The Electronic Intifada

Report: Israeli violence enjoys impunity

Mel Frykberg 8 August 2008



RAMALLAH, West Bank (IPS) - Only six percent of probes into offenses allegedly committed by Israeli soldiers and settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank yield indictments, a new report says. The report “Justice for All” released last week by the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din examined 205 cases of alleged assault by Israeli settlers that were reported over the years. Only in 13 cases were indictments filed, while 163 cases were closed. 

Israel's siege of collective punishment

Yaser Wishah 7 August 2008



Imagine if Chinese-Americans visiting relatives were prevented by the Chinese government from returning to America. Or if an American traveled to Iran and was then forbidden from reaching an airport to come home. This happened to me at the hands of Israel, supposedly America’s closest ally in the Middle East. I am a US citizen and small-business owner in Olathe, Kansas. I am also a Palestinian born in Gaza. I traveled to Gaza last December to care for my ill father. Israel trapped me there for four months. Yaser Wishah comments. 

Parliamentary caucus to mull refugee issue

6 August 2008



JERUSALEM (IRIN) - An Israeli parliamentary caucus has been formed to look at “solutions” to the Palestinian refugee problem, now in its 60th year. “The idea of the caucus is to look at the refugee problem from a humanitarian perspective, not to focus on why there are refugees, but to look at solutions,” a spokesman for member of parliament Amira Dotan, a co-chairperson of the group, told IRIN. 

Book review: "Thinking Palestine"

Raymond Deane 6 August 2008



Because its contributors — sociologists, historians, legal experts and cultural critics — work from within an activist perspective, the new volume Thinking Palestine should be read closely by serious pro-Palestinian activists wishing to sharpen their conceptual tools in the ceaseless battle against Zionist propaganda. Raymond Deane reviews for The Electronic Intifada. 

Truth and consequences under the Israeli occupation

Mohammed Omer 5 August 2008



I am a Palestinian journalist from Gaza. At the age of 17, I armed myself with a camera and a pen, committed to report accurately on events in Gaza. I have filed reports as Israeli fighter jets bombed Gaza City. I have been recognized for my reporting, even in the United States and United Kingdom, where I have won two international awards. I have also been beaten and tortured by Israeli soldiers. Mohammed Omer comments. 

Olmert's departure: The perfect alibi

Hasan Abu Nimah 6 August 2008



The conventional wisdom quickly developed among peace process industry analysts that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s departure would be a “setback” for ongoing negotiations with the Ramallah Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas, endangering the much-touted goal announced at last November’s Annapolis summit of reaching a final agreement by the end of this year. However, Hasan Abu Nimah comments, there is not a peace process to mourn. 

In Israel, married but without rights

5 August 2008



BEERSHEBA/JAFFA (IRIN) - Some 15,000 Palestinians who married Israeli citizens in the past decade are illegal or temporary residents. Their lives and those of their families have become “unstable,” according to non-governmental organizations. “Many families are being forced to live underground,” said Orna Cohen, an attorney from Adalah, an Israeli rights group fighting the ban on “family unifications” (mixed marriages involving Palestinians or some other Arabs) in Israel. 

Environmentalists concerned over Dead Sea canal plans

4 August 2008



HERZELIYA (IRIN) - Environmental groups have expressed concern about plans to build a canal between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea — transferring water from the former to save the latter. They say not enough research has been done and alternative options have not been checked. “We are concerned about what will happen to the Dead Sea when this amount of marine water is pumped into it,” said Gidon Bromberg of Friends of the Earth Middle East, at a 30 July public hearing organized by the World Bank in Herziliya, which followed two others in Ramallah and Amman.