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Australian university student association to boycott Israeli institutions

18 December 2008


The University of Western Sydney’s Student Association (UWSSA) has decided to formally affiliate to the “Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.” The call to boycott which was sent by Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel was adopted in full. In Palestine, millions of people live under an oppressive military regime. Among them, hundreds of thousands of university students have to endure ongoing humiliations at checkpoints and roadblocks on their way to campus. 

Israeli forces attack Gaza areas, killing father of three

18 December 2008


Israeli forces today, stationed on the borderline east of Jabaliya, launched a ground-to-ground missile that exploded in the house of 47-year-old Salah Abdul-Hadi Oukal. The victim was in his house’s garden in Tel al-Za’tar area in Jabalia when the missile struck him. Oukal, who was the breadwinner of a family of eight, including three children, was blown into pieces as the missile hit him directly. 

Rights org: Abbas, overturn death penalty

18 December 2008


On Tuesday, 16 December 2008, the Palestinian High Military Court in Gaza headed by Military Judge Mohammed Nofal sentenced Mohammed Ali Hassan Saidam, 34, from Rafah, to death by hanging. The court convicted the defendant of treason, spying and conspiracy in violation of the Revolutionary Penal Code of the Palestine Liberation Organization of 1979. The sentence, that had been issued in the presence of the defendant, was unanimously issued by the court. It can be appealed. 

Families of the disappeared seek answers

17 December 2008


BEIRUT (IRIN) - It was the summer of 1982 when Zahira Najjar, 66, last saw her son Abdallah, then 17 years old. The family was in Bhamdoun, a mountain resort east of Beirut, at the height of Lebanon’s 15-year civil war. Only Syrian forces were on the ground when Abdullah went to find transport to the capital to get his wounded leg seen to, Najjar said. She has seen and heard nothing of him since. “I can’t describe my feelings. A mother’s heart cries blood,” Najjar said, pulling a black-and-white photograph of the youth from her wallet. 

Israel sentences Palestinian political prisoner

17 December 2008


An Israeli military court sentenced Dr. Aziz Dweik, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Speaker, to three years in prison, two years of suspended imprisonment, and a New Israel Shekel 6,000 (USD 1,500) bail. Israeli Occupation Forces arrested Dr. Dweik on Saturday 6 August 2006 in the midst of a campaign of arrests that targeted dozens of ministers and elected officials. On 29 June 2006 alone, IOF arrested eight ministers and 21 PLC members. 

UN hopes to jumpstart quartet talks

Haider Rizvi 17 December 2008


UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The United Nations Security Council is calling for intense international efforts to conclude diplomatic negotiations aimed at creating a peace treaty between Israel and Palestine. On Tuesday, the 15-member Council passed a unanimous resolution declaring its support for the negotiations initiated in the US city of Annapolis last year in November amid calls for both parties to refrain from any step that could undermine confidence. 

Israelis continue to abuse Palestinian prisoners

Mel Frykberg 17 December 2008


RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Israel released more than 200 Palestinians from Israeli jails in a “goodwill gesture” Monday. This followed the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha and was an attempt to boost the waning popularity of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Several prisoners spoke to the assembled local and international media about their time in detention. They accused the Israelis of maltreating and physically abusing detainees. 

Settlement builder met with worldwide protests

16 December 2008


Signaling growing outrage at Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev’s businesses’ global rights abuses, on 12 and 13 December human rights advocates in Dubai, London and two West Bank Palestinian villages held protests against Leviev’s settlement construction. According to Gulf News, the protest in Dubai, unprecedented in the United Arab Emirates, came after a screening at the Dubai International Film Festival of a documentary film about Palestinian hip-hop artists. Leviev’s sale of his diamonds through Arif Bin Khadra’s Levant jewelry stores in Dubai has stirred controversy there. 

Gaza truce set to expire

Mel Frykberg 16 December 2008


RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Ten days of intensive fighting broke out between Israel and the Islamic resistance organization Hamas last month despite a ceasefire. Israel carried out a cross-border incursion into Gaza, sparking a cycle of tit-for-tat violence which claimed the lives of dozens of Palestinian fighters and lightly injured two Israelis. This serious breach of a six-month ceasefire between the two raises questions whether the current truce, which formally ends in several days will be renewed, or whether Israel will embark on a major military incursion into the Gaza Strip as it has been threatening. 

UN head reports death threats after Israel criticism

Thalif Deen 16 December 2008


UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The outspoken president of the United Nations General Assembly, Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, who recently described Israeli policies in the occupied territories as tantamount to “apartheid,” says his life is under threat. Enrique Yeves, spokesperson for the president, told reporters Monday there were “very serious threats” on the Internet against d’Escoto’s life and the matter is being looked into both by the UN security services and law enforcement officials in the United States.