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A just boycott

George Bisharat 16 August 2007


When does a citizen-led boycott of a state become morally justified? That question is raised by an expanding academic, cultural and economic boycott of Israel. The movement joins churches, unions, professional societies and other groups based in the United States, Canada, Europe and South Africa. It has elicited dramatic reactions from Israel’s supporters. US labor leaders have condemned British unions, representing millions of workers, for supporting the Israel boycott. George Bisharat comments. 

Israeli forces kill four, arrest dozens in ongoing Gaza operation

14 August 2007


Since the pre-dawn hours today, 14 August 2007, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) has been waging a large-scale incursion into the town of New Abasan to the east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Up to the publication of this press release, IOF killed four Palestinians: two civilians, one of them an elderly woman, and two resistance activists who attempted to resist the incursion. In addition, IOF injured 14 Palestinians. It is noted that IOF continue to prevent ambulances from reaching the injured. In addition, IOF are carrying out a major arrests campaign in the area. 

The ongoing Nakba: Sickness and health among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon

Rosemary Sayigh 27 August 2007


Public health expert Michael Marmot underlines the relation between health and two fundamental human needs: autonomy and full social participation, adding that “deprived of a clean safe neighborhood, meaningful work, freedom from police harassment and arrest, and freedoms from violence and aggression, it is harder to have control over one’s life or be a full social participant.” [1] The values Marmot describes are ones that camp refugees in Lebanon — like Palestinians in many other places — do not have. Rosemary Sayigh analyzes the impact of the political situation on the health rights of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. 

Audio: Crossing the Line interviews author Ramzy Baroud

14 August 2007


This week on Crossing the Line: Independent journalist Ben White joins host Christopher Brown to discuss the Israeli Ministry of Education’s “inclusion” of the Palestinian Nakba into students’ textbooks. White points out a number of concerns regarding the supposed enlightenment of the Israeli school system and its broader implications. Next Brown speaks with author, editor and activist Ramzy Baroud on the notion of “peace talks” between Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas, the continued exclusion of Hamas from talks with Israel and Fatah, and the neo-cons and AIPAC’s attempts to get Bush to go to war with Iran. 

"Army torturing Palestinian refugees"

Anand Gopal and Saseen Kawzally 14 August 2007


BADDAWI REFUGEE CAMP, Northern Lebanon, 13 August (IPS) - Palestinians displaced by the fighting at the northern Lebanese refugee camp Nahr al-Bared have accused the Lebanese army of torturing and abusing civilians. As the fighting between the Sunni Islamist group Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese army enters its 12th week, thousands of Nahr al-Bared residents have sought refuge in the nearby Baddawi camp. Many give detailed descriptions of days spent in detention under harsh interrogation. 

A village makes its own protest

Nora Barrows-Friedman 15 August 2007


BIL’IN, West Bank, 13 August (IPS) - Amidst acres of twisting olive trees in front of the Israeli apartheid wall, eight protesters in a weekly nonviolent demonstration were injured and three arrested on Friday when Israeli occupation soldiers fired rounds of tear gas, smoke bombs, sound grenades and rubber bullets at the crowd in the West Bank village of Bil’in. Five Palestinian children and a paramedic were also wounded as over one hundred protesters, including village residents, Israeli activists and international campaigners took part in a weekly demonstration that has been planned every Friday for more than two years. 

Hamas force condemned for political arrests, press restrictions

13 August 2007


On Friday 10 August 2007, the Hamas-affiliated Executive Force (EF) attacked two wedding parties and a civilian demonstration. It also arrested several Fatah members and a cameraman in Beit Hanoun town, northern Gaza Strip. According to investigations by Al Mezan, at approximately 5pm on Friday members of the EF arrested four of Fatah’s high ranking members in Beit Hanoun. They were identified as 41-year-old Faris Nai’m, 45-year-old Maher Abu Harbid, 40-year-old Issa Al Mughrabi, and Shihdeh Abu Zreiq. The latter is the headmaster of Hail Abdul Hamid Secondary School. 

Refugees, again

Dina Awad and Matthew Cassel Lebanon, Baddawi Refugee Camp 13 August 2007


In June 2006, Dr. Tawfiq Assad stepped out of the seaside Rafiq Hariri airport in Beirut and took a deep breath of the Mediterranean air. It wasn’t home but it was as close to it as he had ever been. Dr. Assad returned to Lebanon to visit family and friends for what he thought would only be a few weeks’ stay. A Palestinian refugee himself, Dr. Assad’s story is not uncommon. His family was forced from their home in Nazareth during the Nakba in 1948 when the Zionist armies invaded to make way for the Jewish state. 

Mahmoud Abbas' war against the Palestinian people

Ali Abunimah 10 August 2007


A source who works directly with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ ministers in the unelected and illegal “emergency government” of Salam Fayyad in Ramallah wrote to me that “Abbas has explicitly ordered the Rafah border to close and remain closed with the purpose of strangling Hamas.” The source, who was motivated to speak out by his outrage, but requested anonymity because he fears reprisals, added that Abbas “is ready to see his own people die for his political games.” Ali Abunimah comments on the effects of Abbas’ policy of colluding with Israel. 

Palestinian doctor paints picture of Gaza under siege

Mark Almberg 13 August 2007


Sometimes it’s the little things that reveal the horror of oppression most vividly. Dr. Mona El-Farra, speaking in Chicago as part of a 17-city US tour, related how recently a Palestinian woman in the Occupied Territories had gone into labor and was heading to a hospital. “She was about to give birth, but she was detained at an Israeli checkpoint for three hours,” El-Farra said. “Amazingly, she eventually got through and was able to deliver her child.” Mark Almberg reports on El-Farra’s description of the current situation in occupied Palestine, particularly Gaza.