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:::::NEWS, VIEWS, ANALYSIS:::::6 November 2007::::::

Israel threatens to unleash 'holocaust' in Gaza
An Israeli minister gave warning yesterday that the Gaza faces a “holocaust” if Islamist militants there do not end their daily barrages of home-made Qassam rockets, and their increasing use of Iranian-built Grad missiles.
Times Online 1 March 2008

Infant, militant killed in Gaza missile strikes
A one-year-old Palestinian girl and a senior munitions expert for the Hamas Islamist movement have been killed in separate missile strikes in the Gaza Strip, medical officials and Hamas sources say.
ABC News, 1 March 2008

Diaspora Down Under: the Story of Palestinians in Australia
By Rawan Abdul-Nabi and Randa Abdel-Fattah
Often enough when we visit our families and friends in Palestine, in the Arab world, and across the shatat, having made a journey that has crossed more than one ocean and more than one continent, we are often lauded for our travelling stamina.
This Week in Palestine, 29 February 2008

Israeli siege creates drinking water crisis in Gaza
Report, Al Mezan, 29 February 2008

George Habash's contribution to the Palestinian struggle
As'ad AbuKhalil, The Electronic Intifada, 30 January 2008

Cancer patient becomes 72nd victim of Israeli siege in Gaza
Ma'an News, 20 January 2008

Woman Gives Birth in Street at 3am After Soldiers Delay her at Checkpoint
Tel Rumeida, Hebron January 8th, 2008
At 3am on Monday January 7th, Ahmad Sider was born in the street ten metres from an Israeli checkpoint in Hebron, after Israeli soldiers prevented his mother from passing for 25 minutes.

Funeral of Palestinian teenager killed by Israeli forces in Bethlehem
Ma'an News, 28 January 2008 

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Power to the (PALESTINIAN) People!
Jeff Halper, 23 January 2007
I am not a Palestinian; I am not one of the oppressed. I only hope I can use my privilege in an effective way in order to redeem the gift the people of Gaza have given all of us: the realization that the people do have power and can prevail even in the face of overwhelming power. We may each express our responsibility towards the people of Gaza in whatever way most suits us, but as the privileged we must do something. We owe the Palestinians and the Palestinians writ large at least that.

VIDEO: FREE GAZA DEMO - London, 26/01/08 - In support of relief convoy

Palestinian children play across a section of the destroyed border wall
between Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008

Ending the Stranglehold on Gaza
Eyad al-Sarraj and Sara Roy, January 28, 2008
Since June, Israel has limited its exports to Gaza to nine basic materials. Out of 9,000 commodities (including foodstuffs) that were entering Gaza before the siege began two years ago, only 20 commodities have been permitted entry since.

VIDEO: UN security council fails to address Gaza
Al Jazeera English, Kristen Saloomey, January 22, 2008

VIDEO: Palestinians break out from Gaza seige
Al Jazeera English, January 23, 2008
Palestinians have poured into the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing through holes blown along the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland reports from Gaza, where, due to the border breach, she is joined by Amr el-Kahky, Al Jazeera's Cairo correspondent.

VIDEO: Preparations begin to close Rafah crossing
Al Jazeera English, January 28, 2008
As preparations begin to close the Egypt-Gaza border, John Cookson speaks to
Palestinians on both sides of the Rafah crossing.

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Adalah Seeks Establishment of an Independent Investigatory Committee on the October 2000 Killings
Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, 30 January 2008

Little Arafat
Saady Abu-Hatoum, 25 January, 2007
One of the creche workers opened your son's bag and found out that he is called Arafat and he is an Arab. She spoke about it with her relatives, who also have children in the creche, and in response they removed their children from the creche because there is an Arab child there.

VIDEO: Inside Story - Bush wants peace in 2008

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Gaza Humanitarian Situation Report | 18-24 January 2008
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Clean Environment, Clean Future
Maen Areikat, This Week in Palestine, 26 January 2008
Whether by increased dumping in the West Bank of waste generated in Israel, or by obstructing the import of necessary materials to maintain or construct wastewater treatment plants in the Gaza Strip, Israeli occupation policies have contributed to the damage caused to Palestinian natural resources. Among the most recent is the September 2007 Israeli cabinet decision to disrupt fuel and electricity to the Gaza Strip.

VIDEO: The US, Israel and missiles
Kimberly Halkett, Al Jazeera English, October 17, 2007
As preparations are being made for the latest peace conference, some wonder how effective the US can be in its role as peace-broker, given its close military ties to Israel.

Courting the Jewish vote
Antony Loewenstein, 25 October 2007
For Australian Jews this election is about a variety of issues and Israel is just one of them. Like all citizens, concerns about health, education, foreign policy and industrial relations are paramount, but Israel is central.

Reaping the occupation's fruit
by Amira Hass in Haaretz
If the plot of land belonging to Dr. Salam Fayad, the Palestinian prime minister, were located 50 meters west of its present location, in the level part of the village of Deir al-Ghusun, it would now be growing thorns and thistles. If it were located 50, or at most 100 meters, to the west, Fayad's plot would have found itself on the other side of the separation fence, on the other side of Gate 609, which soldiers open and close three times a day to allow entrance to those who have managed, after investing considerable efforts, to get permits in order to get to their land.  More...
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VIDEO: Palestinian olive farmers face threat of attack by settlers
David Chater in Hebron, Al Jazeera English, 22 October 2007

Blair admits he is shocked by discrimination on the West Bank
Donald Macintyre in Hebron, The Independent, 13 October 2007

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Peace Now at the Checkpoint
Yossi Bartal, Alternative Information Center, 16 October 2007
Peace Now and their male oriented leadership have always attacked the refuseniks movement and kept on proudly committing war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories in the name of national unity and obedience to the law. One can just hope that they will stop being seen by the world as a part of the peace movement in Israel.

Another take on Peace Now from settler media Arutz Sheva in Hebron
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FueN7k0Ya8I

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IDF and Shin Bet close Gaza to Israeli journalists
Gideon Levy, Ha'aretz, 14 October 2007
Anyone who expected such an intolerable reality to stir a protest was proven wrong. In any case, the readers do not want to read about it, the government and army do not want them to know and the journalists are not yearning to tell.

Treachery for treatment
Salah Al-Naami, Al-Ahram Weekly, October 13, 2007
Avner, a former top Shin Bet officer, admitted in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Maariv published last Friday that officers in charge of enlisting agents are ordered not to hesitate in exploiting any human condition, no matter how severe, in order to enlist the largest number possible of Palestinian informants.

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'I didn't suggest we kill Palestinians'
Ruthie Blum, The Jerusalem Post, October 10, 2007
Arnon Soffer arrives at our meeting armed with a stack of books and papers. Among them is a copy of an interview I conducted with him three and a half years ago ("It's the demography, stupid," May 21, 2004), and print-outs of angry responses the geostrategist from the University of Haifa says he continues to receive "from leftists in Israel and anti-Semites abroad, who took my words out of context."

The passage that aroused the most ire was as follows: "When 2.5 million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it's going to be a human catastrophe. Those people will become even bigger animals than they are today, with the aid of an insane fundamentalist Islam. The pressure at the border will be awful. It's going to be a terrible war. So, if we want to remain alive, we will have to kill and kill and kill. All day, every day."

A lot has happened since Soffer made that statement, most notably the very withdrawal from Gaza he was referring to and so championed. In fact, the impetus for the pull-out has been attributed, at least in part, to Soffer's decades-long doomsaying about the danger the Palestinian womb posed to Israeli democracy.

"That statement caused a huge stir at the time, and it's amazing to see how many dozens of angry, ignorant responses I continue to receive from leftists in Israel and anti-Semites abroad, who took my words out of context. I didn't recommend that we kill Palestinians. I said we'll have to kill them."

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Jewish West Jerusalemites object to Arab-Jewish school
Or Kashti, Ha'aretz, 22 October 2007
One woman from the neighbourhood where the school is built tells Ha'aretz "I've got nothing against Arabs, but why do they have to go to school with Jews?" Another resident says "It's the mixing between Jews and Arabs that's the problem. The rest pales in comparison."

Getting your victims to love you
Azmi Bishara, Al Ahram Weekly, October 2007
If you want to understand the magnitude of the Palestinian tragedy and the depths of their dilemma take a look at the recent decree issued by the Israeli Ministry of Education which in essence asks Jewish and Arab schoolchildren to sign the Israeli declaration of independence as part of the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel.

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Palestine misses qualifier due to Gaza travel ban
Stephen Fontenot, San Antonio Express-News, 10/29/2007
The Palestinian soccer team missed its World Cup qualifying game in Singapore because of Israeli travel restrictions. Eighteen of the squad's players and officials live in the Gaza Strip.

Court hearing against Swiss anti-apartheid activists turns into further show of solidarity
Tuesday 30 October 2007
Today the four activists that ran onto the football playground with banners ("Free Palestine -- Boycott Apartheid") during the football qualifying match of Switzerland against Israel stood accused in the court of law of Basel, Switzerland.

:::::NEWS, VIEWS, ANALYSIS:::::11 October 2007::::::

Israel the roadblock to peace in Middle East
Ghada Karmi, The Age, October 11, 2007

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VIDEO: Settlers attack local Palestinians and Human Rights Observors in Hebron
ISM, 4th October 2007
The final day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot descended into violence in Tel Rumeida, Hebron on Thursday, as a group of settlers attacked local Palestinians and two international Human Rights Workers (HRWs).

Al-Tuwani Reflection: Water
Eileen Hanson, Christian Peacemaker Teams, Hebron
Twenty years ago the settlement of Ma'on was established on land belonging to families living in Tuwani. Many of the cisterns traditionally used by families from Tuwani and neighboring villages have been taken over by settlers. Palestinians are either physically unable to access them, or fear violence if they approach what was once their family's land and cistern.

It is clear just by looking as the contrasting lifestyles of Tuwani and the settlers at Ma'on that settler use of water is completely out of tune with the environment here. Worst of all, it is destroying the possibilities for others to sustain even the simplest life here.

People in Tuwani do not want water to fill up swimming pools. They simply want enough water for their flocks and their families to have enough to drink and bathe. Local Palestinians continue to live a life close to the land and respectful of the resources. It is the settlers who refuse to admit that they are living on the edge of the desert and adapt accordingly.

Tony Blair to visit Hebron
Ma'an News, October 10, 2007
The Middle East Quartet Envoy, Tony Blair, is to visit the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday for meetings with Mayor Khalid Al-Isaily and Governor Hussein Al-Ara.

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Support Khaled Mudallal's right to education - University of Bradford student trapped in Gaza - visit www.letkhaledstudy.co.uk
Khaled al-Mudallal is a Palestinian and a Business and Management student at the University of Bradford. He needs to return to Bradford urgently to begin the third year of his degree course.

UK boycott not the issue
Uri Ram, YNet, 6 October 2007
Regardless of whether there is a boycott or not, there is no room here for the joy expressed by the education minister and top education officials. What are they so happy with? The fact that universities in the territories are unable to function?

Are they pleased over the fact that universities in Israel can continue to teach, with no interruption, democratic and enlightened traditions as if a few kilometers away a regime of oppression and expulsion has not been in place for 40 years now?

A shameful silence
Priyamvada Gopal, The Guardian, 5th October, 2007
The organisation we look to for the protection of free speech has shut down debate on Palestine.

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Celebrating Peace or Camouflaging Apartheid? Boycott the Jericho-Tel Aviv Public Event on October 18th!
PACBI, October 4, 2007
We believe this event is being organized to promote a "peace" agreement that is devoid of the minimal requirements of justice, and that will leave the Palestinian people as disenfranchised as previous agreements have.

'Even the main organizer admits that the event isn't really about peace.'
Dion Nissenbaum, San Hose Mercury News, 9 October, 2007
"Ours is not a message of peace and love and coexistence," said Daniel Lubetzky, the 39-year-old Jewish businessman who's behind the OneVoice concerts. "It's a message of let's not let this get worse," he said. "We are fed up. We don't love each other. You leave us alone and we leave you alone and let's just have a state and get that done before it gets ugly."

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Mohammed al-Dura lives on
Gideon Levy, Ha'aretz, Sunday, 7 October 2007
There should be a tempest, a great and mighty one, but one focused on an entirely different issue: Why is the IDF continuing to kill children at such a frightening pace, and why doesn't Israel take responsibility for this and compensate the families of those killed? But no one is conducting "investigations" about this.

Parallel lives
Dalia Karpel, Ha'aretz Friday Magazine, October 5, 2007
One of the study's most shocking findings is that the soldiers enjoyed the intoxication of power no less than the kick they got from the violence.

"At one point or another of their service, the majority of the interviewees enjoyed [inflicting] violence," Yishai-Karin observes in the thesis. "They enjoyed the violence because it broke the routine and they liked the destruction and the chaos. They also enjoyed the feeling of power in the violence and the sense of danger."

The callousness of some of the soldiers produced extreme indifference to the Arabs' suffering: "We were in a weapon carrier when this guy, around 25, passed by in the street, and just like that, for no reason, he didn't throw a stone, did nothing - bang, a bullet in the stomach - he shot him in the stomach and the guy is dying on the sidewalk and we keep going, apathetic. No one gave him a second look."

There were some tough soldiers who developed an ideology holding that even minor events necessitated a brutal response. "A 3-year-old kid, he can't throw, he can't hurt you no matter what he does, but a kid of 19 can. With women I have no problem. With women, one threw a clog at me and I kicked her here [pointing to the crotch], I broke everything there. She can't have children. Next time she won't throw clogs at me. When one of them [a woman] spat at me I gave her the rifle butt in the face. She doesn't have what to spit with anymore."

:::::NEWS, VIEWS, ANALYSIS::::: 1 October 2007:::::

VIDEO: Abdel Bari Atwan debates with Ra'anan Gissen
Abdel Bari Atwan had his visa held up by Minister Kevin Andrews

Atwan allowed to enter Australia
The Age, September 14, 2007
Festival director Michael Campbell said he was in the process of cancelling the Palestinian author's appearances this weekend when he received the news.

VIDEO: Maysoon Zaid on Al Jazeera English
Maysoon Zaid says she needs a sense of humour. She is a woman, she's Muslim, she has cerebral palsy, and she is a Palestinian living in New York. She is also considered one of the most successful young comedians of her generation.

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The Israeli army closes Jerusalem to worshippers
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News, September 14, 2007
The Israeli army stopped hundreds of Palestinian worshippers who were trying to enter the holy city of Jerusalem on the first Friday of Ramadan.

Palestinian Human Rights Worker Arrested at Qurtuba School in Hebron
ISM, Tel Rumeida, Hebron September 12th, 2007
The army have consistently failed to prevent settler children from from stoning Palestinian kids as they use the pathway. A large presence of international HRW's is needed daily to insure safe passage to the school. The school was attacked and set on fire on the 6th of August.

Flying Checkpoints: What's the Point?
Eileen Hanson, Christian Peacemaker Teams, At-Tuwani, September 11, 2007
After waving a pick-up truck along, one soldier pointed the laser guide of his automatic weapon at the abdomen of the young boy riding in the back of the truck. The boy said something, and then the laser point moved, appearing next on the child's face. It was then I thought I could see the point, tragic and awful as it is. It isn't about finding weapons or stolen cars. It's not about finding the bad guy. It's a display of power. Checkpoints are a way of reminding everyone, even the kids, who's in charge. If that's the point, then these flying checkpoints certainly do that.

UN report highlights conflict over resources in West Bank
IRIN, Hebron Hills, West Bank, 11 September 2007
Israel, as opposed to the international community, does not view its settlements as a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention as it maintains the West Bank is not occupied land.

Mapping an occupation: Interactive Map of the West Bank

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Despite a Backlash, Many Jews Are Questioning Israel
Tony Karon, September 13, 2007
Thirteen years ago, there certainly was no organization around like "Birthright Unplugged," which aims to subvert the "Taglit-Birthright Program," funded by Zionist groups and the government of Israel, that provides free trips to Israel for young Jewish Americans in order to encourage them to identify with the State.

Anarchism, Bil'in, and Israel's Supreme Court
Dennis Fox, September 10, 2007
Many Israelis I met during my recent visits - students, professors, friends, taxi drivers, many others, mostly on the liberal-to-left Zionist mainstream -  were fully aware of Israel's failure to live up to its democratic pretensions but seemed incapable of moving further. Anarchists Against the Wall, on the other hand, freed of allegiance to state or religion, had a clearer awareness that injustice is something to try to eradicate rather than endure.

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Olmert delays Palestinian prisoner release
ABC News, Reuters, September 16, 2007

The New Israeli Defense Minister

Abbas' Village League
Arjan El Fassed, The Electronic Intifada, September 10, 2007

Palestinian Diaspora: With or against collaboration?
Laith Marouf, The Electronic Intifada, September 14, 2007
Palestinians see clearly that Abbas -- who embraces Israeli leaders while refusing to talk to other Palestinian factions -- was the author of the Oslo agreement that never even mentioned the word "occupation," and is now discussing a new "agreement of principles" that will cancel the right of return, legitimize Israeli settlements and threaten other basic rights.