A day commemorating the seizure of Palestinian land was marred Tuesday by the death of a Palestinian boy, shot by Israeli soldiers, near the Gaza border. The 15-year-old Palestinian, Mohammed al-Faramawi, was killed east of southern Gaza town of Rafah. Gaza medics and witnesses confirmed that he was shot dead by Israeli forces who fired on Palestinians marking Land Day. Several others were wounded in the incident, Iran's English Web site AlAlam News reported. more

Resistance fighters successfully ambushed IDF soldiers attempting an incursion into Gaza. Two Palestinians also dies. Israel has now lost four soldiers in the Gaza border zone. Israeli tanks withdrew from the strip this morning (five tanks and two bulldozers), but Gaza residents expect israel to commit more massacres in retaliation as helicopters and unmanned drones buzz overhead. Now, as Netanyahu debates how he should respond to American pressure regarding construction in East Jerusalem and the future of the settlements, he will, for the first time, have to face an urgent security problem: Four Israeli fatalities along the Gaza border in less than a week. The last thing Netanyahu needs right now is a war in Gaza. more

The Guardian newspaper said Wednesday that Israel’s persistence in defying the US call for halting settlement activities in occupied Jerusalem and its forging of British passports in order to murder a senior Hamas official in Dubai is a “mark of arrogance.” The Guardian highlighted, commenting about the issue of forged British passports and the last remarks made by Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington about occupied Jerusalem, that “both events in London and Washington are the marks of an arrogant nation that has overreached itself.” “The forging of British passports is the work of a country which believes it can act with impunity when planning the murder of its enemies, while simultaneously claiming to share the values of a law-based state,” the newspaper added. “Netanyahu's statements in Washington, made as he was preparing to meet Barack Obama, are the mark of a leader who thinks he can openly defy the will of Israel's closest military ally.” It also quoted US se...

pictured above - protest outside the BBC MEDIA ALERT: WHEN FACTS AND PROPAGANDA COLLIDE - THE BBC BENDS OVER BACKWARDS TO ACCOMMODATE ISRAELI CLAIMS When a Thai kibbutz worker was killed in Israel by a rocket launched from Gaza last week, BBC News online gave the incident headline coverage flagged up on its home page. (BBC news online, ‘Rocket fire from Gaza kills man in southern Israel’, 23:42 GMT, Thursday, 18 March 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8574138.stm ) By contrast, the killing of two Palestinian teenagers, Mohammad Qadus and Osaid Qadus, by Israeli soldiers on Saturday was buried at the end of a short news report on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's Middle East visit. Even worse, the BBC’s footnote simply echoed Israeli propaganda that “no live bullets were fired, only tear gas and rubber bullets”, despite ample evidence to the contrary. (BBC news online, ‘UN chief says Gaza suffering under Israeli blockade’, 11:26 GMT, Sunday, 21 March 2010, http://ne...

A defence campaign has been set up for the protestors who have been charged with offences at the Gaza demonstrations in January 2009. (DETAILS, UPDATES, PETITION: http://bit.ly/d1FqIA ) More than 20 of the 78 people charged have been sent to prison in an unprecedented campaign by the police. Almost all of those charged are Muslims. The campaign to defend the protestors has resulted in some good press coverage, and one of the first defendants to plead not guilty was acquitted last week. Please sign the petition in defence of the protestors, which will be delivered to the Home Office at a protest on Tuesday 30 March , 4.30pm. SIGN THE PETITION ONLINE: http://bit.ly/ccjdN8 DOWNLOAD THE PETITION FOR PRINTING: http://bit.ly/b1KAxH We are asking our supporters to download the petition for collecting signatures as widely as they can. Please send them to the Stop the War office in time for the 30 March protest at the Home Office.

Call for inquiry after video evidence clears Gaza protester The Metropolitan police were forced to drop charges today against a British man charged with violent conduct at a protest in London against the Israeli bombing of Gaza. It emerged they had failed to provide crucial video evidence until a day before the trial. From the Guardian

Make Israel pay for the destruction it wrought in Gaza. True to form the US and five European countries opposed the resolution - no wonder the West is hated in the Middle East and beyond. GENEVA — Israel should pay Palestinians reparations for loss and damages suffered during last year's war in the Gaza Strip, the U.N. Human Rights Council suggested Thursday. The 47-nation body didn't call for similar payments by Palestinians to Israelis. The resolution was opposed by the United States and five European countries. Israeli Ambassador Aharon Leshno-Yaar said the resolution was biased and defamatory, and would do nothing to bring Palestinians and Israelis closer together. The proposal by Pakistan passed by a majority of 29 to 6, with 11 abstentions. One country, Gabon, didn't vote. more

Israeli bulldozers have demolished several Palestinian homes and destroyed farmlands in the northern sector of the Gaza Strip after Israeli tanks opened fire on them. In the early hours of Tuesday, a number of Israeli army bulldozers uprooted trees and then leveled several homes after tanks opened fire on the periphery of the Beit Hanoun (Eretz) crossing and near the northern border of the Gaza strip, the International Middle East Media Center reported on Wednesday. more

Code Pink Disrupts Netanyahu Speech, Pulls Off AIPAC Hoax Activists with the group Code Pink interrupted Netanyahu’s speech on two occasions with calls to freeze settlement building and end the US-backed blockade of the Gaza Strip. One protester said Israel is guilty of war crimes. Earlier in the day, Code Pink pulled off a hoax by releasing a fake press release in AIPAC’s name calling for a complete freeze on Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories. Code Pink members also dressed up in suits and handed out copies of the statement outside the AIPAC conference to confused attendees. Several major news outlets picked up the statement before AIPAC issued a denial. We’ll have more with author Norman Finkelstein later in the broadcast. Audio report at Democracy Now here Al Jazeera report here CodePink press release CODEPINK Protests Netanyahu inside AIPAC Gala Activists call for end to siege on Gaza and illegal settlements WASHINGTON - March 23 - Shortly after announcing Israel’s co...

Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip has brought immense sufferings to Palestinians living in the coastal territory. The siege even impedes the supply of water, the most basic need for human survival. Now - 80 per cent of Gazans lack access to clean water. The head of Gaza's water authority says he has plans and the means to import water from other countries until self-dependency is reached, but Israel's blockade is the only thing in the way. Al Jazeera's Casey Kauffman reports from Gaza.

The ambassador, Ron Prosor, will not be expelled according to diplomatic reports. Instead it's more likely to be a lower-ranking staff member. [update] Telegraph claims it is the Mossad station chief who has been expelled . The UK is to expel an Israeli diplomat over the use of twelve cloned British passports in a Dubai murder, the BBC has learned. Foreign Secretary David Miliband will make a statement to Parliament later. Israel has said there is no proof that its agents were behind the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel room in January. Diplomatic sources stressed the British government has stopped short of accusing Israel of the murder. more

Swedish fashion chain H&M opened its first store in Israel on Thursday morning, but not everyone seems to be happy about it. The Swedish organization for solidarity with the Palestinians and the Palestinian association in Stockholm have called for a boycott H&M over its decision to open six more stores in Israel and urged the company to postpone the opening until Israel "respects international law." According to a statement issued by the organizations, "The familiar red H&M sign will be visible in the Azriel Mall in Tel Aviv and, a few days later, in the Malcha shopping centre in Jerusalem, a city gradually cleansed of its Palestinian population to be replaced by Jewish-Israeli settlements." more

UN General Sec. Ban on his first visit to Gaza since the war attacks Israel for the suffering of the population. Will Clinton call for the lifting of this illegal collective punishment by Israel when she speaks at the AIPAC conference today or for the punishment of the IDF criminals that killed four Palestinian teenagers this weekend? Of course not. Gaza – Ma'an – On his first visit to Gaza since the end of Israel's Operation Cast Lead, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the ongoing siege "not sustainable" adding that the continued closure "is wrong." More than a year after he spoke in front of the smoldering remains of the UN warehouse in Gaza City, hit by Israeli missiles during the December 2008-January 2009 war, Ban addressed Gazans in Khan Younis, saying they "are striving to provide for their families amid unacceptable, unsustainable conditions." The Israeli siege of Gaza, Ban said, "causes unacceptable suffering of human beings,...

Hillary Clinton is addressing AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) today to reassure the pro-Israel crowd that US support, no matter how many people the IDF kills, will be 'rock solid' (see text of her speech here ), apart from the odd cynical criticism to try and play to an Arab audience in the pretence that the US is neutral when in fact it is the main military and political backer of the settler state. Israel's Netanyahu will also be addressing the policy conference. Last year there were protests inside the conference centre organised by women's peace group CodePink . AIPAC, or the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, describes itself as the most important organization affecting the U.S. relationship with Israel. With a budget of $65 million, and membership now standing at over 100,000, it is no wonder that congressional staffers consider it one of the most powerful and effective lobbies on Capitol Hill. Once a year, AIPAC holds its annual conferenc...

Two Palestinians killed protesting restriction on access to farmland because of settler presence near Iraq Burin. The IDF is a terrorist organisation but as usual no condemnation from the western hypocrites. On Saturday near Nablus two Palestinian teenagers were killed by IDF for the 'crime' of throwing stones.

Israeli air strikes across Gaza this morning. Two people injured. Meanwhile the US has imposed sanctions against the Islamic National Bank and the Hamas-aligned al-Aqsa TV station . This comes as the European Unions head of foreign affairs visits the strip run by 'terrorists'. Western policy in the region in shot through with hypocrisy and contradiction - a stance born from trying to defend the oppressor against the oppresssed.

Berlin : A leading German Jewish peace group which has repeatedly criticized Israel's policies in the occupied territories, is to ship humanitarian aid to Gaza this spring. According to a press statement sent to IRNA in Berlin on Thursday, the German-branch of European Jews for a Just Peace in the Middle East ( EJJP ) is to deliver "urgently needed things like medicines, baby food, blankets, children's clothes and school material" to Gaza which remains under siege by Israel and Egypt. more

Rocket fire kills one in Kibbutz as EU's quasi foreign minister, Catherine Ashton, visits Gaza. Small Islamist group Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack. Hamas has been attempting to rein in rocket fire by other resistance groups. Israel, always keen to latch onto any excuse to try and kill Palestinians, has launched airstrikes in response.

"Not helpful" is all Obama has to say about the ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem by its occupiers. So it is not surprising that hopes in Obama in the Arab world are evaporating quickly . Which is why the king of Jordan is feeling the heat . He says Jerusalem is a red line not to be crossed: AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdallah on Wednesday demanded the international community take firm action to stop Israel’s actions in Jerusalem, saying the holy city is a “red line.” “ Jerusalem is a red line and the world should not be silent about Israel’s attempts to get rid of Jerusalem’s Arabs residents, Muslims or Christians ,” the king told Catherine Ashton, visiting EU foreign policy chief, according to a palace statement. Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, “demands the international community take a firm, swift, direct and effective action to stop Israel’s provocative measures in Jerusalem, that seek to change its identity and threaten holy sites there,” he said. m...

Israel's 'buffer zone' takes more of the limited amount of land available for cultivation out of use. Farmers are regularly harassed and shot at by Israel's soldiers. Gaza – Ma'an – Israeli forces opened fire during a demonstration in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday afternoon, protesters said. Abu Al-Walid Az-Zaq, member of the Popular Committee Against the Buffer Zone, said the demonstration was intended to reassert control over an Israeli "no-go area" near Beit Hanoun. The closure separates farmers and residents from their lands and property, and runs counter to claims that the military evacuated all of Gaza during its 2005 redeployment. more

As the strains in the US/Israel relationship start to show it should be remembered that the US is still totally committed to 'Israel's security'. So it's no surprise that there have been no condemnations from the US over the injuring of dozens of Palestinian protesters yesterday in East Jerusalem. Israeli security forces have been targeting children as a way of pressuring the resistance movement. Also, Israel announced it has lifted its closure of the West Bank but the defacto closure created by countless roadblocks, checkpoints and settlements of course continues. SILWAN, EAST JERUSALEM, Mar 16, 2010 (IPS) - Three thousand heavily armed Israeli security service forces locked down large parts of the Old City of Jerusalem on Tuesday, as battalions of police fired rounds of tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at Palestinian protesters in the occupied eastern part of the city. Nearly 40 Palestinians were wounded and treated at nearby hospitals, as 25 were arrested d...

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinians in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday named a street after a U.S. activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in a 2003 protest against house demolitions in Gaza. The dedication ceremony was held on the seventh anniversary of Rachel Corrie's death. Corrie's mother, Cindy, said her daughter stood for many other foreign activists who have come to the West Bank and Gaza in recent years to serve as a buffer between Palestinians and Israeli troops. more

The Palestinian rage against Israel's dedication of reopening a synagogue close to al- Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem flared on Tuesday, where clashes erupted in the disputed holy city and demonstrations dominated the West Bank and Gaza Strip. more Hamas is calling for a new intifada against the occupation.

Nine brave Bristolians will be officially welcomed home to the city at the Council House this evening, after their 34-day, 4,000-mile aid trip to Gaza at Christmas. The group delivered more than £20,000 of humanitarian, medical and educational aid, raised by the people of Bristol on January 6 – despite clashes with Egyptian authorities at the border. Supported by Bristol City Council, the group included four vans and mini-buses and a 44-ton truck painted with Banksy-style murals of Bristol & Gaza on one side, and Wallace & Gromit on the other. The group joined the main UK Viva Palestina convoy in London on December 5 and 250 people of all denominations set off across Europe and the Middle East to Gaza. Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, Professor Manuel Hassassian, will join the welcome, along with Gaza journalist Sameh Habeeb, the Founder, Chair and Editor– in-Chief of the Palestine Telegraph. more

Egypt's shameful Gaza steel wall is apparently nearly finished. Following the death of a soldier when the Viva Palestina was temporarily barred from entering the strip, the Egyptian state has decided to reinforce the watchtowers... all to the joy of the Israel and the US. The reinforced underground steel wall which Egypt is building along its border with Gaza is nearly completed, Egyptian daily al-Shorouq reported Monday. "Work on the main wall is in its fourth and final stage," the paper reported. Once that is complete, cameras and detection devices will be installed. The process will take "a few weeks," followed by a testing period overseen by Egyptian and international experts. The observation towers along the border are currently being replaced by new steel towers which employ bullet-proof glass. more

Israel is planning to build 50,000 homes, mostly in East Jerusalem. Pictured above is the Ramat Schlomo settlement where permission for a further 1,600 units was announced during Biden's visit. Some 50,000 new housing units in Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the Green Line are in various stages of planning and approval, planning officials told Haaretz. They said Jerusalem's construction plans for the next few years, even decades, are expected to focus on East Jerusalem. more

British journalist Paul Martin has been released from detention in Gaza according to Reuters. Paul Martin was has been held since February 14. He went to Gaza to give defence evidence for a man accused of collaborating with Israel.No charges have been brought against Martin.

Over a year after the deadly war inflicted on the people of Gaza Israel has finally allowed a UN bomb disposal unit into Gaza to start clearing up some of the unexploded munitions left behind the world's 'most moral army'. No word on what the international community intends to do about the depleted uranium that litters the strip. It would also be nice if Israel would allow the import of concrete into Gaza so that reconstruction can begin.

Meeting to build support for Gaza activists by Siân Ruddick Over 100 people met last Tuesday to build solidarity for people jailed after protesting at Israel’s assault on Gaza last year. Anti-war and Palestine campaigners joined representatives from community groups and families of some of the defendants. Some of the accused have been sentenced to two and a half years. Joanna Gilmore, a researcher who has been following the cases, said, “These are harsh sentences, and are designed to intimidate protesters.” Campaigning lawyer Imran Khan pledged to organise appeals for all those who want them. He said, “We have to organise the appeals properly like we did after the Bradford riots. We have to pick the strongest cases first and fight with them.” The meeting demanded immediate release for all those imprisoned, for the complaints against the police to be upheld and for all those facing trial to have the charges against them dropped. Imran Khan has organised a meeting for families and lawyer...

The Rachel Corrie trial opens today with the Israeli defence ministry in the dock. A 23-year-old American activist stands in front of an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza. The bulldozer drives over her, crushing her to death. These are the facts. Rachel Corrie, along with colleagues from the International Solidarity Movement, was trying to prevent Israel from bulldozing homes in Rafah, close to the Egyptian border. Her activism cost her her life in March 2003. A colleague said at the time, "Many times the bulldozer came up to us and buried us with dirt, but they always stopped." Corrie's parents want to know the truth about their daughter's death, whether the killing was intentional and who is accountable. more

Of course it's the Palestinian people Israel should be apologising to for continuing to steal their land. Is the Israeli ruling class divided among itself as this seems to be the only way to explain the ineptness of the announcement yesterday of more land grabbing which seemed designed to embarass its most powerful ally - the US?They do have a lot on their plaate to be worryng about - from Iran to Rachel Corrie. Israel apologised to Joe Biden today for announcing a plan to build 1,600 homes on occupied Palestinian land during his visit, after the US vice-president launched a strongly worded attack on the planned construction in an East Jerusalem settlement. An Israeli cabinet minister apologised for the timing of the announcement but not for its substance. "This should not have happened during a visit by the US vice-president," the welfare minister, Isaac Herzog, told Army Radio. "This is a real embarrassment and now we have to express our apologies for this serious ...

Israel backs down and says it will allow EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and UN gen sec Ban into Gaza. Israel will allow two senior international visitors to enter the blockaded Gaza Strip, in a rare departure from policy, during their upcoming visits to the region, the foreign ministry said on Monday. Israel has denied almost all international guests entry from its territory to the Hamas-controlled enclave since its offensive there last year in order to isolate the Palestinian Islamist group that calls for the Jewish state's destruction. The ministry said in a statement that the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, who will visit next week, and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who visits in a few weeks, will be able to go to Gaza. "In response to the special requests ... Israel has decided to facilitate their entry to the Gaza Strip in order to allow them to get a first hand impression of humanitarian activities taking pl...

The announcements comes as Joe Biden tells the world what great lovers the US and Israel are. In other words Israel can do what it likes and the US will let them get on with it, while making some public noises to appear 'even-handed'. (Pictured above: East Jerusalem district of Silwan is being targeted by the settlers). The Interior Ministry approved the building of 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, a ministry statement said on Tuesday. The units are to be constructed, according to the ministry statement, in addition to the ultra-Orthodox Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, expanding it both to the east and to the south. more

Israeli Apartheid Week - London 1st - 11th March 2010 Palestine Societies in SOAS, UCL and LSE Day One Anatomy of Israeli Rule in The Occupied Palestinian Territories Monday 1 March 2010, 7pm LSE, Room D702 (Clement House) Speakers: Adi Ophir, associate professor at the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University Sari Hanafi, Associate professor at the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, American University of Beirut Day Two Stop the Wall! Tuesday, 2 March 2010 UCL – Room and time TBC Speakers: Taysir Arbasi, Former olive farmer and project director of Zaytoun, Palestine Michael Warschawski, Alternative Information Centre, a joint Palestinian-Israeli research group Yasmin Khan, War on Want Day Three Apartheid Israel and the Land Question Wednesday, 3 March 2010, 7pm SOAS, Room G50 Speakers: Salah Mohsen, community organiser and an activist for the rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, a member of the General Council of the N...

Are the national reconciliation talks on again? Maan is reporting moves by Fatah to get Hamas representatives to Cairo to sign up to a 'Unity Road Map'. Gaza – Ma'an – A Palestinian lawmaker representing Fatah in Gaza proposed on Tuesday that Hamas head to Cairo and sign the Egyptian unity plan ahead of the Arab League summit in Tripoli. The trip, according to Ashraf Jum'a, would be the first of four stages allowing Palestinian factions to "climb down from the tree," Jum'a told Ma'an, in a proposal he termed the "Unity Road Map." more

If anyone has doubts about the racist nature of Israel's ongoing demolition and construction programme the Israeli deputy major makes it disgustingly transparent - clear out the Arabs. It is much preferred to have Jews living in Jerusalem rather than Arabs, Deputy Jerusalem Mayor David Dahari said during a tour of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Shiekh Jarah on Tuesday, Israel Radio reported. According to Dahari, who is a represents the National Religious Party (NRP), more Jews will be living in the neighborhood by the end of the year. The deputy mayor said, “Jews can live in every house in Jerusalem and unfortunately Arabs can too.” more

Egypt's blogger are risking the wrath of their dictatorial state with today's show of solidarity with Gaza, given the regime's role in maintaining the blockade, affirmed by the building of a steel fence along the border to deter tunneling. CAIRO: Egyptian Internet activists have agreed to change their profile photos on the popular social networking site Facebook on Tuesday as part of Arab Unity and support with the “resilience of Palestinians in Gaza.” The group will be celebrating the steadfastness of the Gaza people who have been under economic and political blockade for their 1,000th day “without bowing to the U.S.-Israeli domination.” Egyptian bloggers and activists have called for the “electronic day” against the siege in support of Palestinian steadfastness and have highlighted that those who struggle to regain their rights “inevitably will attain it even if it takes a long time.” more

Excellent article by Donna Neve, a Jewish American supporter of Israeli Apartheid Week writing in Haaretz today (see below). The Israeli establishment seems increasingly split over how to respond as another Haaretz article shows: ...Recently I experienced deja vu when I saw the exact strategy I had been taught so many years ago being used by the Israeli government and the American Jewish establishment as part of a relentless hasbara campaign to denounce and discredit Justice Richard Goldstone and the Goldstone Report. On this past International Holocaust Day, as part of this campaign, the Israeli government shamefully used this day to further its attack on Justice Goldstone and the report. The attack has been particularly virulent, perhaps because this evidence-based report, whose lead author is internationally respected and known as a supporter of Israel, revealed the immorality of the IDF's actions with powerful legal authority. The IDF is not a "defense" force. It is...

US VP Biden is in Israel this week and as a little present Israel has given the go ahead for yet more settlement construction. The settlement (pictured above) looks more like a hilltop military outpost, which is essentially what they are, than a village. Israel authorized the construction of 112 new apartments in the West Bank despite a pledge to slow settlement building, the government disclosed Monday - a decision that enraged the Palestinians a day after they reluctantly agreed to resume peace talks. Word of the new construction in the Beitar Illit settlement came amid a flurry of activity by the U.S. to try to salvage peacemaking. Under heavy U.S. pressure, Israel agreed in November to restrict building in the West Bank to some 3,000 apartments whose construction was already underway. But it rejected any curbs in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want for their future capital more

Paul Martin, the UK journalist arrested in Gaza nearly two weeks ago, has still not been released. He was to be a witness at the forthcoming trial of an alleged collaborator. The article snippet below from the prestigious Colombia Journalism Review makes the point of arguing that Hamas has been up until now at least fairly hands off with the international media. It is hoped that these press freedoms will not be undermined by further detentions of journalists doing their job. The Perils of Reporting from Gaza Gaza journalists hopeful that press freedoms will persist By Ashley Bates On February 14 in the Gaza Strip, Hamas arrested Paul Martin, a British documentary filmmaker, on suspicions that Martin had “committed offenses against Palestinian law… that harms the security of the country.” Martin was about to testify on behalf of a Palestinian militant who had been accused of collaborating with Israel. Martin’s arrest and continued detention has raised new concerns about the safety and ...

Toronto Israeli Apartheid Week We are very proud to announce our speakers along with the specific themes of each evening for IAW 2010. Mark your calendars with the different topics for each evening and speakers: Friday, March 5, 7pm National Liberation: From Turtle Island to Palestine Location: Library Building, Ryerson University LIB072, 350 Victoria Street (map) Rabab Abdulhadi born and raised in Nablus, Palestine, Rabab Abdulhadi is a long-time feminist activist and scholar who has made significant contributions to the struggle for Palestinian self-determination and the well-being of Palestinian women. She has participated in numerous organizations dedicated to fighting for the rights of Arab and Arab-American women. From 1982 to 1988, she was the Director of Political and International Relations at the Middle East Research Center in New York. Rabab Abdulhadi was instrumental in founding the Union of Palestinian Women’s Associations in North America during the first Intifada, or Pal...

After the first anniversary of the war on Gaza,THE BUTCHER OF GAZA IS COMING TO NYC!He Belongs in Prison, Not the Waldorf! On March 9th, there will be a $1000-a-plate fundraising dinner forthe Israeli Occupation Forces after murdering 1,400 innocent Palestinianslast year! The criminal Gabi Ashkenazi, Chief of IDF General Staff, will be there.We will be there too! Stand with the people of Gaza!Demand the end of US support to Israel!Arrest and prosecute Ashkenazi and all Israeli War Criminals! Protest! Tuesday, March 9th, 6 p.m.Outside the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel49th St. and Park Avenue, Manhattan(#6 train to 51st St. or any train to Grand Central)For more info, www.al-awdany.org , info@al-awdany.org more at windowintopalestine.blogspot.com

So what does Israel have to do to earn the displeasure of the British government? Kill 1,400 people - that's OK, fake our citizens' passports - that's OK. LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Thursday it would restrict its citizens' right to seek war crimes arrests, after diplomatic protests over a warrant for the arrest of Israeli ex-foreign minister Tzipi Livni for the Gaza offensive. The arrest warrant was withdrawn after Livni cancelled a visit to London last December, and she has not attempted to visit Britain since. more

EU's head of foreign affairs is being urged by leading charities to see the effects of the Gaza blockade for herself. Maybe she'll ask Israel for compensation after destroying Gaza infrastructure built with EU funds, but we won't hold our breaths... LONDON- EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton should go to Gaza during her visit to Israel next month, a coalition of leading charities said Thursday. Groups including Christian Aid, CAFOD and Amnesty International UK say Ashton needs to "see for herself the devastating impact of (Israel's) two-and-a-half year blockade of the strip on its civilian population". Ashton is visiting Israel on March 17. In December, Israel prevented a delegation of European Parliament lawmakers from travelling to Gaza despite initially authorising the visit. more

IDF launches raid on an Israeli prison but no inmates were seized. Motivation seems to be to spread intimidation and fear so that prisoners think twice before protesting their conditions. Gaza – Ma’an – The Prisoners Affairs Ministry in Gaza said Wednesday that Israeli forces raided the Hadarim detention center and searched prisoners' cells on Tuesday. In a statement, the ministry said Israeli forces raided center and forced prisoners to strip. They were searched "provocatively" and verbally abused, according to the ministry. more