3 April 2008
Recently the French engineering and consulting company Egis Rail joined European companies Veolia Transport and Alstom in their tramway project being built on Palestinian land in Jerusalem. Alstom won the construction bid in 2000 and two years later Veolia Transport obtained the operating rights. Adri Nieuwhof reports. Read more about Pressure mounts on companies involved with illegal tramway
1 April 2008
CAIRO, 1 April (IPS) - The 20th Arab League summit, convened earlier this week in the Syrian capital Damascus, drew relatively few heads of state, with both Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz choosing to stay at home. According to local commentators, the low level of diplomatic representation served to show up Syria’s isolation within the otherwise US-dominated Arab fold. Read more about Another Arab tea party ends
30 March 2008
You uttered one word [“Tibet”] in a concert in Shanghai that sent ripples across many disapproving seas. This time, say it louder, and support another just cause: that of the Palestinian people. Do not sing in Israel, so that your silence will prove to be more deafening. The concert you plan to give in July in Israel will coincide with the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of this state over the ruins of another country, Palestine. Read more about Bjork, cancel your Tel Aviv concert!
29 March 2008
Forty New Yorkers commemorated the Palestinian national holiday Land Day today with the eighth protest at the Madison Avenue jewelry store of Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev. The protest included songs, theater and testimonials from villages threatened by Leviev’s settlements. Land Day marks Palestinians’ ties to their land, in defiance of Israeli efforts to displace them. Read more about New Yorkers protest Leviev's Israeli settlements on Land Day
Nablus, West Bank 1 April 2008
Fedaa recounted that three days ago her husband woke her at 1:15 am and told her, “ ‘There’s Jewish in our area and I am afraid about Lara alone in her room. Go to her room.’ I said, ‘Nomair, I want to sleep.’ He come back angry and said, ‘Fedaa, wake up.’ Suddenly they shoot at us. I get out and go quickly to Lara’s room. They shoot us again in Lara’s room. Nomair started shouting at them, ‘Go! What do you want? Why do you shoot us? There is a baby here.’” Alice Rothchild writes from Nablus. Read more about Returning to Nablus: Collateral damage
30 March 2008
Israeli society is in the grip of a wave of unchecked racism and incitement that seriously threatens Israel’s Palestinian community and the long-term prospects for regional peace. This Palestine Center briefing by Ali Abunimah examines societal and institutional racism and incitement by public figures against Israel’s Arab population and considers some policy implications. Read more about Anti-Arab racism and incitement in Israel
31 March 2008
For months, even before most Americans had heard of Senator Barack Obama’s pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, prominent pro-Israel activists were hounding Obama over Wright’s views on Israel and ties to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. In January, Abraham Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, demanded that Obama denounce Farrakhan as an anti-Semite. The senator duly did so, but that was not enough. EI co-founder Ali Abunimah comments. Read more about The senator, his pastor and the Israel lobby
31 March 2008
How can you celebrate? The establishment of the state of Israel 60 years ago was a settler- colonial project that systematically and violently uprooted more than 750,000 Palestinian Arabs from their lands and homes. Sixty years ago, Zionist militias and gangs ransacked Palestinian properties and destroyed hundreds of Palestinian villages. How can people of conscience celebrate this catastrophe? Read more about Palestinian orgs: Israel's anniversary nothing to celebrate
30 March 2008
This week on Crossing the Line: According to much of the international media, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai was apparently “misunderstood” when he said that Gaza faced a “shoah,” the Hebrew word for “holocaust.” But was his comment really misunderstood? Host Naji Ali speaks with Nazareth-based journalist Jonathan Cook about Vilnai’s remarks and the Israeli government’s longer-term strategy for Palestinians in the occupied territories. Read more about Crossing the Line interviews journalist Jonathan Cook
28 March 2008
BEIRUT, 28 March 2008 (IRIN) - A boycott by Lebanon and major Arab powers of the Arab summit in Damascus (29-30 March) has dashed hopes for a last-ditch settlement of the Lebanese presidential crisis, raising fears of a descent into violence after it passes. Political turmoil in Lebanon has often been the precursor to regional conflict and serious humanitarian problems in the past. Read more about Arab summit boycott of Syria threatens regional conflict