži "pretjeranu uporabu sile" od strane policije. Policija tvrdi da je zbog gađanja kamenjem uhićeno 9 arapskih prosvjednika, te da je 4 policajaca lakše ozlijeđeno. Među ekstremnim židovskim desničarima nije bilo ozlijeđenih.
Progressive Canadians must challenge JNF's charitable status
Shutting out Palestinian citizens of Israel, JNF lands can only be leased by Jews. A 1998 United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights found that the JNF systematically discriminated against Palestinians in Israel. According to the UN report, JNF lands are "chartered to benefit Jews exclusively," which has led to an "institutionalized form of discrimination." In 2005, Israel's high court came to similar conclusions. It found that the JNF, which owns 13 percent of the country's land and has significant influence over most of the rest, systematically excluded Palestinian citizens from leasing its property. JNF Canada officials are relatively open about the racist character of the organization. In May 2002, Mark Mendelson, JNF Canada's executive-director for Eastern Canada, explained that "We are trustees between world Jewry and the land of Israel." This sentiment was echoed by JNF Canada's head Frank A. Wilson in July 2009. Wilson stated that the "JNF are the caretakers of the Land of Israel on behalf of its owners, who are the Jewish people everywhere around the world."
Gaza's ancient treasures threatened
In the Deir al-Balah region, the vast excavated remains of the Monastery of Saint Hilarion, the first church in Palestine, include surprisingly intact floor mosaics and structural pillars. In southern Gaza's Khan Younis, one wall -- with an entrance gate and tower -- of a Mamluk-era inn (khan) and fort which served trade caravans stands today in the center of the city. Gaza City hosts the Pasha Palace, now a museum, where Napoleon is said to have stayed. The Omari mosque, used today by worshippers, was built on the site of a pagan temple-turned-Byzantine church, and still has a bell tower after it was used as a church again during the Crusader period.
ISM activists protest the OECD conference in Al Quds
Slike i snimka prosvjeda koje su organizirali međunarodni mirovni aktivisti za vrijeme održavanja konferencije OECD-a u Jeruzalemu.
DCI-Palestine: Under Attack: Settler Violence against Palestinian Children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory UPDATE: July 2010
Izvještaj palestinske nevladine organizacije za zaštitu prava djeteta DCI-Palestine o nasilju ilegalnih izraelskih kolonista nad palestinskom djecom na Zapadnoj obali, uključujući Istočni Jeruzalem u razdoblju od ožujka 2008. do srpnja 2010. U tom je razdoblju spomenuta organizacija dokumentirala 38 slučajeva nasilja kolonista usmjerenog protiv djece. Ti su napadi rezultirali ozljedama ili smrću najmanje 45 djece, dok su traumatizirani desetci djece koja su bila svjedoci napada na ili pucanja u drugu djecu ili su bila terorizirana od strane kolonista i u napadima vojnika. Incidenti su se dogodili u okolici nekoliko ilegalnih kolonističkih naselja na području guvernerata Betlehem, Ramallah, Salfit, Hebron i Nablus. U 14 obrađenih incidenata došlo je do najgoreg oblika kolonističkog nasilja, pucnjave u kojoj je ubijeno 3, a ranjeno 10 palestinske djece. U Istočnom je Jeruzalemu srušeno 84 palestinskih kuća, dok ih je 24 iseljeno kako bi se u njima mogli nastaniti ilegalni izraelski kolonisti, pri čemu je od siječnja 2009. raseljeno 407 palestinske djece. Izraelske su vlasti izdale naloge za rušenje još 536 kuća u četvrtima Silwan i Sheikh Jarra u Istočnom Jeruzalemu, pa raseljavanje prijeti dodatnih 1499 djece.
Richard Falk: UN will be judged on whether it upholds Palestinian rights
[...] the cumulative effects of the settlements, the security wall and the extensive settler only road network has been to establish a new political reality -- converting the conditions of de jure occupation into a set of circumstances properly understood as de facto or creeping annexation. In a different manner, but with comparable results, the extension of Jewish presence in East Jerusalem by way of unlawful settlements, house demolitions, revocations of Palestinian residence rights, makes it increasingly difficult to envisage a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, another widely-assumed premise of the Quartet Roadmap and expectations associated with past and present inter-governmental negotiations. Such an assessment is important as it has been assumed that the occupation was temporary and reversible in conformity to Security Council Resolution 242 calling for Israeli withdrawal from territory occupied during the 1967 War and forming the political and ethical foundation for the widely-held assumption that Palestinian rights of self-determination would be satisfied by the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on presently occupied territories. International negotiations, including those presently paused, have proceeded on that assumption. However, if the conditions on the West Bank and East Jerusalem are substantially irreversible for political and practical reasons, it becomes misleading and diversionary to continue adherence to the two-state consensus. To the extent that this annexationist perception is accurate it lends credibility to the assertion that the Israeli occupation has many features of settler colonialism, and if so, runs directly contrary to the rights of all peoples to live free of alien rule, a position affirmed in common Article 1 of both UN human rights covenants and an elemental feature of international customary law. This view is furthered by the apartheid features of the occupation based on dual and discriminatory legal structure for the occupied Palestinians and the unlawfully present settler population, the restrictions on Palestinian mobility, permit and residence manipulations, and roads on which Palestinians are disallowed. To indicate these apartheid features is not intended to set up a comparison with apartheid South Africa, but to call attention to the anti-apartheid norm embodied in the Convention Against the Crime of Apartheid, and then incorporated into the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998) that in Article 7 made apartheid a distinct crime against humanity.
Plea deal "only option" for political prisoner Ameer Makhoul
At 3am on 6 May, sixteen agents of the Israel Security Agency, also known as the Shin Bet or Shabak, arrested Makhoul at his home. They confiscated his family's computers, cell phones and many personal effects, and proceeded to search the Ittijah offices. Makhoul was held incommunicado for twelve days and denied access to a lawyer. Three weeks after his arrest he was charged with a slew of security offenses. The Israeli authorities claimed that Makhoul made contact with a Hizballah agent. Despite having examined almost a dozen computer hard drives and more than 30,000 phone conversations, Israel has relied entirely on Makhoul's confession as the basis for its indictment against him. And this confession, his lawyers and family say, was obtained under circumstances of torture. "The man was subjected to physical, mental and probably drug manipulation of his mind. They kept him on a very low chair with no back, and tied his legs and arms, and kept him in that position without sleep for 62 hours. The man was broken," Kanaaneh said. "All that the state has against Ameer is his admission. They could not find a single piece of evidence anywhere in the ten computers and 30,000 telephone conversations. They did not find a single bit of evidence to support their claim that he passed on information to anybody," he added.
"No chance for two states": Interview with Knesset member Haneen Zoabi
"The reality goes more toward the one state solution," Zoabi said, "whether a democratic one-state solution, or a binational one-state solution." Elected in 2009, Zoabi represents the National Democratic Alliance, and is the first woman to be elected on the list of an Arab party in Israel. "We are struggling for a normal state," Zoabi explained, "which is a state for all of its citizens, [in] which the Palestinians and the Israeli Jews can have full equality. I recognize religious, cultural and national group rights for the Israelis, but inside a democratic and neutral state."
Video: "No justice, no chickpeas!" activists tell Philadelphia shoppers
Approximately twenty neighborhood activists affiliated with the Philly BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) group, dressed in black and wearing sequined red accessories, danced in unison and sang an adaptation of a popular song by US pop star Lady Gaga, demanding that the store stop selling -- and its customers stop buying -- Sabra and Tribe hummus products. Sabra and Tribe products directly subsidize Israeli abuses of Palestinians' human rights through their support of the Israeli military and infrastructure of Israel's occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
Open Letter from Gaza Students to the European Students' Union: Oppose Apartheid and War Crimes
In the course of the assault 37 primary and secondary schools were hit, including 18 that were operating as shelters for those fleeing their homes. The American International School was destroyed, and four buildings of the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) demolished. The United Nations Goldstone investigation reported that, “the Gaza military operations were directed by Israel at the people of Gaza as a whole, in furtherance of an overall policy aimed at punishing the Gaza population, and in a deliberate policy of disproportionate force aimed at the civilian population.” Yet no action has been taken by the international community. Since it was founded on the ruins of Palestinian refugees, Israel has violated more United Nations resolutions than any other, including article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights pertaining to education and the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Our right to education is continually denied, in breach of article 50 of the Fourth Geneva Convention relating to the protection of civilians in times of war which demands that all institutions, "devoted to the care and education of children" have their work facilitated by the occupying power. In Gaza, Israel's four year long blockade has prevented even the most basic student necessities such as stationary, paper, books, school bags—students frequently don't have the candles to study under in light of the enforced shortage of electricity. The resulting poverty has required many aspiring students to drop out early to work for their family and except for a tiny few, pursuing scholarships abroad is next to impossible.
Israel denies entry to Sweden MP and ex-Israeli who sailed on Gaza flotilla
Švedskom parlamentarcu i umjetniku koji su sudjelovali u humanitarnoj flotili onemogućen ulaz u Izrael (7. studeni 2010.)
Izraelske su vlasti u nedjelju odbile švedskom parlamentarnom zastupniku turskog podrijetla Mehmetu Kaplanu i švedskom umjetniku Droru Feileru, koji se odrekao svog izraelskog državljanstva, dopustiti da uđu u Izrael. Kaplan i Feiler su sudjelovali u flotili brodova koji su u svibnju pokušali dostaviti humanitarnu pomoć u Gazu. Izraelske su vlasti svim putnicima flotile na 10 godina zabranile ulaz u Izrael, pa su Kaplan i Feiler po slijetanju njihovog aviona pritvoreni u međunarodnoj zračnoj luci Ben Gurion. Ova su dvojica švedskih aktivista namjeravala podnijeti službenu prijavu izraelskoj policiji protiv izraelske vojske koju optužuju za otmicu, oružano razbojstvo, nasilje i ometanje slobode. Pripadnici izraelskih sigurnosnih snaga zaplijenili su tijekom napada Feilerov saksofon koji mu nikad nije vraćen. Kaplan tvrdi da je izraelska vojska također ukrala njegov satelitski telefon i kameru.
