Last night I again heard the roar of an F-16 fighter jet and then the low thud of air-launched missiles being fired into Beach Camp. I didn�t even bother to look out from my hotel room this time. Rafah, Jabalya and Beit Hanoun were also hit according to local news reports. This morning, we drive by Mr. Alaaki Aqeelan�s apartment in Beach Camp, which was hit last night. The third floor is a shambles and there is concrete rubble on the street. Otherwise, people in the area are going about their daily business. Read more about Fear is a Powerful Stimulant (Part 2)
After a hectic day of child care and phone calls, Ahmad Ibrahim decided not to attempt a San Antonio protest Friday. “I am very thankful for the support,” said Ibrahim in a late-night email Thursday. “And I hope when this nightmare is over, the Hutto women’s and children jail in Taylor, Texas will be shut down forever.” The T. Don Hutto jail is where Ibrahim’s three neices, nephew, and pregnant sister-in-law have been held for alleged immigration violations since early November. Ibrahim’s brother was separated from the rest of the family and placed at a jail in Haskell, Texas. Read more about Protest scheduled for 2007: The continuing story of Ibrahim's faith in America
Today is a holiday. It is Palestinian Independence Day, commemorating the day in 1988 when Yasser Arafat formally declared a Palestinian State in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Now 18 years later, this holiday seems like some kind of a cruel joke, since Israel still refuses to renounce violence and recognize Palestine’s right to exist. Under Clinton and the Oslo process, the Palestinians were forced to negotiate endlessly while walking backwards. Under Bush, Sharon and Olmert, there have been no negotiations, only unilateralism, arrogant violence, economic starvation and more disaster. Read more about Fear is a Powerful Stimulant (Part 1)
The brother of a jailed Palestinian man whose children and pregnant wife are being held in a Texas jail says he will stage a small protest with his 3-year-old niece Friday morning outside the San Antonio offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at 8940 Fourwinds Dr. Ibrahim will take the family’s case to the streets, asking for release of his niece’s three sisters, teenage brother, and pregnant mother—all of whom have been held in jail since their midnight arrests on Nov. 3. Read more about Uncle and a 3-Year-Old Will Lead Protests over Palestinian Immigrant Jailing
Some of the children and a pregnant woman being held in an immigration jail in Texas are Palestinian refugees whose families came to the USA with visas, says a Dallas lawyer. Immigration attorney John Wheat Gibson represents two families that include a pregnant woman and children ages 2, 3, 5, 12, 14, and 17. The families have been incarcerated since their midnight arrests in early November by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “The children, imprisoned with their mothers, have never been accused of any wrongdoing. Neither have their mothers,” says Gibson. Read more about Palestinian Refugees and Children Held in Hutto, Texas Jail
The Lebanese bloggers are united this week in wishing their readers all the best during Christmas, Al Adha and the New Year. Some of these bloggers have taken up the issue of foreign intervention in the region as a subject of reflection while others highlight the sad state of economy and the effects that the political situation is having on it. The Lebanese bloggers also addressed the March 14 investigations and media coverage thereof. Read more about Lebanese bloggers roundup: Foreign Intervention and Economics
A major Palestinian and Arab demand has been quietly accepted by Israel and the US, but the Palestinians are too engrossed in their internal fighting to realize it. After the collapse of the bilateral and unilateral efforts, the time has come for multilateralism. Palestinian-Israeli bilateral talks saw a high point in the Oslo process, but have stalled ever since. Israel’s unilateralism, both in south Lebanon and Gaza, has also been a major failure. US State Department officials, seeing the failure of their own unilateralism in Iraq, have pushed Israel and found the Olmert administration receptive toward a multilateral approach. Read more about While the Fire Rages
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid26 December 2006
On Saturday 23 December a picket was organized by activists in Toronto and Montreal to officially launch a boycott campaign against Chapters and Indigo Bookstores. The campaign demands an end to the financial support offered by the majority owners of Chapters and Indigo to Heseg - the Foundation for Lone Soldiers. This is a program of financial support for former ‘lone soldiers’ in the Israeli military. The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, came out to the downtown core of Toronto, and held a mass leafleting and information picket to launch this campaign. Read more about Canada: Action to Boycott Chapters and Indigo Bookstores
Yesterday, here in Gaza, I met Scott Kennedy, a former mayor of Santa Cruz, California. He has been traveling in the Middle East and touring the West Bank and Israel. Today Mr. Kennedy is being escorted to visit Rafah, from El Deira Hotel here in Gaza City, by a Palestinian Authority convoy, and I have decided to go along with him. We will also drive through Khan Younis, and through ruins of the former Israeli coastal settlements of Gush Katif, which used take up over a third of the beachfront in the Gaza Strip. We won’t have time to get out of the convoy at these places, however. Read more about Rafah Revisited
Israel has shut down another internationally mandated investigation of its military actions. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and his high-level fact-finding mission, authorized by the UN’s Human Rights Council, have been refused entry by Israel for so long that they have been forced to call off the visit. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mark Regev disingenuously claimed that Israel had not denied entry, but simply not yet reached a decision. The families of the 19 Palestinian civilians slain at Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on 8 November 2006 will apparently not see even an approximation of justice at this time. Read more about Israel blocks another UN fact-finding mission
