It is only a matter of time before voters of conscience make it clear that elected policy-makers who collaborate in America’s unconditional partnership with Israel will be exposed as shameful; and make it clear to policy-makers that such shameful behavior is unsustainable because collaborators in injustice will be ejected from office by the people. Cynthia McKinney comments on the growing grassroots boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about US voters can demand Palestine's freedom
I used to tell my husband, Ameer Makhoul, “One day, they’ll come for you.” As chairman of the Public Committee for the Protection of Political Freedoms he’d begun to organize an awareness-raising campaign to push back against the security services’ harassment of our community, the Palestinian citizens of Israel. Come for Ameer they did, late one night this May, pounding at our door, ransacking our house and terrifying our two teenage daughters. Janan Abdu comments. Read more about Why doesn't Clinton care about my jailed husband?
For over 60 years, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have been denied their basic rights. Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Dalal Yassine examines the legal status of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and the “Right to Work” Campaign. She argues that greater coordination between Palestinian and Lebanese civil society organizations and solidarity groups in the Palestinian Diaspora is required in order to change the country’s laws. Read more about Unwelcome guests: Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
In Australia, with a supine government and a media unwilling to investigate Israel’s criminal acts, getting the Palestine message out to the public has been a real challenge. However, Australian unions look like they might be changing that. Sonja Karkar comments on the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement in Australia on the anniversary of the historic Palestinian call for such tactics. Read more about Boycott, divestment and sanctions in Australia, five years on
In response to intense political pressure by multiple pro-Zionist organizations, administrators at the University of California, Irvine have recommended suspending Muslim students’ right to assemble and practice their faith together on campus. Brian Napoletano reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about UC Irvine administrators call to Muslim student group for Palestine protest
On the morning of 25 May, the Board of Pride Toronto held a press conference on the lawn outside its offices to announce that the phrase “Israeli Apartheid” would be censored from the upcoming 2010 Pride Parade. The decision, aimed at banning the Toronto-based activist group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid from the parade, set off a firestorm in the community. Savannah Garmon comments for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Queers Against Israeli Apartheid refuse to be silenced
If international civil society is serious about urgently ending Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights, including ending the occupation, then suspension of SWIFT transactions to and from Israeli banks offers an instrument to help bring about a peaceful resolution of an intractable conflict. Terry Crawford-Browne comments for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about To end the occupation, cripple Israeli banks
The boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is gaining significant momentum cross the United States and Europe, including at US campuses. In response, opposition to the movement is devising new ways to divert attention from efforts to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law and flagrant abuses of Palestinian human rights. Charlotte Silver comments for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about The deceptive rhetoric of "Invest for Peace"
Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s far-right foreign minister, set out last week what he called a “blueprint for a resolution to the conflict” with the Palestinians that demands most of the country’s large Palestinian minority be stripped of citizenship and relocated outside Israel’s future borders. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Israeli foreign minister's "peace plan": stripping Palestinians of citizenship
As Israel last week declared the “easing” of the four-year blockade of Gaza, an official explained the new guiding principle: “Civilian goods for civilian people.” The severe and apparently arbitrary restrictions on foodstuffs entering the enclave — coriander bad, cinnamon good — will finally end, while a “security” blockade will remain. But in truth, Israel’s “security” blockade is, in both its old and new incarnations, every bit a “civilian” blockade. Jonathan Cook comments. Read more about Blockade "eased" as Gaza starves more slowly
