I’ve written over the years about the many health effects of depleted uranium in Iraq. American forces stand accused of causing a massive rise in cancer amongst the local population.
Now, more questions are being asked about the Iraqi city of Fallujah, after at least two massive American attacks in the years after 2003.
Al-Jazeera reports (and features leading American reporter Dahr Jamail, who was actually in Fallujah in 2004 during the American siege):
The Israeli killing of American peace activist Rachel Corrie remains unresolved.
Her parents speak to Al-Jazeera English. They are the perfect example of moderation and strength:
Iceland may soon become a safe haven for investigative journalists and media in repressive states looking to protect sensitive information. Once again, the website Wikileaks is a trail-blazer. Al-Jazeera reports:
Bless al-Jazeera English.
A discussion about Israel Apartheid Week, asking questions about the definition of apartheid itself, the reality about occupation and rights of Jews and Arabs.
This kind of debate simply wouldn’t appear on most Western media outlets.
An interesting report on Al-Jazeera on Israel’s increasing targeting of Muslim houses of worship in the occupied territories.
As my tipster tells me:
I was in Cape Town a couple of years after the formal end of apartheid and visited an area which had been seized from its “coloured” inhabitants for the exclusive use of whites. Every building had been razed except the mosques.
The story of New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner having a son now enlisted in the IDF continues to cause angst across the world.
This Al-Jazeera report outlines the issues and provides evidence for the prosecution, namely that Bronner’s reporting is inherently more sympathetic to the Zionist line:
The Times itself has followed up the story with another comment by the Public Editor and some letters:
I believe the need for Ethan Bronner’s reassignment is clear. Could you imagine if the Jerusalem bureau chief of any major media source was the father of a Palestinian militant? It’s a nonstarter, and it’s common sense.
If a media source actually aspires to be unbiased, not just the voice of a popular liberal narrative, then the need for reassignment and a serious examination of policy are self-evident.
JERRY MAROGIL
Grand Rapids, Mich., Feb. 7, 2010
The Public Editor Clark Hoyt argues:
…There is a huge difference between being a Jewish reporter covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and being a reporter whose son has enlisted in the Israeli military. For one thing, as the letter from Ira Glunts illustrates, there is no unanimity among Jews about Israel. To suggest otherwise is to buy into stereotypes. Good reporters bring their life stories to their work and learn both to mine them for material and to correct for bias. But having a son take up arms in a foreign fight you are covering — any fight — creates intolerable pressures and appearances, in my view. I would have said the same thing if The Times had had a reporter in Northern Ireland with a son in the British military there — or fighting with the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
I tend to agree with Hoyt on this point. Bronner’s religion isn’t the issue here but his perspective. Being a Zionist is also fine but it must be fairly balanced with reports by individuals not so heavily invested in the Zionist project.
The devastation in Haiti is heart-breaking but most of the Western media is missing the key reason behind the chaos; the militarisation of humanitarian aid.
Some of the finest reporting I’ve seen is from Democracy Now!, now in Haiti itself. Here’s Amy Goodman explaining the chaos and producer Sharif Abdel Kouddous detailing the trauma. Jeremy Scahill writes in the Nation about the almost tragically inevitable involvement of private military contractors in the quake zone. Curiously, one American commentator questions the entire rationale of US aid…and argues for a cutting of support for Egypt and Israel.
Finally, he’s Al-Jazeera with the pictures:
My following article appears in today’s Crikey:
I attended the Gaza Freedom March (GFM) in late December to generate publicity for the disastrous Western-led policies towards Palestine. 1400 people from 43 countries descended on Cairo on December 27 and aimed to travel into Gaza to “break the siege”.
Palestine has become a truly globalised issue and the diversity of participants — from America, Australia, Venezuela, Cameroon, France, Italy and many others — proved that civil society is leading an issue that Western governments are refusing to address.
I travelled to the Middle East as a Jew, human being and journalist.
It was soon clear that Egypt had no intention of allowing the group into Gaza and cited “security” concerns. The Mubarak regime, the recipient of more than $US2 billion annually from Washington, is fearful of the Muslim Brotherhood and its Palestinian offshoot, Hamas.
Furthermore, Israel is indirectly negotiating with Hamas, via Egypt, over a prisoner swap deal that would see the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit for up to 1000 Palestinian prisoners. This is the political context in which the GFM took place.
GFM organisers Code Pink, an American peace group dedicated to ending Washington’s militarism, were faced with the daunting task of organising protests, actions, hunger strikes and media appearances to condemn Cairo’s intransigence and Gaza’s plight.
Performing in a police state was no easy task. Egyptian thugs were in force wherever we appeared, from outside the US embassy to camping outside the French Embassy for five days. It was fascinating to observe the disparate groups trying to find consensus over the best course of action.
One of most moving moments for me was spending time with 85-year-old Jewish, anti-Zionist Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, a woman of remarkable strength and character. She embarked on a hunger strike in solidarity with the people of Gaza and generated global headlines for the cause and issued a humanitarian message.
Epstein told me that she had received great criticism from the organised American, Jewish community — “I’m regularly called an anti-Semite and Israel hater” — but she remained determined to criticise Israel along with other countries. “Why is it not possible to condemn Israeli actions?” she asked. She was a gentle woman who longed to visit Gaza and bring aid to its people.
The week culminated in an event on December 31, a “flash mob” in the centre of Cairo at Tahrir Square. About 500 of us gathered casually in the morning before rushing to a pre-determined position in front of the Egyptian Museum. It was a sight to behold, as traffic was stopped and the group started marching down the road. Security forces raced to break up the gathering but took time to encircle the crowd.
Plain-clothed, government thugs soon started violently kicking, shoving and dragging activists to the sidewalk. I was slightly hit on the back and legs but others were less lucky, with broken ribs and bloody noses. Within 20 minutes, the protest was a lead story on Al-Jazeera and across the world. Mission accomplished.
In many ways, the GFM was forced to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. Splits between American and European groups occurred — not helped by the decision of the Egyptian regime to allow a small group of protesters into Gaza — but overall the focus remained on Gaza.
The aim of the event was not simply to protest in the streets of Cairo but to take meaningful action back to our respective countries. The Cairo Declaration, led by a formidable South African delegation, was drafted and released to a welcoming crowd. Aside from highlighting Israeli “apartheid” in the occupied territories today, it offers concrete steps forward including a global tour to increase knowledge of South Africa’s pedigree in fighting racial discrimination and adapting those tactics against Israel.
“You’re platinum,” said Mick Napier, chairperson of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Committee to the South African delegates. “You don’t understand your prestige among activists and trade unions”.
Unsurprisingly, the GFM was filled with disagreements, in-fighting and pressure from Hamas on the handful who were eventually allowed by Egypt into Gaza, but these were minor compared to the achievement of generating global and regional headlines over Gaza and pressuring the international community over its failure to lift the suffocating siege on the Strip.
Antony Loewenstein is a Sydney journalist and author of My Israel Question and The Blogging Revolution.
The extended Al Samouni family, some 48 men, women and children, was attacked in the homes they occupied together in the south of Gaza – and almost all of them were killed. Thirteen-year-old Almaza – ‘Jewel’ – is one of the very few who survived the attack in which 30 members of her family died, many before her own eyes. A Girl Called Jewel is Almaza’s story, a heart-breaking eye-witness account of the war in Gaza, broadcast on Al-Jazeera:
I’m just back from the streets of Cairo. Massive protests today for the people of Gaza and we were met with Egyptian state security brutality. Suffice to say, around 500 internationals and some Egyptians still protested in a major Cairo square and intend to remain there for the remainder of the day. Al Jazeera reports on activities across the region:
Activists, both from Gaza and abroad, have held demonstrations on either side of an Israeli border crossing to the Palestinian territory, protesting against its continued siege by Israel.
Hundreds of protesters gathered around the Erez crossing on Thursday, to denounce the blockade that has caused immense suffering to those living in Gaza.
Nisreen el-Shamayleh, Al Jazeera’s correspondent who was on the Israeli side of the crossing, estimated that about 600 protesters were present, many from mainly Arab neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem.
“They represent Israeli-Palestinians as well as other Arab civil society organisations inside Israel and also with the support of some Israeli groups,” she said.
“Their major demand is for Israel to stop the siege on Gaza and to stop the suffocation of Gazans living under this blockade. They’re also calling on the international community to intervene.”
The Gaza Strip has been under Israeli blockade since 2007 when Hamas seized power in the territory.
The Erez crossing is the main entry and exit point to and from Gaza used by medical patients, journalists, diplomats and aid groups.
International support
On the Gaza side of the border, the demonstration was slower to get started, but protesters there were joined by 86 activists from the Gaza Freedom March, an international group that has been trying to get into Gaza with food and supplies.
Most of the Gaza Freedom March’s 1,300-strong group were refused entry into Gaza by Egypt, which controls the Rafah crossing point, because of what Egyptian authorities said was the “sensitive situation” in the territory.
Many of those remaining in Egypt held separate demonstrations in Cairo.
Ali Abunimah, the co-founder of the Electronic Intifada website, who was at the Cairo protest, told Al Jazeera the group had been surrounded by the police.
“I’ve spoken to some people who were pushed or kicked by police and a few people have [had] their cameras taken away,” he said.
“I’d say there are about 200 people here. We had anticipated quite a few more, but earlier today police barricaded some of the hotels where we are staying … I can’t tell you how many people have been prevented from joining us.”
A separate aid convoy has also been trying to reach Gaza through Jordan’s Red Sea port of Aqaba.
Lorries from the Viva Palestina convoy began crossing from Jordan into Syria on Thursday.
The events around Gaza coincide with the one-year anniversary of Israel’s devastating 22-day war on Gaza which left about 1,300 Palestinians dead. Thirteen Israelis also died in the conflict.
The latest on our Gaza Freedom March, via al-Jazeera, conveys the high drama currently taking place in Egypt and beyond. Solidarity with the people of Gaza should always be the central concern:
Members of an international group gathered in Cairo to protest against the siege of Gaza have rejected an Egyptian offer to allow 100 of them entry into the Palestinian territory.
Organisers of the Gaza Freedom March (GFM), which is comprised of 1,300 people from 42 different countries, declined the offer on Wednesday, saying “we refuse to whitewash the siege of Gaza”.
Egyptian authorities had initially said the group would not be allowed to cross the border, citing security reasons and a “sensitive situation”.
The activists were hoping to march into Gaza on the anniversary of Israel’s 22-day offensive on the territory as a sign of solidarity with its people, carrying with them aid and supplies.
Egypt’s Rafah border crossing point is the only entrance point into the Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel.
However, both it and the Israeli-controlled border points have largely remained sealed since 2007, when Palestinian faction Hamas took full control of the territory after brutal infighting with rivals Fatah.
Cairo concession
March organisers had called the Egyptian government’s concession a ”partial victory” but said the offer was not sufficient.
Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada and a participant in the march, posted to his blog, saying that “it’s not enough and the pressure and protests should be kept up”.
“However, getting 100 or 1,300 into Gaza does not end the siege by itself. This is not about getting some or even all into Gaza, its building global support and pressure to end the siege of Gaza,” he said.
Roqayah Chamseddine, a US student attending the march, told Al Jazeera: “Our mission is not to be divided and sending only 100 of over 1,300 would be doing just that.
“For anyone to claim that Egypt was doing us a favour by offering to allow 100 GFM members to go is asinine and baseless.
“Those borders must be opened and as long as Egypt continues to seemingly aid Israel in subjugating the people of Palestine we will also continue to resist an protest.”
Gaza Freedom March members have held multiple small protests in Cairo, as well as on Tuesday joining Egyptian activists to demonstrate against a one-day visit by Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister.
Earlier on Tuesday, around 40 US citizens marching to their embassy in the Egyptian capital were met along the way by riot police, who corralled them into groups of 10 before allowing them access, participants said.
On Sunday and Monday, about 80 people held a sit-in oustide the French embassy to try to rally international support for the movement.
Others, such as US citizen Hedy Epstein, an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor, have gone on hunger strike to protest against Egypt’s refusal to allow the march to proceed.
Viva Palestina
A separate aid convoy, which had been trying to reach Gaza by way of Jordan’s Red Sea port of Aqaba, has meanwhile agreed to travel via Syria instead.
The Viva Palestina convoy, carrying 210 lorries full of humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza, crossed into Syria on Tuesday after spending five days in Jordan, negotiating with the Egyptian consul there.
It is now expected to set sail from the Syrian port of Latakia to the Egyptian port of El Arish on the Mediterranean, and then cross through Rafah into Gaza from there.
A statement from the Egypt’s ministry of information said that George Galloway, the British member of parliament leading the convoy, had been told by November 10 that the group had to travel through El Arish, even though it is not the most direct route.
Gazans are remembering their dead after Israel’s attack.
But according to the New York Times:
In the year since Israel launched its devastating military offensive against Hamas in Gaza, the country’s political and military leaders have faced intense international condemnation and accusations of possible war crimes.
But Israel seems to have few qualms. Officials and experts familiar with the country’s military doctrine say that given the growing threats from Iranian-backed militant organizations both in Gaza and in Lebanon, Israel will probably find itself fighting another, similar kind of war.
Only next time, some here suggest, Israel will apply more force.
“The next round will be different, but not in the way people think,” said Giora Eiland, a retired major general and former chief of Israel’s National Security Council. “The only way to be successful is to take much harsher action.”
Such talk has raised alarm among some critics in Israel, but so far it has stirred little public debate.
These actions are only allowed to continue because the Western world, including the US, Australia and the UK, continues to provide political and military cover for war crimes.
Ben White, writing on Al-Jazeera English, explains how these kinds of wars are part of Israel’s inner logic:
That this was a “carefully planned” assault intended “to punish, humiliate and terrorise a civilian population” was clear at the time.
The Jerusalem Post reported Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, as saying that Israel’s aim was to “to provide a strong blow to the people of Gaza so that they would lose their appetite for shooting at Israel”.
As hundreds of Palestinians were being killed, The Washington Post related how the “hope” of Israeli officials was that “Gazans become disgusted with Hamas and drive the group from power”.
An Israeli ex-national security adviser told The New York Times that “the terrible devastation” caused by going beyond just “military targets” would lead to “a lot of political pressure” on Hamas.
Targeting civilians to advance a political goal is a standard definition of terrorism: in the words of the US state department, “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets”. US federal law describes terrorism as violence or “life-threatening acts” apparently intended “to intimidate or coerce a civilian population”.
A final part of Israel’s political strategy for the Gaza Strip is to turn the territory into a depoliticised humanitarian crisis, its population rendered utterly dependent on international aid. This is the strategy of ‘de-development’ that has been going on for decades and which is now intensified and more brutal.
The invaluable al-Jazeera English reports:
Israel has announced a partial moratorium on settlement construction. Yet, at the same time, it has invested in those already established in a bid to solidify their existence.
In the Jordan Valley there are 22 settlements viewed as illegal under international law.
But, as Al Jazeera’s Nicole Johnston reports, they benefit from a system of Israeli funding specifically focused on kick-starting settler economies.
This week’s news from the wonderful blog Gaza Gateway (here’s last week’s edition):
It’s become almost common knowledge that on any given day, anywhere from 40-50 million liters of untreated or partially treated sewage flow from Gaza’s sewage treatment plants into the Mediterranean Sea, and an additional 20 million liters seep into the ground, threatening other water sources. The treatment plants, due to crossings policies blocking supply of fuel and spare parts, intermittent electricity supply, and years of de-development, are struggling to treat 70 million liters of sewage produced by Gaza’s 1.5 million residents each day. In September, the UN and other international agencies warned that the sewage threatens the environmental health of both Gaza and Israel.Israel lawmakers, who usually aren’t too concerned about the impact of the closure on Gaza residents, have been urged to look into the threat being posed by Gaza’s sewage to Israel’s desalination plant at Ashkelon, just 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) north up the coast. So far, Israeli Minister for Environmental Affairs MK Gilad Ardan, in response to an inquiry from MK Ophir Pines-Paz, said, the coast is clear, but environmentalists aren’t so sure. Even the general director of the desalination plant has acknowledged that seawater coming into the plant is contaminated with sewage.We often hear concern for the impact of water contamination on Gaza’s fish and its small but bustling fishing industry, as well as Gaza families, who despite the reportedly murky waters, enjoy swimming in Gaza famously beautiful beaches. But what about the surfers?
Matthew Olsen, the director of Explore Corps, an organization that promotes surfing and other recreational activities in Gaza, recently blogged in response to concern for the health of the Gaza Surf Club. The organization, which also supports a community of surfers called “Surfing 4 Peace“, celebrated the successful arrival of 12 new wetsuits which managed to clear the Israeli closure in time for the chillier winter weather and better waves. The wetsuits will protect the surfers from the chilly water temperatures, but unfortunately they won’t protect them against other threats in the cold waters.
Al Jazeera English scores an exclusive interview with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya in Gaza and seemingly finds a regime far more willing to investigate its own crimes than Israel:
Hamas says it is on the verge of starting its own investigation into whether it committed war crimes during Israel’s war on Gaza.
The probe is one of the main requirements of the recent UN-backed Goldstone Report into the conflict, which took place during last December and January. Most of the report’s criticism was reserved for Israel.
In a rare interview, Ismail Haniya, the deposed Palestinian prime minister and the senior Hamas official in Gaza, told Al Jazeera’s Zeina Awad that he is still hopeful of exchanging Gilad Shalit, a captured Israeli soldier, for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Haniya outlined what he would personally be willing to do for reconciliation with the rival Fatah movement. He also addressed allegations that Hamas tortured political opponents and suppressed their political rights.
A recent Amnesty International report documented Israel’s illegal and discriminatory control of water in the Palestinian territories. Jewish settlers get what they want and Palestinians get very little. This al-Jazeera reports shows the reality on the ground (via Joseph Dana):
Al-Jazeera reports on daily life for Palestinians in the West Bank. Israel is a democracy? In their dreams:
Juan Cole in Salon argues the inevitable:
Saeb Erekat, chief of the Palestine Liberation Organization Steering Committee, said Wednesday that Palestine Authority president Mahmoud Abbas should be frank with the Palestinian people and admit to them that there is no possibility of a two-state solution given continued Israeli colonization of the West Bank.
It is morally and ethically unconscionable to leave millions of Palestinians in a condition of statelessness, in which they have no rights. (Warren Burger defined citizenship as the “right to have rights” as my colleague Margaret “Peggy” Sommers pointed out in her new book.) Therefore, if there isn’t going to be a two-state solution, there will have to be a one-state solution, in which Israel gives citizenship to the Palestinians. (As it is, 20 percent of Israelis are Palestinian Arabs and that proportion will grow to 33 percent by 2030, if they are not expelled by sometime-Moldavian-night-club-bouncer and now foreign minister of Israel, Avigdor Lieberman.)
Debate about a one-state solution – below is al-Jazeera a few days ago, featuring Saree Makdisi – is growing around the world. True justice for all peoples of the conflict, Jews and Arabs, can only be obtained through a one-state equation:
This week in Sydney the Media140 conference took place. One of the sessions was a presentation by Riyaad Minty, head of social media at al-Jazeera. Here’s a blog report about the event by Paul Farrell:
Riyaad Minty, Head of Social Media at Al Jazeera was the next keynote speaker, and delivered a case study about reporting on the recent Israeli offensive in Gaza. His insights into the professional practice of journalism and how social media was used is a fascinating insight into the way social media can be used effectively in conflict reporting.
His discussion did not just focus on Twitter, but other online tools like Ushudhi as well, which was used to create maps about the conflict areas in real time. Al Jazeera created ‘Your Media’ when the offensive began, which allowed for people to contribute their own stories directly to the site, and according to Riyaad worked effectively for a few days until the Israeli military clamped down on communications.
The war was also micro reported via the Twitter account @AJGaza. Al Jazeera also permits creative commons for all their raw footage, to allow democratic access to their footage. Looking at all of these new ways of engaging with new media meant that this talk was as much a case study of Al Jazeera itself as it was of reporting in Gaza.
Listening to Riyaad, it’s not hard to see why Al Jazeera is one of the most credible and engaging news organizations on the planet. As Riyaad says, “its about trust, and openness within your organization”. With people like Riyaad leading the way in engaging with social media, it shows how the old professional practice of journalism can be combined with these technologies, to provide us with a comprehensive vision of events going on around the world.
But Riyaad also gave a warning about social media and that “ at the end of the day it’s a technology, and it’s a tool”. This was a welcome caution about the supposedly revolutionary nature of these online tools. Its not the tools that define what journalism is, it’s the ever-present desire to expose the truth and hold the powerful to account.
Riyaad’s compelling speech is below:
One of the world’s finest journalists, Israel’s Amira Hass – somebody who believes you have to live with the occupied to fully understand their lives and plight – appeared recently on al-Jazeera:
