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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. 

Civilians caught in the crossfire

30 January 2007


Palestinians in Gaza say they have been trapped in their homes as deadly fighting between rival Palestinian militia groups had taken over the streets. Residents are hopeful that a truce on Tuesday morning between Hamas and Fatah would bring some form of normality back to their lives. At least nine civilians, including three children, are believed to have been killed during battles between supporters of these two main Palestinian factions, which have claimed 32 lives since Thursday and left more than 110 wounded. 

Pro-Israel Censorship Hurts Us All

George Bisharat 30 January 2007


One day in 1981, my late father, Maurice Hanna Bisharat, returned from a long day at his Sacramento, Calif., medical office with an extra bounce in his step, his eyes dancing with excitement. His friend, Michael Himovitz, the young owner of a local art gallery, had called, offering to hold a one-person show of my father’s paintings - mostly California landscapes. My father had taken up painting after immigrating to this country from Palestine in the late 1940s, and although an amateur, had won a national art award within two years. 

Students Under Occupation Take a Stand

30 January 2007


In 2005, student photographers from Birzeit University and Al-Najah University in the West Bank came together to document student life and the obstruction of Palestinian education under military occupation, through the artistic expression of their own ideas and experiences. Their photographs have now become an exhibition and a book, launched at Birzeit University in 2006 and currently touring Palestine and the US. Friends of Birzeit University and Foyles will host the first UK view of the exhibition at Foyles’ landmark Charing Cross bookshop. 

The Façade of the Israeli Cease-fire

Danny Felsteiner the Netherlands 30 January 2007


This morning I opened the Haaretz Internet website to read the following headline: “Olmert decided: we will retain cease-fire; IDF has bombed a tunnel in northern Gaza Strip.” An inevitable coffee stain appeared on my shirt. Although this headline screams absurdity, it constitutes the essence of Israel’s propaganda, and many an Israeli will not find it ambivalent. I have to admit that a year ago, I would have found it reasonable as well. The logic is simple: army officials say that the IDF has a perpetual green light to operate against terrorist groups on their way to commit their suicidal operations inside Israel. 

Palestinians in Iraq: More fleeing

30 January 2007


Another 50 Palestinians have fled to the Iraq-Syrian border following a traumatic week in Baghdad, bringing the total number stranded at the frontier to about 700. The 50 made the hazardous journey from Baghdad to the border four days after 73 Palestinians traveled the same road following the temporary detentions of 30 Palestinian men by militia in the capital last Tuesday. UNHCR also received information that two buses carrying some 75 Palestinians left Baghdad Monday morning, but at least one of them was unable to make it to the border. The bus was reportedly forced to return to Baghad because roads were blocked by crowds during the religious celebrations for Muharram.