Am I not a Human?

Batoul Wehbe

 The world has favored women with a special day (March 8) to celebrate their economic, political and social achievements without any consideration to the one worth being honored. The one who bore the brunt of war and discrimination, struggled, and came under torture.

A mother who breastfed her children revolution and urged them to struggle and resist deserves a small pause from the world. She deserves to be assisted to break out of the quagmire of daily frustrations. She deserves “urgent steps” to be taken from international organizations to safeguard her basic rights and preserve her dignity.

At the time when women struggle for gaining rights and equality with men, the Palestinian woman dreams of reaching “freedom” as she lives with “death” every day. Every time she walks out of her home, she puts in mind that dying might be her fate. 

 The Palestinian woman provided the teacher and the organizer who led resistance cells. She participated in several qualitative operations including martyrdom operations. She also stood long years behind Israeli bars facing the inhumane torturing and killing machine.

 The Palestinian woman provided the unforgettable names like martyrs Dalal Mughrabi and Shadia Abu-Ghazaleh, Wafa’a Idris, Leila Khaled, Ahlam Tamimi and many others.
“Israeli jails were more like graves,” one freed Palestinian female prisoner said.

«She wishes to hear
the word MOM»

Those were undoubtedly the graves for their hopes and aspirations. “While Amal Jomaa was suffering from uterus cancer another detainee was longing for her parents and family whom she hadn’t seen or heard from for six years. A detainee wished to become a mother and hear the word Mom, a basic right that women aspire to,” Somoud Karaja, who was freed lately in the October 18 swap deal between the Zionist entity and the Hamas resistance group, said.

 

 “A Palestinian woman is worth being carved a statue for, more than any president or king,” Karaja added. “You find her in every field, in politics or in resistance. She is the mother of martyrs, the wounded, and the prisoners.”

Karaja, who was sentenced for twenty years for stabbing an Israeli occupation soldier at a Qalandia checkpoint in 2009, recalls her days in prison saying she needs another two years to talk about her observations.
She recounted an unforgettable incident she faced when Israeli soldiers were taking her to detention. Karaja tried to steal a look from under the blindfold glimpsing at the Dome of the Rock. “Its gleam made me forget myself, my parents, and everything. I even forgot that I was being detained and taken to an unknown place. I had a strange feeling.” It is worth mentioning that Al-Aqsa Mosque is quarter of an hour away from Karaja’s village Safa in Ramallah, but had not seen it- except on TV- since she was seven years old.

 

Freed Palestinian prisoner Somoud Karaja

 

 It’s our right to live in this sacred land

“When I used to cross from north to south (from Damon territories to Ofer) on a bus, I used to look at our stolen land. It’s us and our ancestors who planted these trees not the occupiers. How come a Zionist settler lives with all this insolence on my land? This feeling of you being the oppressor and them being the oppressed strangles you,” Karaja said with clear bitterness.

Even after her freedom, the Israeli Mossad still summons Somoud Karaja and other freed detainees and threatens with prison should they do anything the Israelis deem unusual.

 

Bitter is the life of the Palestinians, bitter is the life of women in occupied Palestine. Coexisting with injustice and cruelty is intolerable, particularly in these occupied territories, where the tyrant is regarded as the oppressed and the downtrodden is treated as the oppressor.

 

  http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com/2011/11/am-i-not-human.html

 

In Pictures: Israeli Excavations under the Al-Aqsa Mosque

 

Zionist excavations were launched in 1967. At that time, the Mughrabi Gate was only used by Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers.

 

 

Starting from 1967, the excavations were concentrated under al-Aqsa Mosque yard, under the pretext of “searching for Solomon’s Temple”. The Excavations were led by governmental associations and Zionist organizations.

 

 
Despite the daily excavations, the alleged temple hasn’t been found. However, the Zionist authorities never stopped digging, in a clear sign that the move aims at endangering al-Aqsa mosque’s foundations.

 

 

In 2007, the Israelis demolished the street that extends to the western side of al-Aqsa mosque, along with two rooms belonging to the Aqsa mosque. In 2008, a part of the street collapsed.

 

 

In the beginning of 2008, a 200-meter tunnel was unveiled in front of the Western Wall of the mosque that links Buraq Square with a Jewish synagogue.

 

 

 A 600-meter tunnel was built under the houses of the Wadi Helwa neighborhood in Silwan. This tunnel leads to the southwestern part of the holy mosque.

 

 

A part of UNURWAH School in Silwan collapsed, along with several Palestinian houses. Mass media didn’t cover the incident in which 14 girls were wounded.

 

 

Jerusalem residents assure that they hear the sounds of excavations in the day and the night. These operations start at 7:00 and end at 11:00.

 

 

 Zionists claim they are looking for Solomon’s Temple and the Wailing Wall. For this purpose they have demolished all the surrounding buildings under the pretext of searching for the wall’s original stones.

 

 

 In 2009, the excavations led to the collapse of a traditional stairway in Silwan neighborhood. The stairway was three meters long and 4 meters wide

 

 

 “Excavations deform the archeological structures in Jerusalem”, the Head of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem (BSAJ), Kathleen Canyon said.
“This is a heinous crime”, Canyon added.

 

 

 Zionist authorities ordered last October (2011) to demolish the Mughrabi bridge, leading to al-Aqsa mosque yard, alleging it was about to collapse.

 In order to build an alternative tunnel, Israel is trying hard to destroy the bridge. The Jerusalem Municipality spokesman said that the bridge will be demolished in maximum 30 days.

 The current bridge was built after the original bridge collapsed in 2004, due to excavation works and corrosion.
Israeli excavations under the Al-Aqsa have put the mosque under the serious threat of collapse in case of a minor earthquake, heavy rain, or even an Israeli mock raid; at a time the whole World, mainly the Arab World, stands idle by.

 http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com/2011/11/in-pictures-israeli-excavations-under.html

Official: Israeli forces detain 8 Gaza fishermen

Fishermen pictured off Gaza's coast.

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) --

Israeli forces detained eight fishermen off the coast of the Gaza Strip and took them to an unknown destination, a Palestinian union official said Tuesday.

Mahfouz al-Kabarety, head of the Palestinian society for fishing and marine sports, said the navy seized two fishing boats on which the fishermen were operating off the coast.

The eight fishermen were identified as Raed Abu Odeh, Usama al-Hassi, Jamal al-Hassi, Muhammad al-Hassi, Adham al-Habil, Salim As-Sadeq, Momen al-Sadeq, Bahjat Abu Odeh.

Thanks to you– we have succeeded in delaying the expulsion in Silwan!

Solidarity Demo in Silwan, November 25th 2011. 

As a result of the campaign conducted by Solidarity and Rabbis for Human Rights, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) announced today that it would delay the expulsion of the Sumarin family in Silwan.

Over the last week, Solidarity and Rabbis for Human Rights conducted a campaign whose goal was to stop the expulsion of the Sumarin family from the house in which they have lived for over 50 years. Today, the 28th of November, the eviction order was supposed to come into force. This eviction order was signed by Himnuta, a subsidiary of the JNF.

 

As published in Haaretz , the JNF announced, following the appeals made in our public campaign, that it would postpone the expulsion in order to return to dialogue with the family. Yesterday the courts decided to freeze the eviction order.

This campaign owes its success to the great work done by our activists and supporters, who were present ‘on the ground,’ in demonstrations and tours, who wrote letters to the JNF, and who spread the news to their friends and acquaintances. We thank everyone for their efforts and cooperation. Together, we have shown that even in dark times like these, we can still succeed in our struggle against the raging extremist right.

The struggle continues

The hardships of the Sumarin family and of other families facing expulsion from their homes are far from being over. The joint struggle for decency and civil equality must go on until we win.

Follow this story on “Solidarity” web site, on Facebook, and by mail.
How does the JNF work in service of the settlers? Read here

LINK TO SITE ...Thanks to you

UN Expert Calls For Solidarity With Palestinians

GENEVA, November 29 2011 (WAFA) – Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, Richard Falk, expressed his solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for self-determination, on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Tuesday said a press release by UNISPAL.

The release issued by the United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine, said that the Special Rapporteur called urgent attention to the plight of the Palestinian Bedouin people of the occupied West Bank. “The recent unprecedented pressure by Israeli authorities and settlers to expel Palestinian Bedouin communities from Area C is deplorable, illegal and must cease.”

In recent months, approximately 2,300 Bedouins who reside in 20 impoverished communities in the hills east of Jerusalem have been informed by the Israeli authorities that they must leave the area, as part of a plan to expel Bedouin communities living in Area C, where Israel exercises total control. Reports indicate that the relocation plan may be implemented in early January 2012.

Falk stressed that “[t]he proposed relocation of the Palestinian Bedouins, without the free and informed consent of the communities, amounts to forced transfer of protected persons under international humanitarian law.” International law prohibits the forced transfer of civilians living under occupation, unless temporarily required for their own security or military necessity. “The Israeli authorities’ expulsion of the Bedouins would meet none of these conditions.”

Furthermore, the destruction or confiscation of private civilian property, including homes, as well as the transfer of settlers into occupied territory, is prohibited. Israel, as the Occupying Power, is obligated to protect the residents of the occupied territory and to administer the territory for the benefit of the residents. The establishment and expansion of settlements is a direct breach of these obligations.

“The proposed transfer of Bedouin communities raises a number of concerns under human rights law, especially with respect to forced eviction and forced displacement,” noted the Special Rapporteur. Forced evictions transgress the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Israel is party. Israel’s claim that the Covenant does not apply in the occupied territory has been rejected by all human rights treaty oversight bodies.

The Palestinian Bedouins are the most deprived ethnic group in the occupied territory, residing in the Area C of the West Bank. More than 80% of the Bedouins are registered as 1948 refugees originally from the Negev. Over 66% are children. The communities have all lost access to land due to settlement expansion. Most have demolition orders against their homes. None have access to the electricity network and only half are connected to the water network. Despite receiving humanitarian assistance, 55% of Bedouin communities in Area C are food insecure. The communities are located in an area intended for further Israeli settlement expansion, as set forth in the E1 plan that envisages a major expansion of the unlawful Ma’ale Adumim settlement.

If implemented, these plans, along with the continued construction of the Separation Wall, seriously encroach upon Palestinian growth and development prospects. They also further cut territorial contiguity between the northern and southern parts of the West Bank, creating two nearly separate areas. Even more shockingly, Israel proposes to relocate these Bedouin near Jerusalem’s principle garbage dump. The garbage dump pose would a serious health hazard to the communities, and would make it impossible for them to carry on their traditional lifestyles based on herding and nomadic agriculture.

Falk concluded “the forty-four year long Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands continues to manifest itself in deprivation and denial of basic rights of Palestinians. Every year, on this International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, we are reminded of Israeli authorities’ invidious schemes to permanently empty Palestine of Palestinians. This prolonged human catastrophe must be brought to an end once and for all. Only then can the rights of Palestinians can be realized.”

Palestine News & Info Agency - WAFA

Citizens Sue Minnesota State Board of Investment for Illegal Investments in Israel Bonds

Illegal Racist Jewish only settlement.

by Doris Norrito

The lawsuit asserts that investment in Israel Bonds by the SBI is both unlawful and imprudent, and further contends that such investment violates the Minnesota statutes that control the types of foreign investments that the SBI is permitted to make.

The Minneapolis Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC), a statewide campaign aimed at stopping Minnesota investment in Israel’s human rights and international law violations, has joined with several individuals and organizations in serving a lawsuit on the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) to demand that the Board divest from its purchase of sovereign Israel Bonds.

The lawsuit asserts that investment in Israel Bonds by the SBI is both unlawful and imprudent, and further contends that such investment violates the Minnesota statutes that control the types of foreign investments that the SBI is permitted to make. Foreign government bonds, which include Israeli bonds, are not included in the SBI’s list of authorized investments. The only exception is for Canadian Bonds.

Justification for the lawsuit is the further claim that investment in Israel Bonds by the SBI is unlawful because the SBI knowingly aided and abetted Israel’s blatant defiance of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. By financing Israel’s illegal settlement activities, including the prohibited transfer of Israeli’s civilian population to the occupied Palestinian territories in full recognition of the internationally recognized violation, makes SBI liable under International Law by affirming complicity with agencies that financially provide aid to those engaged in violation of International Law.

Finally, the lawsuit argues that the SBI is in breach of its fiduciary obligations by exposing Minnesota taxpayers to liability imposed by victims of Israel’s human rights abuses and the international law violations because of its material support of unlawful activities practiced by Israel.

MN BBC is a group comprised of Palestinians, Jews, Christians, Muslims, students, professionals, parents, community members and supporters who are working to educate Minnesota communities about injustices and the ongoing suffering of Palestinians. Their aim is to promote justice and human rights. The principle of MN BBC members contends that the people of Minnesota have the moral obligation to make sound investments that do not aid the oppression of anyone because of race, faith or ethnicity.

Members of MN BBC will serve the lawsuit on November 29, 2011 at the Attorney General’s office at 1400 Bremer Tower, 445 Minnesota Street, St. Paul. Media are welcome to interview MN BBC members and co-plaintiffs following issuing of the complaint. Copies of the lawsuit will be available to the press.

 http://www.imemc.org/article/62581

Army To Demolish A Palestinian Home In Jerusalem

We will not leave our home. Palestine Info

 by Saed Bannoura

The Israeli Army decided to demolish a house belonging to resident Nawal Al Jahaleen in Jabal Al Mukabber area, in occupied East Jerusalem.

 Fakhri Abu Diab, member of the Committee for Defending Lands of Silwan, in East Jerusalem, stated that the Jerusalem City Council claims that the home was built without a construction permit.

Abu Diab added that a planned settler-only road will lead to the illegal annexation of Nawal’s land; therefore, her home will also be demolished in the process.

The Israeli Authorities gave Nawal five months to demolish her own home and leave the area, despite the fact that she legally owns the land and the home in question. She lives there with her ten family members.

She stated that her plight started more than ten years ago when Israel demolished her home, where she lived with her children and grandchildren, an issue that forced her to move to a plot of land she owns in the area.

“But the occupation did not leave us alone,” she said. “Now they want to remove us, once again, and demolish our residence.”

The family of Nawal was displaced from the Negev when Israel was established in historic Palestine in 1948. After Israel occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in 1967, the family home was demolished.

“Now they want to demolish our home again,” she said, “I don’t know where to go, they want to take over my land, and displace us, once again.”

 http://www.imemc.org/article/62580

Israel threatens to cut off power, water to Gaza

Children in Gaza light candles

JERUSALEM — Israel warned on Saturday that it would cut the supply of water and electricity to the Gaza Strip if rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas form a unity government.

"The foreign ministry is examining the possibility of Israel pulling out of the Gaza Strip in terms of infrastructure," Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told the daily Yediot Aharonot website.

A unity government deal "would transform the Palestinian Authority into a terrorist authority and would put an end to any hope for a peace agreement" with Israel, said Ayalon, who is also a Knesset deputy from the nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party.

On Friday, Israeli ministers decided to maintain a freeze on the transfer of tens of millions of dollars in tax monies to the Palestinian Authority hours after Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas held top-level talks with Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal at which they announced a new era of "partnership."

The transfer of funds, which make up a large percentage of the authority's monthly budget, was frozen on November 1 as a punitive measure after the Palestinians won full membership of the UN cultural organisation.

"If the Palestinians have signed an agreement over a unity government, it would make a transfer of funds impossible," a senior government official told AFP.
In January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already threatened to cut off water and power to Gaza, which has been controlled by Hamas since the Islamist group chased Fatah from the territory in 2008.

Israel, which unilaterally withdrew from Gaza and dismantled Jewish settlements in 2008, continues to supply the territory with water and 70 percent of its electrical power, the rest being supplied by neighbouring Egypt or local power plants.

 http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gFjUiR1UITcwjb-zi7X0UoH6CHIg?docId=CNG.3da26ae4096a7bf3ae955737adbba454.3c1

IOF troops arrest 60 Palestinians in one week including minors, young women

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested 60 Palestinians in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem over the past week including ten minors and two young women, a report by Hamas movement said on Saturday.

It said that 18 were arrested in Nablus province, 9 in Jenin, 8 in each of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, 7 in Al-Khalil, 6 in Ramallah, 2 in Salfit, and one in each of Tulkarem and Qalqilia.

The report pointed out that the two young women were detained in Yatta village, Al-Khalil province, adding that they were 17 and 19 years old respectively. It noted that the 20 minors were 11 to 18 years old.

It said that the IOF soldiers arrested four Palestinians who were released from PA jails in the West Bank, charging that the step fell in line with security coordination between the two.

European bank pulls out of Israel after pressure from boycott campaign

by Saed Bannoura

 The French bank BNP Paribas has decided to pull out of its operations in Israel, after the bank was targeted by the international Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaign, which aims to use economic pressure to get Israel to adhere to its obligations under international law.

 Although the bank stated that its withdrawal from Israel was not due to the pressure campaign, but instead due to heavy losses sustained during the Greek financial crisis, Israeli officials and bankers have stated that they believe the bank gave in to pressure from European human rights groups to pull out of Israel.

PNB Paribas will close its offices and lay off sixty employees in Israel, and will end its financing of projects in the Jewish state.

The Governor of the Bank of Israel, Stanley Fischer, told reporters with the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz that he had met with top executives from PNB Paribas several times, and had exchanged harsh words with them when they announced their decision to leave Israel.

The Bank of Israel is a private institution that prints currency for the Israeli government and regulates interest rates in Israel. It is the successor to the Anglo-Palestine Bank, which carried out those functions until 1948, when the state of Israel was created on the land of historic Palestine.

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigners have targeted banks, financial institutions, businesses and universities around the world that have investments in Israel. The movement has compared itself to the anti-apartheid movement against the white South African government in the 1980s. Some of the main organizers of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel are South Africans who compare the situation of Palestinians to that of black South Africans under the racist apartheid system. They include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Nelson Mandela, and the largest trade union in South Africa, COSATU.

In recent years, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign has succeeded in convincing dozens of businesses to pull out of Israel, including the Deutsche Bank divesting from Elbit, a company involved in construction of the Israeli Annexation Wall, the Norwegian government’s divestment from an Israeli security firm, and Harvard University’s decision to divest from Israeli companies.

The group hopes that by using economic pressure, they can convince the Israeli government to end its occupation of Palestinian land and discriminatory laws that target Palestinians.

 http://www.imemc.org/article/62562

Palestinian students use their bodies to spell out message of peace

Peace Dove image created by children.

by Saed Bannoura

 In an action inspired by a British artist and a United Nations Agency, a thousand Palestinian refugee youth gathered beneath the Mount of Temptation near Jericho to create an image with their bodies of Pablo Picasso’s ‘Peace Dove’ and spell out the words ‘Love All’.

 The children and teens are all students at the schools run by the United Nations Refugee and Works Agency, and took buses to the Jericho desert Friday to participate in the voluntary effort to promote a message of peace in the Middle East, and particularly between the Israeli regime and the Palestinian people living under Israeli military occupation.

The artist who organized the project, John Quigley, is known not only for his living art installations, but for his activism in defense of human rights and the environment. In 2002, he sat for 71 days in an oak tree to protect an ancient grove of forests in a pristine valley from development. Fellow artist Velcrow Ripper said about this action, “It is in times like these when the very best in people comes out - when they are standing up for what they believe in the face of immense resistance.”

Quigley was invited by local branches of UNRWA to help design a living art sculpture of peace, and consulted with the children in the schools as to what the image should be. About the choice of venue, Quigley stated, “Jericho is the deepest place on earth. So let us go to a deep place to this message.”

The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Refugee and Works Agency, Filippo Grandi, praised the action, saying “The world needs to sit up and listen to the youth of this region, their message of peace is essential. It is the voice of the next generation”.

As the Christmas season approaches, Palestinians in the Bethlehem area are planning a number of such peace events, including a ‘concert for peace’ which will be broadcast live around the world from Manger Square on Christmas Day.

 http://www.imemc.org/article/62563

Israeli Military Destroys Wells Near Hebron

by Adam Kerry

 Israeli forces have used a bulldozer to destroy three wells and part of a home in the village of al-Bass, west of Hebron.

 The Ma'an News agency reported that three rooms of of local farmer Abdul Awwad's house were destroyed in addition to three drinking wells close by. The wells were located just inside the separation wall, an area where Israel has confiscated water from the natural springs to be used by Israeli citizens.

In the village of al-Mafqara, Israeli authorities demolished solar panels and water pipes that were used to supply electricity and drinking water to the local community. Local resident Nasr al-Nawaja told Ma'an “"By canceling the project, the Israeli occupation is confiscating people’s basic human rights,"

presstv.com

Israel's Culture of Rape and Immorality

Israel's President has recently been officially declared a rapist.

"...the allegations against the Iranian-born Katsav, whose rise from the slums once served as a shining example for disadvantaged Jewish immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa, stirred deep emotions in Israel, where the elite has traditionally been of European descent.

The religiously observant Katsav had cast himself as the victim of extortion and an ethnically motivated "witch hunt.""

Is this case of gross immorality at the highest echelons of Israeli society a single incident or is it indicative of a deep rooted problem in the moral framework of wider sections of the Israeli population?

Let's analyse the facts:

One in every three Israeli women has been raped or sexually assaulted, according to the latest statistics from the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (ARCCI).
There has been a rise in rape crimes, sexual harassment, incest and paedophilia in Israel in the last few years:

Crisis centers report 13% rise in complaints of rape and sexual abuse in first half of 2010

Rape and sexual assault against minors on the rise in Israel

Sexual harassment cases in Israel’s civil service rose 40% in 2010

Sharp rise in sexual harassment complaints at workplaces

Number of incest cases reported rises 14 percent

Two-thirds of calls to rape crisis centers are from minors

How deeply is this rape culture entrenched in the Israeli society? 

61% of Israeli men don't see forced sex with acquaintance as rape

How about the wider morality of the Israeli "legal system"?

Israeli Judges claim girl raped by her father 'enjoyed' sex

Religious lawmakers propose bill providing legal immunity to rabbis who advocate murdering gentile women and children

The Israeli education system is doing its part in feeding the spirit of immorality and Fascism in the Israeli society: Israeli education: Molding fascists, one student at a time

Israeli Education Ministry Approves New 'Whites Only' Settlement School
Israelis didn't even spare pregnant migrant workers the Zionist treatment
UN report slams Israel's treatment of pregnant migrant workers

It is completely understandable and warranted that Israel is one of the world's least popular countries.

Zionist propaganda always tries to identify Israel as an enlightened democratic nation but facts prove otherwise. The average Joe, with less than average intellect, falls for Neo-Con and Zio-Fascist lies.

Israel is far from being a civilised Democracy. Israel is an ethnocracy with a Fascist majority.

Further reading:
http://www.mpacuk.org/story/160710/i...-me-break.html
http://www.mpacuk.org/story/060211/i...democracy.html

Facts are Facts.

Read more: http://www.mpacuk.org/story/150411/israels-culture-rape-and-immorality.html#ixzz1cm3zjc6v

As settlers disrupt olive harvest, Israeli officer declares: “I am the law, I am God.”

Baruch Marzel Jewish settler standing on Palestinian flag.

by Alistair George 

International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Intimidation of Palestinians in the Israeli-controlled H2 section of Hebron continued today as the Israeli military and settlers harassed Palestinians and international observers as they attempted to pick olives on their land in Tel Rumeida.

Around 40 students from different Palestinian universities marched onto the land at 11AM Saturday morning and began to pick olives along with local families, activists from Youth Against Settlements (YAS) and international observers.

At 12:30 PM the Israeli police confiscated identity passes for 20 Palestinians and, whilst checking their details, forced the group to stand together and individually filmed their faces.

Standing on Palestinian flag he ripped from tree.

 The police declined to justify their actions, only insisting that they had a right to check the details of those present.  The Israeli military became increasingly belligerent as protesters challenged the legality of the actions and began to push and shove Palestinians and international observers.  After around 20 minutes the police returned the passes and allowed the detained Palestinians to leave.  They then ordered international observers to leave the olive groves or be arrested, claiming that the Palestinian-owned olive grove is “Israeli land” and that it was illegal to be on the land and “illegal to be in a group.”

Jews are not fan of soldiers when told to leave.

Rafi Dagan, an Israeli commanding officer, stated “I am the law.  I am God” when asked to explain why he was flouting Israeli law by forcing people to leave Palestinian land under threat of arrest, without any paperwork to show that it was a closed military zone.

Earlier in the day, Israeli soldiers had pushed photographers attempting to document the olive harvest and confiscated an international observer’s passport for several minutes.  Under Israeli law, passports may be shown to the Israeli military but it is illegal for them to be taken away.  The Israeli military also briefly detained a young Palestinian man, apparently for running through the olive groves with a Palestinian flag, although he was released after around 10 minutes.

Peaceful activist harassed by soldier.

In addition to intimidation by the military, Israeli settlers arrived on the Palestinian land within minutes of the olive harvest beginning and began to harass people picking olives.  A group of around 10 settlers gathered in the lower olive groves in Tel Rumeida at 11:55am where Palestinians were busy picking olives.  Baruch Marzel, a prominent extremist settler, stood on a Palestinian flag in an obvious attempt to provoke olive harvesters.  The military intervened as anger flared between the two groups and sent settlers back to their settlement.

Badia Dwaik, 38, is the Deputy Coordinator of Youth Against Settlements, a nonviolent Palestinian group campaigning against Israeli settlements.  He stressed that olive harvesting in Tel Rumeida is not just about economic necessity; it is a form of political defiance and a way to “confirm our existence and to encourage the people to resist”.

Live rounds against olive pickers and peaceful activist.

The Palestinian land in Tel Rumeida is surrounded by four illegal Israeli settlements.  A Palestinian educational centre overlooks steep, dusty terraces to the south which contain around 200 olive trees.  The centre, established in 2006 after the building was reclaimed from Israeli military control, and the olive groves below have been subject to repeated attacks and incursions by settlers in recent years.  Anti-Palestinian graffiti and the Star of David is clearly visible under fresh coats of paint on the walls at the back of the building, only metres away from a settlement.

Zionist police film detained peaceful activist.

The olive groves contain around 200 olives trees and olives were picked on around 70 trees today.  Badia Dwaik lamented the poor quality of the olives and the sparse fruit on many of the trees, saying that Palestinians are often unable to tend the land for fear of settler attacks.  There is also a chronic shortage of water in Hebron and the owners of the trees are denied permits to dig the land. For example, the YAS reported having problems with water circulation for three days and discovered today that the water lines had been deliberately cut.

According to Badia Dwaik, the YAS intend to continue picking the olives in the coming weeks as “people are scared to come and pick olives alone.  And it gives a message: we will continue and never give up.”

Alistair George is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

http://palsolidarity.org/2011/10/as-settlers-disrupt-olive-harvest-israeli-officer-declares-i-am-the-law-i-am-god/

Act now to defend today's boats to Gaza

November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Two boats, called "Freedom Waves to Gaza," are now traveling on the high seas to the besieged Gaza Strip. Their civilian passengers include people from five countries, including Palestinians from 1948. This is another non-violent attempt to break Israel’s siege, an illegal policy that has forced Gaza’s Palestinian residents into subsistence on international aid and subjected them to severe travel restrictions to and from the territory.

"Freedom Waves to Gaza" has been kept secret until now for fear of Israeli sabotage and obstruction, as happened with Freedom Flotilla 2: Stay Human. Now we have to make sure that Israel does not attack "Freedom Waves to Gaza," preventing its arrival in the Strip, as happened with the first Freedom Flotilla, in open violation of international law and with the silent complicity of the Western world. To avoid this we need your help.

You are asked to act in favor of this initiative in any way you consider effective in your context. In particular, we propose:

•Spreading the news of this initiative as much as possible, and demand that the media report about it. Israel may act less violently if it feels the world’s eyes fixed upon it.

•Pressuring the United Nations and the international community, following the example of young Palestinians in the West Bank, who will hold a sit-in at the UN complex in Ramallah, asking the international body “to take urgent action to protect this mission as well as to end its compliance with Israel’s criminal blockade of Gaza.”

•Organizing protests if Israel's reaction threatens to prevent the activists from reaching the port of Gaza.

We appeal to your humanity to act, and act with urgency. The boats have already left port and the success of this enterprise, depends on the support they receive from the outside.

--
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SA academic study finds that Israel is practicing apartheid and colonialism in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

The Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa (HSRC) has released a study indicating that Israel is practicing both colonialism and apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The study is being posted for public debate on this website.

The interim report, which will form part of a discussion at an upcoming HSRC conference on the subject, titled Re-envisioning Israel/Palestine, on 13 and 14 June in Cape Town, serves as a document to be finalised later this year.

The HSRC commissioned an international team of scholars and practitioners of international public law from South Africa, the United Kingdom, Israel and the West Bank to conduct the study. The resulting 300-page draft, titled Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid?: A re-assessment of Israel's practices in the occupied Palestinian territories under international law, represents 15 months of research and constitutes an exhaustive review of Israel's practices in the OPT according to definitions of colonialism and apartheid provided by international law. The project was suggested originally by the January 2007 report by eminent South African jurist John Dugard, in his capacity as Special Rapporteur to the United Nations Human Rights Council, when he indicated that Israel practices had assumed characteristics of colonialism and apartheid.

Regarding colonialism, the team found that Israel's policy and practices violate the prohibition on colonialism which the international community developed in the 1960s in response to the great decolonisation struggles in Africa and Asia. Israel's policy is demonstrably to fragment the West Bank and annex part of it permanently to Israel, which is the hallmark of colonialism. Israel has appropriated land and water in the OPT, merged the Palestinian economy with Israel's economy, and imposed a system of domination over Palestinians to ensure their subjugation to these measures. Through these measures, Israel has denied the indigenous population the right to self-determination and indicated clear intention to assume sovereignty over portions of its land and natural resources. Permanent annexation of territory in this fashion is the hallmark of colonialism.

Regarding apartheid, the team found that Israel's laws and policies in the OPT fit the definition of apartheid in the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. Israeli law conveys privileges to Jewish settlers and disadvantages Palestinians in the same territory on the basis of their respective identities, which function in this case as racialised identities in the sense provided by international law. Israel's practices are corollary to five of the six 'inhuman acts' listed by the Convention. A policy of apartheid is especially indicated by Israel's demarcation of geographic ‘reserves' in the West Bank, to which Palestinian residence is confined and which Palestinians cannot leave without a permit. The system is very similar to the policy of ‘Grand Apartheid' in apartheid South Africa, in which black South Africans were confined to black homelands delineated by the South African government, while white South Africans enjoyed freedom of movement and full civil rights in the rest of the country. 

The Executive Summary of the report says that the three pillars of apartheid in South Africa are all practiced by Israel in the OPT. In South Africa, the first pillar was to demarcate the population of South Africa into racial groups, and to accord superior rights, privileges and services to the white racial group. The second pillar was to segregate the population into different geographic areas, which were allocated by law to different racial groups, and restrict passage by members of any group into the area allocated to other groups. And the third pillar was "a matrix of draconian ‘security' laws and policies that were employed to suppress any opposition to the regime and to reinforce the system of racial domination, by providing for administrative detention, torture, censorship, banning, and assassination."

The Report finds that Israeli practices in the OPT exhibit the same three 'pillars' of apartheid:

The first pillar "derives from Israeli laws and policies that establish Jewish identity for purposes of law and afford a preferential legal status and material benefits to Jews over non-Jews". 

The second pillar is reflected in "Israel's 'grand' policy to fragment the OPT [and] ensure that Palestinians remain confined to the reserves designated for them while Israeli Jews are prohibited from entering those reserves but enjoy freedom of movement throughout the rest of the Palestinian territory. This policy is evidenced by Israel's extensive appropriation of Palestinian land, which continues to shrink the territorial space available to Palestinians; the hermetic closure and isolation of the Gaza Strip from the rest of the OPT; the deliberate severing of East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank; and the appropriation and construction policies serving to carve up the West Bank into an intricate and well-serviced network of connected settlements for Jewish-Israelis and an archipelago of besieged and non-contiguous enclaves for Palestinians". 

The third pillar is "Israel's invocation of 'security' to validate sweeping restrictions on Palestinian freedom of opinion, expression, assembly, association and movement [to] mask a true underlying intent to suppress dissent to its system of domination and thereby maintain control over Palestinians as a group."

The research team included scholars and international lawyers based at the HSRC, the School for Oriental and African Studies (London), the British Institute for International and Comparative Law, the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (Durban), the Adalah/Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and al-Haq/West Bank Affiliate of the International Commission of Jurists. Consultation on the study's theory and method was provided by eminent jurists from South Africa, Israel and Europe.

The HSRC serves as the national social science council for South Africa. The Middle East Project of the HSRC is an independent two-year project to conduct analysis of Middle East politics relevant to South African foreign policy, funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Government of South Africa. The analysis in this report is entirely independent of the views or foreign policy of the Government of South Africa and does not represent an official position of the HSRC. It is intended purely as a scholarly resource for the South African government and civil society and the concerned international community. 

For more information or interviews, contact: mep@hsrc.ac.za  or             +27-21-466-7924      .

http://www.hsrc.ac.za/Media_Release-378.phtml

Israel Conducts a Successful Test Firing of Ballistic Missile

by Mais Azza
Israel has conducted a successful test firing of a ballistic missile on Wednesday, from the military airbase of Palmahim, the Palestinian news agency, Ma’an reported.

Many Israeli citizens thought the event was the firing of rockets into their towns; no alarms were heard and many were treated for shock.

Israel did not release information about the missile. Therefore no one knows whether the event was an effective test for the “Arrow 3” missile, or just an intercontinental ballistic one that can strike a target over 5000 kilometers away.

It is worth mentioning that a British report has been released confirming that Israel owns intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear capability.

http://www.imemc.org/article/62417

A Glimpse Into Israeli Nuclear Madness

Introduction by Gilad Atzmon

November 01, 2011 "Gilad Atzmon" -- Please read the following Haaretz report and ask yourself why does Israel need so many nuclear bombs? Why does it need ‘transcontinental missiles’? Why does the Jewish State think it terms of ‘second strike nuclear option’?

I am afraid that the answer is pretty devastating. Israel defines itself as the Jewish State. It is shaped by Jewish culture and driven by Jewish ideology. Israeli militarized madness is devastatingly consistent with the Biblical Samson story.

God granted Samson supernatural strength in order to combat his enemies but it didn’t take long before he killed himself in action while committing a genocide. 'Let me die with the Philistines!' (Judges 16:30) says Samson as he pulls down the temple killing thousands of elders, women and children. Devastatingly enough, ‘suicidal genocide’ is well imbued in the Israeli strategic and tactical vision.

But Israel is also driven by a unique collective mental condition namely the Pre Traumatic Stress Disorder (Pre-TSD). Israel’s actions in the present are shaped by a future imaginary phantasmic trauma.

I guess that the combination of Samson’s ideology, Pre TSD and hundreds of nuclear warheads may as well mean an inevitable disaster.

Report: Israel seeking to upgrade its nuclear weapons capabilities

Israel is extending the range of its Jericho 3 missiles and upgrading its sea-based cruise missiles, according to an independent U.K. commission report published in the Guardian.

By Haaretz

Israel is working on improving its nuclear weapons capabilities, according to a report by the independent Trident commission in the United Kingdom that was published in the Guardian newspaper on Monday.

According to the report in the Guardian, Israel is extending the range of its Jericho 3 land-to-land missiles so they will have the capabilities of transcontinental missiles.

Transcontinental missiles are generally thought of as missiles with ranges of about 5,000 miles.

The Guardian also reported that Israel is also striving to improve and expand the capabilities of its cruise missiles, designed to be launched from submarines. Israel currently has three submarines and two more are under construction in Germany. Israel and Germany are holding talks about the construction of a sixth submarine.

According to foreign media reports, Israel's submarines are meant to give Israel a "second strike" nuclear option, meaning that Israel can strike back with nuclear weapons from submarines at hidden locations at sea even if its nuclear weapons stored on land are harmed in an enemy nuclear strike.

According to the report in the Guardian, the world's nuclear states are planning to spend more than $800 billion in the coming years to modernize and upgrade their nuclear arsenals. The United States itself will spend $700 billion dollars on such projects. Other countries that will reportedly invest in upgrading their nuclear arsenals are Russia, China, Pakistan, India, Israel, France and Britain.

קראו כתבה זו בעברית: דיווח בבריטניה: ישראל משפרת את יכולות הנשק הגרעיני שלה

This story is by: - Haaretz

European Poll: Israel Biggest Threat To World Peace

By Jewish Federations of North America

November 01, 2011 "Jewish Federations of North America" - -Results of a new poll commissioned by the European Commission show that Israel is believed by Europeans in 15 countries to be the greatest threat to world peace, greater than North Korea, Iran or Afghanistan.

While the European Commission will release the full results of the poll on Monday, the International Herald Tribune reported that the 7,500 people polled living in the European Union (500 in each of the 15 E.U. member states) were presented with a list of 15 countries and asked if these countries present a threat to world peace. Shockingly, Israel was rated first.

This poll is an indication that Europeans have bought into the vilification and demonization campaign directed against the State of Israel and her supporters by European leaders and media.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is voicing its outrage directly to European Commission President Romano Prodi and asks you to do the same.

"These shocking results, that Israel is the greatest threat to world peace, bigger than North Korea, Iran and Afghanistan, defies logic and is a racist flight of fancy that only shows that anti-Semitism is deeply embedded within European society, more now than in any other period since the end of World War II," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the Center's dean and founder.

"If the results of this survey are as reported, then Israel should draw the only conclusion possible: that the European Union and its members should play no role in any future Middle East peace process," Hier concluded.

Center officials are scheduled to meet with Javier Solana, Secretary General of the European Union, in November to discuss this and related issues.

Copyright © 2011 The Jewish Federations of North America, Inc.