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Belgian-French bank cornered over Israeli settlement financing

David Cronin 20 May 2010


BRUSSELS (IPS) - New evidence has been uncovered to show that Dexia, a major Belgian-French bank, is still financing Israeli settlements in the OPT despite official assurances that such loans have ceased. Jean-Luc Dehaene, a former Belgian prime minister and now Dexia’s chairman, announced last year that the bank had not approved any new loans to authorities located in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank since June 2008. 

Gaza's virtual connection to the rest of the world

Eva Bartlett 20 May 2010


GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - “I’ve learned most of what I know about photo editing and graphic design via the Internet,” says Emad, 27-year-old filmmaker and editor. In Gaza, this sort of thing has become usual in a different way. “This program isn’t available here,” he says, smiling triumphantly as he finishes downloading the latest edition of an advanced video editing program. 

International orgs call on Israel to immediately release rights defenders

19 May 2010


On 6 May 2010, at 03:10am, 16 members of the Israeli General Security Services (GSS) and the Israeli police force raided the family home of Mr. Ameer Makhoul. After meeting him last night, Mr. Makhoul’s lawyers confirmed that he was suffering from exhaustion — as a result of sleep deprivation — and that he had been subjected to various forms of intensive interrogation, raising fears of possible torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. 

The return of the colonial: Laor's "The Myths of Liberal Zionism" reviewed

Max Ajl 19 May 2010


Israeli new mandarins have to try to sell settler-colonialism to Western states with populations that increasingly regard Zionism’s spiritual core and physical reality as somewhere on the spectrum between mildly embarrassing and overtly revolting. It is those mandarins that anti-Zionist Israeli poet Yitzhak Laor meticulously vivisects in The Myths of Liberal Zionism. 

Persecution of Palestinian citizens recalls S. Africa apartheid repression

Adri Nieuwhof and Bangani Ngeleza 18 May 2010


Two weeks after Israel imposed a travel ban on him, Ameer Makhoul, a well-respected Palestinian leader holding Israeli citizenship, was kidnapped from his home on 6 May in the middle of the night. The persecution of Makhoul brings back memories of the South Africa apartheid regime; during the South Africa anti-apartheid movement, similar tactics were used against those advocating for freedom and equal rights, who were accused of terrorism and having links with the Soviet Union. Adri Nieuwhof and Bangani Ngeleza comment for The Electronic Intifada. 

Challenging Canada's myths about its role in Palestine

Sean F. McMahon 18 May 2010


Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler’s recent comments that Canada’s policy towards the Middle East has been put in the service of domestic electoral concerns have been read as critical by the corporate media. However, Fowler is only one of many reproducing a fantasy of Canada having a reputation for being fair, just and objective as regards the Middle East. Sean F. McMahon comments for The Electronic Intifada.