Palestine – Breaking News

Not an analogy: Israel and the crime of apartheid

By HAZEM JAMJOUM

In recent years, increasing numbers of individuals around the world have begun adopting and developing an analysis of Israel as an apartheid regime. This can be seen in the ways that the global movement in support of the Palestinian anti-colonial struggle is taking on a pointedly anti-apartheid character, as evidenced by the growth of Israeli Apartheid Week ( http://apartheidweek.org/). Further, much of the recent international diplomatic support for Israel has increasingly taken on the form of denying that racial discrimination is a root cause of the oppression of Palestinians. This has taken on new levels of absurdity in Western responses to the April 2009 Durban Review Conference, a follow-up to the 2001 World Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa in which Palestinians were identified as victims of racism (the US, Israel, Canada and Italy have already announced that they will not participate because of the potential for criticism of Israel).

Many of the writings stemming from this analysis work to detail levels of similarity and difference with apartheid South Africa, rather than looking at apartheid as a system that can be practiced by any state. To some extent, this strong emphasis on historical comparisons is understandable given that boycott, divestment and sanctions is the central campaign called for by Palestinian civil society for solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle, and is modeled on the one that helped end South African apartheid. However, an over-emphasis on similarities and differences confines the use of the term to narrow limits. With the expanding agreement that the term "apartheid" is useful in describing the level and layout of Israel’s crimes, it is important that our understanding of the "apartheid label" be deepened, both as a means of informing activism in support of the Palestinian anti-colonial struggle, and in order to most effectively make use of comparisons with other struggles.

Read More »Not an analogy Isarael and the crime of apartheid

Report From Gaza

By Stephen DeGange

Most of us don’t get to visit the headlines. I had such an opportunity recently week when I joined a convoy bringing humanitarian aid to the besieged people in Gaza. I was joined on this trip by my son, Powell, a graduate of Berkeley High School and UC Davis. Powell works as a labor union organizer and activist with Unite Here in San Diego and has taken a special interest in Middle East affairs since majoring in political science at Davis.

While flying to Cairo and joining a caravan of buses across the Egyptian desert, the Sinai Peninsula, and through the heavily fortified border crossing at Rafah into a war zone might not seem like a typical father-son bonding excursion, we were each called to a responsibility to try to lend succor to a desperate, war-ravaged, brutalized group of fellow inhabitants of the planet.

Current conditions in Gaza have been well documented, if not in the mainstream North American media, then certainly on progressive Internet sites. The historical ravages visited upon the Palestinian people by their “neighbor,” Israel, are similarly well known. It began, of course, in 1948 with the displacement of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes. Resisters were murdered or turned into refugees. Over the subsequent 61 years, the settler state has expanded its borders with the brute force of soldiers, tanks and bulldozers. United States taxpayers have picked up much of the tab for these “settlements.” (It is estimated that U.S. aid to Israel from 1949 to 2000 was close to $100 billion. In fiscal year 2003 Israel received a foreign military financing grant of $3.1 billion and a $600 million grant for economic security in addition to $11 billion in commercial loan guarantees. This total aid package of nearly $15 billion makes Israel by far the largest single recipient of U.S. aid.)

Read More »Report from Gaza

 Picture: REUTERS/ Frank Nyakairu (RWANDA)

The residence of the former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana is seen in Kigali

The house of former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, whose 1994 assassination triggered the genocide, will be turned into a museum promoting national healing.

Sports and Culture Minister Joseph Habineza told AFP "Rwanda has decided to transform Habyarimana’s former presidential residence into a museum".

"Setting up this museum was decided as part of a drive to promote reconciliation and Rwandan unity," he said. "It is a museum that will serve future generations in the struggle to ensure there is never another genocide."

Habyarimana’s former residence is located in Kanombe, some 20 kilometres from central Kigali.
Part of the wreckage of Habyarimana’s plane, which was shot down on April 6, 1994, will be displayed in the museum, which is expected to be inaugurated early next year.

According to the United Nations, around 800,000 people – mainly minority Tutsis but also moderate Hutus — were slaughtered within a few weeks in 1994.

Sapa-AFP

Read More »Rwanda to turn assassinated presidents home into museum

(source:  Kashmir Media Service)

Kashmir delegates, Altaf Hussain Wani and Sardar Amjad Yousaf Khan in their addresses to the inaugural session of the 15th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council have urged the council to take cognisance of the human rights situation in occupied Kashmir.

Altaf Hussain Wani in his addresses, while commending the report of the High Commissioner, said that human rights situation in Indian occupied Kashmir was of no less importance than the situations discussed in the report of the High Commissioner.

He said that though the report covered wide range of issues and situation around the globe but it failed to address the human rights situation of the occupied territory where the peaceful demonstrators were being killed.

He said that strict grid of curfew continued for last three months, more than 70 people, mostly children were killed by Indian troops during peaceful demonstrations organised to express their demand for end to the continued culture of impunity and press their demand for right to self determination.

Sardar Amjad Yousaf Khan, Executive Director fo Kashmir Institute of International Relations, in his address said that Indian had given wide range of powers to its troops in occupied Kashmir by enacting Armed Forces Special Powers Act which provided them impunity for the crimes they were committing in the occupied territory.

He said that the High Commissioner’s report failed to mention the human rights situation of occupied Kashmir. He said that Jammu and Kashmir Under was siege for last three months, which had caused serious humanitarian problem there, besides Killing more than 90 people.

The Kashmiri leader said that the population of Kashmir valley was facing shortage of food, medico especial life saving drugs. He urged the council and Human rights Commissioner to appoint a special representative for Jammu and Kashmir to assess the human rights situation.

Read More »Altaf wani amjad yousaf urge unhrc to take note of rights violations in ihk