Palestine – Breaking News

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

In his exclusive interview with Ikhwanweb, Hamas vice Chair Musa Abu Marzuk confirmed that Hamas "is not interfering with Arab politics. In fact many of those who bet on attacking, excluding, and marginalizing it began reviewing themselves and are now starting to deal with them as a real entity for the sake of building healthier future relations."

Marzuk also said that "the Bush government had confined itself to a cage when it categorized Hamas as terrorists. We are not willing, whether in the present or future, to acknowledge Israel. And if they are willing to deal with the Arab initiative with this reservation, we will be pleased."

"Egypt has met with the different Palestinian faction representatives in Cairo to get acquainted with each faction’s vision of dealing with the current crisis. These sessions which all started in September and ended with Hamas’s meeting on October 8th were for the sake of dialogue rather than presenting final solutions," Marzuk added.

Read More »Interview with hamas vice chair musa abu marzuk

Police: Israel’s kingmaker corrupt to bone

Avigdor Lieberman is accused of money laundering.
Israeli officials say they have gathered sufficient evidence to charge hawkish politician Avigdor Lieberman with money laundering.

"The police source said there was no doubt about money laundering," Dep.-Cmdr. (ret.) Boaz Guttman, a former National Fraud Unit investigator quoted a senior police source as saying The Jerusalem Post, reported. "But he refused to talk about bribery."

Lieberman, the leader of Yisrael Beiteinu party, is under investigation over using Cypriot bank accounts for money laundering. He is also suspected of involvement in fraud and bribery.

Read More »Israels kingmaker corrupt to bone

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