In a positive review of Peter Beinart’s book The Crisis of Zionism in Rolling Stone, this telling quote: Another anonymous source is a “senior State Department official,” who recently traveled with Secretary Clinton from Jerusalem to Ramallah in the West Bank: “There was a kind of silence and people were careful, but it was like,…
Showing all posts tagged West Bank
Desmond Tutu demands real BDS action on Palestine
Powerful piece to persuade the Methodist Church to divest from companies that support the Israeli occupation: A quarter-century ago I barnstormed around the United States encouraging Americans, particularly students, to press for divestment from South Africa. Today, regrettably, the time has come for similar action to force an end to Israel’s long-standing occupation of Palestinian…
The Australian right to target businesses complicit with Israeli occupation
The position of BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions] in Australia remains highly relevant. Debating Israeli apartheid in Palestine is necessary. This case starts today: On May 1, 19 Melbourne activists will be put on trial for their political activity. In a precedent-setting case, these pro-Palestine activists will be fighting a variety of charges designed to…
What standing in solidarity with Palestine means on day to day basis
Step by step, BDS grows: Palestine human rights campaigners today welcomed news that the UK’s fifth biggest food retailer, The Co-operative Group, will “no longer engage with any supplier of produce known to be sourcing from the Israeli settlements”. The Co-op’s decision, notified to campaigners in a statement, will immediately impact four suppliers, Agrexco, Arava…
60 Minutes unafraid to tackle Israeli apartheid first-hand
The role of mainstream media in the West to shield the public from the realities of Israeli occupation is legendary. Occasionally there is a breakthrough, such as this 2010 piece on American 60 Minutes on East Jerusalem. Yesterday the same program and the same reporter, Bob Simon, returned to the subject and covered Christians leaving…
Top leader of Hamas speaks to leading American Jewish newspaper
Now this is interesting. Forward is granted an “unprecedented” five hour interview with… Mousa Abu Marzook, Hamas’s second-highest-ranking official. Here’s one explanation from an Israeli journalist: What [Abu Marzook] really wants is for Jewish Americans to convince the Israelis that Hamas is not like an animal. Perhaps, but the content is revealing. This is not, despite…
Zionist Diaspora perpetuates mass Israeli paranoia
Ilan Pappe writes in the Electronic Intifada about irrational hysteria that envelops today’s Israel: Being part visitor and part inmate in the ward [Israel] I found solace in three books, each one of which tells us how best to keep our wits even when the most armed and aggressive state in the region has replaced…
Palestinian Christians treated like second class citizens by Jewish state
Very few people understand the reality of life under Israeli occupation. Father Peter Bray, the Vice Chancellor of Bethlehem University, has regularly written missives about what it really means. This is his Easter message: Easter Sunday 8 April 2012 Greetings from this holy city of Jerusalem where again I have had the opportunity to gather…
Teaching Israel a necessary and non-violent lesson
Just another average day in occupied Palestine (via Haaretz): The state has confirmed that, acting without a court order, the army has barred Palestinian villagers from freely accessing their farmland for two years. The admission was made in the state’s response to a High Court petition filed last year by Beit Furik residents. The plots…
Shhh, don’t mention the occupation in Ramallah
Let’s not be under any illusion. Israel bans a famous German, Gunter Grass, because it doesn’t like a poem he wrote. Seriously. Meanwhile, in Ramallah, a city far too many Westerners believe represents Palestine, which it does not, the illusion of peace is out in full force. Amira Hass in Haaretz explains: Billboards declaring “She…