Palestine / Israel: News, Comment and Analysis
Life in occupied Palestine -- Eyewitness Stories
Anna Baltzer is a Jewish-American author and activist for Palestinian human rights. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors. She says, "There's nothing Jewish about what Israel is doing and there's nothing anti-Jewish about speaking out when we see it happening."
Twice as high, four times as long: the wall no one mentions
The shameful double standards of world leaders celebrating the fall of the inhuman Berlin Wall, while not a word about Israel's present-day version, which is twice as high and four times as long.
Here's how to mark the 20th anniversary since the fall of the Berlin Wall - tear down Israel's apartheid wall
n Friday 6 November 2009, marking the 20th anniversary since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Palestinians tore down a section of Israel's wall in the West Bank village of Ni'lin.
Israel: the only state beyond criticism and the rule of law
"Almost as serious as committing war crimes is covering up war crimes," said Denis Kucinich, one of only 36 members of the US Congress House of Representatives, to vote in support of the Goldstone Report, which investigated war crimes committed during Israel's barbaric 22 day onslaught against Gaza at the turn of 2009.
Cartoon of the week: Iran and Israel - spot the difference
Not a shred of evidence has been produced to show that Iran intends to develop nuclear armaments. Iran has stated categorically that it has no such plans. Meanwhile, Israel -- a country that has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty -- has a secret stockpile of nuclear weapons.
All charges dropped against Stop the War activists arrested when Israeli PM Netanyahu visited Gordon Brown
When Benjamin Netanyahu came to London to meet Gordon Brown, Stop the War Coalition and PSC called a protest at Downing Street. Hundreds of people turned up at very short notice. The police waited until most protestors had gone home before making random arrests.
Illegal and inhuman: the reality of the Israeli occupation
Hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers are moving into the West Bank, building new towns on Palestinian land. If there's ever going to peace in the Middle East, this is one problem that has to be fixed. The settlers will have to move out.
United Nations report exposes Israel's war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza
A UN inquiry rejects Israel's argument that the war was a response to Palestinian rocket fire and therefore an act of self-defence. It says the war was "a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise a civilian population". Israeli actions depriving Gazans of means of subsistence, employment, housing and water, and denying their freedom of movement "could lead a competent court to find that the crime of persecution, a crime against humanity, had been committed".
"The so-called international community is a joke. We have to fill the vacuum."
In this interview Canadian award-winning journalist, bestselling author and activist Naomi Klein explains why she supports BDS and counters the accusation that it is an anti-semitic campaign that shuts down communication with Israelis who could be won to the cause of peace.
Israel has the most moral army in the world
Israel has the most moral army in the world, always acting ethically and in accord with international law. Who says so? Israel. So, now explain these four videos.
Gaza under Israel's inhuman, barbaric and illegal siege
This video, produced by American filmmakers Jordan Flaherty and Lily Keber, features interviews with a range of people in Gaza, from government leaders to the director of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, to farmers and individuals living in devastated neighborhoods.
Wave of protest when Netanyahu visits Gordon Brown
Hundreds of peace and solidarity campaigners gathered at Downing Street to protest at Prime Minister Gordon Brown's cosy meeting with far-right Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israeli citizen says, please boycott my apartheid country
Nothing else has worked. Putting massive international pressure on Israel is the only way to guarantee that the next generation of Israelis and Palestinians -- my two boys included -- does not grow up in an apartheid regime.
How Israel destroys all possibility of a Palestinian state
On 2 August 2009, after cordoning off part of the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in east Jerusalem, Israeli police evicted two Palestinian families (more than 50 people) from their homes; Jewish settlers immediately moved into the emptied houses.
A blind eye if it's Israel, but sanctions if it's Iran (not)
The anti-war movement needs to campaign continually against any attack on Iran, whether military or by the imposition of sanctions, either of which will bring catastrophic consequences for the Iranian people.
Why no mention of the other Berlin wall, 20 years after the fall of the first one? Because it's Israel, stupid.
Twenty years ago the Berlin Wall came down. The anniversary is being celebrated in Germany and around the world. But there is another wall. It is called the "Apartheid Wall" or "Berlin Wall" by the people that it imprisons.
Amnesty International Withdraws from Leonard Cohen’s Israel Concert Fund
Amnesty International has announced today that it will abstain from any involvement in the Leonard Cohen concert in Tel Aviv and will not be party to any fund that benefits from the concert‘s proceeds.
Leonard Cohen urged to cancel Israel concert
Open letter from the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine: Dear Leonard Cohen
Is taking action to stop the supply of weapons used for war crimes illegal?
On 17 January 2009, as Israel's bombs and missiles rained down on the people of Gaza, killing over 1400 people, six anti war activists from Bristol staged a citizens' decommissioning at the ITT/EDO MBM factory in Brighton.
There's no Palestinian 'problem' for Israel: the Nakba never happened and they don't exist
Israel's education ministry has ordered the removal of the word nakba – Arabic for the "catastrophe" of the 1948 war – from a school textbook for young Arab children, it has been announced.
Dear President Obama, how can you look but not see, listen but not hear, know but do nothing about Palestine?
Dear Mr. President, the core issues are visibly Palestinian relief and Jewish settlements. In Cairo, you accurately described the conditions in Gaza as 'intolerable.' They are intolerable because of the devastation caused by Israeli military onslaughts and the suffering produced by the illegal Israeli-enforced blockade.
Team Twitter: How Israel wages war on the internet
The passionate support for Israel expressed on talkback sections of websites, internet chat forums, blogs, Twitters and Facebook may not be all that it seems. Israel’s foreign ministry is reported to be establishing a special undercover team of paid workers whose job it will be to surf the internet 24 hours a day spreading positive news about Israel.
The Israeli way of war: turn civilian life into hell
Any Israeli decision to start a war in a built-up area is a war crime, and the soldiers who rise up against this crime should be honoured
It's not the future that is murder: it's now in Palestine
BDS activists in the US and UK are organizing demonstrations and pickets at Leonard Cohen’s performances in advance of his planned concert in Tel Aviv later this summer. The call, "don’t Play Israel!".
HEADLINE
Will Barack Obama back up the fine words in his Cairo speech with action?
How many more "accidental" missiles killing Gaza teenagers before the world wakes up to Israel's barbarism?
"We have nowhere to go to," said Hiyam's father, "Even if we wanted to move, the siege has prevented us from building as there are no building materials available. The situation is extremely difficult, and yet the world keeps silent about our continuing agony."
11,000 Palestinians endure torture and isolation in Israeli prisons
On 30 June the Israeli navy fired on and boarded a boat, the Spirit of Humanity. The boat was illegally stopped in international waters, making it an act of piracy.
Israel has tightened the noose round Gaza says Red Cross report
A report from the International Committee of the Red Cross, "Gaza: 1.5 million people trapped in despair," paints a harrowing picture of a humanitarian catastrophe.
The real elephant in the room is Israel's nuclear weapons
Obama's remark that "Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon" would be "profoundly destabilizing" and "could set off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East" is profoundly dishonest. In reality, the race started in the early 1950s when Israel launched its nuclear weapons program.
All Israeli settlements are illegal. So why keep rewarding the thief?
The debate over Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories is often framed in terms of whether they should be "frozen" or allowed to grow "naturally." But that is akin to asking whether a thief should be allowed merely to keep his ill-gotten gains or steal some more.
Israel's systematic ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children
Each year, approximately 700 Palestinian children (under 18) from the West Bank are prosecuted through Israeli military courts after being arrested, interrogated and detained by the Israeli army. Since 2000, around 6,500 Palestinian children have been detained, says a new report titled Palestinian Child Prisoners.
Gaza: No right to life unless you become an informer
With the lack of medical services in Gaza, critically ill patients must travel into Israel for treatment. Many are asked to collaborate with Israeli intelligence services before they receive aid. It has been alleged that if they refuse to become informers they are refused medical treatment.
A boy and an artificial leg: a Gaza story
Growing numbers of children, forever maimed, dismembered and killed by Israel, are not only somehow disregarded by the world media and therefore the world’s conscience - but to add insult to injury - they are even denied access to healthcare.
From USA to Gaza: breaking the inhuman Israeli seige
George Galloway, Respect MP in the British parliament, has been helping mobilise a massive convoy from the United States to take aid to Gaza, under an inhuman Israeli seige. Here is a video of a speech he gave in New York on 26 May 2009 with his explanation of why this convoy is so important.
Life in Gaza: just staying alive is not a life
More than four months after Gaza was devastated by a massive Israeli military bombardment, rebuilding has been slow to come. The problem is not a lack of funding or will. However, an Israeli-led blockade has kept all rebuilding materials, including concrete or any tools that could be used to rebuild the hundreds of homes and buildings here, out of Gaza. The border entries, controlled by the Israeli and Egyptian governments, are sealed to almost all traffic.
The power of culture over the culture of power in Palestine
The 2009 Palestine Festival of Literature (Palfest) overcame Israeli attempts to shut it down when writers and artists from around the world came to perform for Palestinian audiences.
Honest to Israel? Unafraid on justice for Palestinians?
Roger Cohen, writing in the New York Times, says that Barrack Obama's speech to the Muslim world will fail if he is not "honest to Israel and unafraid to address the issue of justice for Palestinians."
Most Arabs know this speech will make little difference
More and more, it looks like the same old melody that Bush's lads used to sing. We're not against the Muslim world. In fact, we are positively for it. We want you to have democracy, up to a point. We love Arab "moderates" and we want to reach out to you and be your friends.
Israeli film for Gaza
Yoni Goodman, Israeli director of the Oscar-nominated film Waltz with Bashir, made this animation about Israel's blockade of Gaza and its 1.5 million inhabitants. Goodman said he hoped the film, Closed Zone, would draw attention to the plight of Gaza's civilians.
US aid funds Israel's military budget and building of settlements
There are 260,000 Israeli settlers living illegally in the West Bank on stolen Palestinian Land. Barack Obama says the building of settlents has to stop if there is to be any hope of peace.
This is what Israel's democracy looks like
Israel's parliament passes latest law aimed at silencing Israel's Arab citizens
Israel's barbaric occupation of Palestine exposed by report
A new report from Amnesty International describes in detail the barbaric treatment of Palestinians under the Israeli occupation.
As Israel itches to bomb Iran, Obama says all options are open
There is no evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, any more than there was any evidence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
Marathon runner banned by Israel from entering Gaza
Solo runner for peace joins list of banned Gaza items, despite UN backing
Seven Jewish Children by Caryl Churchill
Seven Jewish Children, a ten minute play written by Caryl Churchill during Israel's bombardment of Gaza in January, has been performed all over the world, often provoking controversy.
Israel's secret torture prison: Worse than Guantanamo Bay?
The United Nations’ watchdog on torture has criticized Israel for refusing to allow inspections at a secret prison, dubbed by critics as "Israel’s Guantanamo Bay," and demanded to know if more such clandestine detention camps are operating.
Israel bans books, music and clothes from entering Gaza
Israel allows only food, medicine and detergent into the Gaza Strip. Thousands of items, including vital products for everyday activity, are forbidden. Altogether only 30 to 40 select commercial items are now allowed into the Gaza Strip.
The Tamils of Sri Lanka: Distant Voices, Desperate Lives
John Pilger writes: The Sri Lankan government has learned an old lesson from, I suspect, a modern master: Israel.
Video: Long Live Palestine, Long Live Gaza
Poet and rap artist Lowkey says, "I am attempting to speak up for the unheard, those who need a voice the most. People who dont have access to basic necessities we take for granted like clean water, let alone access to a microphone and recording studio."
Q&A: The truth about Gaza
Every day from 27 December to 19 January this year Israel bombarded the Gaza Strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, from the land, sea and air. Nearly 1400 people were killed, 314 of them children, and thousands were wounded. Israel is seeking to justify its actions by broadcasting massive misinformation about the history of Gaza, its inhabitants and its leaders.
Seven Jewish Children: Moral outrage? Or anti-semitic?
The play the BBC refused to broadcast in the interests of "impartiality."
No war crimes in Gaza?
The Israeli army says it "adhered to international law and maintained a high level of professionalism and morality in its attack on Gaza. Why then refuse to cooperate with the United Nations' investigation into Gaza war crimes?
War crimes are "hearsay"
Evidence of Israel's war crimes in Gaza is confirmed by Israeli soldiers.
George Galloway writes to the Charity Commission
The Charities Commission has frozen £100,000 intended to help the people of Gaza and is threatening Viva Palestina with legal action. George Galloway MP has written to the Commission in response to it scandalous treatment of Viva Palestina.
Gaza war crimes investigation: attacks on medics
Why were 16 medical workers were killed and more than half of Gaza's hospitals hit during Israel's invasion of Gaza?
Gaza war crimes investigation: Israeli drones
Why did Israeli drones with optics capable of seeing the colour of a target's clothes killed so many Palestinian civilians during the recent Gaza invasion
Gaza war crimes investigation: human shields
Three brothers say the Israeli military used them as human shields during the invasion of Gaza.
The wounds of Gaza: Report by UK surgeons
Two Surgeons from the UK, Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah and Dr Swee Ang, managed to get into Gaza during the Israeli invasion. Here they describe their experiences, share their views, and conclude that the people of Gaza are extremely vulnerable and defenseless in the event of another attack.
Students are revolting: The spirit of '68 is reawakening
Campus sit-ins began as a response to the Gaza attacks, but unrest is already spilling over to other issues.
BBC in revolt over Gaza
The BBC is still seething in response to it’s director general Mark Thompson’s decision not to broadcast the Gaza aid appeal.
Gaza desperately short of food after Israel destroys farmland
Officials warn of 'destruction of all means of life' after the three-week conflict leaves agriculture in the region in ruins.
Joanna Blythman: Why I'm boycotting Israeli produce
Fruit and vegetable exports are crucial to the Israeli economy. A consumer boycott of agricultural produce exerts direct economic pressure where it matters
Tony Benn Makes Appeal for Gaza on BBC
Tony Benn made an impromptu appeal for the Disasters Emergency Committee Gaza Appeal whilst being interviewed on BBC news.
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Gaza protestors defence campaign
Sign the petition
Six anti-war activists intend to go to trial on May 17th, not as the accused, but as accusers. Details...