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After 40 years of occupation "solidarity" is not enough

29 November 2007


Over the past 40 years Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip has aggressively targeted both the land and the people of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Not simply haphazard structures of concrete, steel and tarmac, Israel’s settlements and their accompanying maze of bypass roads, hundreds of checkpoints, other movement restrictions and the Annexation Wall, are ever-increasing monuments to the dispossession and subjugation of the Palestinian people, at the expense of their fundamental rights guaranteed under international law. 

Shades of grey: Nusseibeh's "Once Upon A Country"

Miko Peled 29 November 2007


In his new historical autobiography Once Upon A Country, Dr. Sari Nusseibeh, who many accuse of selling out due to his comments regarding the right of return, highlights the shades of grey in a conflict that most people prefer to see in black and white. Miko Peled reviews Nusseibeh’s new book and finds that it shows that neither Rabin, or Barak or any other Israeli prime minister had ever intended to make peace with the Palestinians. Their intention was, and still is, to turn the Palestinian people into “hewers of wood and drawers of water” for the Jewish state that was established on the ashes of a country that, as the book title suggests, once upon a time existed. 

Mission accomplished

Osamah Khalil 29 November 2007


So it is over. The much heralded Annapolis “meeting” attended by over 50 countries and organizations has ended, and the result is a vague, non-binding agreement to begin negotiating. In typical fashion, the Bush administration has hailed the conference of low-expectations and even less tangible results as a “success.” Instead of donning a flight suit and landing on an aircraft carrier, US President George W. Bush offered his best Bill Clinton imitation presiding over a ceremonial handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, like an approving father or Roman emperor. Osamah Khalil comments for EI. 

Ali Abunimah discusses Annapolis on KPFA

Morning Show 28 November 2007


On November 25, EI Co-founder Ali Abunimah, author of One Country, joined Daniel Levy, former Israeli negotiator and adviser in the Israeli prime minister’s office and Nadia Hijab, senior fellow and co-director at the Institute for Palestine Studies to preview the Annapolis Conference and debate the prospects for a single democratic state in Israel-Palestine. The discussion, hosted by Amy Allison, was broadcast on KPFA’s The Morning Show. 

Hundreds converge on Ramallah for boycott summit

28 November 2007


An important milestone in building the global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign was achieved in Ramallah on 22 November 2007. Some 300 activists, members of unions, associations and NGOs in towns, villages and refugee camps of the occupied West Bank, with monitors from the global solidarity movement in Britain, Canada, Norway, Spain and South Africa, convened for a day of discussion and debate about ways to promote all forms of boycott against Israel among Palestinian community organizations, unions, as well as political, academic and cultural institutions. 

Palestinians protest the Annapolis summit

Rami Almeghari 28 November 2007


“We do not recognize those who hold talks in Annapolis; they do not represent the Palestinian people,” said Ismail Haniyeh, the dismissed Palestinian Prime Minister, in response to the Washington-sponsored Palestinian-Israeli summit in Annapolis. The streets of Palestine bore witness that it isn’t only the Hamas leader who doesn’t grant legitimacy to the Palestinian negotiating team at the Annapolis conference. On Tuesday, 27 November, large crowds of Palestinians in Gaza poured out of their homes — as did their brothers and sisters in the West Bank — to protest what they call the “renunciation of Palestinians’ legitimate rights.” EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza. 

PA forcefully disperses peaceful demonstrations, killing one

28 November 2007


Yesterday hundreds of participants took part in peaceful demonstrations and rallies in Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Nablus that were organized by several political parties and civil society organizations to protest the Annapolis conference in the US. Since the early morning hours of the day, hundreds of security personnel armed with guns and batons were deployed in main streets and areas designated for these assemblies. As soon as people started gathering in these areas, fist fights broke out between the security forces and demonstrators. The security forces attempted to disperse the demonstrators with batons and beatings. 

Coexistence in Gaza

Mohammed Omer 28 November 2007


GAZA CITY, November 27 (IPS) - As Sunday dawns in Gaza City the traditional Islamic call to prayer mingles melodically with church bells. Side by side, mosque and church doors swing open, welcoming the faithful. Greetings are eagerly exchanged. The October kidnapping and murder of Rami Ayyad, the manager of Gaza’s only Christian bookstore, sent shudders through the Christian community. Was this a hate crime or simply a tragic occurrence? Monsignor Manuel Musallam, head of Gaza’s Roman Catholic community, doubts the attack was religiously motivated. 

Woman dies after being denied medical treatment

27 November 2007


On Saturday morning, 24 November 2007, a Palestinian patient from the Gaza Strip died as Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) refused to grant her permission to enter Israel to receive medical treatment at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns measures taken by IOF violating Palestinians’ right to health, and denying them access to hospitals outside the Gaza Strip. PCHR also demands IOF to allow Rowaida ‘Omar Shakshak, who is in a serious health condition, to receive urgent medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip. 

The Judaization of East Jerusalem

Alice Rothchild 26 November 2007


With the Golden Dome and the ancient walls of the Old City as backdrop, the cascade of Palestinian homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan is undergoing a dramatic transition. At first it is hard to spot the Israeli flags draped over scattered homes on the hill, but it is soon easily apparent that right-wing Jewish settlers and politically motivated archaeologists are rushing to claim this fragment of the Holy City as the ancient City of David. Alice Rothchild comments.