The Electronic Intifada

Israel indicts tortured rights activist Ameer Makhoul

Jonathan Cook Nazareth 27 May 2010


A leading human rights activist from Israel’s Palestinian Arab minority was charged yesterday with the most serious security offenses on Israel’s statute book, including espionage. Prosecutors indicted Ameer Makhoul, the head of Ittijah, an umbrella organization for Arab human rights groups in Israel, with spying on security facilities on behalf of Hizballah after an alleged meeting with one of its agents in Denmark in 2008. Jonathan Cook reports. 

Gaza home demolitions spark anger, highlight housing crisis

Rami Almeghari Rafah, Gaza Strip 27 May 2010


On 16 May, bulldozers demolished 20 houses in the al-Barahma neighborhood west of Rafah in the southern occupied Gaza Strip. This tragic scene has been repeated all too many times in Palestine’s history, but what made this different, and a subject of great controversy and outcry, is that it was carried out by the Palestinian Land Authority (PLA), backed by police from the Hamas government. Rami Almeghari reports for The Electronic Intifada. 

The PA's disingenuous boycott campaign

Ali Abunimah 25 May 2010


The Palestinian Authority (PA) has lately made a show of calling on Palestinians to boycott goods manufactured in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Despite the rhetoric of defiance, the effort actually appears designed to undermine and abort the broader Palestinian and global civil society campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions, and to reassure Israel of the PA’s ongoing collaboration. Ali Abunimah comments. 

Interview: ethnic cleansing inside the green line

Nora Barrows-Friedman 25 May 2010


Rawia Abu Rabia, a social activist and human rights lawyer with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, represents her community and advocates for their human and civil rights as the state continues to discriminate and uproot citizens across the country. Nora Barrows-Friedman interviewed Abu Rabia on the ongoing displacement of Palestinians inside Israel. 

Living the Nakba in Gaza

Eva Bartlett 23 May 2010


GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - This is the month for Palestinians to remember their Nakba, or “catastrophe,” in which more than 700,000 women, men and children were pushed off their land and rendered homeless refugees by the Zionist attacks before, during and after the founding of Israel in 1948. 

Rampant employment discrimination against Palestinian workers in Israel

Jonathan Cook 21 May 2010


Unemployed computer engineer Morad Lashin would like to work in Israel’s Electricity Company, a large state utility, but admits his chances of being recruited are slim. The reasons were set out in graphic form this month when a parliamentary committee revealed that only 1.3 percent of the company’s 12,000 workers are Arab, despite the Palestinian Arab minority constituting nearly 20 percent of the population. Jonathan Cook reports. 

PA to EI: No new roads being built with USAID funding

Ghassan Khatib 20 May 2010


In his article “USAID funding Israel’s apartheid road construction” (17 May 2010) Jonathan Cook levels a number of serious accusations against the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). While his disdain for Israel’s occupation is to be applauded, his criticisms of the PNA ignore some fundamental facts with regards to road construction in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.