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.
