Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler3 February 2010
SILWAN, occupied East Jerusalem (IPS) - Backed by armed security men, the municipal inspectors race their jeeps through the narrow alleyways and up a hillside crowded with buildings. One block of flats stands out for its unusual seven-story height in an area of the city where two or three storied buildings are the norm. And then there is the giant, blue-and-white Israeli national flag draped demonstratively over the front of the building, from the roof down to the ground. Read more about Raze illegal buildings -- unless they are Jewish
Celebrated Iraqi musician Naseer Shamma plays emotive compositions in beautiful tones on the oud to major audiences across the Middle East, stirring musical reflections on human realities in US-occupied Iraq. Although Iraqi current affairs are clearly interwoven into Shamma’s sound, it is also unique musical talent that has earned Shamma a reputation as one of the world’s preeminent oud players. Stefan Christoff profiles Shamma for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Naseer Shamma and the music of resistance
OCCUPIEDGAZASTRIP (IRIN) - Mona al-Samouni, 12, is depressed and has nightmares about the day — just more than a year ago — when she witnessed her parents and a number of relatives being shot by Israeli soldiers in their home in Zeitoun, southeast of Gaza City. Like a number of other children who witnessed horrific events during last year’s 23-day Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, Mona has become increasingly withdrawn and silent — common ways of coping with tragedies, doctors say. Read more about Nightmares continue to plague Gaza children
BRUSSELS (IPS) - Defenders of Israel’s aggressive stance have for many years been recognized as a powerful force shaping United States foreign policy. A less well-known fact is that the pro-Israel lobby has been making a concerted effort to strengthen its presence in Europe. The lobby’s determination to make an impression on European Union (EU) policy-makers was exemplified by a new booklet published on 28 January. Read more about Pro-Israel lobbies target Europe
The Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA), based in Nazareth, is one of the first human rights organizations in Israel, founded during the first Palestinian intifada by lawyers and community activists to monitor human rights violations. The Electronic Intifada contributor Adri Nieuwhof recently interviewed Mohammad Zeidan, the general director of HRA. Read more about Interview: "We need a new, united strategy as one people"
Leaders of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel warned this week that they were facing an unprecedented campaign of persecution designed to stop their political activities. The warning came after Said Nafaa, a Druze member of the Israeli parliament was stripped of his immunity last week, clearing the way for him to be tried for a visit to Syria three years ago. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Palestinian politicians face tide of persecution in Israel
WASHINGTON, (IPS) - The Jordanian government should halt the arbitrary revocation of nationality from its citizens of Palestinian origin, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released Monday. The report, “Stateless Again: Palestinian-Origin Jordanians Deprived of their Nationality,” details the Jordanian government’s efforts to strip more than 2,700 Jordanians of their citizenship between 2004 and 2008. Read more about Palestinians unfairly stripped of citizenship in Jordan
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Palestinian politics are at an impasse. The four-year term of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) ended on 25 January with no new elections planned. Presidential elections, meant to be held last year, were also postponed indefinitely. IPS spoke with Dr. Mahmoud Ramahi, a neurosurgeon and secretary-general of the PLC, on the political deadlock. Read more about Hamas parliamentarian: "We accept existence of Israel within 1967 borders"
Nazareth-born filmmaker Elia Suleiman is one of the darlings of Cannes and stands out from the pack of contemporary Palestinian filmmakers for his unique style of filmmaking based on sewing together a series vignettes, silence — an emphasis on visual storytelling versus dialogue, and deadpan comedy found in often grim humor in the lives of everyday people living under the tyranny of what he calls a “pathetic occupation.” Sabah Haider recently interviewed Suleiman for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about "A different kind of occupation": an interview with Elia Suleiman
After the 1967 war the value of the kibbutz — instrumental in defining territory for the Jewish State of Israel — as a frontline force had become obsolete. The then burgeoning settler movement soon came to replace the kibbutz as a central colonizing body. Occupying Palestinian land and cultivating it to be inhabited by exclusively Jewish communities, the strategies of settlers are not much different than early kibbutzniks. Carmelle Wolfson writes. Read more about "Redeeming" the land: from kibbutzniks to Hilltop Youth
