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Doublethinking Palestine

Zachary Wales 6 July 2006


Three weeks ago, U.S. Congressmen Michael McCaul (R-Tex.) and Joseph Crowley (D-NY) solicited a bill concerning the “persecution” of Palestine’s Christian communities. The initiative attempts to intervene in Palestinian-Israeli politics by presuming that the Palestinian Christian minority in the West Bank and Gaza is “systematically” oppressed by the Muslim majority-and that punitive sanctions should apply. It is founded on the sweeping assumption that because Muslims outnumber Christians in the Palestinian territories, and because the Muslim fundamentalist Hamas party now dominates the Palestinian National Authority, Palestinian Christians are necessarily under threat. 

UN expert: US, EU, Russia and other states ignore Israeli rights abuses

5 July 2006


John Dugard, a UN Special Rapporteur on Wednesday criticized the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations for ignoring countless Israeli violations of human rights, international law and other standards. Dugard, who is responsible for investigating alleged human rights abuses by Israel in Palestinian areas, said the United States and other international powers who make up the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators have done nothing to rein in Israel. Dugard was the keynote speaker at the first emergency session of the new UN Human Rights Council, called at the request Friday of Arab countries, who are seeking a resolution that would censure Israel for its behavior. 

Green Party MEP: EU 'imbalance' over Israel pushing Palestine to humanitarian brink, warns Lucas

5 July 2006


Dr. Lucas, who is a member of the EU’s delegation to the occupied Palestinian territories – and was an official election observer in Gaza last year – said a Finnish presidency statement on behalf of the EU Council on recent events in Gaza gave undue emphasis to the kidnapping of one Israeli soldier but was far less critical of Israel’s ‘completely disproportionate’ response. She said: “Contrary to international law and humanitarian principles, the Israeli government has systematically attacked civilian electricity and water supplies – and kidnapped and arrested fully 64 Palestinian elected representatives.” 

Crisis in US Media Coverage of Gaza

Patrick O'Connor 5 July 2006


One element fueling the current crisis in Gaza is the ongoing failure of US corporate media coverage of Israel/Palestine. US policy, public opinion and mainstream media coverage of Israel/Palestine are all dangerously biased towards Israel. Media coverage both reflects and influences policy and public opinion. Media coverage of events in Gaza again illustrates how the US mainstream media privileges the Israeli narrative, and frequently ignores both Palestinian experiences and international law, providing the US public and policymakers with only part of the story. 

Why It Rains: Hamas holding “Israeli” gas reserves hostage

Jake Bower 5 July 2006


An unexpected energy windfall on Israel’s doorstep promises to resolve Israel’s energy security concerns for years to come. Unfortunately for Israek, it is the Palestinian Authority that controls the licensing of these reserves. So, as Operation Summer Rains washes away the administrative and political structures in the occupied territories, has Israel decided to use Hamas as an excuse to dismantle the PA and seize its energy assets? After the Iranian Revolution cut-off energy supplies in 1979, and the loss of Sinai’s oil in 1982, Israel became dependent on expensive, long-distance energy imports. 

Israeli Occupation Forces Destroy the Ministry of Interior Building and a School in Further Aerial Attacks on the Gaza Strip

5 July 2006


The international community is required to fulfill its legal and moral obligations to immediately stop Israeli war crimes against Palestinian civilian property, and to enforce article 1 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. PCHR strongly condemns the targeting of the Palestinian Interior Ministry building by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) for the second time this week. In addition, the Centre condemns the military escalation against civilian property and installations, including educational and governmental institutions. 

Security Chaos and Proliferation of Small Arms

5 July 2006


PCHR’s preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 16:40 on Monday, 3 July 2006, the body of Amani Yousef Mohammad El-Riqib (17) arrived at Naser Hospital in Khan Yunis. After examination, it was determined that the girl had been hit by a bullet to the head that had killed her instantly. The bullet hit the victim accidentally, while a gunman was firing shots in the air during her brother’s wedding. The victim was from the town of Bani Suheila, east of Khan Yunis. This is the second incident of its kind in less than ten days. On 25 June 2006, Anas Mohammad Khayri Abdel Jabbar Yassin (13) was hit by a bullet to the chest during a wedding in the village of Barqa. 

Where the US media dare not go: UK Channel 4 nails Israel over Gaza

5 July 2006


In a July 4th interview on Channel 4, Jon Snow, Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK, Zvi Ravner, denied that Israeli strikes in Gaza were “collective punishment” for the capture of a 19-year-old soldier. Mr Ravner said: “This is not just about the soldier, this is not collective punishment, it’s the culmination of one-year long action since we have withdrawn fully from the ‘67 line from Gaza and since then what we have got is a day in and day out rockets being fired into Israel. Jon Snow asked if targeting civilians with “the most sophisticated bombardment ever subjected to a defenceless people” was an act of terror. Watch the interview. 

Committee formed on right of entry to the Occupied Palestinian Territories

5 July 2006


The Ad-hoc Committee for the Protection of Foreign Passport Holders Residing in and/or Visiting the Occupied Palestinian Territory, launched in June 2006, is a support group of individuals and families affected by the current Israeli occupation authorities’ policy that denies entry to foreign passport holders to the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) via the Israeli unilaterally-controlled international border crossings to the oPt. They formed in response to Israel’s intensified trend of restricting entry or re-entry to the West Bank and Gaza to residents and visitors who do not hold a Palestinian ID issued by the Israeli Interior Ministry. 

In remembrance: Ismail Shammout, 1931-2006

Samia A. Halaby 5 July 2006


Ismail Shammout’s career as an artist and popular hero of Palestine began with his 1953 exhibition of oil paintings in Gaza of the catastrophic march through wilderness. The exhibited paintings objectify and socialize a pain that had simmered on a private level. Refugees in Gaza saw themselves reflected in Shammout’s work and felt relief. An immense attendance of the general population in Gaza, including those living in refugee camps, overwhelmed Shammout, then studying in Egypt. This stunning response to the show was a hint of the bottled up hope for liberation.