July 2005

Building to resist

Maureen Clare Murphy 30 July 2005


Salim Shawamreh describes July 9, 1998, as “the blackest day of my life. … I was sitting with my family and eating lunch when my house was surrounded by Israeli soldiers. I was given fifteen minutes to take my possessions and family out of the house… They left us with nothing.” That was the first time Shawamreh’s house in Anata, a village near Jerusalem, was destroyed by Israeli bulldozers. It would happen three more times. He tells the story while sitting in the fifth incarnation of the house, which currently doubles as a peace and activism center. The walls are hung with pictures of Shawamreh being beaten and his family in tears as a reminder of the history of the building. 

Palestinians protest Gaza smokescreen

Laila El-Haddad 28 July 2005


Palestinians have burned rubber tyres along the trail of the Israeli separation barrier in the West Bank in a symbolic protest against its ongoing construction under the smokescreen of the Gaza pullout. Black smoke seen rising along the wall’s path from the areas of Marda to Qalandia in the Central West Bank on Thursday was an “SOS to the world” to take action to stop Israel’s annexation of their land and “imprisonment of the Palestinian people”, according to Ayed Morrar, coordinator of the Popular Committee to Resist the Wall in Ram Allah. 

Lebanon / Syria: Border Lock Down....

Stefan Christoff 27 July 2005


Thousands of transport trucks line the winding highways of Akkar, an impoverished region in northern Lebanon which borders Syria. Currently all land border crossings into Syria are shutdown to economic traffic, dealing a serious blow to Lebanon’s already unstable economy. The Syrian government has publicly justified this border lockdown in the name of regional “security”, as Syria is under intense international political pressure mainly from the U.S. to introduce tighter border controls. In Lebanon, the newly formed government and various unions representing impacted sectors, have painted the border crisis as an attempt to hit the country economically after the forced withdrawal of upwards of 15 000 Syrian soldiers from Lebanon in April 2005 and the recent election results. 

After Seven Years, Arab Bedouin Family Allowed to Build Home on their Own Land in the Galilee

25 July 2005


After seven years of legal and bureaucratic struggle, on 30 June 2005, the Northern District Appellate Committee decided to accept Adalah’s appeal on behalf of Adel and Itaaf Sawaed and to grant a permit to the couple to build a family home on their privately-owned land in the Jewish community town of Kamoun, in the north of Israel. The NDAC acceptance of the appeal is subject to the fulfillment of a number of conditions, toward which the Sawaed family is currently working. Adel and Itaaf Sawaed, both of whom are Palestinian Bedouin citizens of Israel, are currently living with their children in a temporary home constructed on their land in Kamoun. 

Film review: "Private"

Arjan El Fassed 26 July 2005


Winner of a Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival (Best Film) and Bronze Leopord (for Mohammad Bakri’s performance), “Private” is a thought provoking, psychological drama, based on real events. Mohammad, played by famous Palestinian actor Mohammad Bakri is a Palestinian teacher and active pacifist. He lives with his family in a home located in an area between a Palestinian village and Israeli settlements. His wife Samia (Areen Omari) feels unsafe in these surroundings and would like to move, but Mohammad’s pride does not allow him and his middle class family to be labeled with the status of refugee. He decides to stay. 

Palestinian Children: Surviving the Present, Facing the Future

26 July 2005


Defence for Children International recently published an analysis of human rights violations against Palestinian children during 2004. The report includes case studies, DCI field documentation and analysis of developments regarding the impact of the Wall on Palestinian children’s lives. In the year under review, Palestinian children’s rights were systematically violated on a daily basis by Israeli occupation forces. Often these abuses were perpetrated directly against individual children who were killed, injured, arrested or humiliated by military personnel. But just as frequently, these rights violations stemmed indirectly from general attacks or collective punishments imposed upon the wider Palestinian population. 

Knesset to decide on Wednesday whether to block Palestinian compensation suits

25 July 2005


The Knesset’s Law, Constitution and Justice Committee voted today (Monday) to approve the amendment to the Civil Wrongs Law. The amendment is intended to almost completely exempt Israel from paying compensation to Palestinians injured by the security forces. On Wednesday, the Knesset plenary will vote on it for the second and third readings, necessary to enact it into law. The amendment applies to ” residents of a conflict area” and “subjects of enemy states.” The Government has clearly stated its intention to apply the new law to Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. If the Knesset passes the new amendment, it will almost completely block the ability of Palestinians to file for compensation. 

Israeli High Court denies Palestinian detainee access to lawyer

25 July 2005


The Israeli High Court of Justice today, 25 July 2005, dismissed a petition submitted by PCHR on behalf of Mohammad Said Shaqqura, 32, from Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). The petition sought to ensure that Shaqqura was given access to a lawyer during his interrogation in an Israeli prison. Mohammad Shaqqura is married with four children and has been held by the Israeli Security Services since 10 July 2005. Shaqqura was arrested at Rafah International Crossing Point on the Egyptian border and subsequently transferred to Ashkelon Prison. Since this time he has been held by the Interrogation Section of the Israeli Security Services and a PCHR lawyer has been continually denied access to visit Shaqqura. 

Nablus resists

25 July 2005


In the high point of a week of planned non-violent direct actions against the occupation, residents of Nablus converged on Huwara checkpoint to protest the continuing closure of the region. Prisoners’ families, accompanied by more than thirty international activists, were flanked by Palestinian medics and ambulances as they approached the checkpoint. The two aims of the action were to raise the profile of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli gaols and to protest the ongoing closure of the Nablus area. There are currently 8000 Palestinians, many of whom are women and children, illegitimately imprisoned by Israel. Currently 1400 of the prisoners are from Nablus. 

Fourth Palestine Human Development Report released

25 July 2005


Published by the Development Studies Programme at Birzeit University, the fourth Palestine human development report focuses on the empowerment of Palestinians as the basis for strengthening Palestinian society building. The 2004 Palestine Human Development Report is an attempt to assess the various aspects of the Palestinian condition as a first step toward an integrated approach to the development of Palestinian individuals and society and to strengthen the social fabric needed to support national liberation and development activities. Each section of the report addresses these aspects from two perspectives — the general Palestinian condition, hopes and challenges, and major influencing independence and development. 

Kidnapped US citizen released in Rafah

24 July 2005


Unidentified men today kidnapped a US citizen from an apartment inside a residential block in the centre of Rafah. Under threat of arms the suspect kidnapped Harry Borrey, 75 years old. He was ordered to get into a civilian car stopped near the building. Three other masked and armed individuals were inside the car. He was then taken to an unknown location. The reason for the kidnapping has not been made clear by the perpetrators. The unidentified kidnappers released their hostage after a short period. He was left in a school in Rafah, unharmed. The kidnappers have escaped. This is the second kidnapping in a couple of weeks. PCHR demands that the Palestinian Authority take effective measures, within the limits of the law, to immediately end this practice and to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice. 

US may sell up to $600 million to Israeli Air Force, after Israel-US agreement on China

Arjan El Fassed 23 July 2005


This week, the United States said it may sell up to $600 million in equipment and services to Israel for maintenance of the engines on the Israeli Air Force’s F-15 and F-16 figher planes. The sale would cover support for Pratt and Whitney F-100 engines, spare and repair parts, testing, training, and other services for 10 years, the U.S. Defense Department said in a notice to the American Congress. Athough the US government has reportedly postponed working with Israel to develop a Joint Strike Fighter airplane because of concern about Israel’s sales to China, the US has provided Israel with funds to develop new weapons. According to US law, government authorized transfers or sales of controlled defence articles can be used only for internal security or defensive purposes. 

Helping Forward move forward

Zachary Wales 23 July 2005


On July 22, E. J. Kessler, deputy managing editor of the oldest and most revered American Jewish weekly, Forward, reported that “a far-left pro-Palestinian group” sought to pass a divestment resolution at the AFL-CIO quadrennial convention, which takes place in Chicago next week. As a co-founder of this “far-left group,” Labor for Palestine — which is not a “group” but a campaign as its Web site’s watermark indicates on every page — I find it worth noting some errors and points of conjecture that my colleague’s article contains. LFP represents one of many organized movements that are dissatisfied with the AFL-CIO’s well-documented complicity with US foreign policy. 

Rice in talks with Palestinian leaders

Khalid Amayreh 23 July 2005


In talks scheduled with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas will seek to obtain assurances that Israel will stick to the peace plan. Rice met Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, together with several Palestinian cabinet ministers on Saturday, at the start of a day-long series of talks. Later she was to meet President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Yousef, who is responsible for the Palestinian security forces, amid signs the Palestinians were buckling under heavy Israeli and US pressure to clamp down on resistance groups such as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. 

Photostory: The face of occupation

Tom Kay 22 July 2005


When I got home from Bili’in, I dumped some pictures onto the computer. Going through them, I was surprised to find just how many showed the same man. I remembered him, but had not been aware that I was singling him out for portraits. Of course there were times when the demonstrators were shouting and angry, particularly when the Israeli occupation forces were manhandling people. But until the truncheons were wielded, there was no violence in the olive groves. When this soldier was in sight, my lens, as if it was independently motorised, must have swivelled towards him. If things were quiet, he would quickly ensure that they did not remain so. One could virtually taste his hate, aggression and viciousness. 

Another day of protest against the Wall

Marcy Newman Salfit, Palestine 22 July 2005


Time is so short and my experiences are so intense I fear that I cannot fully convey the gravity of daily life and what I am witnessing here. It especially worries me that the world’s eyes are myopically focused on the pullout in Ghaza, the anti-disengagement protesters, most of whom are illegal Israeli settlers from the West Bank. Yesterday I took part in a non-violent demonstration in three villages of the Salfit area outside of Nablus. Salfit villages have been experiencing increased violence by the IDF throughout the region. Demonstrations in Marda and Immatin have been met with army incursions, tear gas, and rubber bullets. In Salfit, a 16-year-old boy was killed for throwing stones at a jeep. 

Israeli-Palestinian relations bedevilled by lack of framework – UN envoy (3/3)

21 July 2005


While it is essential for both Israel and the Palestinians not to lose sight of the immediate goal – Israel’s disengagement from Gaza – relations between the two sides are being marred because no agreed framework exists for that pull-out, or for what will happen next, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Alvaro de Soto told the Security Council today. “The unease, suspicion and cynicism that bedevil Israeli-Palestinian relations can be attributed in large part to the fact that the disengagement is not taking place within an unequivocally agreed framework for the next steps toward the overall solution to which both sides claim adherence, i.e., two states living alongside each other in peace,” he said in the monthly briefing – his first – on the situation. 

Israeli-Palestinian relations bedevilled by lack of framework – UN envoy (2/3)

21 July 2005


While it is essential for both Israel and the Palestinians not to lose sight of the immediate goal – Israel’s disengagement from Gaza – relations between the two sides are being marred because no agreed framework exists for that pull-out, or for what will happen next, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Alvaro de Soto told the Security Council today. “The unease, suspicion and cynicism that bedevil Israeli-Palestinian relations can be attributed in large part to the fact that the disengagement is not taking place within an unequivocally agreed framework for the next steps toward the overall solution to which both sides claim adherence, i.e., two states living alongside each other in peace,” he said in the monthly briefing – his first – on the situation. 

Israeli-Palestinian relations bedevilled by lack of framework – UN envoy (1/3)

21 July 2005


While it is essential for both Israel and the Palestinians not to lose sight of the immediate goal – Israel’s disengagement from Gaza – relations between the two sides are being marred because no agreed framework exists for that pull-out, or for what will happen next, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Alvaro de Soto told the Security Council today. “The unease, suspicion and cynicism that bedevil Israeli-Palestinian relations can be attributed in large part to the fact that the disengagement is not taking place within an unequivocally agreed framework for the next steps toward the overall solution to which both sides claim adherence, i.e., two states living alongside each other in peace,” he said in the monthly briefing – his first – on the situation. 

Film review: "The Syrian Bride" makes for a difficult marriage

Jonathan Cook 21 July 2005


“Maybe I should learn to be less sensitive but when director Eran Riklis arrived in Nazareth last month for the screening of his much-garlanded film ‘The Syrian Bride’, he got off on the wrong footing the moment he walked through the door,” writes EI contributor Jonathan Cook. The film, produced with Israeli, Palestinian and Syrian actors is set in a tiny Druze community in the Golan Heights, part of Syria occupied by Israel since 1967. The only contact the Israeli and Syrian authorities allow is the occasional passage of brides across the ceasefire line. While the film tries to break boundaries, Cook says, it also reveals others that the director failed to see. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

20 July 2005


This week Israeli forces killed 14 Palestinians, including two children. Eight Palestinians were killed in extra-judicial executions. Israeli forces invaded various Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli forces raided homes and arrested 78 Palestinian civilians. Israeli forces used two Palestinian civilians as human shields during these raids. Israeli forces turned 21 homes into military sites. Israel continues to impose a total siege on the occupied Palestinian territories. Israeli forces divided the Gaza Strip in three separate zones. Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian child near a checkpoint in the Gaza Strip. 

Gaza clashes continue

20 July 2005


Unknown armed individuals fired at houses and offices of prominent Fatah Leaders and members of the Security Forces. According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, members of the Preventive Security opened fire on a vehicle driven by a member of the Eiz al Din al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. The driver remains unidentified at this stage. Later, unknown militants opened fire on several homes and offices belonging to PA officials, Fatah leaders and commanders of the security forces. Militants carried out their attacks using civilian cars and fired from rooftops of nearby homes. Security forces returned fire and clashes were witnessed in various areas of Gaza City. 

Teenager killed at Israeli checkpoint

Laila El-Haddad 21 July 2005


A Palestinian teenager has been shot dead while trying to pass an Israeli occupation forces checkpoint in the Gaza Strip. The shooting on Monday occurred as Israel continued its closure on the Gaza Strip for the fifth day in a row, dividing the strip into three areas and shooting at commuters who try to cross. The Matahen and Abo Holi checkpoints, just north of the town of Khan Yunus, have been closed since Thursday, a day after a Qassam rocket killed an Israeli woman in the Negev town of Sderot, according to Palestinian police officials. The two checkpoints divide southern Gaza from the central and northern parts of the strip. 

Gaza clashes renew

19 July 2005


A number of people were injured, three institutions were burned in both Gaza City and Jabalya in the aftermath of the tension between Hamas and the Palestinian Security Forces. Dozens of militants marched through Jabalya refugee camp, through Tel al Zatar and in the area near the hospital. Hamas militants shot at vehicles belonging to the Preventive Security Force and clashes erupted between both sides. These clashes constitute a continuation of recent clashes which left three children dead and at least 50 people injured. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights strongly condemns these clashes and calls for a complete cessation of violence between both sides. 

Two new Israeli documentaries explore the moral failure of Zionism

Maureen Clare Murphy 19 July 2005


Two new Israeli films that premiered at this month’s Jerusalem Film Festival explore the moral failure that is inherent in Zionism. In the biographical documentary The Diaries of Yossef Nachmany, the Zionist leader largely responsible for the Judaization of the Galilee in the years leading up to the State of Israel is portrayed as conflicted by the ultimate consequence of Zionism — the expulsion and suffering of the indigenous Palestinian population. And in the important documentary Dear Father, Quiet, We’re Shooting … , we see that the Zionist enterprise is spiralling so far out of control that Israeli citizens are being made to collectively pay for the ideology of the extreme minority. 

A truce or a fig leaf?

Hasan Abu Nimah 20 July 2005


The world has suddenly noticed the renewed violence between Israelis and Palestinians, but not because Israel stepped-up extrajudicial executions and other attacks on Palestinians in recent weeks. Only when several Palestinian resistance groups responded did the matter rise to the top of the international agenda. Surprisingly there is little or no talk that the truce must be over with fighting erupting at this scale. Rather, we are in a very strange situation in which a truce and its opposite — open fighting — are said to exist at exactly the same time. EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah explains this strange phenomenon. 

When Will it End?

Laila El-Haddad Gaza City, Palestine 18 July 2005


I spent much of the day talking to Palestinians trying to cross the Netzarim checkpoint today. It is a 6m deep trench dug deep into Gaza’s coastal road, which has in recent days been ripped apart by nocturnal armoured bulldozers that come out from behind the lone sniper in he distance, and dissappear before dawn when their work is done. The checkpoint, along with one further south at Abo Holi, has divided Gaza into three isolated segments for over five days now: Rafah and Khan Yunis in the south; dair al-Balah, Maghazi, and Nseirat refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip; and Gaza city, Beit Hanun, and Jabaliya in the north. 

Israeli-Palestinian truce put to test

Laila El-Haddad 17 July 2005


After a bloody day that saw 10 Palestinians killed, the fragile five-month Israeli-Palestinian truce seems to be in danger of unraveling. But analysts on both sides say this is simply a game of chicken weeks before Israel’s planned Gaza disengagement. Analysts say the violence is only intended to test the limits of the fragile truce. Sharon does not want to be seen as evacuating under fire, and Palestinian factions want the disengagement to appear as a victory. In the end, analysts say, it is in neither side’s interest to officially abandon the ceasefire before disengagement. Both sides are pushing it to the very edge. Israel’s mass of forces will not lightly decide to go in.” 

Israeli government proposes blocking Palestinian compensation suits

18 July 2005


Today, Palestinians are not able to sue the state for damages caused by combatant activity, broadly defined as, “…any action of combating terror, hostile actions, or insurrection, and action intended to prevent terror and hostile acts and insurrection committed in circumstances of danger to life or limb.” If the Knesset passes the new amendment to the Civil Wrongs Law, intended to excempt Israel from paying compensation to Palestinians injured by the security forces, it will almost completely block the ability of Palestinians to file for compensation, even for damage caused by illegal shooting, looting, negligence on training grounds, abuse and degrading treatment at checkpoints, or physical violence. 

Israeli army hides M16 in Palestinian ambulance

16 July 2005


A PRCS ambulance was stopped at Howwara checkpoint on route to Nablus. One of the soldiers opened the rear door of the vehicle aand ordered the team to step out. The soldiers asked if the car contained any weapons and the ambulance crew responded “no”. The soldiers then started searching the ambulance. The soldiers ordered the team to lift the seat opposite the patient’s bed, the team obeyed and were surprised to find an Israeli army M16 weapon in the seat. The soldiers immediately stepped back and pointed their weapons at the medical team. The soldiers questioned the crew about the source of the weapon. The soldiers then laughed and mocked the team as the soldiers removed the weapon. 

Israel launches air strikes in Gaza City

16 July 2005


The Israeli occupying forces increased their offensive as ten air strikes left four Palestinians dead and five others injured. Israeli forces also severely impeded Gazans’ movement by effectively dividing the Gaza Strip into three parts. On July 16, Israeli attack helicopters fired missiles at metal workshops, a medical center and an Islamic association in Gaza City, Khan Yunis, Al-Shati’, Deir al-Balah. Al Mezan emphasizes that the excessive use of force, killing of Palestinian civilians, extra judicial assassinations of Palestinians, tightening of control and infringements on peoples’ freedom of movement constitute grave breaches of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention. 

Israel threatens to invade Gaza, assassinates Hamas activist

16 July 2005


Israeli military extra-judicially executes a member of Hamas while standing near his home, this is the fifth death resulting from Israel’s policy of extra-judicial executions in the recent days. At 9.00 on Sunday, an Israeli sniper, positioned inside the military site located on the eastern edge of the settlement of Gani Tal, north-west of Khan Yunis, fired one bullet at Sa’id Aissa Siam, a Hamas member, 32 years old from al Amal neighbourhood in Khan Yunis. At the time of the shooting he was standing close to the door of his house, 150 metres away from the Israeli watchtower. The bullet hit him in the neck and exited from the other side, hitting the wall and shrapnel wounded his 60 year old father. 

With Middle East violence rising, Annan calls for efforts to negotiate settlement

16 July 2005


Voicing alarm at the renewed violence between Israel and the Palestinians in recent weeks, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on both sides to work for a negotiated settlement. In a statement released by his spokesman, the Secretary-General said the recent suicide bombing in Netanya and rockets fired from Gaza killing innocent Israeli civilians “are shocking and condemnable.” He also welcomed efforts by the Palestinian Authority security forces to prevent them. Mr. Annan noted that Israel “has resumed forceful action in the face of the serious deterioration that has shattered the lull in violence of the past few months.” 

How do you like your blue-eyed boy: The Rally in Bil'in

Zachary Wales Birzeit 17 July 2005


The demonstration in Bil’in against Israel’s illegal Annexation Wall has developed an almost ritualistic pattern that’s very typical of peaceful protests in Occupied Palestine, where Israeli soldiers tolerate passive resistance for so long before they fire tear gas or rubber-coated bullets — which break the skin and often kill — into the crowd. Doing this invokes stone throwing from local youths, who weather a day-to-day narrative of harassment, beatings and arrests, quite apart from what the internationals experience. If one believes in the adage that “the powerless don’t choose violence, violence chooses them,” then it could be applied here. 

International Campaign to Free Tali Fahima

16 July 2005


On Sunday, July 17, Tali Fahima’s trial sessions will be continued. On this occasion, we are calling on all solidarity movements around the world to join us and let the people of the world and the State of Israel know that the persecution and unjust incarceration of the woman who represents hope for a future of friendship and commonality between Palestinians and Israelis will not pass unnoted. Tali Fahima, a Jewish Israeli woman, has been harassed by the Israeli General Security Services for over a year for defying the apartheid logic set by the occupation forces and showing public solidarity with the people of the Jenin refugee camp in their daily efforts to stay alive and resist their oppressors. 

Israel escalates attack on Palestinian towns

16 July 2005


Since Wednesday, Palestinians have witnessed a severe escalation in violations committed by Israeli occupying forces. Israeli forces have resumed their use of helicopter gunships to attack civilian and residential areas and continued with their state-sanctioned policy of committing extra-judicial executions. To date this escalation in attacks has resulted in the killing of four Palestinians, in the West Bank, while the fate of a 5th is still unknown. Further to this, across the Gaza Strip, attacks by the IOF have resulted in extensive damage to civilian property. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls on the international community to immediately intervene to “ensure respect” for international humanitarian law. 

Hamas: "We are committed to ceasefire"

Khalid Amayreh 16 July 2005


The Palestinian Islamic Resistance group, Hamas, says it remains committed to observing the ceasefire, despite the assassination by Israel of at least eight of its resistance cadres. Israeli warplanes on Friday carried out two pinpoint missile attacks on two Palestinian vehicles in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, killing at least eight Hamas resistance activists. “We are still committed to the ceasefire. We are not interested in any escalation. However, if Israel continues these acts of extrajudicial executions of our people, then we will most certainly defend ourselves,” said Hasan Yousuf, Hamas’s spokesman in the West Bank. 

Palestinian civilians die in Gaza clashes

15 July 2005


Armed clashes resumed this morning between members of Hamas and Palestinian Security Forces and a state of tension prevails throughout Gaza. Events started at 0700 yesterday, Thursday the 14 th of July, after a group of al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas , launched missiles from the northern Gaza Strip into Israel. After launching the missiles they retreated but came into contact with Palestinian police and clashes broke out - leaving five Hamas members injured. All of the injured were transferred to Kamal Odwan hospital in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip. Two of them were seriously injured and transferred to Shifa hospital in Gaza City . 

UN envoy condemns latest violence in West Bank and Gaza

15 July 2005


Urging all sides to concentrate on restoring the quiet that has prevailed in recent months, the top United Nations Middle East envoy condemned both today’s targeted killings of Palestinian militants in Gaza, and yesterday’s rocket attack on the southern Israeli town of Nativ Ha’asara that killed one Israeli woman and wounded several others. “Without prejudice to Israel’s right to legitimate and proportional self-defence, UNSCO [the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process], reiterates the United Nations’ consistent and vocal opposition to extra-judicial killings,” said one of two statements released today by envoy Alvaro de Soto’s office in Jerusalem. 

Why kill Nino?

Nablus 15 July 2005


14th July 2005 — There was a bombing in central London last week. We’ve just been to the third funeral since then. Two of the dead were children; all were victims of a campaign to kill and to destroy a society and way of life. We’re not in London, we’re in Nablus, Palestine. The Israeli army came into Palestinian streets and opened fire, killing the last three as they’ve killed thousands before. A little over a year ago Mohammed Alassi, 26, also known as Nino, escaped the wreckage of the car that was bombed, killing the Balata Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade leader Kalil Marshood. Nino was killed late last Wednesday night. 

Church of England urged to follow ACC divestment recommendation on Caterpillar

8 July 2005


The Church of England should follow the recommendation of the Anglican Consultative Council and vote to divest from companies supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine during its General Synod this weekend, campaigners will say at a fringe meeting at York University on Friday (8 July). The Church of England’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group has been examining whether the £2 million of shares currently held in Caterpillar are consistent with the Church’s ethical investment policy, which prohibits investment in arms companies or companies making ‘weapons platforms’ such as naval vessels or tanks. 

Lawyers challenge EU and UK over inaction on Palestine

19 July 2005


One year after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that Israel’s Separation Wall is illegal, the EU and UK have failed to take the action required of them under the Geneva Conventions to ensure Israeli compliance with international humanitarian law. Lawyers acting for campaigns group War on Want will today (Monday 18 July) send letters to President Jose Manuel Barroso of the European Commission and UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw challenging them to provide evidence of any action they have taken to curtail human rights abuses against Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation. 

Book review: "The One-State Solution"

Iqbal Jassat 16 July 2005


As Israel’s apartheid wall colonizes 30-40 percent more of the 22 percent of Palestine that remains, an increasing number of analysts, activists, and academics have begun to challenge the two-state solution designed to bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With Palestinians eventually ending up with only 12-15 percent of their land, made up of disjointed ghettoes over which they will have no sovereignty- a single, secular polity that would encompass both Israel and the Occupied Territories is looking increasingly attractive. The One-State Solution written by Virginia Tilley, associate professor of Political Science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, lucidly demonstrates why the two-state model “is an idea whose time has passed”. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

14 July 2005


This week Israeli forces killed two children and a fifth Palestinian was pronounced clinically dead. Israeli armed forces conducted 27 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, including complete military control in Tulkarm. Israeli forces raided homes and arrested 30 Palestinians, including three children. Israeli forces turned six homes into military sites. Israel continues to impose a total siege on the occupied Palestinian terrritories. A number of roads and border crossings in the Gaza Strip remain closed. Israeli forces arrested a number of Palestinians at various checkpoints in the West Bank. In some areas, Israeli forces imposed curfews. 

UN Meeting on Middle East Peace concludes with Adoption of Action Plan (2/2)

13 July 2005


Civil society organizations committed to ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories and to achieving the Palestinians’ still unrealized rights, including the right of self-determination, today identified the coming year to inaugurate a global campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions to pressure Israel to end the occupation and comply with international law and all relevant United Nations resolutions, as the United Nations International Conference in Support of Middle East Peace concluded this evening in Paris. Through the adoption by acclamation of an Action Plan, civil society participants committed themselves to internationalism and the belief that the United Nations remained central to ending the occupation. 

UN Meeting on Middle East Peace concludes with Adoption of Action Plan (1/2)

13 July 2005


Civil society organizations committed to ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories and to achieving the Palestinians’ still unrealized rights, including the right of self-determination, today identified the coming year to inaugurate a global campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions to pressure Israel to end the occupation and comply with international law and all relevant United Nations resolutions, as the United Nations International Conference in Support of Middle East Peace concluded this evening in Paris. Through the adoption by acclamation of an Action Plan, civil society participants committed themselves to internationalism and the belief that the United Nations remained central to ending the occupation. 

All Palestinians have a right to Palestine

14 July 2005


“Abu Mazen declared that there was nothing to prevent the Arab countries from taking a sovereign decision to offer citizenship to refugees to anyone who wants. This of course, is with the guarantee that such a measure would in no way impinge on the legal right of refugees to return, to restitution and to compensation.” Palestine Report Online interviews the director general of the PLO Refugees Affairs Departmet, Saji Salameh, on President Mahmoud Abbas’ recent comments on granting Arab citizenship to Palestinian refugees. “There are those who have American, Canadian and British passports, but this does not impinge on their legal rights, which are guaranteed by international law.” 

"What kind of army does this?"

Zachary Wales Birzeit 14 July 2005


On Wednesday night, the relative tranquillity of Birzeit came to an end when two unmarked armoured jeeps rolled lazily into the town center. Three Israeli commandos emerged from one of the vehicles and entered a corner store. “What are you people doing in Birzeit?” the shopkeeper asked. “We’ve come to fight for Israel,” a soldier responded. Although Birzeit is a peaceful village of approximately 5,000 farmers, storekeepers and university students in the hills north of Ramallah, the arrival of the Israeli convoy wasn’t a complete surprise. 

From Montreal to Ein el-Hilweh: Deportation, Destitution & Dignity

Stefan Christoff 13 July 2005


In November 2003 Ahmed Abdel Majeed, a stateless Palestinian born and raised in Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon, was deported from Canada. The distance between Montreal and Lebanon stretches thousands of kilometers over oceans and continents, but is only a short distance in Ahmed’s eyes and living memory of an existence shaped by the daily struggle of statelessness. Today Ahmed resides in Ein el-Hilweh, with an estimated 80 000 other stateless Palestinians in the country’s largest refugee camp located on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese city of Saida. 

Kofi Annan speaks with civil society representatives in support of Middle East peace

12 July 2005


“We count on you to remain committed until the Palestinian people realize their aspirations for an independent state, and until Israel and all States in the region can live side by side in a peaceful and prosperous Middle East”, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan told civil society representatives today at the opening of the United Nations International Conference of Civil Society in Support of Middle East Peace. Speaking on Annan’s behalf, Sergei Ordzhonikidze told the meeting that despite some progress on the ground, however, the world community remained concerned about the continuing expansion of settlements, construction of the barrier in the West Bank, and acts of violence, the Secretary-General said. 

Second child from Balata refugee camp dies

12 July 2005


On Monday Balata residents endured their second child martyr’s funeral in five days. Fourteen year old Noor Faris Njem was shot in the head late last Wednesday evening when the Israeli army came to Balata Refugee Camp and, without warning, opened fire on unarmed civilians. Noor (meaning light) was peering round a wall to see if the jeep was still there when a soldier shot him in the top of his head. After the best efforts of medics, he died on Sunday afternoon, the second child to die from injuries inflicted by the Israeli army that night. In retaliation for Noor’s shooting, two sixteen year old fighters lay in wait to fire at the army when they entered the camp. Khalid Mohammed Msyme was shot dead and the other boy is critically injured. 

One year after ICJ ruling, Israel OKs Wall in Jerusalem

Arjan El Fassed 10 July 2005


One year after the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in which it made clear that the construction of the Wall and the settlements were illegal, the Israeli cabinet called for “the immediate completion of the security fence [sic] in the Jerusalem area”. With this decision, Israel, once again, defies international law and the advisory of opinion of the ICJ, backed by the General Assembly of the United Nations, which ruled that Israel should not only immediately stop with its construction, but also begin dismantling them and to pay reparations to those who had lost their property as the result of the Wall’s construction. 

One year on: We are No Longer Able to see the Sun Set

Andrew N. Rubin 9 July 2005


Last year the International Court of Justice issued its opinion on the Wall Israel is constructing in the West Bank. The opinion, argues Andrew Rubin, should open up other arenas of resistance. Whatever the wall signifies for the precarious political and existential future of Palestinians, one thing is certain: it is part of Israel’s wilful repudiation of Palestinian existence. It is an attempt to make Palestinians physically invisible from the experience of Israeli daily life. New political and legal strategies of resistance may take the forms of various instruments of financial, political and diplomatic pressure, including boycotts, embargoes, human rights taxes, sanctions, and other restrictions on the flow of Israeli capital. 

One year on: Protest against the Wall in Bil'in

Marcy Newman Bilin, Palestine 9 July 2005


Yesterday I woke up early and headed for a small village in the West Bank, outside of Ramallah, called Bil’in. I arrived earlier than I had expected so I wandered around trying to see where the new portion of the Apartheid Wall will be built to encircle this town and imprison its inhabitants. The people in the community created an enormous justice scale with a coffin beneath stating “Rest in Peace.” When we arrived at the bottom of this hill we were met by the Israeli army who were in full riot gear in a line in front of us. They had their weapons pointed at us and there were also quite a few filming us and photographing us. This protest in Bil’in is a weekly occurrence. 

French journalist turned back while trying to enter West Bank

8 July 2005


Reporters Without Borders has condemned the action of the Israeli authorities in turning back French journalist Houda Ibrahim, of Radio France Internationale (RFI), as she tried to cross into the West Bank from Jordan on 3 July 2005. “It is completely unacceptable that a French journalist, who is moreover representing the French government, should be prevented from doing her job, and we call on the Israeli government to explain this arbitrary measure,” the organisation said. Ibrahim flew from Paris to the Jordanian capital of Amman and went overland in a French consulate vehicle to the West Bank border, where she was refused entry into the occupied Palestinian territories. 

Tearing down illegal wall only way to achieve peace

Marcy Newman 9 July 2005


Imagine that you live in the North End, but your grandparents live in the West End of Boise. Imagine that in order to visit them you must confront a 26-foot concrete wall that surrounds each neighborhood and separates you. Imagine that to cross a small break in this wall along Broadway you will be met by soldiers, who will ask to see your passport and who will interrogate you about why you want to visit your family while pointing guns in your face. Imagine that to go to work every day you must pass similar checkpoints, all of which are a cross between airport security and a military zone. This is what life is like for me right now living in the Palestinian Occupied Territories. 

One year on: Palestinian civil society calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions

9 July 2005


One year after the ICJ ruling on the Wall, Palestinian civil society calls upon international civil society organisations and individuals to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era. Palestinian civil society organisations appeal to them to pressure their respective governments to impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel. These non-violent punitive measures should be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law. 

Palestinian boy shot dead, demonstrations mark one year ICJ ruling

Laila El-Haddad 9 July 2005


A Palestinian boy was shot dead by an Israeli security guard in the West Bank, officials and witnesses said. Fifteen-year-old Muheeb Ahmad Assi was pronounced dead at the scene after being shot by an Israeli security guard, according to Mohammad Hawani of the Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Ramallah. Hawani said Assi died of a bullet wound to his chest. Witnesses said clashes broke out between Assi’s group of friends and an Israeli security guard near a part of the Wall in the village of Beit Lakiya, where he lived. The guard shot at them with live ammunition, and Assi was hit. Palestinians were not allowed near the teen until over an hour had passed, by which point the Assi had bled to death, medics said. 

Fatah meet a damp squib

Khalid Amayreh 7 July 2005


Despite its high-profile, the Fatah central committee meeting in Amman earlier this week seems to have failed to resolve the internal crises and divisions afflicting the movement. Veteran Fatah leaders, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and Fatah chief Farouq Qaddumi voiced satisfaction at the decisions adopted by the movement’s top brass, especially an invitation to Hamas to join a possible government of national unity. The top Fatah leadership also reasserted its rejection of the concept of a state with interim borders as proposed by some in Israel and the US. 

Israeli High Court freezes building of the barrier in Dahiyat al-Barid

22 June 2005


Israel’s High Court of Justice issued a temporary injunction ordering the government to cease construction of the wall south of a-Ram village, northeast of Jerusalem, until arguments for a petition against the wall are heard. Initially, Israel decided to erect this section of the wall along the Jerusalem municipal boundary, as it was fixed following the annexation of the city’s eastern part in 1967. However, in response to the petition of several institutions situated in Dahiyat al-Barid (southern a-Ram), Israel elected to shift the route of the barrier northward, which would isolate part of the neighborhood from the rest of the village. 

Route of barrier designed to allow settlement expansion

2 June 2005


The Association for Civil Rights in Israel submitted a petition to the Supreme Court on 2.6.05: The route of the separation barrier around the village of Ni’ilin was not determined by security considerations but in order to allow the expansion of the settlement of Hashmona’im. The planned route separates the residents of Ni’ilin from half of their agricultural land, and is liable to severely undermine their livelihood. Attorney Pinchuk rejects claims by the state that the route of the barrier surrounding Ni’ilin is a result of security concerns. In order to ensure the security of the Jewish settler community, he adds, other steps can be taken such as expanding the existing defensive system currently used to protect the settlement. 

One child dead, two critically injured as Israeli army attacks Balata

7 July 2005


Arriving at the gate of the Balata refugee camp shortly before 11pm, the Israeli army opened fire into a group of civilians without warning. One fourteen year old boy was shot in the head and is critically injured. Two sixteen year olds were shot, one fatally, in clashes overnight. The army occupied three homes. The Balata Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade has said they will no longer keep the ceasefire. Israeli armed vehicles arrived at the camp late in the evening. Despite the presence of two large groups of civilians, including two internationals, the soldiers began firing live rounds directly into the camp. When medics arrived on the scene minutes later the internationals learned that a child in the other group 50 metres away had been shot in the head. 

Israel does not want peace

Adri Nieuwhof and Bangani Ngeleza 7 July 2005


The trip to Tulkarem is not easy for our driver. He complains that the roads in the West Bank are changing fast. The Israeli regime is working full speed on the construction of the network of highways cutting right through the occupied Palestinian territories and incorporating parts of traditional Palestinian roads. Adri Nieuwhof and Bangani Ngeleza recently visited the occupied Palestinian territories. On a hot summer day, they travelled with a Palestinian guide from Ramallah to Jarushya, north of Tulkarem. The aim of the trip was to visit families that are affected by the Wall. The guide had contacted a leader of the community in Tulkarem and arranged for a meeting. 

One year on: Governments have obligations to hold Israel to account

Jeff Handmaker, Peter Malcontent and Gentian Zyberi 9 July 2005


One year ago on 9 July 2004, at the request of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice in The Hague issued an Advisory Opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s construction of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. But, the Court did not stop at Israel’s obligations. An overwhelming majority of the Court concluded that all states were obliged not to recognize the illegal situation Israel has created and to refrain from any financial support to Israel in maintaining the illegally constructed wall. Much remains to be done before States can be said to be in compliance with international law. 

Settler Land Scam Results in injury of 11 Palestinian civilians

6 July 2005


Israeli settlers, masquerading as NGO workers trick Palestinian civilians into signing over land - when the scam was uncovered the settlers ran over 11 Palestinian civilians with their vehicle during an escape attempt. In an attempt to purchase land from Palestinian civilians under a fraudulent pretext Israeli settlers yesterday, the 5th of July 2005, critically injured 2 Palestinian civilians and injured 9 others when they ran over them with their jeeps. Israeli settlers, backed by Israeli occupation forces, continue to appropriate land from Palestinian civilians. 

Billions for Mideast set to grab spotlight

Mitch Potter 5 July 2005


Far beneath the radar dominated by Bob Geldof’s international pop crusade, former World Bank president James Wolfensohn has been navigating diplomatic back channels to get G-8 backing. Unlike Bob Geldof, former World Bank president James Wolfensohn will have the undivided attention of G8 leaders, where he is expected to deliver an urgent call for as much as $3 billion to rebuild the Palestinian economy on the heels of the Israeli withdrawal. The project, if approved, could as much as double international aid over the next three years. Palestinians remain guarded on the prospects of a new wave of international aid. “Palestinians are not asking for charity but justice,” said Arjan El Fassed, a founder of the Electronic Intifada. 

Life under constant harassment

Eve Sabbagh 5 July 2005


Perched on a south Hebron hill, at first glance Mufaqara seems like a small quiet village sheltered from the troubles of its more famous neighboring city. But the settlers in the region have transformed the shepherds’ tranquil agricultural life into a hellish struggle against politics. Since the Havat Ma’on outpost was erected in 1998, daily life in what used to be an unknown and quiet fellahin village of the West Bank has become increasingly nightmarish. Villagers have the feeling that the settlers, as well as the Israeli army, are trying to “clear out” the area of Palestinian villages. Settler and army jeeps regularly drive back and forth in the area to intimidate the shepherds and make them move further from the settlement’s limits. 

Means of Expulsion: Violence, Harassment and Lawlessness Toward Palestinians in the Southern Hebron Hills

6 July 2005


In the southernmost West Bank, some one thousand Palestinians have maintained the way of life of their ancestors: living in caves and earning a living from farming and livestock. In the 1970s, the Israeli military commander declared the area a “closed military area,” and for the past five years, Israel has been trying to expel them from the area. In a new report, B’Tselem shows that Israel has continually sought to annex the area and expand the nearby settlements. The cave residents are victims of violence and property damage from the residents of nearby settlements. Due to the intensity of this violence, the residents of two villages to abandon their villages in 2000. 

New shelters for Rafah homeless

5 July 2005


The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) today handed over 109 new homes to 116 families from Rafah refugee camp whose shelters have been destroyed by the Israeli military during the last four years. These homes are provided for refugees made homeless by the conflict. According to UNRWA’s statistics, by end of December 2004, a total of 2,991 shelters, home to over 28,483 people had been demolished or damaged beyond repair in the Gaza Strip since the start of the strife. Of the total, 2,521 shelters accommodated 4,337 refugee families, of whom 3,633 families have been identified as being eligible for assistance under the Agency’s rehousing programme. 

A very combustible status-quo

Maureen Clare Murphy 5 July 2005


In occupied Palestine, the more things change, the more they stay the same. In the last several months, we have seen the death of former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, the election of Mahmoud Abbas, and preparations for the planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a few small settlements in the north of the West Bank. But what we haven’t seen is a change to the status-quo, a change that is desperately needed to prevent the situation from collapsing into something far worse than the first and second intifadas. While the world’s attention is diverted to the Gaza disengagement - where some 8,000 or so settlers are to be removed, a drop in the bucket of the total 415,300 illegal settlers - Israel is busily eating away at the land it prizes the most, and prejudicing final status issues. 

Welcome to Costa-del-Gaza

Eóin Murray Gaza, Palestine 5 July 2005


The two sides of present-day Gaza are the poverty-stricken Palestinian population and the Israeli settlers who control about 45% of the land. But neither population is united; the divisions within each are as real as those between them. And the Israeli soldiers present in numbers to protect the settlers are now charged with overseeing their withdrawal - and if necessary, eviction - by August. The settlers are far from homogeneous. They include religious Zionists from Hebron, growing in numbers in the southern part of the Gaza settlement blocs, who believe that disengagement is a denial of the will of God; but there are also social-welfare recipients with their bags packed, who are ready to go upon payment of substantial compensation packages. What will Gaza become after Israeli occupation? Eóin Murray reports on embattled Jewish settlers and Palestinian fears. 

Where There's the Ghetto, There's Hip Hop

Evert-Jan Grit 5 July 2005


Lid, an industrial pauperized city, not far from Israel’s Ben Gurion airport. Not a likely place for vistors and tourists to pass by. Lid faces the same problems as most metropoles and cities all over this world: drugs, pollution, unemployment, gangs, racism and violence. This is the dark side of Israel, the “only democracy in the Middle East,” with its own black minority: the Palestinians who stayed after the Nakba in 1948. Lid is the home base of Israel’s first and best Palestinian Hip Hop band DAM (“Da Arabic Microphone Controllers”). DAM started to perform in 1998 and steadily built a reputation in Israel and abroad. They played in Europe and released a song with the French Algerian group MBS. 

G8 and Disengagement: Palestine needs justice not charity

Arjan El Fassed 4 July 2005


While rock stars made poverty the central issue in the world’s biggest concert at the weekend, the world’s most powerful leaders are under increasing pressure to do something concrete about it. This week the leaders of the G8 — the US, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia — meet in Gleneagles (Scotland), hosted by Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair. But while African poverty may feature in the G8 debate, poverty in Palestine is man-made. The expansion of Israeli settlements and the completion of the Wall render a two-state solution as wished for by the G8 impossible. Palestinians are not asking for charity but justice. 

Gross Misinformation: the media in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict

Ali Abunimah 4 July 2005



The Palestinian-Israeli conflict gets a disproportionate share of mainstream western media attention, as compared, say, with conflicts in Africa. Yet the public, particularly in the United States, remains grossly misinformed. Even respected outlets like National Public Radio fail to provide objective and consistently fair coverage. EI co-founder Ali Abunimah examines trends in media coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and finds that as news organizations come under increasing pressure from pro-Israel groups, there are fewer places to go for solid, independent coverage. 

Flying Checkpoints

Zachary Wales 3 July 2005


There’s a checkpoint between Birzeit and Ramallah. Out of the blue. Up until this moment, everything seemed normal: the honking of taxis, the flow of traffic over snakelike mountain roads, the odd calm of drivers as they vie for imagined lanes on hairpin curves. Suddenly it bottlenecks, then halts. “Hajiz,” shouts a taxi driver coming from the opposite direction. Checkpoint. The calm is replaced with frustration, both audible and visible. Arms flail out of car windows. Honking becomes more frequent. A baby, which until now I hadn’t noticed, cries in the back of my taxi. A gust of bluish bus exhaust empties into my open window. Nausea takes hold. 

Israeli activist bridges worlds

Laila El-Haddad 3 July 2005


“You can’t just come storming in here,” barks Neta Golan to foreign activists who walk casually into her kitchen during their lunch break. “This is someone’s house you know - there’s a kitchen in the other apartment,” she tells them. “They don’t understand it’s rude to just barge into someone’s home here - they have a lot to learn,” says Golan about the internationals who have come to help support Palestinians in non-violent resistance. Just another day in cultural training for Golan and the ISM, during which the 34-year-old Israeli activist explains to foreign volunteers when they can snap pictures, how to behave in people’s homes and how to respect local Palestinians. 

The Crushed Citizen

Laila El-Haddad Gaza, Palestine 1 July 2005


I was invited to attend a reception in Ramallah yesterday by my former scholarship sponsors, the Academy for Educational Development. They said they’d take care of the permit, though no guarantees were made. A few days ago I received word my permit was one of several that were approved. “Congratulations, you’re going to Ramallah.” I am excited-it’s been 4 years since I’ve been to Ramallah. Though it is only an hour away, permits are rarely if ever issued to Gazan Palestinians wishing to travel to the West Bank. I call up all my friends, relatives, and colleagues there. I even wonder if I can make it to Jerusalem on Friday. 

Israeli army invades Nablus again

1 July 2005


Scores of Israeli army vehicles invaded Nablus today. Surely there can be no claims of a ceasefire on the Israeli side now. Since the Sharm Al Sheikh talks Israel has claimed to be maintaining a ceasefire. Human rights organizations document their breaches weekly. An inestimable number of Israeli armed vehicles entered Nablus town before 1pm, speeding around the city and firing randomly. Newly arrived international visitors, unused to the thunderous echoes from Nablus ‘s rocky hillsides thought they were in the midst of a full scale military attack. Apache helicopters whirred overheard, their conspicuous presence preparing residents for an assassination. F-16 fighter jets scorched across the sky. 

Israel accused of covering up murders

Khalid Amayreh 30 June 2005


The Israeli human rights organisation, B’tselem, has accused the Israeli occupation army of whitewashing the murders of hundreds of innocent Palestinian civilians. The organisation, which monitors Israeli human rights violations in the occupied territories, described Monday’s conviction of an Israeli soldier for the killing of British photographer and activist Tom Hurndall as an “exception than the norm”. “It is obvious that the prosecution and conviction of Tom Hurndall’s killer represents the exception, not the norm, as it is amply clear that the Israeli army refrains from investigating most cases involving the killing of Palestinians civilians by the Israeli army,” said a report released by B’tselem on Monday. 

With Jerusalem not its capital

Rima Merriman Ramallah 30 June 2005


As with all dialects spoken by people who are close to the land in their daily cycle, the fallahee Palestinian dialect has a homely feel to it. Like the embroidered dresses that older fallahee women still wear in Palestinian refugee camps, villages and cities, this dialect, with its warmth and earthiness, is a national locus for a people whose identity the Zionist project in the Middle East has long tried to suppress, writes EI contributor Rima Merriman. In a PR stunt, Israel has placed people at checkpoints who speak the Palestinian dialect. But despite the smooth talk, what is Israel really saying to the people of Palestine?