US – Features

South African Human Rights Delegation to the Occupied Palestinian Territories 

Twenty-three South African human rights leaders were in the West Bank and Occupied Palestinian Territories from the 5-11 July 2008. 

A REPORT BACK ON 5 EXTRAORDINARY DAYS 

Some members of the delegation will discuss the time they spent in the Middle East, offering insights on the Palestinian-Israeli relations and occupation. Ways forward, both there and in South Africa, will be suggested. An open discussion will follow. 

Johannesburg: 

Speakers: Jody Kollapan (Chairperson- Human Rights Commission), Janet Love (Director LRC & ANC NEC) with Mondli Makhanya (Editor- Sunday Times) 

Date: 28 July 2008 

Time: 07:00 pm 

Venue: Wits University, Senate House SH6

Read More »South African human rights delegation to the occupied palestinian territories

(source: OutlookIndia.com)

Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has claimed that the controversial American security firm Blackwater was behind the deadly bomb attack on a market in Peshawar that killed over 100 people.

Hakimullah questioned why the Taliban should target the public when it was capable of carrying out attacks in Islamabad and targeting the army’s General Headquarters.

In an interview with BBC Urdu, he claimed Blackwater and "Pakistani agencies" were involved in attacks in public places to discredit the militants.

Read More »Taliban chief blames blackwater for peshawar blast

(source: Al Jazeera)

Anti-wall activists have for years held protests against the separation barrier [EPA]

Israel has begun rerouting a section of its controversial separation barrier near the West Bank village of Bilin following a two-and-a-half-year-old court ruling.

But activists and Bilin residents were expected to continue their protests against the barrier on Friday, despite the concession, which returns only about a third of the area claimed by the Palestinians.

Read More »Israel acts on west bank wall order

By E Qasim

(source: BusinessDay, 7/5/2010)

With reference to Rhoda Kadalie’s most recent column (Complex crisis most analysts fail to explain, May 6), your correspondent is either a new historian or a critical sociologist for the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, hell-bent on being disingenuous or misrepresenting the truth.

In 1945 Palestine was responsible for producing the following products:

·  210000 tons of grain — 193000 tons by Palestinian farmers and 16600 by Jewish farmers;
· 143000 tons of melons — 136000 tons by Palestinians and 7000 by Jewish farmers;
· 79000 tons of olives — 78000 tons by Palestinians and one ton by Jewish farmers; and
· 8000 tons of bananas — 60% of which were produced by Palestinian farmers.

That Palestine was virgin land was a myth, used by the colonisers to justify their occupation of Palestine.

Read More »Virgin Palestine a myth