All Content

Israeli rocket fire kills four Gaza policemen

31 October 2007


In the evening of 30 October 2007, Israeli warplanes fired rockets at a police station in the southern Gaza Strip and killed four policemen in the police force of the dismissed government in Gaza. Israeli military sources commented on this crime by saying that “the air strike that [has been] relatively rare recently is an indication that Israel will not continue to exhibit restraint towards the firing of mortars at Israeli population centers.” 

Charges dropped in 20-year-old US case against Palestinian activists

31 October 2007


The 20-year effort to deport two men over their alleged political support of Palestinian self-determination officially came to an end today when the nation’s highest administrative body overseeing immigration cases dismissed all charges against Khader Hamide and Michel Shehadeh, members of a group of Palestinian student activists arrested in January 1987, who became known as the LA 8. The action by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) closes one of the nation’s longest-running and most controversial deportation cases, one that tested whether immigrants have the same First Amendment rights as citizens. 

Rights org: Cutting Gaza electricity and fuel is collective punishment

30 October 2007


New York, 29 October - Israel’s decision to limit fuel and electricity to the Gaza Strip in retaliation for unlawful rocket attacks by armed groups amounts to collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza, in violation of international law, and will worsen the humanitarian crisis there, Human Rights Watch said today. “Israel may respond to rocket attacks by armed groups to protect its population, but only in lawful ways,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division. 

Open letter to PM Siniora

Tamara Keblaoui Beirut 29 October 2007


Dear Mr. Siniora: I write to you as a Lebanese citizen with pressing concerns. Today, on the 27th of October 2007, I, along with a group of ten American University of Beirut students, made the journey north to Nahr al-Bared refugee camp. We went there with the purpose of carrying out a clean-up campaign for the homes of returning refugees. What we found in the homes made our heads spin. Tamara Keblaoui writes to her Prime Minister about what she saw at Nahr al-Bared refugee camp. 

Don't emulate Israel at Guantanamo

Lisa Hajjar 29 October 2007


Should the United States, seeking to recalibrate the balance between security and liberty in the “war on terror,” emulate Israel in its treatment of Palestinian detainees? That is the position that Guantanamo detainee lawyers Avi Stadler and John Chandler of Atlanta, and some others, have advocated. That people in US custody could be held incommunicado for years without charges, and could be prosecuted or indefinitely detained on the basis of confessions extracted with torture is worse than a national disgrace. Lisa Hajjar argues that is an assault on the foundations of the rule of law. 

Nahr al-Bared refugees still in limbo

29 October 2007


BADDAWI, 28 October (IRIN) - Souad al-Sayyed still camps with her children in a classroom strung with washing lines, two months after the battle for Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon ended. Despite the stench from the neighboring toilet and piles of rubbish in the corridors, Souad finds little comfort in the news that her time is up in her temporary home at a public school in Baddawi refugee camp, near the devastated camp. “The school administration said they’re moving us out tomorrow, but nobody told us where we’re going,” she said. 

Engaging Hamas and Hizballah

Ali Abunimah 29 October 2007


Nothing could be easier in the present atmosphere than to accuse anyone who calls for recognition of and dialogue with Hamas, Hizballah and other Islamist movements of being closet supporters of reactionary “extremism” or naive fellow travelers of “terrorists.” This tactic is not surprising coming from neoconservatives and Zionists. What is novel is to see it expressed in supposedly progressive quarters. EI cofounder Ali Abunimah comments. 

Audio: Crossing the Line speaks with Mearsheimer and Walt

26 October 2007


This week on Crossing The Line: In the second half of an interview on Worldview on Chicago Public Radio, host Jerome McDonnell speaks with professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt about their controversial paper that is seen as very critical of the pro-Zionist lobby AIPAC. Since its publication in the London Review of Books, neo-conservative and Zionist supporters of Israel have labeled both men as anti-Semitic. Today we’ll hear part two of this two-part interview. 

"Everything they couldn't take they destroyed"

Maureen Clare Murphy Nahr al-Bared refugee camp 26 October 2007


“Don’t ask what they stole, ask what they left,” dryly jokes Khaled, a Palestinian refugee from Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon. It was evident from what remained of the crown molding along the ceiling that his three-story house was once grand. Now, only one year after the seven-year process of building the house was completed, the structure is largely destroyed and its contents looted. Maureen Clare Murphy reports from the devastated Nahr al-Bared refugee camp.