The Only Democracy? » Entries tagged with "Palestine"
Support a Palestinian Family Fighting to Stay Together under Israel’s Citizenship Law
Reprinted with permission from Mondoweiss. Written by Udi Aloni, member of the Jewish Voice for Peace advisory board. There has been a flood of new laws, practices and rules of apartheid in Israel. Sometimes many of us feel paralyzed because of the racist manifestations in the judiciary, legislature and executive and don’t know where to start fighting. Yet when those laws begin to destroy the lives of close friends, we know this is a good place to start. On January 12th, 2012 the Israeli Supreme Court upheld a ruling allowing Israel to prevent Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza, who marry Israelis, to reside with their spouses in Israel. This law further permits the deportation of Palestinians who are currently living with their families in Israel. I remember a year … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination, On The Ground Reports
Winter at Salem: Music Center Annual Concert – and Military Raid on Center Director’s Home
The first part of this post, an account of Salem’s music center 2011 end-of-year concert held recently in the village municipality building, was written by Ikhlas (Yasmin) Gebara, the young poet from Salem (a village just outside of Nablus). Ikhlas is sitting to the left of Erella and Ehud in the picture below. ————————————— Music is a gift for our minds and our hearts. It is a jewel that we lost and we feel happy when we … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs, On The Ground Reports
Military Trial of 17-year old Amal Hamamdeh from Mufakarah. Charge: Spilling Water on Soldier
As reported here, during home demolitions in the cave-dweller village of Mufakarah, two young women who resisted nonviolently were arrested and charged with “assaulting soldiers” under the Israeli Occupation’s draconian martial law. The older of the two, Sausan Hamamdeh, reached a plea bargain in December resulting in a fine. When reporting on that development, we were fairly confident that her 17-year-old cousin Amal Hamamdeh would see her charges dropped. After all, she just tried to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination, On The Ground Reports
IDF Investigations: Will There Be Justice for Tamimi?
IDF policy requires a criminal investigation be launched immediately when military operations in the occupied Palestinian territories cause death. But a defective system essentially ensures that the investigation will not be conducted in a fair and impartial manner, enabling soldiers to continue to act with impunity. This article was first published in The Jerusalem Post and is reprinted with permission. The death of 28-year-old Mustafa Tamimi of the village of Nabi Saleh last month raises questions about the Israeli military establishment’s investigative processes. Tamimi was only the latest casualty of the IDF’s abundant use of tear gas to disperse Palestinian popular protest. Dozens of people have been seriously injured or killed in recent years, including Bassem Abu Rahma, who died in 2009 after being shot in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs, On The Ground Reports
Who’s Afraid of Women’s Song?
Who’s Afraid of Women’s Song? The following is a testimony of one of the women, out of the 23 activists, who were arrested in this week’s Nabi Saleh demonstration (above video). This demonstration was the first after Mustafa Tamimi’s murder. It was extremely brutal, which is a relative term, considering the continuous repression that the demonstrations against the apartheid wall face, and the village of Nabi Saleh in particular. Out of the 23 activists, many were physically assaulted while handcuffed behind their backs, as Mohammed Khatib, one of the leaders of the Bil’in popular committee, describes in his own testimony. Mustafa Tamimi’s sister, Ola, who was prevented from being with her brother as he took his last breaths, was pepper sprayed in the eyes, from a few … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination, Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs, On The Ground Reports
Update about Sausan and Amal, 2 Palestinian Girls Arrested as their Home was Demolished
Our last Villages Group post reported the demolition of structures, including homes and a mosque, in the Palestinian village of Al-Mufaqara (also known as Umm-Faqra) in southern West Bank. The destruction was perpetrated on November 24 by Israeli civilian contractors (see here for a brief report in Ha’aretz). They were hired by the deceptively named “Civil Administration” – an arm of Israel’s military Occupation apparatus which poses as a legitimate governing body. The name “Civil Administration” … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination, Featured, On The Ground Reports
“Law Enforcement” Destroys Prayer House, Homes, School – Just Because They’re for Arabs
Last Thursday, November 24, employees of the Israeli company “E.T. Legal Services”, hired by the deceptively named “Civil Administration” arm of Israel’s military Occupation regime in the West Bank, demolished a mosque. Among other things. To add insult to injury, Occupation forces arrested two young women for passive nonviolent resistance (see the video below). This is not your vanilla American “Occupy” arrest-and-release, get lawyer-and-defendant-rights arrest. The girls were entered into a sealed military vehicle … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination, Featured, On The Ground Reports
Villages Group: South Hebron Hills Update
Dear friends and supporters, About one month ago we reported to you on the state of the local schoolhouse in Palestinian Susiya as its second school year opened. Visiting the school on Thursday November 2nd, 2011, we witnessed an impressive development in the construction of the school’s permanent building. These works are undertaken as a joint initiative of the NGO Action Against Hunger/ ACF International, and the Palestinian Union of Agricultural Work Committees. For our modest … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination, On The Ground Reports
World-Class American Jazz Harpist Conducts Workshop at Salem Music Center
On Saturday, October 15th, 2011, American master jazz harpist Park Stickney visited the Salem village Music Center near Nablus. Stickney was in Israel-Palestine to give the opening concert for the new Jaffa Harp Festival. The Festival organizer, harpist Sunita Staneslow and her spouse Fred Schlomka informed Park about the Salem center, and he decided to include it in this – his first – visit to the country. During his visit at the Center, Park held a … 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.