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Top 10 Reasons why Rafah opening doesn’t cut it
From Gisha’s Gaza Gateway, more on the inadequacy of the new Rafah Crossing rules on the Egypt-Gaza border. The top 10 reasons why the opening of Rafah Crossing just doesn’t cut it In no particular order of importance, we thought we’d list some of the reasons why the opening of Rafah, while significant and helpful, doesn’t meet all of Gaza’s needs for access and why, as some voices in Israel have recently suggested, it can’t serve as Gaza’s only access point. Despite four unanticipated days of closure last week, the crossing has been operating for the passage of travelers on a more regular but still semi-limited basis. Passage through the crossing remains limited: Egypt has indicated that it will operate the crossing six days per week during regular working hours, but it … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
Guardian series of videos by East Jerusalemites
If, like me, you are disgusted by the minstrelry of Tom MacMaster pretending he was a queer Syrian woman here’s a good antidote. The Guardian has published a series of videos made by Palestinians and Israelis in occupied East Jerusalem who were given cameras by the Israeli human rights group B’tselem and documented their lives. H/t to +972 Magazine for bringing this too my attention. Five of the six videos below, the final one with Israeli … Read entire article »
Filed under: On The Ground Reports
Restrooms and Sanitation at Umm-Al-Kheir (a story for Shavuot)
Mohammed Salem is about 30 years old. He lives in Umm-Al-Kheir, in a home inherited from his late father right next to the fence of the Carmel settlement (sometimes spelled “Karmel”; see picture). In 2005, when Carmel built an expansion neighborhood, Mohammed was beaten by settlers involved in the construction. Since this assault, he has suffered from post-traumatic stress (PTSD). He has stopped functioning, fears and runs away from any stranger, and even from some family … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination, On The Ground Reports
Gaza not un-besieged after all
When I was arguing with AIPAC attendees in Washington D.C., the one thing they didn’t seem to have an answer for was if the occupation of Gaza was supposedly over, why was Israel controlling all its borders? Well, with the seemingly heartening news that Egypt’s military government was opening the Rafah crossing, Israel’s defenders could briefly claim that even the Siege was over! This was absurd on the face of it, as Larry Derfner points out, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination, Featured
Why do protesters only count in Syria?
Mitchell Plitnick has an argument here about why Syria should stay out of Palestinian protests. It’s an interesting case though I am happy to see the larger issue of the Palestinian refugee diaspora raised, I agree that Syria is a deeply flawed messenger, given its current brutal crackdown on its own demonstrators. The New York Times coverage of the “Naksa” (a word I am embarrassed to admit I just learned this year” seems to support Plitnick’s … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
Bassem Tamimi speaks out in Israeli Court at the beginning of his trial
from the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee Bassem Tamimi, the subject of an action alert by Jewish Voice for Peace, speaks up for freedom on the 44th anniversary of Israel’s Occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, June 5th, 2011. Tamimi’s full statement: Your Honor, I hold this speech out of belief in peace, justice, freedom, the right to live in dignity, and out of respect for free thought in the absence of Just Laws. Every time I am called to appear before your courts, I become nervous and afraid. Eighteen years ago, my sister was killed by in a courtroom such as this, by a staff member. In my lifetime, I have been nine times imprisoned for an overall of almost 3 years, though I was never charged or convicted. … Read entire article »
Filed under: On The Ground Reports
Ras al-Amud
May 27, 2011 We gather at 4:00 outside the settlers’ multi-story stone building opposite the old police station at Ras al-Amud, on the Mount of Olives. This was the week of Netanyahu’s speech before Congress; if, utterly unlikely as this may be, there is anyone in the world who failed to notice that he was lying through his teeth, then Wednesday’s official ceremony unveiling the new settlement here in East Jerusalem should be enough to remove the veil. He used the … Read entire article »
Filed under: On The Ground Reports
May 21, 2011: Music Teachers and Students from Tel-Aviv Visit Salem’s Music Center
Last Saturday, May 21st, 2011, the music center in Salem village near Nablus hosted teachers and pupils of Tel Aviv Municipal Arts High School A. This visit is a result of the ties that the school principal, Ram Cohen, and Dr. Ruthie Katz, the school’s music major coordinator, began to nurture with the Salem Music Center last summer. About two months ago, the staff of the music center visited the Tel Aviv Arts High School. They attended a demonstration class prepared for them by Mario Solan, musical expression teacher, and his students, Itamar Bellaiche and Noam Da Kalo. Last Saturday, Itamar and Noam arrived with their mothers Anna and Mali for their first visit at the Salem Music Center and joined a class that took place there, together with Mario … Read entire article »
Filed under: On The Ground Reports
Palestinian Right to Education: The Case of Awarta
Itamar, the settlement where a family of five was brutally murdered in early March, borders the village of Awarta near Nablus, and is illegally built on village land. Immediately following the murder, and continuing for weeks thereafter, the Israeli military carried out pogrom-like incursions into the village—raiding homes, making mass arrests, destroying property, beating and torturing residents, and imposing extended curfews during which villagers could not leave even to procure food or seek medical attention. A just-released report from the UNESCO Chair on Human Rights at An Najah National University in Nablus focuses on the impact of this policy of collective punishment on the right to education of over 100 University students from Awarta. The Israeli military operations carried out in Awarta over the past month and a half have left the … Read entire article »
Filed under: On The Ground Reports
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.