Khalid Amayreh: “As an oppressed people our certainty is to be free”

Unlike the US, photos of missing children do not appear on milk cartons in Occupied Palestine…. their parents know where they are…. kidnapped by Israeli soldiers, or worse.

“…the government of Israel practices a brutal form of Apartheid in the territory it occupies. It’s army has turned every Palestinian village and town into a fenced-in, or blocked-in, detention camp.”
Shulamit Aloni, January, 2007
Former Education Minister under
Yitzhak Rabin *

Gaza – Protests against the crippling siege imposed on the Gaza Strip should spread across the world, said Palestinian lawmaker Jamalh Al-Khudari on Sunday, as the blockade enters its 1000th day.

The Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip has so far resulted in the death of 500 Palestinians, says a Palestinian lawmaker as the siege enters its 1,000th day.

The Israeli military Operation “Cast Lead” is based on ethnic cleansing of the ittihad_news-4families of Palestinian politicians and resistance in Gaza. According to the cabinet of the criminal Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barak, and the chief of the Israeli intelligence, Yuval Diskin, the military Operation “Cast Lead” must put an end to some political activists, Palestinian resistance and their families as the only solution to “decrease the terror” of revenge against Israel. According to these Israeli war criminals, the murder of the families of Palestinian political activists and resistance fighters is very important for the security of Israel. By murdering their families, Israel will guarantee that no revenge would be possible in the future.

A controversial campaign in the Western world links Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the treatment of blacks in apartheid South Africa, called the Israeli apartheid week. Inside Story asks: Is criticism of specific Israeli policies raising doubts about Israel’s right to exist? And is Israel now on the PR offensive to fight back?

The PA decision to resume “indirect talks” with Israel is undoubtedly a clear expression of its moral and political bankruptcy. It is also an expression of its inability to lead the Palestinian people.

The PA leadership had been saying ad nauseam that it won’t resume “peace talks” with Israel until and unless Israel agrees to freeze Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The Fatah conference in Bethlehem, which was held last year, even took a unanimous decision backing the PA stance on the settlements.

Now, it seems that all Fatah’s vows and undertakings were nothing more than hot air. This really begs the question of whether the PA itself can really be taken seriously.

Friday is the Holiest Day in the Islamic week. The following two reports demonstrate the contempt the zionists have for those of the Muslim faith….. Just imagine the SCREAMS of anti Semitism if anything similar happened to Jews anywhere….. screams that would be heard all around the world…… BUT, in the following instances … DEAD SILENCE!

Dozens of Palestinians were injured as Israeli forces entered East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound following the weekly Friday prayers, firing tear gas, rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades.

Anyway, however different from apartheid the occupation may be, it’s definitely more like apartheid than it is like democracy.

In case any of my readers have any doubts as to the type of people that are settling into Palestinian OWNED homes in Sheikh Jarrah, the following should clarify the matter.

These illegal settlers are truly among the lowest forms of life as we know it.

These are not ordinary people, they are inflicted with a deadly virus known as zionism. To date, there is no known cure.

Clashes on the Temple Mount plaza in Jerusalem's Old City Sunday capped a week of violence since the declaration of Hebron's Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem as official Israel heritage locations.

The Israel Defense Forces called off a raid in Palestinian territory after a soldier posted details, including the time and place, on the social networking website Facebook, Army Radio reported on Wednesday.

The soldier – since relieved of combat duty – described in a status update how his unit planned a “clean-up” arrest raid in a West Bank area, Army Radio said.

The Israel Defense Forces says it is using information on Israelis who demonstrate against the separation fence in a bid to deny them entry at nearby checkpoints. Israelis and others demonstrate every Friday at the villages of Bil’in and Na’alin.

The Israeli Authorities decided to file charges against a 12-year-old Palestinian child from the southern West Bank city of Hebron after arresting him and charging him with throwing stones at the Israeli military.

Exposing Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity should therefore be viewed as an essential component in the enduring Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice. It is also a pre-requisite for undermining the mendacious Israeli narrative, notoriously based on lies, half-truths and distortion of history.

During an appearance at Vassar College in early February, controversial New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner was asked about the ongoing evictions of Palestinian families from homes in East Jerusalem which Israel occupied in 1967. Israeli courts have ruled that Jewish settlers could take over some Palestinian homes on the grounds that Jews held title to the properties before Israel was established in 1948.

On February 25, 1994, hundreds of Muslims were performing the Dawn Prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, also known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs.

However, a former Jewish immigrant from the United States, who was also a soldier in the Israeli security forces, ascended to the holy shrine and opened fire indiscriminately from his Galilion semi-automatic rifle, killing at least 29 people and injuring more than 160 others.

Adel Idris, a survivor, described the scene.

Barkat is expected to announce that he wants to pursue a plan that will retroactively legalize housing, including Beit Yonatan, owned by settlers.

The United States criticized Israel on Monday for authorizing 600 new housing units in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze’ev, describing the move as “counter-productive.”

“We’ve relayed our strong concerns to the government of Israel, that this kind of activity, particularly as we try to relaunch meaningful negotiations is counter-productive and undermines trust between the parties,” said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley.

On Friday the government gave the green light for the new homes to be built in the Jewish neighborhood in east Jerusalem, drawing anger from the Palestinians.

The Israeli army invaded our neighborhood at 1:30 AM Tuesday morning waking up my mother, wife and sister. Heavily-armed soldiers blocked roads during “the operation”. When my family opened the door, they demanded to see me. They were told I have already left to the US. After many more questions, they left a paper that states I am to appear at the military liaison office next Monday. My sister and wife told them I will not be back by then. Clearly the warning from that military officer at Ush Ghrab that I mentioned in my last email, was based on knowledge of this. I guess I am a wanted man now.

“The year 2009 was the quietest for Israelis from the security point of view and the most violent for the Palestinians from the point of view of attacks by settlers in the West Bank.” Just as he was saying this – as an example of one of the absurdities that characterize the political situation – Palestinian Agriculture Minister Ismail Daiq received a phone call from the Jenin district to inform him that five artesian wells in the village of Daan had been destroyed that morning. One person was shot and wounded in the abdomen when he tried to lift the pump to save it from damage. This was not an attack by settlers but a raid by the army.

Immediately after the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, the Zionists began with the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem to make place for American and European Jews. They began implementing their plans to delete Palestinian Jerusalem and replace it with a Zionist version. One important landmark, a distinctive feature, of Palestinian Jerusalem is Al-Haram Ash-Sharif compound which includes Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. To completely wipe out any Palestinian feature of the city, it was necessary to wipe out Al-Haram Ash-Sharif compound. To achieve this, a series of attacks, under various naming and excuses, were carried out on the Noble Sanctuary.

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Sunday stormed the courtyards of the Aqsa Mosque and cordoned off its premises where dozens of Palestinian worshipers are still maintaining a vigil and refusing to leave for fear of attacks by Israeli extremists.

Eyewitnesses said that more than 200 Israeli policemen have encircled the Aqsa Mosque since the early morning hours and demanded the worshipers come out.

Though pouring rain and even hail fell throughout the West Bank yesterday, demonstrations against land confiscation, the Annexation Barrier, and settler expansion in East Jerusalem continued on Friday.

This very cool restaurant/cafe with an air of peace, is facing closure, violence, even death threats now, because one seemingly spoiled young Israeli soldier with family connections to government, couldn't enter and force a violation of Azad's no uniform policy which applies to all uniforms, not just those worn by Israeli soldiers.

The soldier was quoted saying, "I was shocked. At first, I thought I didn’t hear her well, or did not understand, but then she repeated herself with the same sentence – 'I’m sorry, but we do not let people in with military uniforms'".

Artists Against Israeli Apartheid: Montreal, February 25th 2010

Hebron residents feared to leave their homes as Israeli settlers marched through the former downtown core from the Tel Rumeida settlement to the Beit Hadassah settlement, along Suhada street on Friday, witnesses said.

The settlers marched in support of the Sunday announcement by the Israeli cabinet to put the Ibrahimi Mosque, at the center of the Palestinian city of Hebron, on the list of Israeli heritage sites.

The group of settlers were accompanied by armed Israeli soldiers, and locals reported a palatable tension in the ancient quarters of the city.

Jewish and human rights groups are gearing up to counter “Israel Apartheid Week” events next week. “Apartheid Week” is an annual event organized on college campuses in the United States, Canada and elsewhere by extreme anti-Israel groups.

In a typical move, Israel is building a “museum of tolerance” right on top of an ancient Muslim cemetery, writes Khalid Amayreh

On Wednesday, my wife, I, and a graduate student drove up to Salfit area where my student is doing a master’s thesis on the impact of the Burqan Industrial settlements on the health of the Palestinian villagers. The Israeli industrial settlement dumps daily hundreds of cubic meters of industrial waste water laden with heavy metals and other chemicals down into the valley where
residents of Brukeen breath air, use the fields for raising crops and feeding their animals. This pollution of private lands has been going on for years.

The plan approved by a district planning commission could further stymie U.S.-brokered efforts to renew stalled peace talks as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who has insisted on a total settlement freeze including in Jerusalem.

Having walked across the dead bodies of my relatives and people and having experienced their deaths; I still want peace, I still dream of peace and security for the families of Gaza and all of Palestine.

I come from an area of the world that has been violated; violated of our human rights for decades, which continues up to this very day, to this very moment as I speak these words. I have come from the heart of Israeli-Palestinian conflict to study, not necessarily to understand my conflict better, as I have lived the conflict my entire life, but to find a means to ending the conflict, and to attaining peace and justice for my people.

Sixteen years ago, on the 25th of February, 30 Muslim worshippers were slaughtered while at prayer. 270 were severely injured. This took place in one of the holiest sites in Palestine, a site revered by both Jews and Muslims. It is the resting place of our common Father Abraham and his family. The massacre was carried out by a crazed Jewish settler from Brooklyn.

The site itself is a unique structure as it serves both as a mosque and a synagogue. When one enters, it is difficult not to feel the thousands of years of common history that these two peoples share. Today, it is difficult not to feel the lingering hatred in the area as a result of the zionist occupation and harassment.

The re-establishment of a relationship with HRW is the latest indication that for all its public defensiveness about the accusations of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity in the Goldstone Report, Israel has had to confront the report’s implications.

The Nakba law is coming up again for consideration in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, in a more moderate version than before but with the same motivation: to frighten everyone who wishes to commemorate the human and political tragedy that occurred in 1948, in which the Zionists expelled most of the Palestinian inhabitants of the country and the state of Israel destroyed most of the localities in which they lived. Those proposing the law hope to mobilize Zionist patriotism by threatening to forbid commemorating Independence Day as a day of mourning. They are blind, of course, to the historical context, and the development of that tradition among the displaced Palestinians who remained in Israeli territory.

Israeli soldiers have clashed with protesters in the West Bank town of Hebron after two disputed shrines were listed as Israeli heritage sites.