When does the banishment of an entire people become morally justified? That such a question can even be posed in today’s Israel is dismal testament to the transformation of Zionism into what it claims to abhor. EI’s Ali Abunimah comments on two recent, extraordinary documents — an article in The Guardian and an interview with Ha’aretz — in which Israeli historian Benny Morris approves of Israeli “ethnic cleansing” of the Palestinians in 1948, calls it “necessary” and prepares the ground for Israel to justify any future atrocity including renewed expulsion of all the Palestinians from their homeland. Read more about Moral decay and Benny Morris 

Apartheid South Africa, which Israel increasingly resembles in the eyes of the world, taught an important lesson: the nuclear weapons which the apartheid regime developed with Israeli assistance were no defence against a majority population struggling for its freedom. EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah argues that none of the excuses for the world ignoring Israel’s weapons of mass destruction hold water, and Middle East disarmament should begin with the one state that possesses deployed nuclear weapons aimed at its neighbors. Read more about Putting Israel's weapons above the law 

The youth who play football on the small streets and narrow alleys of Bourj El Barajneh represent an entire generation of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon who live in a day-to-day low intensity war. This is a war waged against Palestinian refugees by the Lebanese government. It is not waged through military campaigns as in the Lebanese civil war, but through policies and laws which are slowly choking the life from Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps. Stefan Christoff reports from Beirout. Read more about Living War: Palestinians Refugees in Lebanon 

While state department officials and historians assemble on Washington DC this week to discuss the 1967 war in the Middle East, Admiral Thomas Moorer, who was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1970 to 1974, is compelled to speak out about one of U.S. history’s most shocking cover-ups. On June 8th, 1967, Israel attacked our proud naval ship — the USS Liberty — killing 34 American servicemen and wounding 172. Those men were then betrayed and left to die by our own government. Admiral Moorer believes the American people deserve to know the truth about this attack. Read more about A Legacy of Betrayal 

Israeli occupation forces have issued land confiscation orders to 28 families in the town of Dair al-Balah. Located near the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom in the Central Gaza strip, the total area subject to confiscation and eventual “fencing in” is approximately 1000 dunums – the equivalent of one square kilometre - according to the Central Area Governorate. The move comes despite declarations by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon earlier in the week that he might withdraw from some of the more controversial and costly settlements in remote areas of the Gaza Strip. Laila El-Haddad reports from the Gaza Strip. Read more about Israel orders land seizures in Gaza 

The Ambassador of Israel in The Netherlands, Eitan Margalit spoke to an audience of mainly international lawyers on 20 November 2003 in The Hague, followed by an outpouring of criticism. Even a sympathetic observer present at the lecture would not fail to have noticed how thin the Israeli government’s arguments have become in objecting to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Jeff Handmaker, a Jewish human rights lawyer based in the Netherlands argues that the Israeli government’s insistence upon the “rule of law” yet refusal to submit to a supranational court is blatantly hypocritical. Read more about Running out of steam: Israel’s empty objections to the International Criminal Court 

Activists from several peace and justice groups gathered infront of the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles yesterday to protest against the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The protests were prompted by the four-week siege and attacks on the town of Nablus. During this time, at least 18 Palestinians had been killed and over 250 injured. The town had been under 24-hour curfew much of the time, and homes have been demolished in the Balata refugee camp, Beit Foreek, and the historic center of the city. The rally in LA was a signal of solidarity with the people of Nablus and other areas that are continuously under attack. Read more about LA activists rally in solidarity with the Palestinian People 

Many of Israel’s apologists, and even former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, quote Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declaring, “anti-Zionist is inherently anti-Semitic, and ever will be so.” There’s only one problem with this famous quote: King never said it, because its a hoax. EI contributors Fadi Kiblawi and Will Youmans investigate the use and abuse of Dr. King’s legacy to justify Israeli abuses, and silence criticism of Israel. Read more about Israel's apologists and the Martin Luther King Jr. hoax  

Ayed Morar, or Abu Ahmed as he is known to all, sits in jail tonight and I wonder if he is thinking of Martin Luther King, Jr. Unlike Dr. King, Abu Ahmed will not be leaving jail anytime soon, and is he unable to protest his imprisonment by exemplifying the moral injustice done to him and his people, for the world’s powers have maintained a deaf ear to the plight of the Palestinian people. Like Dr. King, however, Abu Ahmed is in jail for organizing and participating in nonviolent direct action against unjust, discriminatory and violent policies targeting his people on the basis of their ethnicity. Adam Shapiro writes. Read more about Unbound Spirit: Ayed Morar and Martin Luther King