Israeli Apartheid

Martin amiss Iran fantasia

January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Martin Amis’s Iran fantasia

Amis’s understanding of Iran is shallow and his take on Islamism superficial. Is this the best western liberalism has to offer?

Abbas Barzegar

Some 20-odd years ago, not out of any sense of patriotism or self-defence, young Iranians with bombs strapped to them dived under advancing Iraqi tanks. Khomeini promised them a few dozen virgins you see. Now, as Martin Amis tells us today, that evil genius’s followers, hungrier than ever, are combining apocalyptic zeal with advanced nuclear engineering to usher in the Messiah, destroy western civilisation, and kill every remaining Iranian who isn’t a mullah or mindless fanatic.

The myth that madness has motivated Muslims throughout 1,400 years of history and continues to drive political Islam today is a pretty old one, and I must say it is getting rather boring, so it’s especially hard to understand how a figure as prolific as Martin Amis can still make a good living out of it. Nonetheless, it seems that Amis is again ready to wear the fashionable Islam expert hat, this time gracing us with his profound insights on Iran, which even if dead wrong are at least momentarily entertaining.

Israeli govt announces establishment of new settlement in the jordan valley

January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

The Israeli government officially announced the establishment of a new settlement on Palestinian lands in the Jordan valley located in the eastern flank of the West Bank.

The Israeli Maariv newspaper reported Thursday that Israeli settlers started to reside in the new settlement called Mashkiot which was an abandoned military post.

Meanwhile, the Islamic and Christian front for the defense of Jerusalem and holy places warned that Zionist settlement societies are planning and working on seizing Arab real estate and houses in occupied Jerusalem and its environs.

In a statement, the Front stated that 28 Jerusalemite families living the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood are threatened with eviction from their homes after a Zionist organization called Yeshiva Haim Ha’olam seized two Arab houses in the Khaldieh Akaba area in the old town.

The statement added that the IOA issued a decision to build a settlement in the same area consisting of dozens of settlement units in order to form a settlement chain extending from the Mount Scopus to the old town which would lead to the separation of the Palestinian neighborhoods in the north from the old town.

Israel imposes more severe permit regime

January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Human Rights
Israel imposes more severe permit regime
Press release, B’Tselem, 10 September 2008

In the past year Israel has escalated its policy of separating the Palestinian populations of the Gaza Strip and West Bank from each other. The separation regime tears families apart, puts thousands at risk of expulsion to the Gaza Strip and turns Palestinians into "illegal aliens" in their own home. This policy is revealed in a position paper published today (Wednesday 10 September) by human rights organizations HaMoked and B’Tselem.

As of November 2007, Israel requires Palestinians whose registered address is in Gaza to apply for a temporary permit to remain in the West Bank. This, even if they have lived in the West Bank for many years, established their homes there, and, in some cases even if they were born in the West Bank. Moreover, in the past year, the military has taken active measures to locate and expel Palestinians from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip under the pretext that they are "illegal aliens."

Israel is exploiting the hardship of families which are split between the West Bank and Gaza Strip to force them to move to Gaza permanently. Israel requires Palestinians wishing to enter Gaza to sign an undertaking never to return to the West Bank. On the other hand, Palestinians from Gaza wishing to enter the West Bank for medical treatment, family visits etc., are required to deposit a large sum of money to guarantee their return to Gaza. For example:

A Gazan bride and her parents who wanted to travel to the West Bank for the wedding ceremony were required to deposit NIS 20,000 to guarantee their return to Gaza — including the bride.
A resident of Qalqiliya wishing to enter the Gaza Strip to visit her ailing husband was informed by the military that the visit would be approved only if she undertook never to return to her home in the West Bank.
A man, originally from Hebron, who resides with his wife and children in the Gaza Strip visited his mother in the West Bank. When he asked to return home, the military refused to let him go to Gaza or to let his family from Gaza come to Hebron. After a year of separation, the military said the father would be allowed to return to Gaza if he signs an undertaking never to return to the West Bank.

The High Court of Justice has recently backed Israel’s policy of denying Palestinian residents of the Territories the right to choose where they wish to reside, live with their families and travel between Gaza and the West Bank. In the past, the Court accepted army-imposed restrictions on Palestinian movement, but made efforts to promote compromises between the parties. This has changed and in its rulings the Court now puts its seal of approval on Israel’s policy which blocks passage entirely.

HaMoked and B’Tselem demand that Israel immediately renew freedom of movement between the two parts of the Occupied Territory and avoid any forcible transfers from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip. The international community must protest the violation of Palestinians’ rights to freedom of movement, to family life and to choose where they wish to live and take action to secure these rights.

Discrimination not culture keeps families in poverty

January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Israel’s Arab Women Workers Need Not Apply

By Jonnathan Cook

(source: thenational)

Israel’s finance minister was accused last week of trying to deflect attention from discriminatory policies keeping many of the country’s Arab families in poverty by blaming their economic troubles on what he described as Arab society’s opposition to women working.

A recent report from Israel’s National Insurance Institute showed that half of all Arab families in Israel are classified as poor compared with just 14 per cent of Jewish families.

Yuval Steinitz, the finance minister, told a conference on employment discrimination this month that the failure of Arab women to participate in the workforce was damaging Israel’s economy. Eighteen per cent of Arab women work, and only half of them full time, compared with at least 55 per cent of Jewish women.