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Security Council speakers, alarmed by escalating violence, urge Israeli, Palestinian restraint, return to peace process (1/2)

16 April 2006


With tensions escalating in the Middle East, Israeli and Palestinian diplomats both deplored the killing of innocents while trading accusations on the causes of the violence during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, which heard from over 30 participants but did not pronounce itself on the issue. Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Observer for Palestine, said the Security Council has a “clear responsibility” concerning the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and praised the convening of the debate, given the deteriorating situation on the ground. “It is unfortunate that the Security Council has failed to shoulder its responsibility over this very grave situation,” he said. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

12 April 2006


This week, Israeli forces killed 19 Palestinians, including three children. Ten of them, including a man, his child and two brothers were killed in an extrajudicial execution. At least 94 Palestinians, including 32 children were wounded by Israeli gunfire. Israel continued to shell Palestinian areas in the Gaza Strip, particularly the northern area. Israeli forces conducted 27 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, concentrated mainly in Nablus. At least 70 Palestinians, including five children and a girl, were arrested by Israel, while seven Palestinian homes were turned into military posts. Israeli forces busted into al-Ahli hospital in Hebron and arrested injured Palestinians. Israel continued to impose a total siege on the occupied Palestinian territories. 

The New York Times Whitewashes the Israeli Takeover of East Jerusalem

Patrick O'Connor 17 April 2006


Despite a practiced guise of objectivity, the US corporate media’s reporting on Israel/Palestine is dominated by the Israeli narrative. An April 16, 2006 feature article by Steven Erlanger, The New York Times’ Jerusalem Bureau Chief, “Jerusalem, Now” in the Times’ Sunday Travel section exemplifies how seemingly professional journalistic standards can mask insidious biases and misinform readers. Erlanger, guided around Jerusalem by Israelis, omits Israeli violence, stereotypes Palestinians, whitewashes Israeli settlements and covers up Israeli efforts to take over East Jerusalem. 

Young Boston Jews hold Passover seder outside AIPAC, JCRC offices

Hannah Mermelstein 17 April 2006


On Tuesday, April 11, at 5:00 pm, 20 young Jewish people gathered for a seder (traditional celebration of Passover) outside 126 High Street in Boston, the building that houses the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Boston’s Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC). The group expressed their support for Palestinian human rights and opposition to AIPAC’s and JCRC’s unquestioning support for Israel and its governmental policies. With a banner that read “Passover means liberation for all. Justice for Palestine,” they conveyed the message to the organizations inside and to the media that AIPAC and JCRC do not speak for all Jews. 

WaSPR Delegation Diary 10: Two Traumatized Peoples: Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial

Bill Dienst East Jerusalem 17 April 2006


Friday, March 11, 2005, Jerusalem — Peter and I head out and descend the stairs into Damascus Gate. We climb our way through the Labyrinthine Old City and wind up at Jaffa Gate at the Green Line, the border between Jordanian and Israeli controlled Jerusalem prior to 1967. We hail a taxi and head for Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in West Jerusalem. We pass the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, and then Hebrew University. To understand the sentiments of “Never Again!” and gain insights on the modern Jewish state’s obsession with security, it is essential to visit this place. 

As always, the dilemma...

Adam Keller 17 April 2006


One o’clock. In the noon news magazine on the radio, the commentator speaks in a rather bored way of the ongoing army raid into Nablus, words nearly identical to the reports of yesterday and of last week: “The Palestinians claim that the boy shot in central Nablus was unarmed… The soldiers assert that they had shot only at armed militants, as per orders…” Suddenly: “We interrupt this report. A large explosion just occurred at the Old Central Bus Station in Tel-Aviv. Dozens of casualties. Stand by for further details.” 

Hamas Being Forced To Collapse

Sam Bahour 17 April 2006


The greater fear is that if the U.S. and Israel are successful in collapsing the Hamas government and Hamas in turn decides to abandoned democratic means to express itself, we will be back where we started from, suicide bombings killing innocents and setting the agenda from outside any known political framework. Does this serve U.S. and Israeli interests? We are all wondering! Sam Bahour, a Palestinian-American businessman living in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian city of El-Bireh, the sister city of Ramallah, comments. 

Romantic moments under artillery

Sami Abu Salem Gaza, Palestine 18 April 2006


The charming fragrance of lemon filled the area when my wife and I were on the roof enjoying the warm breeze last night in Jabalia Refugee Camp, north of Gaza. My wife, Suha, was happy with the scene of the moon in the middle of the partially cloudy sky and the aura of sanctity. Suha’s eyes were glittering and her beautiful smile was shining in the middle of darkness. We were chatting and exchanging jokes. The innocent laughs of my wife added a special taste to the romantic moment. Suddenly, the explosions literally rocked the ground of my apartment building. The Israeli artillery shot tens of rockets on “unoccupied areas!” 

Whats mine is mind

Chris Brown Hebron 18 April 2006


“But I don’t know what my parent’s village looks like,” said Hammad, a young, energetic Palestinian boy who lives in Al Fawwar Refugee camp located near Hebron. I came to the camp at the invitation of a friend from The British Council to do a workshop on playwriting. Hammad along with 17 other young boys gathered at the cultural center to participate. I told the children about my own exposure to theatre and the power of it. Especially, protest theatre. Growing up in Apartheid South Africa, I could never go to the White areas to see productions. However, a man who performed all over the Cape Province, in various townships and squatter camps happened to be in our township. 

EI speaks about developments in Palestine on Flashpoints

12 April 2006


Israel continues to pound Palestinians trapped inside the occupied Gaza strip with 300 tank shells a day. Flashpoints speaks with Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada about the current situation in the Gaza Strip and the unraveling disaster in Palestine. Since the beginning of this year, 15 Palestinian children have been killed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including eight from the Gaza Strip. Four of the eight were passers by - killed in Israeli extra-judicial assassination attempts against Palestinian activists; two Gaza children were killed by gunfire; one by unexploded ordinance while Hadeel, who was killed on Monday by Israeli artillery fire, is the eighth Gaza child to die so far this year.