The following statement was released by The Middle East Research and Information Project on 7 August: The Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) denounces in the strongest terms the “trial” of 100 Iranian politicians, activists, journalists, scholars, students and ordinary citizens on bogus charges of subversion. The court proceedings commenced on August 1 and…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
Israel – remover of Palestinians
The outrage in East Jerusalem – throwing Palestinians out of their homes and allowing Jewish settlers full access to the land – is powerfully highlighted by Al-Jazeera: The face of Israel to the world.
Keeping friendly pressure against Iran
The current show-trials in Iran against reformists are a farce. But they signify a clear split in the Islamic Republic’s hierarchy. The Financial Times has a good summary: The televised “confessions” of Sayyed Mohammad Ali Abtahi, vice-president under Mr Khatami, and Mohammad Atrianfar, a newspaper editor close to former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, purporting…
The personal effect of our Gaza policy
Journalist and academic Rami Almeghari (and a friend of mine in Gaza) writes about the dire state of health inside the Strip: “Sometimes we feel we need mental health care, as the pressure we face is so immense,” said Sumaiya Habib, a mental health worker at the Gaza–based Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution…
Very unequal before Israeli law
Gideon Levy in Haaretz on the ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem: The distance between Sheikh Jarrah and Sheikh Munis has been shortened in one fell swoop. Those who contend that Jews must be given back their property cannot in the same breath deny the Palestinians’ property rights because of their national origin. It’s true that a…
A perfect way to launch a war against Islam
I’ve written many times about the military contractor Blackwater (now known as Xe Services). Their connection to the Bush administration was deep and utterly lacking in transparency. American journalist Jeremy Scahill has led the charge. Scahill’s latest article in the Nation is devastating: A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as…
When the state is really out of control
The ongoing ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem is challenged by a good Haaretz editorial: The sight of the evicted Palestinian families, who had lived in these houses for decades, paints Israel in the world’s eyes as a country that maintains a cruel regime of occupation, oppresses the weak and strives to create political facts in…
A democracy increasingly in name only
The Israeli government’s decision to target NGOs that criticise its behaviour towards the Palestinians is given appropriate context by leading peace activist Jeff Halper: Every dictator, from Hitler to Milosevic, has said that there must be no interference in their sovereign affairs, and that everyone else should butt out. But international law says human rights…
How to be crazy in Israel and happy
Yoel Marcus in Haaretz: The ready availability of weapons in a country where the entire nation is in the army has turned us into a violent society. It was truly unbelievable to see a soldier shooting a bound Palestinian in the leg while his commander held the man down. Or to see border policemen freely…
Riding to Gaza
An inspiring case of how individuals are taking the tragedy of Gaza into their own hands; governments are failing to act: Waterford native Eoghan Quinn was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of four, and found out he also had coeliac disease just nine months later. Now aged 21 and a student…