FEATURED NEWS STORIES
Israel bars Palestinian expert on settlements from travel abroad
Amira Hass: Tufakji has for years been researching Israel's settlement policy and the ways by which Palestinian land is taken over, as well as planning policy which discriminates against Palestinians. He heads the cartography department of the Arab Studies Society, established in 1980 to document the social, political and cultural history of the Palestinians.
IOA Editor: Knowledge is power. Clearly, those Palestinians armed with the facts pose the greatest security risk to Israel....
Amid row over contentious ad, Jerusalem Post fires Naomi Chazan of New Israel Fund
"They're using me to attack in the most blatant way the basic principles of democracy and the values of the Declaration of Independence: Values of equality, tolerance, social justice and freedom of speech," she added. On Thursday, Chazan received an e-mail from Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief David Horovitz, informing her the newspaper would cease publishing her column. Chazan had provided the daily with one of its few leftist voices in recent years.
IOA Editor: Democracy for Jews only. The Declaration of Independence has been a part of Israel's democratic facade since 1948: it never stopped Israel from robbing the Palestinian people of their homeland and turning them into refugees and third class citizens of the Only Democracy in the Middle East. In addition, unlike the US Constitution, the "Declaration" is just that: a non-binding statement without any legally enforceable powers....
Israeli report claims $2bn stolen from Palestinians
Jonathan Cook: [Israel's] finance ministry has admitted that most of the money taken from the workers was passed to Israeli military authorities in the Palestinian territories to pay for “infrastructure programmes”. [The] co-author of the report said she believed that the ministry was actually referring to the construction of illegal settlements... In one especially cynical use of the funds, the report notes, the money was spent on portable stoves for soldiers involved in Israel’s three-week attack on Gaza last year....
4 February 2010 / Read MorePolice would issue arrest warrant for Israeli PM if Mossad is behind Dubai killing
“Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, will be the first to be wanted for justice as he would have been the one who signed the decision to assassinate [Mahmoud] al Mabhouh in Dubai. We will issue an arrest warrant against him."
According to Yossi Melman, Israel's Mossad assassinated Mabhouh. See: Mossad killing of terror chiefs has little impact on Israel-Hamas war....
Rights groups under fire for scrutiny of Israel’s conduct of Gaza war
"These organizations are trying to help Hamas in [its] fight against Israel,'' argues Im Tirtzu chairman Ronen Shoval. "They are slandering the State of Israel and the Israeli soldiers around the world.''...
4 February 2010 / Read MoreIsrael warned against any conflict with Syria
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem warned Israel on Wednesday about launching any war against his country, saying it would turn into a wider conflict. “Israelis, do not test the power of Syria since you know the war will move into your cities,” Muallem told journalists in the Syrian capital Damascus....
3 February 2010 / Read MoreIDF legal official: Israel should probe Goldstone Gaza report
Sharvit-Baruch... was concerned by the Goldstone report's negative effect on Israel's legitimacy in the global arena, and that Israel could potentially turn into "a kind of South Africa or Serbia" or a "criminal" or "racist" state in international opinion.... [S]he added, "We are now in a situation in which we need to give our friends - who don't want to see lawsuits filed against us in their own courts - the tools to do away such claims, along with other charges against us," she said. "If they need a commission of inquiry then that's what we'll give them," she added.
IOA Editor: Israel is clearly very concerned about damage to its image in the aftermath of the Goldstone report. Yet, if there is any 'regret' here, it is strictly a tactical PR and legal issue: Let's help our friends help us get out of the legal mess our own Gaza war-crimes put us in....
Salam Fayyad: Occupation must end
In a rare speech to an Israeli audience, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Tuesday that Israel must show the Palestinians that it is beginning to roll back the occupation, and that the way to do that is primarily by stopping both settlement construction and IDF incursions into Palestinian areas.
IOA Editor: So, "it's the Occupation, stupid," eh? Some of us have been saying it for over four decades.
Also The Washington Post: Palestinian premier gives a key address......
Arab politicians ‘facing increased persecution’ in Israel
MP Zahalka: “Imagine the outcry if a Jewish representative in the US or Britain was expected to swear loyalty to his country as a Christian state.”...
2 February 2010 / Read MoreUN find challenges Israeli version of attack on civilian building in Gaza war
UN team find remains of aircraft-dropped bombs, contradicting Israeli report on military conduct during three-week conflict.
IOA Editor: UN evidence vs. Israeli propaganda. Who's going to win?...
IDF denies disciplining top officers over white phosphorous use in Gaza war
The Israel Defense Forces on Monday denied that two of its senior officers had been summoned for disciplinary action after headquarters staff found that the men exceeded their authority in approving the use of phosphorus shells during last year's military campaign in the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli government wrote in a recent report.
IOA Editor: Looking past Israel's propaganda smoke screen, it is apparent that at the IDF no evil deed goes punished....
Attorney Sfard: Israeli Police Investigation of Shooting of Tristan Anderson “Gravely Negligent”
Michael Sfard: “I am embarrassed to say that the investigation team did not even go to Ni’ilin, the scene of the shooting... If a Jewish man had been shot and wounded, there is no doubt that the entire village would be under curfew and Israel would do everything possible to investigate.”...
1 February 2010 / Read MoreDershowitz: Goldstone is a traitor to the Jewish people
"The Goldstone report is a defamation written by an evil, evil man," Dershowitz said.
IOA Editor: The use of the term "traitor" is important: a Traitor loses a good deal of protection provided by civil society, and may become a target of assassination. Such a declaration is as close to a Fatwa as Jewish society gets - including secular, "Western" Jewish circles....
Read His lips: Lip Service
IOA Editor: President Obama speaking on 28 January 2010, a day after his State of the Union address, presents his non-committal to a just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Illuminating in its Nothingness....
30 January 2010 / Read MoreFemale soldiers break their silence
"A female combat soldier needs to prove more…a female soldier who beats up others is a serious fighter…when I arrived there was another female there with me, she was there before me…everyone spoke of how impressive she is because she humiliates Arabs without any problem. That was the indicator. You have to see her, the way she humiliates, the way she slaps them, wow, she really slapped that guy."...
29 January 2010 / Read MoreHoward Zinn, historian who challenged status quo, dies at 87
"He's made an amazing contribution to American intellectual and moral culture," Noam Chomsky, the left-wing activist and MIT professor, said tonight. "He's changed the conscience of America in a highly constructive way. I really can't think of anyone I can compare him to in this respect."
IOA Editor: Howard Zinn, our friend, teacher, a life-long activist so many of us followed with great interest and admiration, and an IOA Advisory Board member, passed away today. Words cannot express how much he will be missed.
MORE:
Howard Zinn - IOA Video Selection
HowardZinn.org
Democracy Now! - a tribute...
Arab MK slams Holocaust denial, wins praise from Jewish colleagues
"I, Ahmed Tibi, a tall, proud Arab, is happy to be on the same side as prominent Arab intellectuals who came out forcefully against Holocaust denial in the Middle East and other places around the world." And "Those who were victims of that horrible death, which is a byproduct of a malicious exercise of power - a destructive... must be attentive to the cries of the bereaved mother whose home was destroyed and whose children were buried underneath it; to the pain and cries of a doctor who lost his daughters; to the victims of the other, even if the other is his victim, the victim's victim."...
27 January 2010 / Read MoreIsrael plans to repatriate ‘lost Jewish tribe’ in India
Yesh Din: “Past experience” fed suspicions that the Bnei Menashe would be encouraged to settle deep in the West Bank... Shavei Israel lobbies for other groups of Jews to be brought to Israel, including communities in Spain, Portugal, Italy, South America, Russia, Poland and China.
IOA Editor: An endless supply of lost tribes, and their relatively disadvantaged members, can provide a lifeline of fresh, enthusiastic 'pioneers' to Israel's settlement frontier....
Ma’an News Agency
- Police arrest 2 suspected of home robberies
- Erakat: Speculation on proximity talks unhelpful
- Stop the Wall offices raided by Israeli military
- Israel stays eviction of settlers, despite court order
- Mash’al arrives in Moscow
- Ministry of Finance denies reducing salaries
- Israel court frees 2 internationals on bail
- MADA condemns attacks on journalists in the West Bank
IPS – Inter Press Service: Israel – Palestine
- MIDEAST: Gazans Denied Justice as Rights Take a Beating
- MIDEAST: Raze Illegal Buildings - Unless They Are Jewish
- MIDEAST: Pro-Israel Lobbies Work on Europe
- MIDEAST: Corrupt Arab Regimes - Who is to Blame?
- JORDAN: Palestinians Unfairly Stripped of Citizenship - Report
- MIDEAST: Helpless in Gaza
- Q&A: ''Hamas Accepts Existence of Israel Within 1967 Borders''
- MIDEAST: Netanyahu Plants Trees and More on Occupied Land
FEATURED COMMENTARIES
Akiva Eldar: The illusion of ‘Syria first’
Every year since March 2002, Syria and the Palestine Liberation Organization have reiterated their support for the Arab peace initiative. Hopefully they will do so again next month at the Arab League summit in Tripoli. The initiative offers Israel normalization with all Arab League members in return for a withdrawal from all territories occupied in 1967....
8 Feb 2010 / Read MoreAnshel Pfeffer: When did the Israeli right become so McCarthyite?
B'Tselem, Yesh Din, Machsom Watch, Breaking the Silence and their ilk are nudniks, they are one-sided, they pick up any story floating around, often giving exaggerated credence to hearsay testimony and they have a tendency for overkill, conflating every report into a phenomenon. Yet we couldn't do without them.
IOA Editor: Indeed, without them, liberal Anglo-Saxon Jewish immigrants such as Mr. Pfeffer could themselves become targets of the neo-fascist camp that is rapidly rising in Israel as a counter-movement to domestic human rights organizations and to Israel's international critics. This Israel-centric commentary is presented here to show the tremendous pressure Israeli rights organizations are operating under, and the limited support they receive even from relatively-friendly media such as Haaretz....
Yossi Melman: Robbing Sderot of defense from rockets
The decision to develop Iron Dome appears to have been, from the start, an effort to keep the Rafael scientists employed and compensate the company for not benefiting from the research and development funding for the Arrow system, which is being developed by Israel Aerospace Industries.
IOA Editor: So much for Israeli security and for defending our people from Gaza-based terrorism. There's no business like War Business (there's even an Irving Berlin Broadway-tune to go with it). Israeli war profiteering is an important part of the equation. See also:
Amira Hass: Israel knows that peace just doesn’t pay
Who Profits?
Wikipedia - Iron Dome...
Avi Shlaim: Blair – Gaza’s great betrayer
The wall of shame, as Egyptians call it, will complete the transformation of Gaza into an open-air prison. It is the cruellest example of the concerted Israeli-Egyptian-US policy to isolate and prevent Hamas from leading the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. Hamas is habitually dismissed by its enemies as a purely terrorist organisation. Yet no one can deny that it won a fair and free election in the West Bank as well as Gaza in January 2006....
3 Feb 2010 / Read MoreUrsula Lindsey: Egypt’s Wall
[M]any, across the political spectrum, are deeply uncomfortable with the shift in policy that has turned the Palestinians, from historical “brothers,” into something like enemies... [T]he columnist Fahmi Huwaydi remarks that Egypt’s “strategic vision has changed, and Egypt has come to reckon the Palestinians and not the Israelis a danger. And if this sad conclusion is correct, then I cannot avoid describing the steel wall…as a wall of shame.”...
2 Feb 2010 / Read MoreAlice Walker: Saying goodbye to my friend Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn was magical as a teacher. Witty, irreverent, and wise, he loved what he was teaching and clearly wanted his students to love it also. We did.
IOA Editor: As did this former Zinn student, and probably everyone else. A friend who knew Howard well and worked closely with him said: "Howard had that je ne sais quoi that is rare beyond expression. Allowed him to say the most amazingly radical thing and seem like common sense. And make you laugh while doing it." Exactly....
Ameer Makhoul: “Our community is at risk”
Israel is pushing the Palestinian community to a big confrontation, in order to harm the whole community. We must look at the whole of the Palestinian community since 1948. We need to include the 1.4 million Palestinian people living in Israel in our efforts for just solution....
31 Jan 2010 / Read MoreGideon Levy: Israeli left needs to wake up before it’s too late
We can continue to remain silent and know that silence means collaboration. But when the left wakes up it will be too late. In fact, it is already too late. Meretz is dead, Labor is dying, Kadima is nonexistent, Peace Now is still deliberating over whether to petition against the pardon, and the right is freely celebrating and going wild....
31 Jan 2010 / Read MoreRobert Fisk: In the West Bank’s stony hills, Palestine is slowly dying
But look at the statistics and leaf through the pile of demolition orders... and it all looks like ethnic cleansing via bureaucracy. Perverse might be the word for the paperwork involved. Obscene appear to be the results....
31 Jan 2010 / Read MoreBob Herbert: A Radical Treasure
Mr. Zinn was chagrined by the present state of affairs, but undaunted. “If there is going to be change, real change,” he said, “it will have to work its way from the bottom up, from the people themselves. That’s how change happens.”...
30 Jan 2010 / Read MoreHoward Zinn: Finishing School for Pickets (1960)
Spelman College girls are still "nice" but not enough to keep them from walking up and down, carrying picket signs, in front of two supermarkets in the heart of Atlanta. They are well-mannered, but this is somewhat tempered by a recent declaration that they will use every method short of violence to end segregation.
IOA Editor: In these days of Apartheid Walls and resistance to military occupation, it is both interesting and inspiring to read Howard Zinn's account of protesting segregation in the South....
Noam Chomsky: Foreword to “Howard Zinn: A Radical American”
It has been a wonderful privilege to have been able to join Howard on his “moving train” on many occasions over these years of challenge, inspiration, torment, and persistent concern over impending catastrophe. Like everyone who knows him, I too have been struck by his enduring optimism... Howard’s life and work are a persistent reminder that our own subjective judgments of the likelihood of success in engaging human problems are of little interest, to ourselves or others. What matters is to take part, as best we can, in the small actions of unknown people that can stave off disaster and bring about a better world, to honor them for their achievements, to do what we can to ensure that these achievements are understood and carried forward. In brief, to follow the model provided for us by the subject of this welcome biography....
28 Jan 2010 / Read MoreGideon Levy: Holocaust remembrance is a boon for Israeli propaganda
We have a prime minister who speaks about evil but is building a fence to prevent war refugees from knocking at Israel's door. A prime minister who speaks about evil but shares the crime of the Gaza blockade, now in its fourth year, leaving 1.5 million people in disgraceful conditions. A prime minister in whose country settlers perpetrate pogroms against innocent Palestinians under the slogan "price tag," which also has horrific historical connotations, but against whom the state does virtually nothing....
28 Jan 2010 / Read MoreAmira Hass: In the West they say it’s rain
Israel, via the Interior Ministry, continues to spit in the face of friendly countries, and those countries continue to admire the falling raindrops. The ministry's most recent gob of spit was the cancellation of the work visas that citizens of those countries who are employed by international NGOs have been getting for years....
26 Jan 2010 / Read MoreIsraeli Occupation
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The IOA Advisory Board:
- Bashir Abu-Manneh
- Mustafa Barghouthi
- Anat Biletzki
- Noam Chomsky
- Irene Gendzier
- Assaf Kfoury
- Rashid Khalidi
- Stephen R. Shalom
- Salim Tamari
- Howard Zinn
NEW: IOA in the Press
