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Activists to Bono: Don't honor Israel!

25 February 2008


The following is an open letter from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel to musician and activist Bono, issued on 22 February: PACBI has learned that you have been invited by Israeli President Shimon Peres to take part in a conference designed to mark Israel’s contributions to medicine, science and conservation. We urge you, as a prominent activist on issues of global inequality and a campaigner for basic human rights, to say no to Israel, especially since the invitation coincides with celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state. 

Still no justice for October 2000 killings

Jonathan Cook 25 February 2008


On 2 October 2000, as the Israeli army was beginning its ruthless crackdown on the second intifada in the occupied territories, 17-year-old Aseel Asleh joined tens of thousands of other Palestinian citizens across Israel in taking to the streets in protest and in a show of solidarity with their kin across the Green Line. Within hours Asleh would be killed. Last week, Asleh’s family and those of another 12 Palestinian demonstrators killed inside Israel at the start of the intifada heard that those responsible would almost certainly never stand trial. Jonathan Cook writes from Nazareth. 

Kosovo and the question of Palestine

Ali Abunimah 24 February 2008


Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence has produced a range of reactions among Israeli and Palestinian observers that reveal their anxieties about their respective situations. However, EI co-founder Ali Abunimah cautions, history should tell us that imposed partitions have only generated new conflict, injustice and ethnic cleansing and have reinforced nationalism and irredentism. 

Three Gaza picnickers killed by Israeli missile

24 February 2008


Early Saturday evening, Israeli forces fired a surface-to-surface missile from one of its bases along the Gaza Strip border, targeting three friends in a bamboo hut in a field east of Beit Hanoun. The targeted area was approximately 1.2 kilometers away from the border with Israel. The rocket landed in the middle of the three civilians who were preparing food during their picnic in the field; they were instantly killed and dismembered. 

The killing of Imad Moughniya

Raid Khoury 21 February 2008


Imad Moughniya’s death, like his life, will remain shrouded in mystery and secrecy, but what few things we can learn for certain about this person’s life we already have. Before Moughniya, Carlos “the Jackal” and Abu Nidal were featured stars in the sensational news-entertainment industry. As a result we do not have an accurate picture of Moughniya (which may not be possible anyway), but more importantly, we have been presented with a distorted reality of the decades-long, bloody struggle between Israel and Hizballah.. Raid Khoury comments for Electronic Lebanon. 

Lebanon moves to regularize Iraqi asylum-seekers

21 February 2008


BEIRUT, 21 February (IRIN) - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) welcomed Lebanon’s steps this week to issue work and residency papers to the estimated 50,000 Iraqi would-be refugees in the country, hitherto considered illegal and subject to imprisonment and deportation. Starting this week Lebanon’s General Security intelligence body has given Iraqi asylum-seekers three months to regularize their status, which entails giving them residency and work permits that were previously denied. 

Toronto Palestine Film Festival seeking entries

20 February 2008


The Toronto Palestine Film Festival is now accepting entries for the first annual festival to be held in October 2008. Conceived by Palestine House, the festival is an important component of the year-long activities commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Nakba. Cinema represents a powerful means for visually interpreting the collective identity and historic struggle of the Palestinian people. 

A third way

Haidar Eid 20 February 2008


The “third way” that secular intellectuals defend, condemns terrorism and supports the fight against it. However, the criterion it follows is a universal one. That is, support comes only if the US is prepared to censure Israel for its illegal occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and all the crimes that come with it, and stops its support for imposed, corrupt dictators in the Arab world. Haider Eid comments for The Electronic Intifada. 

UN humanitarian chief says Gaza situation "grim"

20 February 2008


JERUSALEM, 19 February (IRIN) - John Holmes, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, has said he is shocked by the “grim and miserable” situation in the Gaza Strip, and he called for the opening of crossing points into the enclave and for Palestinian militants to stop rocket fire into Israel. Wrapping up a five-day trip on 18 February, he said he had come to visit Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) to see the situation on the ground and do what he could to increase movement into and out of Gaza.