Holding those to account in Israel? Not if you’re a radical settler: Even as concern grows about civil resistance to new government construction limits in the West Bank, a Knesset committee has approved a bill to scrub clean the records of right-wingers arrested during violent protests against Israel’s 2005 disengagement from Gaza. Under the bill,…
Showing all posts tagged West Bank
Even J Street realises the window is closing
The position of J Street has often been awfully weak in the face of Israeli extremism. The group’s latest statement is a little tougher and necessarily so: J Street is deeply concerned about increasing tension in Jerusalem and provocative actions being taken by the Israeli government and settler groups there that threaten prospects for agreement…
Mob justice in the West Bank
A shocking video circulating around the Arab world. Shots of an Israeli settler driving over a Palestinian: When a Palestinian man from Hebron entered an Israeli settlement gas station with a knife, the Israeli settlers on the scene took things into their own hands. After beating the man and shooting him multiple times, one of…
We will build and you can’t stop us, says Zionist on Israel’s tit
Pro-settler group Women in Green and their leader Nadia Matar issue a clarion call to resist the Israeli state on its pathetic efforts to “halt” settlement growth. The organisation of the far-right is impressive and Israel has for decades bowed down to these hardliners. Arabs be damned. Here’s Matar: Dear Friends, A few thoughts about…
The state of the peace process in 2009
Overland is one of Australia’s finest literary journals. Punchy, provocative, topical, relevant and interesting, the magazine re-launched its website this week and is currently running a Subscriberthon. Do it for yourself and the country. Get into it! I was asked to write an original piece for the festivities: Antony Loewenstein is a prominent blogger, and…
Hamas and Israel move along their merry way of further crimes
Sometimes a necessary comparison must be done. First, Hamas in Gaza tightens its rule and undoubtedly increases the chances of human rights abuses: Hamas rulers in the Gaza Strip plan to introduce the death penalty for gangs getting rich off smuggled narcotics. Security officials of the Hamas movement and human rights groups say drug smuggling…
When Netanyahu became Ariel Sharon
Ari Shavit in Haaretz: Few people are close to the prime minister, but among the few who are, some say he has indeed undergone a turnabout. Israel’s might, not the settlements or the settlers, is his top priority. Therefore, had there been a proposal on the table assuring Israel’s security in exchange for a painful…
Extremists should not be welcome in Australia
The following statement was released yesterday by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Sector union: Kevin Rudd is set to host an Israeli delegation to Australia led by Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom. Shalom is one of the most senior members of the extreme right wing Israeli political party, Likud, forming part of the…
Some handy tips to break the Middle East impasse
Rami G. Khouri writes in Lebanon’s Daily Star with a suggestion to break the Middle East impasse: I have a suggestion. The Netanyahu move does not meet the legitimate demands of the Palestinians, the Obama administration, Security Council resolutions or international law and conventions, yet we should not merely dismiss it and remain diplomatically frozen.…
Palestinians without rights under the nose of Western backing
Former Meretz leader Shulamit Aloni, a woman unafraid to take her country to task for its human rights abuses, unloads on her 81st birthday to Ynet: “We are a nefarious people. What we are doing in the West Bank is worse than all the pogroms done to the Jews.” But she qualified her statement by…