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Activists to Waldorf-Astoria: Cancel Friends of IDF fundraiser

17 March 2008


As 13 organizations working for human rights, social justice, and peace, we demand that The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan rescind its agreement to host the 18 March fundraiser for Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. The Israeli military has historically been a flagrant violator of human rights and international law as demonstrated by the recent attacks on Gaza that killed over 100 Palestinians, the 2006 attack on Lebanon, and the 60-year assault on and dispossession of the Palestinian people. 

Two-state dreamers

Jonathan Cook 14 March 2008


If the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the world’s most intractable, much the same can be said of the parallel debate about whether its resolution can best be achieved by a single state embracing the two peoples living there or by a division of the land into two separate states, one for Jews and the other for Palestinians. EI contributor Jonathan Cook asks the question: if one state is impossible, why is Olmert so afraid of it? 

Political crisis set to worsen

13 March 2008


TYRE, Lebanon, 12 March (IPS) - Soon after the US destroyer USS Cole was deployed off Lebanon’s shore 28 February to “preserve political stability”, a group of young men gathered around in the embattled agricultural town Qana in south Lebanon, and voiced their fears. “Everyone feels there is a war coming,” said Salman Ismael, a 22-year-old university student. “Especially after the killing of (Hizballah commander) Imad Mughniyeh and what is happening in Gaza.” 

Egypt quietly lets in 230 patients from Gaza

12 March 2008


JERUSALEM/GAZA, 12 March 2008 (IRIN) - Egypt has allowed over 200 Palestinian patients from the Gaza Strip to make their way into Egypt via the Rafah border crossing, according to Palestinian health officials. After the large-scale Israeli incursion into Jabalya refugee camp at the end of February and beginning of March, which killed about 120 and caused many injuries, Egypt allowed some of the wounded to enter its territory through Rafah. 

A letter from a mother in Gaza to a mother in Sderot

Najwa Sheikh Gaza Strip 12 March 2008


Dear Rima Haimov, When I read your words the only thing I can say is that I feel sorry for your son, and that I can understand you as a mother and the traumatic events that your child is experiencing. I cannot deny the fact that life becomes very difficult in such circumstances when you realize that you and your family are in danger at any moment; I fully understand your worries, your feelings and concerns. I am addressing this letter to you with the hope that you will understand my pain too. 

Book Review: "An Israeli In Palestine Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel"

Raymond Deane 17 March 2008


Jeff Halper’s new book is, in part, the story of the evolution of a “white moderate” peace campaigner to a radical Israeli campaigner for justice for the Palestinians. En route, he maps his development from “ethnic Jew to Jewish national to Israeli,” disregarding his grandmother’s warning that “Israel is no place for a Jewish boy!” Raymond Deane reviews for EI. 

A recipe for Israel's security

Ghada Ageel 12 March 2008


Time after time, Israel has failed to provide its citizens with either actual security or even a sense of security, whether inside or outside the country. This is so despite the fact that it possesses all means of military power and superiority including the nuclear weapons making it the strongest regional power in the Middle East. In fact, despite all its power, Israel lives in a continuous security crisis. Ghada Ageel comments for EI. 

Four deaths: whose security?

11 March 2008


Access-related deaths of patients referred to medical care outside Gaza are hard to determine with statistical certainty. Since several factors are involved, it is very difficult to define how far the delay or denial of a permit has influenced the final outcome in each case. The fact that in Gaza the delay has nothing to do with medical constraints of any kind, but with external reasons, makes the violation all the more serious and raises questions regarding the definition of the term “security” in the Israeli Secret Police lexicon. 

Barrier turns village into virtual enclave

11 March 2008


NU’MAN, WEST BANK, 9 March 2008 (IRIN) - “With the Wall’s route like this we can’t go anywhere,” said Yousef al-Darawi, as he drew a map of Israel’s Barrier which blocks Nu’man village off from both East Jerusalem and the West Bank and leaves it a virtual enclave. “All people who want to visit have to be on a list at the checkpoint at the village’s entrance,” he said, including basic service providers. Most of the 170 residents have to enter and exit on foot.