NEWS: News Updates

 

 

Petition against Veolia sponsorship of ‘natural life’ exhibition

 

October 28th, 2012

Britains's Natural History Museum attracts many visitors and influences many minds about wildlife and its vital environment with its annual exhibition of wildlife photography. Since 2009 it has been sponsored by Veolia, notorious for dumping waste in the West Bank, which is ironic, and running apartheid transport systems, which is not. Sign the petition to the Natural History Museum to stop taking money from a company which violates the natural history of Palestinians.

Own goals scored in Mid-East by US’s shameless ideologues

 

October 28th, 2012

At the annual conference of Arab-US policy makers, former ambassador Charles Freeman Jr. delivers a withering critique of the US's policies in the Middle East. He focusses on Iraq, the misuse of military power and the US support for Israel's 'psychotic' fears of annihilation and the 'half truths with fantasy sauce' about the non-existent peace process. 

Whoever wins the January election it will be the right-wing gang

 

October 26th, 2012

Richard Silverstein, writing for Tikkun, examines the political prospects in the coming general election in Israel and concludes that there is no hope of any party coalition unseating Likud and its partners. As the right is not going to negotiate a Palestinian state into existence, this strengthens the argument for one-state he says.

JfJfP deplores seizure of Estelle

 

October 26th, 2012

The ship Estelle was carrying a cargo of people and humanitarian aid to the people of the besieged Gaza strip when it was seized by the IDF and taken to Ashdod where people and cargo were impounded. Contrary to claims by IDF spokesmen violence was used. There is no legal reason why unarmed people should not be free to visit independent Gaza.

Barak threatens collective punishment if targeted killings fail to end rocket fire

 

October 25th, 2012

The latest exchange of fire between the IDF and several armed groups in Gaza has led to Defence Minister Ehud Barak threatening collective punishment for Hamas unless all violence from Gaza ends. An Israeli defence official insists there will be no overt talks with Hamas, a task which Egyptian mediators have taken on. Reports from Ma'an and Al Jazeera.

Israelis can’t see and don’t want a way to live with Arabs

 

October 24th, 2012

A poll commissioned by Ha'aretz makes grim reading for anyone favouring a one-state solution. The hostility of the growing proportion of religious and right-wing Jews to acknowledging any rights for Palestinians in land controlled by Israel leaves only the secular Jews consistently standing out against apartheid practices.

Israel’s policy of no Bedouin in the desert

 

October 24th, 2012

'The term "Bedouin" means, "those in bādiyah" or "those in the desert". Which is exactly where Israeli authorities have decided they shall not live, fearing that the Bedouin would constitute a solid Arab belt. Ben White describes the relentless drive to force Arabs out of the Negev.

Land for Jews fund crashes, Jewish ‘leaders’ hit by fall-out

 

October 24th, 2012

The Jewish National Fund (JNF) was founded in 1901 to buy land for Jews in Palestine. It still owns over 1/8 of Israeli land. It remained customary for Jews to contribute money to the JNF after the creation of Israel but its UK income has plummeted. When the Jewish Chronicle published this news it was attacked by establishment Jews and quickly removed its own story. Tony Greenstein picks up the tale.

Targeted killing: short-term gain in an endless war

 

October 24th, 2012

This Washington Post article, the first of three, is not strictly to do with Jews, justice and Palestinians. It describes the development of Pres. Obama's anti-terrorism strategy - a 'disposition matrix' in which the danger of a named terrorist is aligned with the resources deployed against him. It is being used for suspects in the Middle East and has similarities with Israel's policy of targeted killings hence its posting here.

War wins out over politics

 

October 24th, 2012

Local elections in the West Bank last Saturday produced a majority for Fatah candidates but little mood of political self-expression. The conflict between Fatah and Hamas, the dominance of military groups in Gaza and the limited powers of Palestinian governments discourage popular political engagement. Reports from Bloomberg and BBC.

Campaign for apology from UK for Balfour declaration: UPDATED

 

October 23rd, 2012

The London-based Palestinian Return Center is trying to get 1 million signatures for a demand that Britain apologise to the Palestinians for its mandate over Palestine. A news report first, then the text of Arthur Balfour's letter to Lord Rothschild, 1917, with a bit of history. UPDATE: Unconnected to the PRC petition, The Balfour Project and Edinburgh conference, last item

Settlement building spree before election

 

October 23rd, 2012

Netanyahu says settlement building will continue 'without limits' (1); more exactly, the Ministry of the Interior has ordered the construction of 1000s of new homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank to appease the far right before January's election, to the dismay of the EU's Lady Ashton (2 and 3). AP (4) sums it up - with a coda about Chomsky's visit to Gaza.

Concrete poured on hope for Palestinian state

 

October 23rd, 2012

Harriet Sherwood sketches out the illegal building of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem - and President Obama's inability to make this a sticking point in US/Israeli relations. Second, Hagit Ofren deplores the plan to build a military academy on top of the Mount of Olives, a site of religious importance in Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Slander – or networked antisemitism: the case of Greta Berlin

 

October 23rd, 2012

This is a complex and disturbing story told by 4 people, about Greta Berlin, 71-year-old American and a founder of the Free Gaza movement, and her links with antisemitic propaganda and groups. It is also about connections, intended and accidental, and covert routes made possible by the internet. And it is about, as Ali Abuminah says, the tireless efforts to confuse anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

Gaza’s children, stunted bodies and scarred minds

 

October 22nd, 2012 

The usual excuse given by the Israeli government for creating the severe deprivation of people in Gaza is 'security'. This article by Juan Cole and report from MAP and Save the Children Fund show it is the lives and health of children in Gaza which are sacrificed for Israel's security. The children themselves suffer from deep insecurity of food, housing and well-being.