Article published in Amauta with permission from the author

Source: The Independent

(CHRIS COADY/ NB ILLUSTRATION)

Benjamin Netanyahu has responded to the US request with a big concrete slap

by Johann Hari
March 12, 2010

Could the Israeli government make it any more obvious they have no intention of sharing the Over-Promised Land with its other inhabitants?

This week the Obama administration – who give Israel $3bn a year, more than they dole out to any other nation on earth – made a meek and craven request for Israelis to simply have a pause in seizing even more land, and to sit down with the Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded with a big concrete slap: the announcement of 1,600 more homes to be built on occupied Palestinian land from which Arabs will be forcibly kept out. He has made it plain he will not loosen his grip by an inch, announcing: “Even if [Palestinian President] Abu Mazen comes along and says he’s ready to sign a peace deal on the spot, we will restore settlement construction to its previous levels.” No compromise. Never. Read the full story

Fuente: IPS

Manifestantes palestinos en el retén israelí de Qalandia (Crédito: Mel Frykberg/IPS)

por Mel Frykberg

QALANDIA, Cisjordania, 17 mar (IPS) – Decenas de miles de palestinos tomaron el martes las calles, mientras las protestas se extendían por los territorios ocupados de Jerusalén oriental, Cisjordania y Gaza, e incluso por el propio Israel.

Este miércoles, miles de efectivos militares y policiales israelíes continuaban en estado de alerta.

La pequeña “Intifada” (levantamiento) fue una respuesta al llamado de Hamás (acrónimo árabe de Movimiento de Resistencia Islámica) a resistir la persistente judaización de Jerusalén oriental, una zona ancestralmente árabe que ha vivido desalojos y demoliciones de viviendas de familias palestinas a favor del ingreso de colonos judíos.

El otro motivo de la protesta es, para los palestinos, el intento de tomar sitios sagrados del Islam. Read the full story

Fuente: Diagonal

Ronald Kasrils, ex ministro sudafricano y ex miembro de Congreso Nacional Africano entre 1987 y 2007

Este antiguo luchador contra el apartheid en Sudáfrica nos habla de las similitudes entre el antiguo régimen sudafricano y el régimen israelí y de las vías para denunciarlo y enfrentarse a él.

Muro de apartheid israelí en Palestina

por Marta Molina
17 de marzo, 2010

Conversamos con Ronald Kasrils entre sesión y sesión del Tribunal Russell. Descendiente de inmigrantes judíos, líder antiapartheid, ex ministro del Gobierno sudafricano y colaborador durante décadas del presidente Nelson Mandela y el Congreso Nacional Africano, formó parte del Partido Comunista de Sudáfrica y vivió uno de los cambios más significativos de su país: el fin del apartheid. Read the full story

Fuente: Gush Shalom
Traducción: Carlos Sanchis y revisado por Caty R., Rebelión

(Caricatura: Peter Schrank)

por Uri Avnery
13 de marzo, 2010

Algunas semanas las noticias están dominadas por una sola palabra. La palabra de esta semana es «cronometraje».

Todo es una cuestión de cronometraje. El gobierno de Israel ha insultado al vicepresidente de Estados Unidos, Joe Biden, uno de los mayores «amigos» de Israel (significado: alguien completamente sumiso al AIPAC) y ha escupido a la cara del presidente Barack Obama. ¿Y qué? Todo es una cuestión de cronometraje.

Si el gobierno hubiera anunciado la construcción de 1.600 nuevas viviendas en Jerusalén Oriental un día antes, habría sido perfecto. Si lo hubiera anunciado tres días después habría sido maravilloso. Pero hacerlo exactamente cuando Joe Biden estaba a punto de cenar con Bibi y Sarah’le, fue realmente un mal momento. Read the full story

Source: GRITtv

Recently, we featured the documentary American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein, a documentary about scholar and professor Norman Finkelstein’s struggles with the larger intellectual community–and the U.S.’s Israel policy.

Finkelstein joins us in studio today to talk about the film, the current state of U.S./Israel relations, and his new book. Published by OR Books, This Time We Went Too Far explores the possibility that the December 2008 invasion of Gaza has caused a significant shift in the international community–including the American Jewish community–opinion of Israel.

Article published in Amauta with permission from the author

[Note from the editor: Watch Aljazeera's documentary about Ramzy Baroud's latest book: My Father was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story. (Pluto Press; Palgrave Mcmillan, 2010). The subtitled program is available at YouTube in two parts: Part I & Part II, and has been posted below this article. Then, check out this short film (in English and Arabic) about the book. The book is available from Pluto Press (UK), Amazon UK and Amazon.]

Israel's night raids into Bilin failed to suppress Palestinian resistance. (Oren Ziv/ActiveStills)

by Ramzy Baroud

An activist is a person who feels strongly about a cause and who is also willing to dedicate time and energy towards advancing and realizing this cause.

This might be my own limited interpretation of what activism means. I was born and raised in a Gaza refugee camp where the daily struggles of the community included challenging military occupation while attempting to survive under the harshest of circumstances. Activism then involved civil disobedience, general strikes, confronting armed Israeli soldiers with stones and slingshots. But it also involved much more than that. Read the full story

Traducción en español abajo

Article published in Amauta with permission from the author

Craig and Cindy Corrie hope they will finally get justice for their daughter Rachel. (Stephen Jaffe / AFP)

by Jonathan Cook

Seven years after Rachel Corrie, a US peace activist, was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza, her family was to put the Israeli government in the dock today.

A judge in the northern Israeli city of Haifa was due to be presented with evidence that 23-year-old Corrie was killed unlawfully as she stood in the path of the bulldozer, trying to prevent it from demolishing Palestinian homes in Rafah.

Corrie’s parents, Craig and Cindy, who arrived in Israel on Saturday, said they hoped their civil action would shed new light on their daughter’s killing and finally lead to Israel’s being held responsible for her death. They are also seeking damages that could amount to millions of dollars if the court finds in their favour. Read the full story

Fuente: Al-Ahram Weekly
Traducción: Beatriz Morales Bastos, Rebelión

por Khaled Amayreh
25 de febrero, 2010

La tensión en los territorios palestinos ocupados ha aumentado significativamente esta semana tras una decisión del gobierno de derecha israelí de añadir dos viejas mezquitas de Cisjordania a la lista de supuestos emplazamientos pertenecientes al patrimonio judío.

Las dos mezquitas son la mezquita de Bilal Ibn Rabah, a la que los israelíes llaman la Tumba de Raquel, cerca de Belén, y la mezquita de Ibrahimi en Hebrón, que lleva el nombre del patriarca Ibrahim (Abraham), al que en general se considera el antepasado común tanto de los antiguos hebreos como de los árabes del norte.

La mezquita de Ibrahimi en Hebrón, en la que en 1994 un terrorista judío cometió una masacre de fieles árabes, es considerada uno de los cuatro santos lugares más importantes del Islam, inmediatamente después de la Mezquita Sagrada en La Meca, la Mezquita del Profeta en Medina (ambas en Arabia Saudí) y la Mezquita de Al-Aqsa en Jerusalén. Read the full story

Article published in Amauta with permission from the author

History is also shaped by collective movements and popular struggles.

by Ramzy Baroud

When American historian Howard Zinn passed away recently, he left behind a legacy that redefined our relationship to history altogether.

Professor Zinn dared to challenge the way history was told and written. In fact he went as far as to defy the conventional construction of historical discourses through the pen of victor or of elites who earned the right of narration though their might, power and affluence.

This kind of history might be considered accurate insofar as it reflects a self-seeking and self-righteous interpretation of the world by a very small number of people. But it is also highly inaccurate when taking into account the vast majority of peoples everywhere. Read the full story

Source: Al Jazeera English

February 22, 2010

An Israeli court will soon decide on the demolition order of Khan al-Ahmar – a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank – so that Israeli homes can be built in its place.

Regavim, a rightist settler group, is lobbying for the move, which would make about about 100 families homeless.

Israeli authorities have already given orders to knock down a school and many shacks in the village.

Al Jazeera’s Jacky Rowland reports from Khan al-Ahmar, one of the many Palestinian communities under threat.