Israel has blamed its latest shocking restrictions of aid and fuel to Gaza on Hamas’s violation of a five-month ceasefire by launching rockets out of the Strip. But Israel had a hand in shattering the agreement: as the world was distracted by the US presidential elections, the army invaded Gaza, killing six Palestinians and provoking the rocket fire. The humanitarian catastrophe gripping Gaza is largely unrelated to the latest tit-for-tat strikes between Hamas and Israel. Nearly a year ago, Karen Koning AbuZayd, commissioner-general of the UN’s refugee agency, warned: “Gaza is on the threshold of becoming the first territory to be intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution.” Jonathan Cook comments. Read more about The real goal of Israel's Gaza blockade
The sun is sinking fast behind the trees of an olive grove on the outskirts of the West Bank village of Nilin. After a day of confrontations between the Israeli army and the Palestinian villagers over Israel’s building of its separation wall on Nilin’s land, the soldiers appear finally to have gone. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Israel tightens chokehold on village of entrepreneurs
Israel seems to have little time for the irony that a modern Jewish shrine to “coexistence and tolerance” is being built on the graves of the city’s Muslim forefathers. The Israeli Supreme Court’s approval last week of the building of a Jewish Museum of Tolerance over an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem is the latest in a series of legal and physical assaults on Islamic holy places since Israel’s founding in 1948. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Travesty of tolerance on display
In a conflict that has produced more than its share of suffering and tragedy, the name of Kafr Qassem lives on in infamy more than half a century after Israeli police gunned down 47 Palestinian civilians, including women and children, in the village. This week Kafr Qassem’s inhabitants, joined by a handful of Israeli Jewish sympathizers, commemorated the anniversary of the deaths 52 years ago. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Execution of 47 in Kafr Qassem commemorated
Salwa Salam Qupty clutches a fading sepia photograph of a young Palestinian man wearing a traditional white headscarf. It is the sole memento that survives of her father, killed by a Jewish militia during the 1948 war that established Israel. “He was killed 60 years ago as he was traveling to work,” she said, struggling to hold back the tears. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Denied visit to father's grave
Despite pronouncements from Israeli leaders that the recent Acre violence is damaging the city’s image as a model of coexistence, the reality is of a deeply divided city, where the wounds of the 1948 war have yet to heal. The Electronic Intifada contributor Jonathan Cook analyzes. Read more about Acre violence exposes Israel's double standards
No one is more surprised than Shlomo Sand that his latest academic work has spent 19 weeks on Israel’s bestseller list — and that success has come to the history professor despite his book challenging Israel’s biggest taboo. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Israel's surprising best seller contradicts founding ideology
The Israeli army officer in charge of the occupation of the West Bank, Gen Gadi Shamni, has lambasted extremist Jewish settlers, blaming rising levels of violence on the encouragement of their leadership and right-wing rabbis. It is rare for a senior commander to speak so critically of the settlers, many of whom themselves serve in senior positions in the army. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Israel's army and settlers fall out
The words “Jewish” and “terrorist” are not easily uttered together by Israelis. But just occasionally, such as last week when one of the country’s leading intellectuals was injured by a pipe bomb placed at the front door of his home, they find themselves with little choice. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Israel's breeding ground for Jewish terrorism
From just outside Jerusalem’s Old City walls, the simple stone and cinder-block homes of Silwan cascade southwards into a valley known as the Holy Basin. The Palestinian residents are used to living in the shadow of history and religion. But of late, history has become a curse for most of Silwan’s residents. Read more about Archaeology used politically to push out Jerusalem Palestinians
