Palestine – Features

Uw must divest from caterpillar

by MRN
January 1, 2013January 6, 2014

By Sam Stevenson

(source: The Badger Herald)

Israel is a criminal nation. This statement has been a verifiable fact for many decades and continues to gain support with each new violation of international law Israel commits. Most recently, a U.N. report authored by Richard Goldstone — a South African judge and self-proclaimed Zionist — found that Israel (and Hamas) committed war crimes and (quite possibly) crimes against humanity earlier this year during the Israeli invasion of Gaza. During that war the Israeli army killed more than 1,300 Gazans including 437 under 18.

They also wounded nearly 2,000 Gaza children. In contrast, the Israel Defense Forces suffered 13 causalities, nearly half victims of friendly fire. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were left homeless in the war’s aftermath. Even before the war, figures as diverse as President Jimmy Carter and Archbishop Desmond Tutu had compared the conditions of Palestinians in the occupied territories to those of blacks in South Africa under apartheid.

If this seems like the complete antithesis of a “campus issue,” you might be surprised how far reaching the conflict really is. Allow me to explain how this tragic story actually does affect students at this university and what genuine opportunities we have to seek justice for the Palestinians, safety for the Israelis and perhaps even the beginnings of a resolution to one of the most obdurate conflicts in modern history.

Cia helps torture palestinians

by MRN
January 1, 2013January 6, 2014

CIA working with Palestinian security agentsUS agency co-operating with Palestinian counterparts who allegedly torture Hamas supporters in West Bank

By Ian Cobain in Ramallah

(source: guardian.co.uk)

Palestinian security agents who have been detaining and allegedly torturing supporters of the Islamist organisation Hamas in the West Bank have been working closely with the CIA, the Guardian has learned.

Less than a year after Barack Obama signed an executive order that prohibited torture and provided for the lawful interrogation of detainees in US custody, evidence is emerging the CIA is co-operating with security agents whose continuing use of torture has been widely documented by human rights groups.

So who stands to benefit?

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

A comment on Professor Hussein Solomon’s presentation on “Global Jihad: The South African Front” presented at the University of Pretoria, Wednesday 17th March 2010

By Quraysha Ismail Sooliman

Muslim students came in their numbers; it was a show of strength. Hussein Solomon was to meet his Moses. For months he has avoided sharing a platform with any Muslim academic, cleric or media personality. This day, there was no escape.
In trying to consolidate himself, Solomon attempted to soften the introduction to his paper by quoting religious texts and traditions of the prophet (SAW).He initially distinguished between what he called “Islam” the religion and “Islamism” a new brand of extremist ideology within the Muslim community. As an academic presentation however, the paper was largely flawed. Solomon cited situations but did not follow through with the analysis or the outcomes.

An obvious case of “selective bias” had influenced the academic credibility of the presentation. Solomon mentioned a Pakistani national who had been detained at OR Tambo, but did not specify if the suspect had been charged. He spoke about the so-called Somali cells, but never once mentioned the position of South African (SA) Law enforcement agencies on this “threat”

Chilling testimony from one of the passengers on board the marmara

by MRN
January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By Jamal Elshayyal

(source: Al Jazeera Blog)

It was this time last week that I was on the top deck of the Mavi Marmara, and first spotted Israeli war ships in the distance, as they approached the humanitarian flotilla. Little did I know how deadly and bloody were the36that soon began to unfold.

What I will write in this entry is fact, every letter of it, none of it is opinion, none of it is analysis, and I will leave that to you, the reader.

After spotting the warships at a distance, (at roughly 11pm) the organisers called for passengers to wear their life vests and remain indoors as they monitored the situation. The naval war ships together with helicopters remained in the distance for several hours.