NOVANEWS
10/28/2010
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Report: Israeli soldiers burned Quran during nighttime arrest in occupied Jayyous
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Dear John Dennis: Here’s what a progressive campaign stance on Israel/Palestine looks like
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Goldberg regrets his story linking Saddam to al-Qaeda but says ‘everybody’ got it wrong
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Sheikh Jarrah activists confront Jerusalem mayor over the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Silwan
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The ADL’s ‘top ten’ list is consistent with its history of muzzling dissent on Israel at all costs
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Abu Ben Tzahali
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An open letter to Hebrew University
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Israeli siege kept baby girl from leukemia treatment
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Noah Feldman says that those who seek to bring ‘pure justice’ to negotiations stand in the way of peace
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Cambridge debate on Israel is undermined by wily neocon (is that redundant?)
Report: Israeli soldiers burned Quran during nighttime arrest in occupied Jayyous
Oct 27, 2010
Philip Weiss
Doug Whitmore of Kansas City is a former member of Christian Peacemaker Teams who served in Jayyous in the occupied West Bank. Earlier today he received the following email from a friend in Jayyous. In passing it along, he removed the young man’s name out of concern that he would suffer reprisal from the Israelis. I have corrected some spelling errors in the note.
Dear Friends:
Last night at 1:30 big number of Israeli military come to the village, and they attack three houses and arrested three people from the village. The first one is Wajde Baida. He is close friend to me, he work in house building and computer programs, they entered his house by a very bad way, they broke the door and go inside and they search all the houses and they destroyed the things in his house like computer, TV, and his brother he wake up with guns in his head so when he saw that because he was sleeping he get lost for a while. And this the second time for him to be arrested.
The second one Ismaile Baida he work with agriculture organization. They inter his house and search all the house also and they scared the children there and the bad thing also they do burn al Quran in his house and threw it away. This the second time also for him to be arrested.
The third one he work in the Palestinian police in Ramallah and they do the same thing is his house and he was injured by the Israel army in his hand so he cant move it any more.
Life in Jayyous still so complicated and hard for people, there is no freedom, no peace. I don’t know when we will have our small right in the life.
Whitmore’s wife Andy adds: It happens all the time, the arrests. It happened when Doug was there, it happens every minute somewhere. They don’t need a reason. Sometimes, Doug thought, the soldiers just got bored. This from a week ago, for example (10/20): “Last week the Israeli army was in the village and they arrested a young person he study in the university. And on [date deleted] was my birthday but I dont celebrate it , because my best birthday will be when I see Palestine is free and we have our freedom and our right in the life.”
Dear John Dennis: Here’s what a progressive campaign stance on Israel/Palestine looks like
Oct 27, 2010
Matthew Taylor
I posted criticism of congressional candidate John Dennis‘ stance on Israel/Palestine. Dennis, who is running a libertarian, Republican, anti-war challenge to Nancy Pelosi, responded. My response:
Dear John Dennis,
I don’t think I misrepresented your statements about Israel. It’s true that I didn’t quote your comment about “not [being] a fan” of foreign aid in a general sense, and instead I supplied a link to the video (at 4:40) so people could hear your full remarks about “how to handle U.S.-Israeli relations in the likely event that foreign aid for Israel continues.” (“Likely” is an understatement!) In the video, you say that the U.S. shouldn’t criticize anything Israel does with U.S. aid, and you say that Israel should be able to build unlimited settlements/colonies without U.S. criticism.
You said you wanted to clarify, and you wish I’d asked you to do so. Fair enough. Here are my questions:
1. In the “likely event” that the U.S. continues to supply military aid to Israel as you say, what would Israel have to do with our military aid to merit criticism? How about stealing and ethnically cleansing Palestinian land, building illegal colonies, violating the Geneva Conventions, committing war crimes, violating the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, and/or building U.S.-funded roads only Jewish colonizers are allowed to drive on? Israel has done all of those actions with U.S. support for decades. I’d be happy to provide sources/references to verify these facts.
2. What is your position on the Gaza war of ’08-09 in which Israel killed hundreds of civilians, including more than 300 children? Why should the U.S. not criticize Israel for using U.S.-supplied arms to oppress and dispossess the Palestinian people? What makes Israel so special that it doesn’t deserve criticism for using U.S. taxpayer-funded weapons to commit horrific, illegal crimes against a civilian population?
3. You say you “would like for nothing more than the people in the Middle East to live in peace.” Great, I’m glad you want to see it happen. But what kind of peace are we driving toward — the peace that results from Israel conquering Palestinian land and crushing all resistance, or the peace of equality and coexistence? I hope you support the latter. While you say you are for peace, you also say the U.S. shouldn’t criticize Israeli settlements. The settlements (colonies) are the primary engine Israel uses to steal Palestinian land, and thereby make any kind of equitable peace impossible. How do you reconcile your desire for peace with not criticizing Israel’s settlements/colonies, or are you open to taking a new position in opposition to the settlements?
4. You might say, “I want peace but that’s not the U.S.’ job.” Have you heard that U.S. military experts have stated that an acceptable outcome on Israel/Palestine is a vital national security interest, given that U.S. support for Israel’s project of conquest has endangered American lives? Further, Osama bin Laden stated in one of his tapes (assuming the tapes are authentic) that 9/11 was partially motivated by U.S. support for Israel’s project of conquest. Given this pressing national security interest, what would you have the U.S. do to bring about an acceptable outcome?
5. Do you favor equality between Israelis and Palestinians, as a principle? Many Israeli and American politicians favor Israeli Jewish ethnic/racial/religious superiority over Palestinians, as a principle.
6. In the video of your remarks, you complimented Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu (Bibi) as a tough, smart guy who’s committed to peace. Are you aware of the following three facts about this tough guy: a) Bibi bragged about destroying the Oslo Process in a private conversation with settlers that was recently made public, b) In the same private conversation, Bibi bragged about how easy it is to manipulate and control U.S. foreign policy to favor Israel, c) Bibi has blessed the construction of illegal, land-stealing colonies/settlements, both during the so-called settlement freeze (not an actual freeze, it turns out) and now that the so-called freeze is over. Do you maintain your support for Bibi in light of these facts?
John, you are running on an anti-war platform, embraced by progressives. I don’t want my remarks to be pure armchair challenges. I want to help you to develop an effective policy. Here’s a shorthand suggestion for a progressive policy on Israel/Palestine:
A) If U.S. aid continues to Israel, then it should not be in the form of military aid, but instead should fund programs that promote equality, reconciliation, healing, integration, and so on between Israelis and Palestinians, with equality being the most important principle;
B) Similarly, no military aid of any kind should be available to Israel until and unless Israel agrees to abide by international law, relevant U.N. resolutions, and all U.S. laws governing arms exports (although A above is far preferable);
C) The U.S. should immediately remove itself as the mediator between Israelis and Palestinians given the U.S. track record of favoring Israel and “being Israel’s lawyer”, and request that a truly neutral third party be the mediator (I’m a professional mediator, and absolutely neutrality is rule number one);
D) The U.S. should take responsibility for the fact that its past military aid has contributed substantially to the dispossession of the Palestinian people, and make amends for this in both word and deed, including material reparations;
E) As a national security imperative, and also because it’s the right thing to do, the U.S. should apply massive pressure to Israel to achieve a just, equitable, agreeable-to-all parties resolution based on the fundamental principle of equality.
Final question: Do you agree with points A-E, and will you make them part of your new and revised platform toward Israel/Palestine? If not, why not?
Hoping you will take a progressive stance on this deeply important matter!
I greatly appreciate your thoughtful engagement with this deeply important matter.
P.S. – The fact that you aren’t willing to guarantee Israel that the U.S. would go to war on its behalf is positive, although a small step toward a truly progressive policy.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Matthew A. Taylor, Jewish, American, Taxpayer
Goldberg regrets his story linking Saddam to al-Qaeda but says ‘everybody’ got it wrong
Oct 27, 2010
Philip Weiss
The Jewish Journal’s Danielle Berrin interviews the most powerful Jewish journalist in America. Nay, the world! First the bullying excerpt, then the excerpt where he bullies the world. Emphases mine. Commenters will supply the subtext:
Goldberg was raised in an assimilated middle-class home in a mixed neighborhood on Long Island. Both of his parents were teachers and union loyalists, inculcating their son with left-leaning liberal politics but not much in the way of a religious education. Instead, Goldberg forged his Jewish identity in response to some schoolyard anti-Semitism whose traumas left him longing for the so-called muscle Judaism represented by Zionism.
As a teenager, he voraciously consumed Zionist literature by Theodor Herzl, Max Nordau and Vladimir Jabotinsky, and chose to go to a socialist Zionist camp in the Catskills, where summer games like “Warsaw Ghetto Uprising” and “Siege of Jerusalem” were imbued with historic seriousness.
Following his parents’ divorce and an aimless year at the University of Pennsylvania, Goldberg moved to Israel, where he remained for the next several years, living on a kibbutz and serving in the army. Guarding Palestinian prisoners — many of whom were terrorists or would-be terrorists — might have bolstered his hawkish side….
…a 2002 piece he wrote for The New Yorker, in which he claimed to have found evidence linking Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda…. was widely interpreted as an endorsement for the Iraq war, which, on some level, Goldberg regrets. He now admits having been wrong about Hussein’s pursuit of weapons of mass destruction “like everybody else…”
Thanks to Jeff Blankfort. P.S. When will the New Yorker express its regrets for delivering the slop? Don’t hold your breath. P.P.S. I went to public schools in gritty sections of Baltimore a few years before Goldberg in middle-class L.I. I experienced some schoolyard anti-Semitism. Remind me– some day I must show you the scars and relate the traumas.
Sheikh Jarrah activists confront Jerusalem mayor over the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Silwan
Oct 27, 2010
Adam Horowitz
The ADL’s ‘top ten’ list is consistent with its history of muzzling dissent on Israel at all costs
Oct 27, 2010
Alaa Milbes
Recently, the Anti-Defamation League came out with a statement placing Students for Justice in Palestine on its top 10 anti-Israel organizations in the United States. As ADL has a history of spying and attempting to crush pro-Palestine, anti-apartheid activists working on issues of justice and civil rights, we are honored to be on a list with prominent civil rights organizations such as the Muslim American Society and Jewish Voice for Peace among others.The ADL was established in 1913 as a response to anti-Jewish bigotry in the United States. In 1993, the San Francisco police raided an ADL office after discovering a police officer had provided the organization with information on American citizens supporting the Palestinian cause and those opposing South African apartheid. The ADL’s Roy Bullock, an undercover investigator, held records consisting of information on 77 Arab organizations and nearly 647 leftist and anti-apartheid organizations.
Rather than being a civil rights organization that defends the rights of Jews and other minorities, the ADL has a reputation for stifling debate regarding Israel’s “Jewish” democracy. The top 10 list simply reinforces this concern. The ADL blindly supports the Israeli government in its endeavors, including many that flagrantly discriminate against Palestinians.
Domineering moves, including blacklists, are increasingly viewed by peace advocates as badges of honor. Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, expressed her pleasure at being targeted: “We’re growing, we’re very organized and we’re effective…There was something perversely pleasing about being included on the ADL list.”
“The status quo crowd knows that its power is waning as American Jews have come to the understanding that defending the occupation is no act of friendship to Israel. It is precisely the opposite and that those who are first to call others “anti-Israel” have helped perpetuate policies that would be Israel’s undoing. The lobby is terrified. And so it resorts to McCarthyism, which historically is the last resort of those who are losing. It didn’t work for Joe McCarthy. It won’t work for them.”
In fact, the ADL has created a reputation for itself, as a criticizer of highly respected human rights workers, scholars and political figures. The ADL even went after Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the esteemed South African anti-apartheid campaigner, when he was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to head a fact-finding mission to Gaza. Astonishingly, the organization even criticized Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress in the 1980s because of Israel’s close friendship with apartheid South Africa.
“The status quo crowd knows that its power is waning as American Jews have come to the understanding that defending the occupation is no act of friendship to Israel. It is precisely the opposite and that those who are first to call others “anti-Israel” have helped perpetuate policies that would be Israel’s undoing. The lobby is terrified. And so it resorts to McCarthyism, which historically is the last resort of those who are losing. It didn’t work for Joe McCarthy. It won’t work for them.”
In fact, the ADL has created a reputation for itself, as a criticizer of highly respected human rights workers, scholars and political figures. The ADL even went after Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the esteemed South African anti-apartheid campaigner, when he was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to head a fact-finding mission to Gaza. Astonishingly, the organization even criticized Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress in the 1980s because of Israel’s close friendship with apartheid South Africa.
In its blind and staunch support of Israel, the ADL has found itself increasingly defending the indefensible. Organizational support for some discriminated-against minority groups does not exonerate the ADL for its heavy-handed defense of the Israeli state as a “Jewish and democratic state.” The hypocrisy of such a position is obvious. The ADL would never, thankfully, support the United States as a white and Christian state nor have the temerity to then call such a construction a democracy. Yet this is precisely what it asks for Israel.
Just days ago, Rupert Murdoch was honored by the ADL for his supposed support of Israel and commitment to fighting anti-Semitism. Yet by honoring the CEO of News Corp, parent company of Fox News, the ADL is fairly openly supporting demagogues such as Glenn Beck who is given plenty of space to promote hate against various peoples, including immigrants and Palestinians.
Having emerged from the Western colonial era, save in Palestine, university students look to the example of predecessors who fought South African apartheid and Jim Crow discrimination in the American South. In both instances, student movements were a main driving force in ending racist governing structures.
The ADL knows SJP’s potential to end a racist and colonial system enforced on the Palestinian people. Placement on the “top 10 list” is only a sign that student movements have the potential to change government policies. Our opposition to Israeli policy continues to resonate with people around the world who are shocked and dismayed at Israel’s ongoing flouting of international law and the right of Palestinians to freedom and fundamental human rights. The ADL’s discriminatory take on Israel/Palestine is entirely antiquated; the outlook of students with SJP who promote equal rights for Palestinians and Jews in the region surely represents the future.
Alaa Milbes is a graduate student at Columbia University in the department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies, and she is a member of Students for Justice in Palestine.
Abu Ben Tzahali
Oct 27, 2010
Ira Glunts
Abu Ben Tzahali (may our tribe release!)
Awoke one day from a deep nap of peace,
And saw, within the daylight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a desert in bloom,
An Editor writing in a book of gold:
Abu Ben Tzahali
Abu Ben Tzahali (may our tribe release!)
Awoke one day from a deep nap of peace,
And saw, within the daylight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a desert in bloom,
An Editor writing in a book of gold:
Exceeding success made Ben Tzahali bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said,
“What writest thou?” The Vision raised its head,
And with a look so fit and grand
Answered, “The names who too much love the Land.”
And is mine one?” said Abu. “Nay, not so,”
Replied the Vision. Abu spoke more low,
But cheerily still; and said, “I pray thee, then,
Write my son who beats up grown men.”
The Vision wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whose love of Land were stressed,
And, lo! Ben Tzahali’s name led all the rest!
Dedicated to Ethan Bronner and Bill Keller of The New York Times.
An open letter to Hebrew University
Oct 27, 2010
Zehra Hirji
It has been brought to my attention that Professor Maya Kahanoff was recently let go from The Rothberg International School at Hebrew University on the grounds of her personal politics; it was made clear that her lifetime of knowledge on peace and understanding were no longer welcome at your university.
As a student who was also made to feel unwelcome at The Hebrew University, I find this news incredibly painful, as Maya Kahanoff was a source of inspiration to everyone who met her; she personally touched me and completely transformed my educational experience at your institution. As someone stereotyped as the enemy, a Muslim of Arab descent, I came to Hebrew University to defy this image and to seek genuine understanding and friendship across the divide.
The Hebrew University has a reputation as one of the foremost institutions in the world on international law and intellectual thought, and was founded on the ideals of progressivism by such brilliant minds such as Albert Einstein and other great leaders. However, instead of encountering this vision of intelligence and greatness, I was met with professors who likened Arabs to animals and stripped them of their humanity.
I was met with professors who claimed that genetics and DNA were responsible for making Arabs violent and other traces of racism that I did not even realize were still prevalent in “academic” discourse today.
While these professors destroyed the last traces of my faith in humanity, it was upon meeting Professor Maya Kahanoff in her peacebuilding seminar that I realized my decision to attend The Hebrew University was the right one, that mutual respect and understanding truly were attainable, that my faith in humanity could be restored, and that education is the answer for achieving peace. The Hebrew University could in fact live up to its foundational vision.
Maya Kahanoff is the living embodiment of tolerance. She was my teacher at the exact moment when she was celebrating her daughter’s induction into the Israeli Defense Forces. As a proud mother, with a daughter in the army, Maya was making the utmost sacrifice to the politics of her nation. But as a teacher, she eloquently preached understanding and tolerance: a daily struggle for the soul of her nation.
It was Maya Kahanoff who pointed out to me, that nowhere in the world were there more peace activists than in Israel, and nowhere in the world were there more citizens advocating on behalf of the rights of their alleged enemy. It was Maya Kahanoff who helped me understand that even in the most intractable of conflicts hope in our shared humanity should never be retracted. And while those other racist and hurtful professors continue to spew their hateful speech at your institution, it was Maya Kahanoff that was fired.
I simply cannot articulate in words how devastating this news is and the loss that will be incurred by all future students seeking knowledge at The Hebrew University. The solution to this conflict, if ever there was one, will begin and end with education. The role of Hebrew University in stifling this avenue to peace will be a mark of shame for the rest of its history, severely undermining the principles upon which it was founded. I cannot begin to express my grief and my sorrow for the loss in which your university has self-inflicted.
Sincerely,
Zehra Hirji
The Rothberg International School 2009
Harvard University 2010
Zehra Hirji blogs at Where in the World is Zehra.
Israeli siege kept baby girl from leukemia treatment
Oct 27, 2010
Seham
and other news from Today in Palestine:
Settlers/ Land, Property, Resource Theft & Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing
UN envoy demands Israel act against settler attacks
UN Mieast peace coordinator ‘appalled at acts of destruction of olive trees and farmlands, desecration of mosques and violence against civilians’.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/un-envoy-demands-israel-act-against-settler-attacks-1.321296?localLinksEnabled=false
Harvard University 2010
UN envoy demands Israel act against settler attacks
UN Mieast peace coordinator ‘appalled at acts of destruction of olive trees and farmlands, desecration of mosques and violence against civilians’.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/un-envoy-demands-israel-act-against-settler-attacks-1.321296?localLinksEnabled=false
Jewish settlement construction increases, report says
An Israeli human rights group says that building illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian land has increased four-fold since the partial freeze on new building ended last month. Nearly half a million Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are held to be illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this. Many of those who help to build the settlements are Palestinian labourers who say they cannot get such well-paid jobs elsewhere.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11623704
Demolitions Continue in ‘Aissawiya, Provoking Popular Anger
Jerusalem – PNN – Widespread demolitions continued in the occupied central Jerusalem neighborhood of ‘Aissawiya as bulldozers followed Israeli soldiers from house to house and popular rage spread. A Wafa reporter in Jerusalem said the demolitions covered the districts of Barkiyat, Mu’rshat, and Istinadiya and affected the following citizens: Sheikh Riyad, ‘Aissawiya, Ra’ed Abu Riyala, Issa Saleh Khalil Nasir, Ziad Issa Nasir, Mazen Issa Nasir, Isma’il Issa Nasir, Issa Muhammad Nasir, Samir Nasir, and Issa Naisir. Ra’ed Abu Riyala al-‘Assawoui, a member of the Fatah Organizational Committee and one of the landowners, said the soldiers told him they had issued a demolition notice a month ago. He said this was a flimsy argument that soldiers used every time they removed Palestinians from their lands.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9019&Itemid=62
Israeli Soldiers Confiscate Heavy Equipment During Invasion of Beit Fajjar
Kamel Hamash, head of the local council, confirmed on Wednesday morning, that a number of Israeli army soldiers confiscated a bulldozer and other equipment belonging to a citizen from the region of Khelat Heja, near Beit Fajjar, east of Bethlehem.
Israeli Soldiers Confiscate Heavy Equipment During Invasion of Beit Fajjar
Israeli Soldiers Confiscate Heavy Equipment During Invasion of Beit Fajjar
Israel expands West Bank settlement
NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israel is expanding a settlement in the northern West Bank district of Nablus, Ma’an has learned. Shvut Rachel Alt. 804, part of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, was built on Palestinian land in the Jalud village. The village’s total area is some 16,000 dunums. Settlers have confiscated about 80 percent of the land to expand six settlements, residents say.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=327886
Report: 99 per cent of separation wall built on ’67 occupied land
Arab League warns the separation wall will devour fertile farmland in Qalqiliya, within framework of systematic plan to take control of Palestine’s most fertile and strategically important lands.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7
Two sides of the Wall in Bil’in, Hamde Abu Rahme
I went on a tour to photograph the Apartheid Wall that was built on the territory of the Palestinian village of Bil’in, located in the West Bank. After a ruling of the highest Israeli Court, the path of which the first wall had been built had to be changed and now the Israel has to build a new wall: the new wall is a set of concrete cubes ranging in length up to eight meters tall. The old wall was an electric fence with barbed wire which would send an electric shock at the slightest touch. This first wall was set up by Israel on Palestinian land and has been extremely dangerous (in some cases deadly), not only to human beings but also to animals and other wildlife. Many animals lost their lives after running into the fence and being instantly electrocuted.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/10/two-sides-of-the-wall-in-bilin.html
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
Palestinian Political Prisoner Ameer Makhoul to the World Education Forum Palestine
Brothers and sisters in the Palestinian National Committee of the World Education Forum My greetings and yearning to you all, First, I send you my warmest greetings and appreciation for all your efforts in preparation for the World Education Forum in Palestine. It is an honor for Palestine to host this forum, accompanied by such notable international mobilization and solidarity. However, it is also an honor for the World Education forum to be hosted by Palestine.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/2963-ameer-makhoul-to-the-world-education-forum-palestine-
Demonstrators call for expelling Israeli ambassador from Jordan
AMMAN, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) — Dozens of Jordanians on Tuesday staged sit-ins near the Israeli embassy in Amman, calling for annulling the peace treaty with Israel. During the sit-in, which took place near Al Kaluti Mosque, demonstrators called for expelling the Israeli ambassador and urged people to boycott Israeli products. “The Wadi Araba Peace treaty represents a recognition of Israel, ” Secretary General of the Islamic Action Front (IAF) Hamzah Mansour said during the demonstration organized by the Jordanian Higher Executive Committee for Defending the Homeland and Confronting Normalization.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-10/27/c_13576770.htm
Jerusalem Activists Confront Mayor Nir Barkat, Joseph Dana
Nir Barkat, the secular and dangerous mayor of Jerusalem, was forced to confront direct action protest during a recent art gala in Jerusalem. Jerusalem activists from the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity movement confronted the mayor with questions regarding his policy of ethnic cleansing in Silwan and Shiekh Jarrah. In the following video of the event, Barkat’s smug reaction is not as surprising as the utter silence of those citizens attending the art gala around him. The silence of Jerusalem’s residents to the policy of discrimination, racism and occupation to Palestinian citizens of the city is shocking.
http://josephdana.com/2010/10/jerusalem-activists-confront-mayor-nir-barkat/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=jerusalem-activists-confront-mayor-nir-barkat
Tutu begs singers to call off Israel tour
Desmond Tutu has urged the Cape Town Opera to call off its tour of Israel “until both Israeli and Palestinian opera lovers have equal opportunity and unfettered access to performances”.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/entertainment/article728642.ece/Tutu-begs-singers-to-call-off-Israel-tour
No Justice, No Chickpeas: Philly activists go ‘Gaga’ to spread hummus boycott, Adam Horowitz
Philly BDS, a coalition of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian, and Arab organizations, recently initiated a boycott campaign against Sabra and Tribe hummus products because of their connection to human rights abuses of Palestinians. Coalition member Hannah Schwarzschild explains: As a customer and a Jew, I hope that Fresh Grocer will heed the concerns of it’s community members and consider ceasing to distribute these products. Not only would this a be a huge step toward supporting the human rights of Palestinians and working for a more just and peaceful Middle East, it would also serve to educate the community about the power of our consumer choices.”
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/10/no-justice-no-chickpeas-philly-activists-go-gaga-to-spread-hummus-boycott.html
#BDS: Presbyterian Mission Network Joins BDS Movement
Presbyterian Mission Network Joins BDS Movement, Calls for Boycotts on goods from Illegal Israeli Settlements. CHICAGO, October 25—In response to a call to action from the Christians of the Holy Land, The Israel/Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) [PC(USA)] voted at its annual meeting to join the international boycott of goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/10/bds-presbyterian-mission-network-joins.html
8th Week against the Apartheid Wall, November 9 – 16 2010
Sep 1, 2010– Eight years into the construction of the Apartheid Wall, over 60% has already been built to ghettoize communities, threatening over 260,000 people with displacement and stealing land and water resources.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2361.shtml
Technion: Structures of Oppression
Why McGill & Concordia Universities must sever their links with Technion University October 2010 report download full document Photo: Window in Palestinian home smashed by Israeli military bullet. McGill and Concordia universities maintain bi-lateral exchange programs with the Technion University in Israel.
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/8105
Who Profits? – Financing the Israeli Occupation
Israeli banks provide the financial infrastructure for all activities of companies, governmental agencies and individuals in the continuing occupation of Palestine and the Syrian Golan Heights. The services provided by the banks support and sustain these activities. Additionally, as this report shows, it is evident that the banks are well aware of the types and whereabouts of the activity that is being carried out with their financial assistance.
http://www.israeli-occupation.org/2010-10-25/who-profits-financing-the-israeli-occupation/
How Much Money is Needed to Stop the BDS Movement?, Alex Kane
$6 million dollars: enough to combat a largely grassroots, bottom-up and growing boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel? That’s what the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs are hoping.
http://alexbkane.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/how-much-money-is-needed-to-stop-the-bds-movement/
Siege/Rights Violations/Restriction of Movement/Racism & Discrimination
Israeli Siege Kept Baby Girl From Leukemia Treatment
Nasma Abu Lasheen died on 16 October, 2010 from treatable leukemia, 155 kilometres from adequate medical facilities. She had spent most of her two years sick, ferried around Gaza and Israel between blood tests, treatments and doctors in six different hospitals. Her family had celebrated her second birthday in Gaza City, waiting on permission from Israel to continue the chemical treatment. By the time it came, Nasma was too weak to move. Her tragedy is the story of hospitals, doctors, clinics and medicine under siege.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1585
Open Gaza’s gates, Amira Hass
When residents from Hebron, Nazareth and foreign countries travel to the Khan Yunis coast, or visit a cultural center north of the Al-Shatti refugee camp, their illusions about the wonders of the religious-totalitarian regime will evaporate.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/open-gaza-s-gates-1.321366
Negev councilor cuts off 4,000 Bedouin’s water supply
The water was turned back on Tuesday afternoon, by order of the Be’er Sheva District Court, pending a hearing set for tomorrow
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/negev-councilor-cuts-off-4-000-bedouin-s-water-supply-1.321333?localLinksEnabled=false
Israel lifts study ban for 5 jailed students
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Lawyers for Palestinian detainees at an Israeli prison said Tuesday that five prisoners will be allowed to complete university studies, after they were initially banned. Twenty other prisoners will not be allowed to continue studying. They were prevented from completing coursework on “security” grounds, according to a statement from the detainees center.
Gazans missing out on school
In Gaza, 40,000 students have been unable to start school this year because there are not enough buildings to accomodate them. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency says the Palestinian territory needs at least 100 new schools but there is simply not enough construction material available because of Israel’s blockade of the territory. Al Jazeera’s Nadim Baba reports from Gaza. [October 27, 2010]
Al-Awda Launches New Palestinian Childrens’s Rights Campaign
Ramallah – PNN – Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, just launched a new program that will focus on Palestinian children’s rights that have been detained by Israel, as well as advocate for the immediate release of the children. Al-Awda is an American non-profit organization that has mainly worked for the Palestinian right to return. According to their website they are “a broad-based, non-partisan, democratic and charitable organization of grassroots activist and students committed to comprehensive public education of the rights of all Palestinian refugees to return to their property in accordance with International Law.”
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9015&Itemid=59
Knesset committee approves controversial bill allowing towns to reject residents
Israeli Arab MKs al-Sana and Tibi walk out on committee discussion, calling it a ‘criminal law’ aiming to prevent Arabs from joining Israeli towns.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/knesset-committee-approves-controversial-bill-allowing-towns-to-reject-residents-1.321433?localLinksEnabled=false
Arabs: Jaffa housing benefits for reservists ‘discriminatory’
Residents of Jaffa’s Ajami neighborhood angered by apartment benefits for reserve soldiers, claim housing shortage for local residents not addressed
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3975377,00.html
Arabs: Jaffa housing benefits for reservists ‘discriminatory’
Residents of Jaffa’s Ajami neighborhood angered by apartment benefits for reserve soldiers, claim housing shortage for local residents not addressed
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3975377,00.html
Settler network promotes racist comics to bring Meir Kahane to a new generation of Israelis, Adam Horowitz
The following comic celebrating the life of Meir Kahane appeared last week on an Israeli website called the Israel News Network, which is associated with Arutz Sheva and the settler movement. Kahane was the founder of the fascist Jewish Defense League and the Kach movement, which was barred in Israel for promoting racism, and his ideology has been influential in Israel where he was a longtime proponent of forcing Palestinian citizens of Israel out of the country. The comic has been translated byDena Shunra.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/10/settler-network-promotes-racist-comics-to-bring-meir-kahane-to-a-new-generation-of-israelis.html
Violence & Aggression
Israeli Occupation Gunboats Attack Palestinain Fishermen in Gaza
In Wednesday at dawn, Israeli gunboats opened fire at fishing boats off the shoreline in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59763
Israeli Occupation Gunboats Attack Palestinain Fishermen in Gaza
In Wednesday at dawn, Israeli gunboats opened fire at fishing boats off the shoreline in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59763
Israeli Police Car Kills Palestinian Child
Israeli sources reported that on Tuesday night, a Palestinian boy from the town of Yatta, south of Hebron, was killed by an Israeli police car that ran over him in the town of Ashdod, in the southern part of Israel.
IOF soldiers open indiscriminate fire at Husan homes
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) mounting six armored vehicles on Tuesday afternoon stormed the village of Husan, west of Bethlehem, and fired rubber bullets and gas bombs at citizens’ homes.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xy
Report: Islamic Jihad man killed in Gaza
Palestinians say al-Quds Brigades member, 29, hit by IDF tank shell. Earlier, mortar shell explodes in western Negev; no injuries reported.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3975779,00.html
Clashes erupt at Israel march
Violence between police and Palestinian-Israeli protesters angered by a march by a right-wing Jewish group.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/10/2010102783751347869.html
In photos: Aftermath of an Israeli raid
The daughter of one of three Palestinians detained by Israeli forces in Qalqiliya on Monday morning holds up a copy of a Qur’an, which the family says troops burned after raiding the family home. An Israeli military spokeswoman told Ma’an that neither the Civil Administration nor the army had received a complaint about the burning of the Muslim holy book, but confirmed two detentions in the northern West Bank district.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=327686
Detainees
