Shadi Fadda
Silence following allegations of attempts to take Hamas TV station off the air
News reports allege that the Palestinian presidency has formally applied to the Nilesat Satellite TV distribution network to stop the transmission of the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV station through the Nilesat network. The undersecretary of the dismissed ministry of information, Hasan Abu Hasheish, stated, "The ministry considers the presidency's silence towards these news reports to be a proof of the validity of the news, which is a disaster for media."
Nicola Nasser: India, Israel, and New Delhi's Palestinian policy
An indicator of the new Indian strategic shift is the Indian focus on the Palestinian – Israeli peace process more than on the struggle of the Palestinian people for liberation. A seminar on "Palestine: 1967 and After" organized by the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) and the mission of the League of Arab States (LAS) in New Delhi on June 22 highlighted India's still unwavering historical support for the Palestinian people, but failed to address the potential political effects of the growing Indian-Israeli ties on New Delhi's more than ten-decade old policy on the Arab-Israeli conflict in Palestine.
Philip Rizk: Resistance in Gaza
Many Palestinians that are willing to submit to Israel and international demands are doing so because of a simple pragmatism or an undying party allegiance and yet in the long run their decision will have no positive results for their people. The end of this path will ultimately be the wiping out of the Palestinian cause. Israel will continue to build settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank, implement its vision for a greater Israel and carry out any "security measures" on Palestinians that it deems necessary along the way. The West Bank will eventually become a large number of small Gazas, cities and communities enclosed, walled off and separated from each other.
A dog's life – Palestinians working in Israel
"If I want to go to collect supplies from the gate, the guard must come with me", he told us. "If I want to go to the toilet, the guard must come with me too. If I want to speak to anyone other than my fellow workers, the guard must be present. In fact, I can't even walk more than 20 metres away from the guard, otherwise he'll call the police and have me kicked out of the area." To all intents and purposes, Boel is afforded as much freedom as a rottweiler chained to a gatepost; his invisible shackles are closely monitored by the gun-toting guard, upon whose whims rest Boel's entire livelihood, and who must be treated with suitably fawning respect by Boel.
Excerpts from Shimon Peres' speech at his induction as Israel's new president
Israel must not only be an asset but a value. A moral, cultural and scientific call for the promotion of man, every man. It must be a good and warm home for Jews who are not Israelis, as well as for Israelis who are not Jews. And it must create equal opportunities for all, without discriminating between religion, nationality, community or sex.
IDF says it has cut down on arrests of West Bank militants
as a result of agreements reached between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Since Thursday morning, no such operations have been carried out in the West Bank. So far, the new regulations have still not been conveyed to the IDF in writing, and Central Command has so far been given only oral instructions.
When minor officials rule – by Akiva Eldar
In essence, the battalion commander, and often the officer in charge of a roadblock, influence the daily lives of the population - and hence its political inclinations - a lot more than the prime minister or defense minister. When the political leadership does not offer any policy, the natural tendency of the young officer is to minimize risks; to close, not to open, to arrest, not to release. Why should those in uniform quarrel with Jewish looters of land, when their political leaders belittle the report on the outposts that they themselves requested and whose findings they adopted?
Jews can't have it both ways – by Khalid Amayreh in occupied East Jerusalem
ha'Tanya, the fundamentalist book of the Habad (Chabad) movement, which is one of the most important branches of Hassidism, states that all non-Jews are totally Satanic creatures in whom there is absolutely nothing good. "Even a non-Jewish embryo is qualitatively different from a Jewish one. The very existence of non-Jews is inessential, whereas all of the creation was created solely for the sake of Jews." Of course, these are not irrelevant, anachronistic or even anecdotal texts that some Zionist apologists would claim. In fact, these books are manuals for action for hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers, including cabinet ministers and army generals who view non-Jews, e.g. Arabs, as lesser human beings or even animals in a human form. Zionism, especially religious-Zionism, can't have it both ways. They can't rail and rant and rave against anti-Semitism, real or imagined, while they themselves indulge in a far more virulent racism against non-Jews. This is a two-way street, and non-Jews are not children of a lesser God.
PFLP armed wing refuses to disarm
The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, PFLP, stated on Sunday that it rejects any calls for disarmament as long as the Israeli occupation is still present and that resistance will continue until liberation.
Al-Qassam Brigades launch barrage of missiles at Erez Crossing
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, have claimed responsibility on Sunday for launching 8 mortar shells at the Israeli military position at Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip.
Israel to allow DFLP head into West Bank for several days
Nayef Hawatma, secretary-general of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), is slated to participate in the deliberations of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) which aims at solidifying the government of Salaam Fayyad. Some media sources stated that Farouq Qaddoumi, head of the Political Department of the PLO, will also be allowed into the Palestinian territories to participate in the PLO deliberations.
PLC in Gaza outlaws the government of Fayyad
The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in Gaza, dominated by Hamas, convened on Sunday and decided that the procedures of president Mahmoud Abbas, which included dismissing the unity government, and establishing an emergency government, are illegal and that the government of Haniyya is the only legitimate government, while the government of Dr. Salaam Fayyad, in the West Bank is illegal.
Haniyya's government to pay salaries of employees who were excluded by Fayyad
Mohammad Al Madhoun, who was appointed by the government of Ismail Haniyya, in the Gaza Strip, as the head of the employees department, stated that the government is to pay the salaries of employees who did not receive their salaries from the government of Dr. Salaam Fayyad, including 6,000 members of the Hamas-formed executive force. Al Madhoun stated that all lists of employees are ready and that the salaries will be paid in the coming days. Palestinian sources reported that the government of Fayyad excluded nearly 19,000 employees who are members and supporters of Hamas.
Court halts construction of wall between 'Arab', Jewish towns
The Tel Aviv District Court issued a temporary injunction on Sunday prohibiting the residents of Moshav Nir Zvi from constructing a wall separating their agricultural lands from the Arab neighborhood of Pardes Snir in Lod. The injunction was issued until the petitions submitted by Arab residents could be heard, which is expected to take some time.
Darwish: Palestinian infighting is 'public attempt at suicide'
The world's best-known Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, delivered a stinging tirade Sunday against rival Palestinian factions in his first public appearance in Israel since he left the country more than 35 years ago. He noted bitterly that the warring two factions made the possibility of creating a Palestinian state one of the seven wonders of the world. He also directed barbs at Israel, blaming the Jewish state for not taking advantage of a historic chance to make peace.
Basic needs reaching Gaza but economy near collapse
While humanitarian aid flows into the Gaza Strip are meeting most of the basic needs of the Palestinians, industries are unable to export their goods. This has lead to mass layoffs and unemployment in the already impoverished enclave. About 80 percent of private sector businesses have closed, and the remaining establishments are operating at around 60 percent capacity. . . Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority recently paid salaries to tens of thousands of employees in the West Bank, after Israel released withheld tax funds. However, some employees say the recent payments were hardly felt. "We are using the money to pay off debts. For 18 months my family lived on borrowed funds."
The Israeli police state
On Friday, 8 June 2007, my husband Ian flew to Israel. He is in fact on his way to an IT conference in Vienna, but we thought that it would be nice for him to make a short three-day detour to Tel-Aviv to visit my brother and his family and in particular meet my seven and five year old nieces for the first time. At Ben-Gurion airport Ian's Australian passport was confiscated with no explanation. He was taken to a small interrogation room and had to endure an intimidating questioning about non-existent Saudi and Lebanese visas in his passport. He was interrogated by a tough-looking uniformed female police officer while a non-uniformed agent watched.
A primer on Israeli doublespeak – by Rannie Amiri
Language as an instrument of crime. It is indeed a great irony that George Orwell wrote 1984 in 1948, the same year Israel was created. For this nation, above all others, has proven itself most adept in the use and promulgation of doublespeak. Defined by Webster's Dictionary as "evasive, ambiguous, high-flown language intended to deceive or confuse," Israeli governments have always relied on it to justify the expansionist nature of their state, excuse the confiscation of land and minimize the extent to which its inhabitants have been mistreated or abused.
EI audio: Witness to killings of Palestinians by Lebanese army
This week Brown speaks with activist Caoimhe Butterly who is in Lebanon working with Palestinians who have been forced from their homes in Nahr al-Bared because of the fighting between the Lebanese Army and militants from Fatah al-Islam. Butterly speaks about an event she witnessed where two Palestinians were killed and 27 injured when the Lebanese Army opened fire on a non-violent protest organized by Nahr al-Bared residents wishing to return to their homes.
Book Review - Tasting the Sky: a Palestinian childhood by Ibtisam Barakat
A precocious child, Barakat became fascinated with other cultures, other languages, with the idea of someday escaping her captive existence. No letters await in the post office box that day, and Barakat is trying to make it home without worrying her strict mother and her put-upon father. She is delayed, however, when Israeli soldiers stop the bus at the Surda checkpoint, make every passenger get off, search some, question others, with no sign of what will happen next. As Barakat sits in detention, she imagines what she will tell her mother.
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