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Month: November 2013

Israeli Prison Guards Raid Ashkelon Prison, 9 Palestinians Wounded
Israeli prison guards stormed the Palestinian section of Ashkelon prison on Monday morning, wounding nine prisoners in a raid that lasted several hours. Israeli forces raided rooms 15 and 16 of section number three in […]

Israel’s Other Silent War: State-sponsored Discrimination against African Migrants
By Belen Fernandez A recent Jerusalem Post op-ed on “South Africa’s obsession with Israel” resurrects complaints regarding the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, which during its 2011 session in Cape Town concluded that “Israel’s rule over […]

Palestine Casts First Vote at UN
Palestine’s delegation to the United Nations has cast a ballot for the first time in a routine General Assembly vote, an act the envoy said brought his nation a step closer to full UN membership. […]

Poll: Oslo Brought ‘Political Normalization’ but No Benefits
A majority of respondents to an opinion poll conducted by al-Quds Open University believe that the 1994 Oslo Accord will not help establish a sovereign Palestinian state. A majority of 74.1 percent of the respondents […]

Hollande: We won’t Allow a Nuclear-armed Iran
Francois Hollande, the French president, has told Israeli MPs that his country would not allow Iran to secure a nuclear weapon, saying that such a situation was a threat to Israel and the region. To […]

Haniyeh Meets with Gaza Factions to Discuss National ‘Reconciliation’
Gaza Premier Ismael Haniyeh met with leaders of various political factions in Gaza on Saturday, with the absence of Fatah representatives. Islamic Jihad leader Khaled al-Batsh said that the meeting was called for by Haniyeh […]

Israel to Confiscate Palestinian Villagers’ Lands near Nablus
The Israeli government on Saturday announced a decision to confiscate Palestinian lands between Za’tara junction and Osarin village south of Nablus. Yatma village council member Ahmad Snobar told Ma’an that the council was officially informed […]

As Gaza Drowns in Sewage, UN Rapporteur Announces First UN World Toilet Day
By Julie Webb-Pullman As streets in Gaza flow with excrement, as families stay awake until 2am to take advantage of the two hours that water will flow through the taps – if they are lucky […]

Yasser Arafat: The Assassination
By Uri Avnery From the first moment, I did not have the slightest doubt that Yasser Arafat was assassinated. It was a matter of simple logic. On the way back from the funeral, I happened […]

‘This Is Not a Life at All’ – Families Powerless in Gaza
By IRIN – Gaza Since the beginning of November, Gaza’s only power plant has been shut due shortages of industrial diesel. The result has been a major increase in power outages for Gaza’s 1.7 million […]

Israel Strikes 2 Targets in Northern Gaza
Israeli warplanes struck two targets in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, Israel’s army said. “Earlier this afternoon an IAF aircraft targeted two concealed rocket launchers in the northern Gaza Strip. Since yesterday two rockets […]

Settlers Torch Palestinian Home in Revenge Attack
Settlers set fire to a Palestinian home in the Ramallah village of Sinjil overnight Wednesday, in an apparent revenge attack following the killing of an Israeli soldier, PA security sources said. The attackers torched the […]

Palestinian Negotiators Quit in Protest
The entire Palestinian negotiating team has resigned due to what they say is continued Israeli settlement building and frustrations over the lack of progress in US-brokered peace talks. Mohamed Shtayyeh, a Palestinian negotiator, said President […]

Libya almost Imploding, Status Quo Unsustainable
By Nicola Nasser More than two years on since the “revolution” of Feb. 2011, the security crisis is exacerbating by the day threatening Libya with an implosion charged with potential realistic risks to the geopolitical […]

The Charlatanism of Palestine-Denial
By Vacy Vlazna Here we go again. On Israel and the US losing their UNESCO voting rights, ‘Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO, Nimrod Barkan, ‘said in an interview that his country supports the U.S. decision [to […]

When Falsehoods Triumph: Why A Winning Palestinian Narrative is Hard to Find
By Ramzy Baroud (Editor’s Note: Ramzy Baroud will be conducting a speaking tour in France, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxemburg starting Dec 2. For more information click here.) In an initially pointless exercise that lasted nearly […]

Another Covert Assassination: Why Israel Wanted Arafat Dead
By Jonathan Cook – Nazareth It seems there are still plenty of parties who would prefer that Arafat’s death continues to be treated as a mystery rather than as an assassination. It is hard, however, […]

Clashes in Jerusalem as Israeli Forces Shut Down Arafat Event
Israeli forces and intelligence officers stormed sports club in Silwan neighborhood of Jerusalem and dispersed Palestinians who were commemorating the ninth anniversary of late president Yasser Arafat’s death. Witnesses told Ma’an that large numbers of […]

Why I Believe Yasser Arafat Was Poisoned
By David Barclay Polonium 210 is so toxic that it is difficult to explain just how dangerous it is – a fatal dose is almost a million times less than is needed for cyanide, for […]

Of Love and Resistance: Shafik Kabha, Palestinian Music Icon, 1960-2013
By Louis Brehony One of Palestine’s most loved singers Shafik Kabha was gunned down on his way home from singing at a wedding in Umm al Fahm, Galilee on 22 October. He was aged 53. […]

Time to Ignore Netanyahu the Rejectionist
By Ludwig Watzal Benyamin Netanyahu’s hyperventilated fury didn’t surprise anybody. Even before the first outlines of a possible long-term agreement between Iran and the West on Iran’s nuclear program were publicized, Israel’s Prime Minister categorically […]

The Collapse of Turkey’s Syria Policy
By Jeremy Salt – Ankara Catastrophic for Syria and disastrous for Turkey. So can be summed up the consequences of Turkish intervention in Syria over the past two years. While not admitting that they were […]

Egypt’s Revolution against Democracy
By Ali Younes – Washington, D.C. When the Egyptian military leaders decided to end Egypt’s first ever-ever democratic experience in a coup d’etat on July 2nd, toppling the Muslim brotherhood ( MB) government from power […]

Saudis Fight a Lost Battle against Change
By Nicola Nasser The ongoing aggressive Saudi policy for a militarized “regime change” in Syria is more an expression of internal vulnerability, trying hopelessly to avert change outside their borders lest change sweeps inside, than […]

Swiss Study: Polonium Found in Arafat’s Bones
By David Poort and Ken Silverstein – Paris, France Swiss scientists who conducted tests on samples taken from Yasser Arafat’s body have found at least 18 times the normal levels of radioactive polonium in his […]

Kerry: Israeli Settlements Are Illegitimate
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, has said that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are “illegitimate” and not helpful to ongoing efforts for peace between Palestine and Israel. Kerry’s comments on Wednesday came […]

EU Deplores Israel’s New Settler Homes Plan
The European Union says it deplores the latest Israeli decision to build new illegal settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank and that it should be reversed. The move announced on […]

Israel’s Lieberman to Return to Government
Avigdor Lieberman, the former foreign minister, will return to the cabinet, the Israeli prime minister has said. Netanyahu made the announcement on Wednesday shortly after Lieberman was cleared by an Israeli court on charges of […]

UNRWA: Israeli Curbs Halt Gaza Projects
The UN says it has halted work on all but one of its 20 building projects in the Gaza Strip as a result of an Israeli ban on importing building materials into the Palestinian territory. […]

Israel and the Dangers of Ethnic Nationalism: An Interview with Jonathan Cook
(Jonathan Cook has covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the past 12 years. Extracts from this interview with Joseph Cotto were published in several articles by the Washington Times Communities website.) Cotto: What sort of general […]