A Palestinian farmer takes part in a protest against Israel's controversial separation barrier near the West Bank village of Beir Fajjar, south of Bethlehem, April 27, 2007. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun (WEST BANK)

A Palestinian farmer takes part in a protest against Israel's controversial separation barrier near the West Bank village of Beir Fajjar, south of Bethlehem, April 27, 2007. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun (WEST BANK)

A Swedish peace activist holds up balloons, in the colours of the Palestinian flag, during a protest against Israel's controversial separation barrier near the West Bank village of Beir Fajjar, south of Bethlehem, April 27, 2007. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun (WEST BANK)

Israeli soldiers scuffle with a Palestinian farmer during a protest against Israel's controversial separation barrier near the West Bank village of Beir Fajjar, south of Bethlehem, April 27, 2007. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun (WEST BANK)

Two Palestinian refugee boys jump over an open sewage canal in front of Louis Michel, the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, left, on his visit to Jarash Palestinian refugee camp, some 50 Kilometers, 31 miles, north of Amman, Jordan, Friday, April 27, 2007. Michel is conducting a five day trip in the Middle East to assess the humanitarian situation of the Palestinian refugees.(AP Photo/Nader Daoud)

Bedouin Arabs race camels during a local festival in the Negev Desert near the city of Arad, southern, Israel, Saturday, April 28, 2007. Bedouins were by tradition nomadic tribes, who for the most part have settled since the creation of modern borders. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

A Bedouin Arab walks away from his camels after racing during a local festival in the Negev Desert near the city of Arad, southern, Israel, Saturday, April 28, 2007. Bedouins were by tradition nomadic tribes, who for the most part have settled since the creation of modern borders. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

A Palestinian demonstrator tries to stop an Israeli border police jeep during a demonstration at the construction site of Israel's separation barrier in the village of Bilin, near the West Bank town of Ramallah Friday, April 27, 2007. Israel says the barrier is necessary for its security, Palestinians call it a land grab. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Palestinians wait to cross the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt after it was reopened, in the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, April 27, 2007. An off-duty security official was killed by bullets fired in the air at the border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Friday, security and medical officials said. It was unclear who was responsible for the deadly gunfire because of the chaotic circumstances at the Rafah terminal at the time, but all the shooting was done by Fatah movement loyalists, security officials said. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian women wearing explosive suicide belts around their waists and dressed in a black walk next to a masked militant of the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades during a press conference in Gaza City Thursday, April 26, 2007. The two women vowed to blow themselves up if Israel invades Gaza. (AP Photo/ Hatem Moussa)

Palestinian women attend a demonstration, calling for opening of the Hebron's Old City which is blocked by Israeli army check-points, in the West Bank city of Hebron April 26, 2007. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun (WEST BANK)

A Palestinian woman waits to cross the Rafah border crossing after it was reopened in the southern Gaza Strip April 27, 2007. Palestinian security forces and armed Palestinian civilians exchanged fire at a border crossing in southern Gaza on Friday and one security officer was killed, witnesses and hospital officials said. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA)

A Palestinian woman waits to cross the Rafah border crossing after it was reopened in the southern Gaza Strip April 27, 2007. Palestinian security forces and armed Palestinian civilians exchanged fire at a border crossing in southern Gaza on Friday and one security officer was killed, witnesses and hospital officials said. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA)

Sadness reflected : A Palestinian boy leans against a mirrored surface as men gather to inspect the bodies of three dead Palestinians in a Gaza city hospital.(AFP/Mohammed Abed)

A Palestinian man dodges a water canon fired by the Israeli military during a weekly rally in the West Bank village of Bilin, 27 April 2007, against the construction of the controversial Israeli separation barrier. Israel is to confiscate 23 hectares (57 acres) of Palestinian farmland in the occupied West Bank for its controversial security barrier, according to a military order seen by AFP.(AFP/File/Abbas Momani)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070428/wl_mideast_afp/mideastpalestinian_070428215439;_ylt=AqkPgO0K4KKenZxQfvh6_mYUvioA

Israel seizes West Bank land for controversial barrier

2 hours, 50 minutes ago

JERICHO, West Bank (AFP) - Israel is to confiscate 23 hectares (57 acres) of Palestinian farmland in the occupied West Bank for its controversial security barrier, according to a military order seen by AFP on Saturday.

The army on Friday told the village council in Bardaleh, north of the city of Jericho, that the land would be confiscated "for security reasons" in order to extend the barrier Israel says stops suicide bombers.

Those who own or use the land are invited to apply for compensation, said the order, a copy of which was given to AFP by Bardaleh council.

An army spokesman confirmed the confiscation of the land, but stressed that "all owners of seized property will receive appropriate compensation."

A senior Palestinian official criticised the order.

"We strongly condemn this decision and we call on Israel to cancel it immediately," said Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator.

Israel says the 700 kilometre (435 mile) long barrier, made up of concrete walls and razor wire fences, is necessary to protect the Jewish state against terrorists.

Palestinians say the barrier is a land grab which eats up chunks of their promised state, separates farmers from their land and splits families.

The International Court of Justice, in a non-binding decision, ruled the barrier illegal in 2004. Israel has pressed on with construction, which is 65 percent finished.

New York Times Misses Beat on 'Sderock' City Story

New York Times Misses Beat on 'Sderock' City Story

by umkahlil

Sat Apr 28, 2007 at 04:31:07 AM PDT

Yesterday the New York Times ran a feature, Give Them Shelter: Where Rockets and Drums Go Boom.

Many Palestinian-Americans reading the feature about the town's rock bands will sigh and shake their heads. They most likely will recall a Palestinian village, maybe their own, that no longer exists. Many years ago, when I noticed some trees on the way from Ben Gurion Airport to Ramallah, my Aunt Jamila filled me in that those trees used to be a Palestinian village, like ethnically cleansed and demolished Najd. Sderot 'Rock City,' as the New York Times admiringly terms it, is built upon Najd's village lands.

It is essential that context is provided regarding the Israel/Palestine situation for Americans so that we can move further toward resolution of the problem. If you would like to know what the New York Times left out, please read on.

umkahlil's diary :: ::

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/20/15377/8815

Israel's 'Citizenship law' severing family ties ...& more from IMEU

A Palestinian boy stands beside his sheep in the northern Gaza Strip. (Apollo Images)

Strange bedfellows

Khaled Amayreh, Al-Ahram Weekly

The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, seen over a portion of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank. (Maan Images)

..... The severity of Palestinian reaction to the Jordanian king's reported remarks reflect a growing determination to cling to the right of return for the refugees as a paramount right that should never be compromised especially as Israel continues to steal more Palestinian land and build Jewish-only settlements in the occupied territories.

Moreover, there is a growing realisation on the part of major Palestinian political organisations, especially Fatah, that making concessions with regard to the right of return at this point would be a pre-negotiations disaster for the Palestinians. These would enable Israel to strip them naked without any bargaining cards in return, even before the start of any prospective final-status negotiations.

There is no doubt that the Jordanian leadership, namely King Abdullah II, is very worried about the possible ramifications and turbulence that may engulf the region, especially its most vulnerable spots, such as Jordan, if the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is allowed to linger on without resolution.... [more]

Distorting Camp David Journal of Palestine Studies

Requiem in Ramallah Noam Ben Ze'ev, Haaretz

Palestinians prepare to mark Nakba Maan News

Gaza's ancient treasures revealed
BBC (Apr 28, 2007)

One of the riches: A terracotta flask in the shape of a dromedary

A new exhibition showing off the archaeological riches of the Gaza Strip has just opened in the Swiss city of Geneva...[more]

Palestinian Prime Minister to visit Switzerland
Reuters (Apr 28, 2007)

Protest against move to evict Arab families from Jaffa
Haaretz (Apr 28, 2007)

Abbas says ceasefire holds, praises Swiss peace plan
Middle East Times (Apr 27, 2007)

Leftists say violently attacked by settlers
Ynet News (Apr 27, 2007)

Arab-Israeli ex-MP home raided
Al Jazeera (Apr 27, 2007)

EU refuses to lift boycott of Palestinian gov't
The Guardian (Apr 27, 2007)

Is Bishara another Fahima?
Haaretz (Apr 27, 2007)

Palestinian guard killed at Rafah crossing
Agence France Presse (Apr 27, 2007)

Israel's 'Citizenship law' severing family ties
Haaretz, Apr 27, 2007

The Citizenship Law strictly limits family unification between Israelis and Palestinians. However, Interior Ministry data indicates that in practice, under the auspices of the law, in addition to Palestinians' not receiving new residency permits for family unification, 561 families have lost the permits they had. This has a major significance: the lives of thousands of people are ruined.

Beit Hanoun fears Israeli raid
Al Jazeera, Apr 26, 2007

There has been a recent spike in Israeli military raids across the Palestinian territories. Nine Palestinians have died in Israeli raids since last weekend despite a ceasefire between Israel and armed Palestinian factions agreed last November. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has appealed for Israeli restraint while calling for Palestinians' commitment to the ceasefire.

Arab minister slams MK for anti-Arab remarks
Ynet News, Apr 26, 2007

Science, Culture and Sport Minister Raleb Majadele slammed on Thursday MK Israel Hasson of the hawkish Israel Our Home party for suggesting that Israel's Arab minority constitutes an existential threat. Hasson told Ynet earlier Thursday that Israel might have to wage a second war for independence against its Arab minority whom he said would be supported by Hamas.

New Palestinian daily set for publication
Palestine News Network, Apr 26, 2007

To coincide with World Press Freedom Day, the first independent daily newspaper published in the Gaza Strip will officially launch on 3 May. All legal and administrative procedures are taken care of, and the staff is ready to print the daily, "Palestine." Editor-in-chief, Mustafa Sawaf, said that after completing a successful trial period the paper is ready for consumption by the Palestinian public.

EU warns of worsening situation in Palestinian territories
Agence France Presse, Apr 26, 2007

The EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid warned on Thursday that conditions were worsening in the Palestinian territories, and asked Israel to ease restrictions on movement. "The humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories is deteriorating a lot," Louis Michel told a news conference as he continued the first leg of a regional tour. "I remember when I came one year ago in the region, it was already awful and difficult, but now I think it is deteriorating."

Harvesting wheat

A Palestinian farmer harvests wheat in Ein Siniya village in the central West Bank. (Apollo Images) The Institute for Middle East Understanding provides journalists with quick access to information about Palestine and the Palestinians, as well as expert sources, both in the U.S. and the Middle East. Need story assistance? Contact us. New to the issue? See our Background Briefings

Weekly Report on Human Rights Violations

Weekly Report on Human Rights Violations
Report, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, 26 April 2007

Palestinian students hold a memorial for their classmate, Bushra Bargheesh who was killed the day before by Israeli special forces at her home in the Jenin Refugee Camp in the West Bank, April 23, 2007. (Raed Abu Baker/MaanImages)

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)

Nine Palestinians, including two children, were killed by IOF in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Four of the victims were extrajudicially executed by IOF.

Eighteen civilians were wounded by IOF gunfire in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Thirteen of these civilians, including a journalist, four women and four international human rights defenders, were wounded when IOF used force to disperse a peaceful demonstration against the construction of the Annexation Wall in Bal'ein village near Ramallah.

Two children were wounded as a result of the explosion of a mysterious object of the remainders of IOF.

IOF conducted 30 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

IOF arrested 44 Palestinian civilians, including eight children and a girl.

IOF transformed a Palestinian house into a military site.

IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT.

IOF positioned at various checkpoints and border crossings in the West Bank arrested six Palestinian civilians.

IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank.

IOF demolished a house in occupied Jerusalem.

IOF demolished seven houses to the south of Hebron, rendering 48 Palestinians homeless.

Israeli settlers moved back to the evacuated "Homseh" settlement near Nablus.

Israeli settlers have continued to occupy a house in Hebron for the fifth consecutive week.

...[more]

Related Links
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

Book Review: The Scar of David

"The initial realities and symbols of the Jewish state come to the Abulheja family in the form of Zionist bombs and soldiers. From the 1940s to 2002, the unrelenting Israeli soldier, who brings with him violence and terror, is the dominant figure of the story about the Abulheja family, oppressed by the Zionist state. In the midst of the 1947-1948 massacres and forced expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and land during the creation of the State of Israel there is the traumatic theft by an Israeli soldier of Dalia's baby Ismael, who bears a deep scar on his cheek. That soldier, named Moshe, brings Dalia's son home to his wife Jolanta, "who had suffered the sordid history of genocide ... whose body had been ravaged by Nazis," and who had been "left barren." Jolanta names him David..... [more]

Book Review: The Scar of David

Purchase The Scar of David on Amazon.com

BY TOPIC: Book Reviews & Author Interviews

U.S. State Department Pushes for Palestinian Resettlement

"These are already recognised refugees. The U.S. as the occupying power has the capacity to evacuate. They could put them on a plane and get them out of there," said Frelick. "The question is where that plane would land."

U.S. State Department Pushes for Palestinian Resettlement
Khody Akhavi, The Electronic Intifada, 27 April 2007

In May 2006, a group of 287 Palestinians were allowed into Syria and housed at the El Hol camp in the north of the country. (Thierry Esch/Paris Match/UNHCR)

WASHINGTON, 24 April (IPS) - U.S. State Department officials confirmed this week that they have been in discussions with Israel and the Kurdish regional government about possible resettlement solutions for the estimated 15,000 Palestinian refugees currently stranded in Iraq....[more]

Kamal Nasir: 'Fighting on the Side of Beauty' by umkahlil

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/4/15/162629/828

Website: http://www.umkahlil.blogspot.com

Kamal Nasir: 'Fighting on the Side of Beauty'

by umkahlil

Thu Apr 26, 2007 at 03:54:47 PM PDT

Permission from This Week in Palestine to repost from Rima Nasir Tarazi's The Palestinian National Song: A Personal Testimony and Kamal Nasir: The Conscience and the Poet

Beloved, if word of my death reaches you
And the lovers cry out:
The loyal one has departed, his visage gone forever,
And fragrance has died within the bosom of the flower
Shed no tears...smile on life
And tell my only one, my loved one,
The dark recesses of your father's being
Have been touched by visions of his people.

From Kamal Nasir's Last Poem

"When you are the underdog in the fight, your weak position gives you the opportunity to fight on the side of beauty," said Golden Globe winner Hani Abu Assad to the Guardian.

• umkahlil's diary :: ::
• 
  

"When you only have beauty to express yourself, to fight with, then you establish a feeling for beauty, for how you create from the ugly side of civilization."

Palestine's poets attest to Abu Assad's assertion and, in a telling reminder that the pen is mightier than the sword, are often targets of Israel's executioners....[more]

Palestine on campus- Spartan Daily

http://media.www.thespartandaily.com/media/storage/paper852/news/2007/04/26/News/Palestine.On.Campus-2881697.shtml

Palestine on campus

Carla Mancebo

Issue date: 4/26/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Lauren Sagar

Two engineering students were stopped in the Seventh Street Plaza and forced to kneel below the mock guns grasped by three students portraying Israeli soldiers, in an outdoor performance representing military checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza.

Dressed in army fatigues, Hanny Zaki, a junior majoring in international business and a member of Students for Change, the campus organization that planned the event for Palestine Awareness Week, shouted at the two volunteering students for proof of identification, attracting the attention Zaki said they needed to bring awareness to the plight of Palestinians.

"This is a glimpse into the life of a Palestinian," Zaki said. "In Palestine there are kids who just want to go to school but are unable to because of walls and checkpoints.

"Palestinians are not able to sustain normal lives because of the policies Israel implements." ...[more]

Clarifying vision for contemporary art in Palestine

http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2274&Itemid=31

Clarifying vision for contemporary art in Palestine

(Ramallah) Dr. Maria C. Khoury

Thursday, 26 April 2007

The International Academy of Art Palestine sponsored a two-day seminar on “Contemporary Art and Higher Art Education” in the West Bank city of Ramallah at the end of last month. Palestinian Minister of Culture Bassam As Salhi, and Mazen Qupty, chairman of the board of directors for the Palestinian Association for Contemporary Art, gave keynote addresses to an audience which included Palestinian and international experts in arts and culture. This September the first class of students will enter the Academy’s four-year Bachelor of Arts program. The Academy aims to produce professional artists and simultaneously serve as a progressive and productive artistic space within the Palestinian and Arab context to promote cultural change. Anticipating the start of classes, seminar participants, including representatives from the Academy’s partner institute, the Oslo National Academy of Arts in Norway, discussed methods of teaching contemporary visual arts that will encourage plurality, richness, and diversity. Henrik Placht, an extraordinary artist from the Oslo Academy, worked for more than four years to organize, lobby, curate, network, fund-raise and finally give birth to the Academy in Palestine. It is his hope that the institution will provide an alternative form of peaceful resistance offering new images of Palestinians to the local population and international community. Deans and professors from the UK’s Winchester Art School at the University of Southampton, Harvard University and Birzeit University, along with independent artists, curators and art historians, and even famous artists, joined in person or via teleconferencing from abroad. The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Academy, which will fund the Academy for its first three years, was represented at the seminar by the program adviser from the Representative Office of Norway, Ms. Raheek Ranawi. The establishment of this Academy may not solve all the problems faced by Palestinians as they seek to build their country, but it will provide hope. Students will understand the importance of art and its relationship to cultural advancement as they are encouraged to express themselves creatively.

Women Put Their Mark on MidEast Peace Efforts

Women Put Their Mark on MidEast Peace Efforts http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3146/context/archive

Run Date: 04/26/07

By Brenda Gazzar WeNews correspondent

Women are pushing the envelope on peace activism in the Middle East, with a nearly 30-country annual bike ride for peace that was followed within a few days by the shooting of a Nobel Prize-winning Irish peace activist at a West Bank demonstration.

ABU DIS, West Bank (WOMENSENEWS)--"Freedom is Feminine." That's the message Nida Awine chose to paint in large, Arabic script on the structure that Israeli officials call the "separation fence" or "security fence" and Palestinians often call the "apartheid wall." Awine's handiwork appeared on the section of the structure located in this West Bank village that borders Jerusalem. The towering cement structure was blank until Awine and other women painted it with political art, including a door bearing the words "To Be Opened" and a yellow sphere proclaiming "The Sun Will Rise 1 Day." The Palestinian university student was one of about 350 women from nearly 30 countries who joined a third annual cycling tour for women through Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and the occupied West Bank that organizers hope is drawing attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to promote peace and freedom in the region. Even Syrian first lady Asma al-Assad joined the women by cycling with them through her country. This year's Follow the Women ride lasted 12 days and ended April 18, just a few days before well-known peace activist Mairead Corrigan, who shared the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for her activism in the Northern Ireland civil conflict, attracted more attention to the barriers that have become symbolic of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Corrigan was reportedly wounded by a rubber bullet on April 20, along with a number of other activists while protesting the separation barrier near Ramallah in the West Bank, according to local press reports. Two Israeli border policemen were also injured by rock throwing from protesters. Organizers call these weekly protests nonviolent. Israeli officials say they regularly turn violent, with at least some participants hurling rocks with slingshots or even trying to cut down the barrier and Israeli forces responding with measures such as teargas, stun grenades and rubber bullets. "This was a nonviolent protest that turned into violence. It's not right," said Naomi Chazan, a member of the steering committee of the International Women's Commission for a Just and Sustainable Israeli-Palestinian Peace and a former Israeli Parliament speaker. The state of the conflict of the moment "is more conflictual than one would like it to be. Even those who are fighting for peace find themselves in a conflictual situation." Women Become Peacemakers Grassroots and other women's initiatives around the world are becoming more directly involved with efforts to resolve the conflict, as the state of Israel celebrates its 59th birthday on April 24 and Palestinians commemorate their "naqba," or "disaster" in which at least half a million Palestinian refugees fled during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. "I do not count on these politicians--men and women--to free my Palestine, my people," said Awine, 20, who was armed with a paintbrush dipped in red paint for the activity and who dreams of being a writer. "I count on the human beings, on the people, because these persons have the power, have the will, and know the value of living as a free human being."...[more]

letters & notes

RE: Arab Israeli suspected of aiding his nation's enemy
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bishara26apr26,1,2336591.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Dear Editor,

Thank you for publishing news concerning the very admirable Azmi Bishara, "an advocate for Palestinians and Israel's Arab minority"..... If only it was better news- like maybe Israel had magically decided to do the right thing by all the people of historic Palestine rather than continuing to build apartheid every where every way it can. Racist Israel really is its own worst enemy.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES:

Why Americans Should Support Right of Return for Palestinians

• Major, positive political developments towards Middle East peace could be threatened by recent violence, Security Council told
• In the name of the holocaust by Khalid Amayreh
• Israeli escalation is to avoid Arab Initiative...& more from IMEU
• Ilan Pappe's Looking for alternatives to failure: An answer to Uri Avnery..& more from EI
• Fire sweeps through Al Tanf camp, injures 28 Palestinian refugees
• Palestinian refugee children’s art stolen from library in Boston
• Mahmud Hams, a Palestinian photographer for Agence France-Presse won an Arab award on Wednesday
• An Israeli Arab's troubles mirror woes of dual identity- Christian Science Monitor
• "To Palestinians, Israel’s Independence Day is called Al Nakba, the "Catastrophe" "... Time will Never Heal this Wound By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
  
• Raising Yousuf, Unplugged: diary of a Palestinian mother: The One-State solution: my interview with Ali Abunimah
• The gift of stability by Nermeen Murad
• Palestinians prepare to mark Nakba... & more from IMEU
  
• Stop the Killing By MIFTAH
• Israelis celebrate the occupation of Palestine
• Humanitarian Crisis in Palestine
• The Myth Of Jewish Refugees From Arab Land
• No Peace In Gaza But There's Lot's of Garbage- By Mohammed Omer
• Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe (1948)
• umkahlil: The Zionists Committed A Holocaust Again...
• Jordan Times Editorial: Costy Apathy
• Palestinians in Lebanon suffering worst financial crises
• Arab League Commits to Right of Return for Palestinian Refugees
• But First Deal With Israeli Apartheid in Palestine...
• Building economic independence in Palestine by Sam Bahour...& more from IMEU
  
• A Picture of Palestine in the Harvard Crimson
• A state of all its citizens-& always remember...
  

The Refugees Right Of Return: Sacred, Legal, and Possible


A sacred right : The west was taken in by the Zionist propaganda for several decades, but what is more natural than a Palestinian returning home?


***************************************************

RE: "Iraq's Jerusalem"
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/04/post_76.html#more
letters@usatoday.com

Dear Editor,

Interesting title for an article on Iraq: "Jerusalem" once meant the city of peace, and now thanks to Apartheid Israel's reign of terror, that name now stands for segregation, injustice and the barbaric cruelty of walling the Palestinians away from full and equal rights and freedoms in the land of their birth.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES:

Why Americans Should Support Right of Return for Palestinians

• The gift of stability by Nermeen Murad
• Palestinians prepare to mark Nakba... & more from IMEU
  
• Stop the Killing By MIFTAH
• Israelis celebrate the occupation of Palestine
• Humanitarian Crisis in Palestine
• The Myth Of Jewish Refugees From Arab Land
• UK Physicians call for boycott of Israeli Medical Association...& more from EI
• Israeli Arab resigns from Knesset
• No Peace In Gaza But There's Lot's of Garbage- By Mohammed Omer
• Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe (1948)
• umkahlil: The Zionists Committed A Holocaust Again...
• Jordan Times Editorial: Costy Apathy
• Palestinians in Lebanon suffering worst financial crises
• Arab League Commits to Right of Return for Palestinian Refugees
• Israeli media reports attributed to King Abdullah are categorically groundless
• Improvisations: Arab Woman Progressive Voice: Israeli Army Shhots Nobel Peace Laureate
• Defining the enemy by Amira Howeidy...& more from IMEU
• Israeli Arab MP resigns from parliament in Cairo
• But First Deal With Israeli Apartheid in Palestine...
  

• Building economic independence in Palestine by Sam Bahour...& more from IMEU
  
• A Picture of Palestine in the Harvard Crimson
• A state of all its citizens-
• UN urges Israel to ease Palestinian child detention policy
• Ran HaCohen's Letter from Israel April 19, 2007 The Legend of the Removed Checkpoints
• Stranded Palestinian Refugees at Syrian-Iraqi Border Exposed to Severe Sand Storm
  
• UNRWA's 50 years commemoration quilts
• Through the decades...UNWRA's Angels of Mercy
• Right of Return debate now online!
• This is what Jews did! {Testimony}
• A shift in US policy toward Palestine?
• Palestinian children do not have the right to a fair trial
• Freedom for Johnston, freedom for all By Ramzy Baroud
• Taking responsibility for the past and future..
• Facts about Palestinian Child Prisoners
• When Tragedy Strikes By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
• A letter from mothers on Palestinian Prisoners Day...
• On prisoners' day Palestinians describe the suffer...
• "... But who knows the names of... our prisoners i...
• Portrait of a Great Taboo: The Power of the Israel Lobby in the United States
• For telling the world that Israel had nuclear weapons...
• Palestine Film Collection
• In 2007 the Occupation turns 40, In 2008 al-Nakba...
• & always remember...
  

& always remember...

The Refugees Right Of Return: Sacred, Legal, and Possible


A sacred right : The west was taken in by the Zionist propaganda for several decades, but what is more natural than a Palestinian returning home?

***********************************************

RE: Palestinian suffering By Tulin Daloglu
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20070423-093051-1319r.htm

Dear Editor,

Israel is no democracy- it is a home wrecking war machine of injustice and institutionalized bigotry- it is heavily armed and aggressive Jewish terror subsidized with both private and public funds. Racist Israel is no one's friend.

Knowing this, at first I read "Palestinian suffering" by Tulin Daloglu thinking how dare he diss Palestinian resistance to racist Israeli injustice... but then I thought about his conclusion... "if Muslims believe that hating and attacking the Jewish state will bring it to an end, they need to think again."

Yes do think again. Fighting fire with fire only makes a bigger blaze. Where is secular resistance? Why aren't we (regardless of our religion) doing all we can to simply support the people of Palestine as human beings... why aren't we the world more actively supporting and promoting real democracy with true freedom, justice and equality by advocating full and equal rights for ALL, regardless of religion.

Our own Congress cannot make a law respecting the establishment of religion, so how is it that America can so freely invest in the idea and the cruel reality of "The Jewish State".

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

********************************************************
Time Blog:

April 24, 2007 1:18

Yarmouk Refugee Camp

http://time-blog.com/middle_east/2007/04/yarmouk_refugee_camp.html?xid=rss-mideast
http://time-blog.com/middle_east/2007/04/yarmouk_refugee_camp.html

Reader Comments

Posted by Anne Selden Annab April 24, 2007

Thank you Time Magazine- for noticing and publicizing the plight of the Palestinian refugees and the Iraqi refugees. Zionists, many of them privileged immigrants with full and equal rights in more than one wealthy country, have been richly rewarded and praised by US for arming religion and encouraging injustice and extremists everywhere... and what a mess racist Israel has made, with disastrous consequences for millions of innocent and increasingly vulnerable people. With racist Israel refusing to respect the Palestinians' basic human rights- including but not limited to the Palestinian refugees inalienable right to return to original homes and lands- and the West basically oblivious about this huge problem, many in the Middle East have had lost both homes and hope that things will ever be better for anyone.

*******************************************************
RE: Iraq’s Desperate Exodus
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/opinion/22sun2.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/world/middleeast/22settlers.html?hp

Dear Editor,

Regarding the refugee crisis in the Middle East: What everyone needs to be doing is noticing the fact that one very racist Israel is in long term and flagrant violation of the Palestinians' basic human rights, and a huge part of the problem perpetuating the current refugee crisis in the Middle East is the fact that millions of Palestinian refugees have been refused their inalienable right to return to original homes and lands, and the token Palestinians allowed to remain in "Israel-proper" really do not have FULL and EQUAL rights!

As things are today Israel is not a country- it is a private club with restricted membership. It is an endless investment in Jews-preferred privileges, Jews-preferred stories, Jews-preferred freedoms and Jews preferred economic opportunities, which would be fine on a personal private level- but this is being done with public funds:

Israel, racist Israel, generously subsidized by multiple sources has become a total fiasco of injustice- institutionalized bigotry, apartheid and a punitive war of state sponsored terror on all of Palestine (both the people and the land) primarily because it is being empowered by governments worldwide, as well as by many a diverse corporation, charity and individual that foolishly believes it is a good idea to arm and defend Israel as "The Jewish State".

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

*******************************************************

M&C

Middle East News

King Abdullah to pay historic visit to Israel: report (Roundup)

Talkback

page: 1

Anne Selden AnnabApr 20th, 2007 - 15:40:58

Bravo to King Abdullah of Jordan for doing all he can to try bring peace to the Middle East. I was very impressed by his inspiring speech before the joint session of Congress not long ago when he made it clear that 'Sixty years of Palestinian dispossession, forty years under occupation, a stop-and-go peace process, all this has left a bitter legacy of disappointment and despair, on all sides. It is time to create a new and different legacy, one that begins right now'.

Zionists worldwide are totally deluded to think that more bigotry, more Israeli-made-apartheid and injustice, more forced transfer translates into true return- much less a lasting peace & security for any one!

The Palestinian refugees right of return to original homes and lands is an individual and collective right; an inalienable legal, moral and ethical right; a sacred right clearly reaffirmed and spelled out by international law since 1948.

Getting right to the point on the right to return... From Sabbah's blog today, 'This issue is one of the most intractable barrier to a Middle East peace settlement. Millions of Palestinian refugees will always fight for their right to return to their occupied lands and property that was occupied by Israel and now is called the State of Israel.'

True return-not more forced transfer and racist segregation.

**************************************

RE: Neve Gordon's A state of all its citizens
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2061785,00.html

Dear Sir,

Hugely relieved to see Neve Gordon's " A state of all its citizens " specifically explaining that "as long as Israel is defined as a Jewish state, its laws will always fall short of basic democratic principles and the right of all its citizens to full equality."

So simple- so obvious- so true... and it is utterly barbaric that it has been this way for almost 59 sovereign years. Shame on any one who supports political Zionism. It really is a totally toxic and obtuse ideology. And what mess it has made with endless ramifications for billions of innocent and increasingly vulnerable people worldwide, with the persecuted and impoverished Palestinians bearing the brunt of the pain & suffering.

Let the Golden Rule rule and heal the Holy Land- do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

Source: United Nations Security Council

Date: 25 Apr 2007

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EKOI-72M37T?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR

Major, positive political developments towards Middle East peace could be threatened by recent violence, Security Council told

SC/9004
Security Council
5667th Meeting* (AM)

Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Briefs Council

While the long-stalled Middle East peace process was beginning to stir, with both Israel and Arab States showing interest in holding talks, the top United Nations political official told the Security Council today that forward momentum could be threatened in the wake of the sharp escalation of Israeli-Palestinian violence in the West Bank and Gaza.

"Leaders on both sides must do their utmost to prevent this latest upsurge of violence from escalating any further," said the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe, in an open briefing to the Security Council. "It is incumbent on the parties and all regional and international players to show restraint and to intensify their efforts to bring about immediate progress on the ground, and to promote, as a minimum, the political will for the parties to discuss their future together."

Touching first on major political developments, he noted the swearing in of the Palestinian National Unity Government on 17 March, and the 15 April meeting in Jerusalem between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, during which the two had discussed immediate humanitarian and security issues, as well as efforts to build confidence through actions on security reforms.

He also highlighted the reactivation last week of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative at the Arab League Summit in Riyadh, which had also established working groups to engage international partners and Israel. But, despite those and other positive political developments, he was "deeply concerned at the overall situation on the ground". During the reporting period, at least 43 Palestinians had been killed, 22 in intra-Palestinian fighting and 21 by the Israel Defense Forces, while over 200 Palestinians and at least 13 Israelis had been injured.

He said United Nations agencies had reported that the bulk of the fatalities and injuries from 14 March through 17 April were attributed to 83 incidents involving Palestinian factional fighting or family feuding, and 69 incidents involving the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinians. He also expressed "deep concern" about the kidnapping of BBC journalist Alan Johnston, and reiterated Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's call for his safety and immediate release. He went on to say that the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit was also crucial to forward movement.

At the same time, the Israeli Government must also play its part to calm the situation, in particular regarding the Israeli settler community. In Hebron, attacks on Palestinian children and a mentally disabled Palestinian man, carried out by groups of Israeli settlers, had been widely reported. Likewise, the Israeli Government must ensure that measures for Israeli security were not at the expense of innocent Palestinians; all security measures must be proportionate. Further, , despite provisions in the Road Map calling for a settlement freeze, construction of new housing units was taking place in some 75 of the 121 settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Turning to the situation in Lebanon, he said that the Secretary-General had recently been there encouraging dialogue to resolve the political impasse. Intensive efforts to ease the political situation ahead of the Arab League Summit had helped to reduce tension, but had not produced any breakthroughs concerning a national unity Government or a special tribunal that would, among other things, look into the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

In closing, he told the Council that, while it was clear that the situation in the region was fragile, there were a number of elements at play, which, taken together, could generate forward movement. The Secretary-General was committed to nurturing those elements in close collaboration with his Quartet partners. At the same time, he was increasingly concerned that actions and inaction on the ground remained the real obstacles to progress, and had the potential to lead to paralysis or even rapid deterioration.

The Observer of Palestine said that, despite efforts by Arab nations, the new Palestinian National Unity Government and members of the diplomatic Quartet to revive the peace process and resume direct negotiations for a just, peaceful resolution, Israel continued to carry out illegal policies and practices aimed at sustaining its nearly 40-year occupation. While everyone else talked about peace, Israel's colonization campaign and military aggression against the Palestinian civilian population continued.

Israel continued to impose frequent closures on the Palestinian Territory as a whole, subjecting, in particular, the Rafah crossing in the Gaza Strip -- the only point of entry and exit for Palestinian civilians in Gaza -- to repeated and arbitrary closures. Such actions had worsened Gaza's dire humanitarian situation, where people were largely dependent on food aid, and more than 70 per cent lived in poverty, further fuelling frustrations and tensions among the imprisoned civilian population.

But, there was still a window of opportunity, he said. Palestinians and other Arabs were seizing it to move forward. Among other things, the Unity Government, comprising all political groups, including Hamas, had mandated President Abbas to negotiate a just, final peace settlement with Israel. That historic opportunity should not be lost....[more]

In the name of the holocaust by Khalid Amayreh

Voices

04/25/07

03:38:19 pm, Categories: Voices, 1252 words
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2007/04/25/in_the_name_of_the_holocaust

In the name of the holocaust

Khalid Amayreh

At left: captive Jewish boy from the Warsaw Ghetto marches off, in 1943, to an
uncertain fate -- a widely circulated image of Jewish victimhood that became an
iconic Holocaust photograph. Like most interned Jews, the famed "Ghetto Boy"
(Tsvi Nussbaum) emerged unscathed from World War II. He eventually emigrated
from Israel to the United States. At right: captive Palestinian boy brutalized by
armed (and nazi-like) IDF soldiers. (http://library.flawlesslogic.com)

"This morning we saw pictures of the Warsaw ghetto at Yad Vashem and this evening we are going to the Ramallah ghetto." - German Bishop Gregor Maria Franz Hanke during a visit to Ramallah in March 2007

Last week, Israel marked the “Holocaust Day” in West Jerusalem amid the usual fanfare of sanctimonious rituals, never-again speeches and glorification of Zionism.

The solemn but also highly propagandistic occasion is manipulated to the fullest by Zionist leaders in order to justify the crime against humanity, otherwise known as “the state of Israel.” -This year, too, Zionist leaders preyed on the memories of holocaust victims by seeking to blackmail the collective conscience of the world into recognizing the “uniqueness of Jewish pain” ” as if non-Jews were children of a lesser God and their pain was unimportant.

Thus we had the political and ideological gurus of Zionism, from the morbidly sanctimonious Elie Wiesel to the pathologically duplicitous Ehud Olmert berate the world for the “reincarnation of anti-Semitism,” a deliberately twisted reference to legitimate criticisms of nefarious treatment of Palestinians, including the adoption of such policies as apartheid, ethnic cleansing and the use of brutal tactics for the purpose of forcing the victims of Zionism to leave their ancestral homeland.

Nobody does or should question the enormity of the holocaust. Doing so, besides being morally unconscionable, serves the interests of Zionism, which has morphed the Holocaust Industry into a virtual religion that encompasses even Judaism itself.

However, manipulating the holocaust to justify the treatment Israel has been meting out to millions of helpless Palestinians is no less obscene and no less outrageous than the utilization by the Third Reich of the outcome of the First World War to wage war on Europe and cause the death of tens of millions of people.

All humanity had suffered through history, recent, past and distant. Nobody, not even Jews, could claim that the suffering of one group is more special and more unique than the suffering of others....[more]

Israeli escalation is to avoid Arab Initiative...& more from IMEU

Joy at a wedding
IMEU, Apr 26, 2007

Palestinian children in traditional dress smile during a wedding in the West Bank village of Bil'in. (Osama Silwadi, Apollo Images)

The Institute for Middle East Understanding provides journalists with quick access to information about Palestine and the Palestinians, as well as expert sources, both in the U.S. and the Middle East. Need story assistance? Contact us. New to the issue? See our Background Briefings.

What cease-fire?
Amira Hass, Haaretz, Apr 26, 2007

This article was originally published by Haaretz and is republished with permission.

A memorial marks the classroom seat of 17-year-old Bushra Bargheesh, killed by Israeli forces in her home on Saturday in Jenin. (Raed Abu Baker, Maan Images)

Talking about making and breaking a cease-fire spares the Palestinians from having to admit the failure of their Qassam missile publicity stunts. Proposals to widen the cease-fire to the West Bank sidestep any need for an inter-Palestinian debate on the destructive uselessness of a suicide-based "armed struggle."

"Cease-fire" is yet another hollow term, showing that the Palestinian representatives - elected or not, Hamas or Fatah or Palestine Liberation Organization-Tunis, from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to the last spokesman of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' "Brigades" - keep falling into the traps set for them by the politics of Israeli occupation.

Talking for and against the cease-fire fits in with the distorted picture of reality that Israel has been constructing since September 2000, of two symmetric, fighting sides - in which the Palestinians are the aggressors and Israel, attacked, defends itself and retaliates.

On the Saturday and Sunday before the Palestinians "broke the cease-fire," Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed nine Palestinians. Among them was a 17-year-old girl, a 15-year-old boy and a policeman who was on the roof of his house and was not involved in any "battle."

Related stories Distorting Camp David Posturing and stagnation Gaza fishing: An industry in danger (PDF) Taking responsibility for the past and future Report on the impacts of Israeli rights violations on Gaza's cut-flower business (PDF)

At 5 A.M. on April 21, an IDF force attacked Kufer Dan, near Jenin. The force took over a few houses and turned them into shooting posts. Most of the fire was aimed at a certain house in a western neighborhood. Mohamed Abed, 23, was shot and killed on the roof of another house. The soldiers said they had detected an armed man and shot him. Palestinian sources say Abed was unarmed and merely wanted to check what was happening outside.

Between 9 P.M. and 10 P.M. on Saturday, an IDF force attacked the Jenin refugee camp - a routine activity. Military vehicles surrounded the Bargheesh family's house. One member of the family, who is an Islamic Jihad activist, is wanted by Israel. According to media reports, the IDF said its forces had called on the family to come out of the house and "for un unclear reason the girl remained inside."

This is not true, people in the refugee camp say. The parents and their daughter, Bushra, were all at home when she was shot in the head and killed. Camp residents believe the soldier who shot the schoolgirl dead had fired from a distant shooting post. The wanted brother was not found.

On Sunday at 10 A.M., an IDF force raided the village of Deir Abu Masha'al, north of Ramallah, blocked all the entrances and imposed a curfew. Youngsters, including Khaled Zahran, 15, threw stones at the soldiers. The soldiers fired back. Zahran was wounded in the abdomen and died later.

Five of those killed were Islamic Jihad and Fatah gunmen. They were killed in Jenin and Nablus, in routine raids. Nobody bothers to check any more when exactly these raids took place and whether they were intended to effect an arrest or to carry out a death sentence without trial.

The sixth person killed was a Gaza municipal employee, aged 43, who was in his car in Beit Hanun when it was struck by an Israeli missile on Saturday night. According to Palestinian sources, he was not a "military" activist. Half an hour earlier, another missile missed three Islamic Jihad activists.

But even if none of the nine had been killed, there would have been no cease-fire on Saturday and Sunday, just as there was no cease-fire last week and in the weeks before that. Because the military occupation, even when it does not kill, is Israeli fire, which has not ceased for 40 years - regardless of the Palestinians' reactions or lack thereof.

Israeli fire includes the Civil Administration's every refusal of a permit to build a Palestinian house, every person who is denied passage from Gaza to the West Bank, every shekel of tax money that is not transferred to the Palestinians, every roadblock in the West Bank, every dunam of land stolen since June 1967, and every settlement - old or new, big or small, within the Israeli consensus or not. Neither the Qassams nor any negotiations process has managed to stop this Israeli fire.

Palestinians prepare to mark Nakba Maan News

Defining the enemy Amira Howeidy

Basil Hantash: Doctor and scientist IMEU

Palestinians willing to renew calm if army ends operations Haaretz (Apr 26, 2007) Israeli troops advance into Khan Younis IMEMC (Apr 26, 2007) The Palestinian News Agency WAFA reported on Wednesday night that several Israeli military vehicles invaded the Soufa area, south-east of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. One resident was shot and injured in an Israeli attack in Jabalia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. The agency stated that soldiers advanced for a distance of 200 meters into the area and started bulldozing and uprooting Palestinian agricultural lands. The invasion was carried out by three tanks and several vehicles. In a separate attack, one resident was shot and injured by Israel military fire as the army operated in Jabalia. Dr. Muawiya Hassanen, head of the Emergency Unit at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, reported that resident Salah Zeida Asaliyya, 18, was shot by a live round in his shoulder, after soldiers based near Abu Safiyya area, opened fire at several houses in the area. Israel to lift restrictions on Palestinian Jordan Valley travel Haaretz (Apr 26, 2007) Azmi Bishara: I have been targeted Al Jazeera (Apr 25, 2007) Bishara resigned from the Knesset on Sunday at the Israeli embassy in Cairo and said he would stay abroad for a time because of a "racist" climate back home. A police source said Bishara could be arrested immediately if he returned to Israel. He lost his immunity to criminal prosecution when he quit the legislature. Bashira has called for a fair and impartial state for all Israeli citizens, describing it as unrealistic and prejudiced for Israel to be both Jewish and democratic. This has led to accusations that he is trying to destroy the Jewish character of Israel.