The Only Democracy? » On The Ground Reports
An Open Letter by Jeff Halper to the Israeli Jewish Public: Support the Gaza Flotilla
By Jeff Halper If we were not Israeli Jews, if the nine ships bringing 800 peace-makers from 40 countries would be sailing with humanitarian aid to an imprisoned population of a million and a half to, say, Haiti, the flotilla now on its way to Gaza would be hailed as a monumental event. The government of Israel would donate another 50 tons of food and materials and a brigade … Read entire article »
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Harrowing Update from Family of Ameer Makhoul
Ameer Makhoul, Director of Ittijah, a coalition of Palestinian Israeli Community Organizations, was arrested three weeks ago from his home in Haifa. Makhoul was unable to see his lawyer for the first weeks of his arrest and now his lawyers and his family, having seen him, assert that he has been tortured. Makhoul has not yet been charged with any crime, but the Israeli government is clearly paving the way for his indictment soon, and in the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs, On The Ground Reports
Israeli Writer Michal Peleg Calls Out Her Government for Arrest of Dr. Omar Said
by Michal Peleg Dr. Omar Said from Kafr Kana, Israel, was arrested on April 24, at a border crossing between Israel and Jordan, and is held since in prison for investigation, without trial. Dr. Said is a pharmacologist, an expert of academic and international fame in the medical use of herbs. He specializes in innovations in traditional Middle East medicine based on local flora. … Read entire article »
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Palestinian Teenager Shot, Apparently By Settler
From the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee. Aysar Yasser a-Zaben, 16 years old, was shot in his back yesterday evening in his family’s lands in Mazra’a al-Sharqiya, east of Ramallah, apparently by a settler. Aysar al-Zaben’s body was found in his plot by family members only hours after he was shot. He was found lying dead on the ground, face down, with a bullet hole in his back after being missing since the … Read entire article »
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Hebron From All Angles
For the past three Saturdays I have attended the new wave of weekly Hebron protests in the Casbah (Old City). The protests are intended to disrupt army-accompanied settler tours that pass through the Casbah each week, and demand the re-opening of Shuhada Street and an end to the occupation of the city. Although for the past two weeks the settlers have changed the time of their tour to avoid encountering our protest, we decided to … Read entire article »
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Four Beaten and Arrested at Al-Walaje Sit-In
by Mazin Qumsiyeh Our ten hour ordeal with the occupation forces started at 8:30 AM as we gathered in the small village of Al-Walaje. A tiny store with an elderly women who insisted on making me coffee and not charging me. Idyllic setting except for the heavy bulldozers now carving the hills to separate the remaining people from their lands via an apartheid wall that is planned to completely ring the village. This … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs, On The Ground Reports
Israel Arrests its Own Citizen, a Human Rights Director
Ittijah General Director Ameer Makhoul Arrested by Israeli Authorities Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Condemn Arrest as Arbitrary and Seek Immediate International Intervention [Ramallah, 6 May 2010] This morning at 3:10 a.m., Israeli Security Agency (GSS) agents accompanied by Israeli police raided Ameer Makhoul’s family home in Haifa and arrested him. Mr. Makhoul is a human rights defender and serves as the general director of Ittijah – The Union of Arab Community-Based Associations and as the Chairman of … Read entire article »
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Villages Group: First Biodigester Unit at Work in Susiya
(crossposted from the Villages Group Blog) Following the success of the Villages Group’s first environmental initiative – the renewable energy project, which has been now running independently for about a year under the banner Comet-ME – the Villages Group is now launching a second environmental initiative: Biodigester units for shepherd families’ use. These systems turn the family herd’s manure into bio-gas for the family’s cooking needs. As mentioned in our previous post, a month … Read entire article »
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Israeli Democracy: Bubble about to Burst?
By Inna Michaeli, Coalition of Women for Peace (Israel) “Uh-oh, we’re in trouble Something’s come along and it’s burst our bubble” – Shampoo, “Trouble” Just last Wednesday a new poll was published, solicited by the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research, indicating that a vast majority of Jewish Israelis think that human rights organizations that expose immoral conduct by Israel should not be allowed to operate freely. Most of the respondents also stated that Israeli citizens who support international … Read entire article »
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Demonstrators Stop the Wall, Teenager Pepper-sprayed and Arrested.
from the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee Demonstrators managed to disrupt the construction of the Wall in al-Walaje for the second time in a week . A 15 year old demonstrator was beaten, pepper-sprayed and arrested. Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators managed to stop the construction of the Wall in the village of al-Walaje, south of Jerusalem, for the second time this week. If completed, the path of the Wall in the area will surround the village completely, … Read entire article »
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Interactive Video
“You have a choice! Israeli Anti-Militarists Speak”
Four Israelis—Dorothy Naor, Sergeiy Sander and Eli Fabrikant, and Ofer Golani—talking about their personal histories, political views and activism in 132 short films.