|
 |
|
|
January 31, 2007 Zmag - Peter MacKay in Israel and Palestine Despite the impression cast by corporate news coverage, there is never anything like "calm" here in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The casualty count for 2006 released by Israeli human rights group B'Tselem reports that Israeli forces killed 660 Palestinians, while 17 Israeli civilians were killed, 13 of them in the West Bank [ pdf ]. The violence is often spectacular, as during the summer and fall siege operations in Gaza that killed more than 450 Palestinians under withering aerial bombardment, artillery barrages and two major ground invasions. But, as an unusually frank headline in the current edition of the Economist rightly stated, "It's the little things that make an occupation." PA: Decision to move W. Bank fence undermines peace efforts The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday condemned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decision to approve moving the separation barrier near Modi'in Ilit away from the Green Line in order to take in two settlements, as was first revealed by security sources and a brief submitted by the state to the High Court of Justice. Guardian UK - US questions Israel's use of cluster bombs in a rare rebukeThe US government delivered a mild but rare rebuke to Israel yesterday when the state department said ith might have misused American-made cluster bombs in its offensive against Lebanon last summer.
January 27, 2007 We try to contact other groups, churches, unions. ... We have had some success," said Khaled Mouammar, president of the Canadian Arab Federation. January 23, 2007 Greg Felton - Israel rewrites history with impunity, but Iran is vilified for discussing it ....Israel has never negotiated in good faith, because it has no other objective but to annex Palestinian land piece by piece and make life as miserable an inhumane as possible for the Arabs.... The Knesset Education Committee has decided by a majority vote that the Green Line no longer exists. Just like that, the Zionist Occupation Government is making an arbitrary decision to erase an armistice line from history, much as it has been erasing Palestine since 1947. January 22, 2007 Montreal Gazette - Quebec supporters granted key posts ..... Jennings was expected to get a key role in the new Dion team, but Dion, who announced the critics list in Ottawa, had another surprise - creating a human rights critic position, tailor-made for Mount Royal MP Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister and leading advocate for human rights. Cotler backed candidate Bob Rae in the leadership race. ( Excellent background information about Irwin Cotler and the company he keeps. My only criticism of this article is that Dion's decision to appoint Cotler as human rights critic is an insult not only to Arab Canadians but to all Canadians who believe that human rights should apply to everyone.) January 21, 2007 G&M - MacKay meets Abbas, but there's no welcome mat AMMAN, Jordan — Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay emerged yesterday from a tête-à-tête with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas with little to say after a meeting in which the Palestinian side appeared to have scant interest. Originally, Mr. MacKay was to meet Mr. Abbas this weekend in Ramallah, but the meeting had to be hastily rescheduled for yesterday in the Jordanian capital after Mr. Abbas decided to travel to Damascus via Amman to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad this weekend. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal is also expected to attend those talks. (Comment: Harper had to wait outside the bathroom to meet with the Chinese Prime Minister. MacKay has to chase Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas around the Middle East to meet with him. Let's not forget that Harper ostensibley did not feel that any member of his own party had sufficient expertise on the Middle East and had to appoint Liberal MP Wajid Khan as his M-E consultant. It seems that the report produced by Mr. Kahn was not to Harper's liking and will not be released (see below). January 18, 2007 Haaretz - Gov't razes 21 Bedouin homes built on state land in Negev (Comment: Although Haaretz is an excellent Israeli newspaper, this article is an prime example of how the news can lie by telling only part of the story. Be sure to read the commentary by the Israeli activist which follows this article.) Haaretz - Interior Ministry: West Bank settler population grew by 6% in 2006 The settler population in the West Bank grew by nearly 6 percent in 2006, Haaretz Editorial - The easing of restrictions deception Today marks two weeks since the easing of restrictions was to have started, as promised by Ehud Olmert in his meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on December 24 in Jerusalem. A Haaretz investigation of the situation last week revealed that only lesser restrictions are being eased, and in many cases none are being eased at all. January 17, 2007 The Tyee - Rewriting Israel's Story "The 1948 Palestine-Israel War is known to Israelis as 'The War of Independence,' but for Palestinians it will forever be the Nakba, the 'catastrophe.' Before, during and after this war -- as the state of Israel came into being, occurred one of the largest forced migrations in modern history. Around a million Palestinians were expelled from their homes at gunpoint, thousands of civilians were massacred and hundreds of Palestinian villages were deliberately destroyed. Though the truth about the mass expulsion has been systematically distorted and suppressed, had it taken place in the 21st century it could only have been called 'ethnic cleansing.'" ME Times - Palestinian female filmmakers triumph with their art In the academic year of Palestinian universities, "activities period" is usually reserved for political rallying by student union parties. But last term, this window of time was instead dedicated to the presentation of films all made by Palestinian women. January 10, 2007 Jerusalem Post - Rattling the Cage: A bigot called Bibi By rights, Binyamin Netanyahu, who every poll says is by far the most popular politician in Israel, should be ranked with Jean Le Pen, Jorge Haider and the rest of the Western world's racist demagogues. But he won't be, because anti-Arab racism in Israel is either supported or strategically ignored by the mainstream of the Jewish world, and pretty much taken for granted by the gentile world. Charlie Reese - Israel's Bad Influence Scott Ritter, a former U.N. arms inspector in Iraq, has written a book, "Target Iran," in which he accuses the Israeli government and its American lobby of pushing the U.S. into attacking Iran. Ritter writes, "Let there be no doubt: If there is an American war with Iran, it is a war that was made in Israel." January 8, 2007 G&M - Amid the intifada, a courageous friendship Tali Fahima was imprisoned for 28 months after defying a military order banning Israelis from visiting the West Bank. She was there to visit al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade local leader Zakaria Zubeidi. She was arrested after she declared a willingness to act as a human shield for him. (Ariel Schalit/AP) Occupation Magazine (Israel) - Sad holiday - a report from within on how Palestinians survive In order to face this very dire situation many families have to sell such belongings as furniture, TV sets, satellite dishes, even their stores of cooking and heating gas. Meanwhile families already have nothing left to sell. Many no longer pay the municipalities and electricity company for the supply of water and electricity. Also, telephones – mobiles and land lines both – are increasingly cut off for the inability to pay the charges. Haaretz - The homeland purified of Arabs A few dozen kilometers separate Hebron's casbah from the remains of the abandoned Arab village at Sataf. .... There's a direct line between the rape of the past and the rewriting of history to the arbitrary brutality of the present. January 4, 2007 Haaretz - MKs call on Tamir not to include Green Line in textbooks (Comment - While Israel says it will not negotiate with Hamas until it recognizes Israel, Israel does not even show the border between Israel and Palestine in its textbooks.) The Knesset Education Committee on Monday called on Education Minister Yuli Tamir to revoke her decision to include the historical Green Line in school textbooks. The minister said after the meeting that she stands by her decision. January 1, 2007 Variety - Corrie cancelled in Canada While admitting he has neither read nor seen the script, CanStage board member Jack Rose said, "My view was it would provoke a negative reaction in the Jewish community." (When will Canadians stand up and shout "ENOUGH ZIONIST CENSORSHIP!"?) BBC - Israel settlement plan angers US In a rare rebuke of its close ally, the State Department said such a construction would violate the peace plan known as the roadmap. Israel said 30 houses for former Gaza Strip settlers will be built in the Jordan Valley. (Note: The Jordan Valley is rich agricultural land situated between the West Bank and Jordan. It is not adjoining to Israel.)
|
| . |