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Palestine

2009-05-05

A United Nations inquiry into attacks by Israeli forces on UN property during the Gaza conflict four months ago has heavily criticised Israel's army.

2009-03-31

Rain of Fire is a 71 page report by Human Rights Watch on Israel's unlawful use of white phosphorous in Gaza.

2009-03-19

An Israeli military college has printed damning soldiers' accounts of the killing of civilians and vandalism during recent operations in Gaza.

2009-01-23

Mousa Abu Marzook, deputy chief of the Hamas political bureau, comments in The Guardian on the outcome of the Israeli incursion into Gaza.

2009-01-20

Israeli political sources say the military aims to have withdrawn ground forces from Gaza before Barack Obama's inauguration as US president at 1700 GMT. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is appalled by Israeli attacks on a UN compound in Gaza after seeing the destruction for himself.

2009-01-17

Campaigners decommission arms factory in solidarity with Gaza.

2008-11-20

The Palestinian Authority has placed a full-page advert in Israel's Hebrew newspapers to promote an Arab peace plan first proposed in 2002.

2008-08-18

Sharat G. Lin has written a good article in Dissident Voice about the attempt to break the siege of Gaza by Sea - Can a Handful of International Activists and Two Boats Break the Siege of Gaza?.

2008-08-01

The Free Gaza Movement will shortly set sail from Cypress to try to deliver medical aid to Gaza, breaking the Israeli siege.

2008-05-09

It seems that Tony Blair is trying to organise another round of Middle East peace talks. Henry Siegman comments in an excellent article called No Middle East peace without tough love.

2008-01-23

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have surged into Egypt from the Gaza Strip after masked militants destroyed parts of the border wall.

2008-01-14

Daniel Barenboim, the world renowned Israeli pianist and conductor, has taken Palestinian citizenship and said he believed his rare new status could serve a model for peace between the two peoples.

2007-06-24

I would expect the five articles listed in Tim Bray's recent Mideast Roundup to be worth looking at (if/when I find time).

2007-06-14

I just read an interesting article by Jeffrey Blankfort called Damage Control: Noam Chomsky and the Israel-Palestine Conflict. Written just over two years ago the article focuses on Chomsky's strange unwillingness to blame Israelis or even the Israeli government for it's actions, but rather to shift the blame to the US for either supporting those actions or providing the necessary military aid which enables them. For example, the article explains how Chomsky has been probably the most sigificant opponent of calls for divestment or sanctions against Israel.

2006-12-10

The Israeli Interior Ministry ordered the demolition of more than 42,000 homes of Palestinian Bedouins in the Negev desert.

2006-11-27

Jordan's King Abdullah has warned that three civil wars could break out in the Middle East unless the international community takes urgent action.

2006-11-21

More than a third of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank are built on privately owned Palestinian land, an Israeli campaign group has reported.

2006-11-17

Cryptome has an interesting Comment on Palestinian Loss of Land.

2006-08-10

This ZNET Lebanon War Question and Answer by Stephen R. Shalom is another useful resource.

2006-08-08

Here is a translation of "Deux guerres locales" which originally appeared in Internationale Situationiste #11 (Paris, October 1967) in the aftermath of the Arab-Israel "Six Day War".

2006-07-23

Orthodox Anarchist has some interesting views on the current situation in the Middle East.

2006-07-21

CNN has this QuickVote asking whether people think the Israeli military response inside Lebanon is justified. With just over a million votes so far it is currently running at 45% yes 55% no.

2006-07-20

Three days ago, Ralph Nader published this open letter to George Bush.

2006-07-17

Thousands of British citizens are preparing for the start of a mass evacuation process from Lebanon.

The BBC has a useful Q&A Feature on current escalating Middle East crisis.

2006-03-28

About a week ago, Billy Bragg wrote and recorded a song about Rachel Corrie. The Guardian are currently offering an exclusive download on their website - see The lonesome death of Rachel Corrie.

2006-03-14

Israeli troops have taken control of a prison in the West Bank town of Jericho, destroying its walls with bulldozers and killing a guard.

2006-01-27

"The Palestinians' democratic choice must be respected" says Jonathan Steele in The Guardian. "The excuses given for refusing to deal with Hamas will not wash. This is a chance for Europe to have an independent role."

2005-11-25

An official ceremony has taken place to mark the re-opening of the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

A confidential report written for European Union foreign ministers has criticised Israel's policy on East Jerusalem, newspaper reports say.

2005-09-12

Jubilant Palestinians have taken control of the Gaza Strip following the withdrawal of Israeli troops more than 38 years after they captured the area.

2005-08-13

Thousands of Palestinians have held a fishing boat rally in the harbour of Gaza City to celebrate the imminent withdrawal of Israeli settlers.

2005-07-26

The Skies are Weeping is a new cantata by Philip Munger in memory of peace activist Rachael Corrie who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer while defending Palestinian homes from demolition. The scheduled world premiere in Alaska in 2004 was cancelled after the soprano soloist had received death threats, and will now take place at the Hackney Empire on 2005-11-01.

2005-05-04

The Israeli government is reported to have frozen the handover of West Bank towns to Palestinian control until militant groups are disarmed.

2005-03-21

The Israeli government has confirmed plans to increase the size of its largest settlement in the West Bank.

2004-10-25

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has opened a stormy debate in parliament on his plans to pull settlers and soldiers out of the Gaza Strip. He is presenting it as a necessary step to break the deadlocked peace process but it seems like part of his wider plan to make sure that there is no possibility of the formation of a viable Palestinian state.

2004-10-05

Palestinian agricultural organisations and farmers, in conjunction with the International Solidarity Movement, the International Women's Peace Service and Israeli activist groups, announce the 2004 Olive Harvest Campaign.

2004-08-20

Israel's High Court has ordered the government to respond within 30 days to a World Court ruling that the West Bank barrier is illegal.

Check out Rafah Today for reports direct from Rafah.

2004-08-16

Israel has launched a psychological war against hundreds of Palestinian inmates on hunger strike for better conditions.

2004-08-12

A senior UN official says the Israelis and Palestinians have both failed to protect civilians or make progress towards reforms under the roadmap.

2004-07-01

The Israeli High Court has issued a temporary order halting work on part of the West Bank barrier.

2004-06-17

The Electronic Intifada (EI) publishes news, commentary, analysis, and reference materials about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict from a Palestinian Perspective.

2004-06-15

Israel has begun preparations for construction work on the the most controversial section of the illegal barrier it is building on Palestinian territory.

2004-06-11

Ken O'Keefe, a former US marine, is mobilising 10,000 Westerners to be dispatched to the occupied Palestinian territories in September. It is called the P10K Force and it is planned that it will arrive in the OPT for September 11th. I remember speaking to Ken on an anti-war march in London, good luck to him.

Interestingly enough, there is another group planning to make their way over there about the same time. The Peace Cycle 2004 is a London to Jerusalem Bike Ride which is due to start in London (probably Trafalgar Square) during August.

Finally, Freedom Summer Palestine 2004, organised by The International Solidarity Movement is conceived as a 56 day campaign of non-violent direct actions by to promote freedom and justice for Palestine. Commencing two weeks from today, it too will involve Westerners being stationed in the Occupied Territories.

2004-06-10

The Israeli occupation of Palestinian land is clearly an issue of global importance. I had held off creating a specific page on the subject, partly because I was not sure where it fit within my site (one could argue that I should have put it in Indigenous Rights). Anyway, I have done it now, and merged in the following notes.

2004-05-27

A few days ago I mentioned Saturday's PSC demo opposite downing street. For more details check out this Indymedia report (note, I think the estimate of "nearly 1000" activists is too high, I know it is difficult to estimate numbers in such a situation but I would have said it was a few hundred).

2004-05-23

Yesterday afternoon I attended a rally opposite Downing Street organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign which was interesting for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it got ugly. We were standing behind crowd control barriers which were placed about 3m out into Whitehall and suddenly, without any apparent warning, the police started shoving the barriers towards the pavement. Some people sat down but the cops kept pushing, repeatedly bashing one barrier against the back of an elderly lady's head. Eventually they opened some gaps in the barriers and just started dragging people out. In response, a few people ran out into Whitehall waving banners and briefly brought a couple of buses to a halt before being dragged off themselves. The other interesting thing was in contrast very positive. There were about half a dozen Orthodox Jews who had walked down from Stamford Hill and they were protesting with us. I could have sworn that one was waving a banner printed by the Muslim Association of Britain - pity I didn't have my camera. Check out Jews for Justice for Palestinians.

2004-02-06

There is some excellent stuff at Musicweaver including reports and photos from a recent study tour of the occupied Palestinian territories.

2003-12-02

I just found a refreshingly balanced website that presents Israeli and Palestinian issues of concern. Produced, edited and partially written by Ghassan Khatib and Yossi Alpher, the goal of bitterlemons.org is to contribute to mutual understanding through open exchange of ideas. I came across the site while searching for the text of the Geneva Accord.

2003-09-26

Remember the first Gulf War when we were told that the Palestinian "issue" would be addressed seriously after we had dealt with Iraq? Nothing happened. Same story with Afghanistan and the second Gulf War. We must demand that our elected representatives make a real effort to open the way for lasting peace in the Middle East. Speaking of which, take a look at The Growth Market in Walls by Bruce Sterling.

2003-09-19

A draft UN resolution denouncing Israel's decision to "remove" the democratically elected leader of the Palestinian Authority was shamefully vetoed by the US, causing much embarrassment and despair as illustrated in this cartoon taken from the Karachi Daily Dawn.

www.zenatode.org.uk Ian Gregory 2010