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Israeli rhetoric on Iran mismatched with realistic analysis

Gareth Porter 31 January 2007


When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared last week at the Herzliya conference that Israel could not risk another “existential threat” such as the Nazi holocaust, he was repeating what has become the dominant theme in Israel’s campaign against Iran — that it cannot tolerate an Iran with the technology that could be used to make nuclear weapons, because Iran is fanatically committed to the physical destruction of Israel. The internal assessment by the Israeli national security apparatus of the Iranian threat, however, is more realistic than the government’s public rhetoric would indicate. 

Israel's Economic Stranglehold a Silent Killer

Nora Barrows-Friedman 31 January 2007


Over the last year, Palestinians have faced a siege that has taken its toll in every city across the West Bank and Gaza. It is not a siege of missiles and gunfire, but a calculated attack on the backbone of the entire occupied territories. Through the Israeli, U.S. and European move to paralyse the precarious Palestinian economy over the last year, daily life has become a constant struggle for the ordinary Palestinian trying to put food on the table or run a business within a choking, round-the-clock military occupation. Additionally, since February 2006, Israel has worked hard to pressure international aid organisations and donor countries to suspend aid projects in Palestine. 

Palestinian killed by unknown gunmen; another injured

31 January 2007


Hussein Khayri El-Shobasi (30) from Khan Yunis was killed yesterday by unknown gunman in Khan Yunis; and Bashir Mohammad Issa (40) was injured in Gaza in similar circumstances. PCHR’s preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 12:15 on Wednesday, 31 January 2007, Bashir Issa was moderately injured by several bullets in the feet. Gunmen traveling in a car fired at Issa, who works in Force 17, in Jala Street in Gaza City. He was taken to Kamal Odwan Hospital in Beit Lahia for treatment. 

The Case of Rasem Inad Ahmad Obeidat

31 January 2007


Mr. Obeidat has been arrested by Israel five times: in May 1978, he was detained for 3 months; in May 1982, he spent 102 days in detention - under interrogation the entire time - and was then released without charge; on 11 December 1985, he was arrested, interrogated and was sentenced to prison for 2 years for being a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP); on 30 March 2001, he was arrested and interrogated for 54 days in the Russian Compound detention center in Jerusalem. During this period of detention, he was subjected to severe physical and psychological pain and suffering and was imprisoned until January 2003, again for membership in the PFLP. 

UN to hold seminar next week on aid to Palestinians in light of Israeli occupation

31 January 2007


A United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People will be held in Qatar next week in an effort to ease the social, economic and humanitarian emergencies in the Occupied Palestinian Territory stemming from the Israeli occupation. “The role of donor countries and institutions, as well as that of other international actors is of vital importance,” the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People said in a statement on the meeting it is organizing on 5 and 6 February in Doha, the Qatari capital. It had been observing with concern the deepening economic and social crisis unfolding in the territory. 

Canadian Foreign Minister in Israel and Palestine

Jon Elmer Gaza City 31 January 2007


GAZA CITY, GAZA: Despite the impression cast by corporate news coverage, there is never anything like “calm” here in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The casualty count for 2006 released by Israeli human rights group B’Tselem reports that Israeli forces killed 660 Palestinians, while 17 Israeli civilians were killed, 13 of them in the West Bank. The violence is often spectacular, as during the summer and fall siege operations in Gaza that killed more than 450 Palestinians under withering aerial bombardment, artillery barrages and two major ground invasions. But, as an unusually frank headline in the current edition of the Economist rightly stated, “It’s the little things that make an occupation.” 

Artist's Statement: Emily Jacir's "ENTRY DENIED"

1 February 2007


Austrian nationals Marwan Abado, Peter Rosmanith, and Franz Hautzinger were invited to perform in Jerusalem as part of the 2003 12th Jerusalem Festival — Songs of Freedom concert series organized by Yabous Productions. Abado, who is of Palestinian origin, was officially invited by the Austrian Embassy in Tel Aviv as well as the United Nations Development Program. He obtained a visa through the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Vienna prior to his arrival. On July 20th, 2003 Marwan Abado arrived at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport and was immediately detained by the Israeli authorities. 

Why did the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation Withdraw Refugee Conference Funding at the Last Minute?

Sari Hanafi 31 January 2007


Al-Quds University organized the “International Conference on the Palestinian Refugees: Conditions and Recent Developments,” held on the 25th and 26th of November, at the main campus in Abu Dis, Jerusalem. An impressive steering committee was set up, composed of lawyers as well as social and political scientists affiliated to both Palestinian and international universities. This conference, which was very well organized, was supported by the local means of the university as Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung withdrew their funding. In fact, Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung, a German foundation affiliated with the Christian Democratic party (in power), withdrew their funding five weeks before the event, while the organization of the conference began in April 2006. 

Brand America: Of False Promises and Snake Oil

Daniel Drennan 7 February 2007


On the streets of Beirut, a vernacular of graffiti, political posters, cloth banners and stenciled portraits of leaders and martyrs — and the effacement thereof, whether intentionally or through natural causes — produces a lively debate. Various individuals and groups effectively claim existence, label their territories, as well as write and re-write their histories — Lebanon has no one history. I refer to this as a “debate” because of this back and forth, of placement and replacement, which lies in stark contrast to the monologue that rises above buildings and highways, the one-way beaming of high-priced messages as represented by billboards and advertising space. 

HRW: US should cut off cluster-bomb sales to Israel

30 January 2007


Preliminary US government findings that Israel violated agreements with the United States by its use of cluster munitions in Lebanon last summer should lead to an immediate cutoff of all US cluster munitions sales to Israel, Human Rights Watch said today.The Bush administration is expected to report to Congress today on a State Department investigation into the use of US-made cluster munitions by Israel. Demining groups estimate that Israel used cluster munitions containing some 2.6 to 4 million submunitions in Lebanon, the majority of which were produced in the United States.