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Environmentalists urge quicker clean-up as oil-spill again threatens sea

14 May 2007

***Image1***BYBLOS, 13 May 2007 (IRIN) - Black slime coats beaches and oozes into rock pools in northern Lebanon, nine months after an oil spill led to international pledges to clean that stretch of coast. Oil clings to beach after beach north of Byblos, an ancient fishing port that is one of Lebanon’s main tourist attractions. Israel bombed an oil refinery in Jiyyeh, south of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, during its conflict with the armed wing of Lebanese political party Hezbollah last July. 

Coretta Scott King and the Jewish National Fund

Ben White 15 May 2007


Towards the end of April, the Associated Press filed a story reproduced by, amongst others, Ha’aretz, Guardian Unlimited, and CNN, reporting that “Israel will name a forest in northern Galilee after Coretta Scott King”, part of a wider campaign to replant “thousands of trees destroyed during last year’s war with Hezbollah”. At least 10,000 trees will be designated as a “living memorial to King’s legacy of peace and justice”, according to US Israeli ambassador Sallai Meridor. 

Report: Israel's Separation Policy and Forced Eviction of Palestinians from Hebron

14 May 2007

***Image1***Over the years, Israel established a number of settlement points in and around the Old City of Hebron, which had traditionally served as the commercial center for the entire southern West Bank . Israeli law-enforcement authorities and security forces have made the entire Palestinian population pay the price for protecting Israeli settlement in the city. 

Mainstream media caught in the MEMRI mouse trap

Tom Wallace 14 May 2007


Normally CNN, FOX, MSNBC and the New York Times have little in common with each other, let alone blogs like little green footballs, Americablog or the Huffington Post. But when it comes to disseminating Israel’s message, all are on the same page. On May 8, CNN, FOX and MSNBC began reporting on a Hamas-created children’s show, currently broadcast on Al Aqsa TV in Gaza, which features a Mickey Mouse-like cartoon character who does everything from teaching kids about the benefits of drinking milk to disseminating what CNN’s Jim Clancy described as “powerful message of HATE, RESISTANCE and DEFIANCE [sic]”. 

The Leader Israel Deserves

Yacov Ben Efrat 17 May 2007


The second Lebanon War of summer 2006 threw a dark shadow over the government of Ehud Olmert and his party, Kadima. For the first time, Israel got to know what it’s like to cower helplessly under barrages of rocket fire. The 4,000 Katyushas that rained on Galilee for 33 days rubbed in the feeling of failure. The air force could not stop them. The government could not protect or supply its citizens. It left them to fend as best they could, ruled by the wails of sirens. 

Four Palestinians Killed and 30 Injured in Internal Fighting

14 May 2007


In the early morning hours of Sunday, 13 May 2007, clashes ignited in different parts of the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of gunmen and members of security forces, most of them masked, deployed in main and side roads around the compounds of security forces. Tens of streets and roads were closed to pedestrians and vehicles. Gunmen exchanged fire indiscriminately in streets, at intersections, and from the roofs of buildings. 

World Bank exposes the blatantly obvious

Sonja Karkar 14 May 2007


It should have happened sooner, but at least it has happened now. Israel has been exposed by the august World Bank for its oppressive control of the West Bank. Three weeks before global protests begin against 40 years of Israel’s occupation, the report reveals what every government knows, but not one has been prepared to stop. Effectively, the report challenges the notion of a viable two-state solution under Israel’s current restrictions and illegal land appropriations. 

War criminal Dan Halutz on the loose at Harvard

13 May 2007


Activists and community members will converge May 14 at Harvard Business School (HBS) in search of notorious war criminal Dan Halutz, last spotted there attending an executive management course. The Alliance for Justice in the Middle East (AJME), based at Harvard University, is launching a search for the elusive Halutz, distributing WANTED posters, making inquiries, and soliciting the help of the campus community. AJME hopes that this week’s actions will alert the community to the presence of this war criminal on the loose and lead to more information on his whereabouts. 

Gaza: Calm before the storm

Philip Rizk Gaza City, Palestine 13 May 2007


This must be what they call the calm before the storm. By 7pm all the main street intersections in Gaza City were filled with guards wearing face masks. It seems every time a new security plan is declared in Gaza the situation gets worse. This morning my friend Jamal greeted his neighbor Baha’ Abu Jarad as he left his home for a days work; ten minutes later Baha’ was dead. Jamal, shaken up, informed me of the incident over the phone, while trying to hold back tears. 

Memory as a blueprint for the future

George Bisharat 13 May 2007


Why do some people have the power to remember, while others are asked to forget? That question is especially poignant at this time of year, as we move from Holocaust Remembrance day in early spring to Monday’s anniversary of Israel’s declaration of independence on May 14, 1948. In the months surrounding that date, Jewish forces expelled, or intimidated into flight, an estimated 750,000 Palestinians. A living, breathing, society that had existed in Palestine for centuries was smashed and fragmented, and a new society built on its ruins.