BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Ma’an TV channel was banned from playing inside Israeli prisons on Friday, as the Israel Prison Services (IPS) claimed the channel was inciting Palestinian prisoners against Israel. The alleged ban was first reported by the head of the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs, Issa Qaraqe, who told Ma’an that the news of the ban came from Palestinians inside Israeli prisons who said IPS officials decided to ban the channel after accusing the Palestinian news channel of “inciting and harming the security of Israel.” Qaraqe added that the Palestinian prisoners said they were dependent on the Ma’an TV channel for their main source of news on Palestine and deeply resented the IPS officials’ decision. “Ma’an is a national TV channel that has focused on the prisoners’ cause and their communication with their families, while broadcasting solidarity sit-ins and activities,” Qaraqe said, adding that the decision by Israeli authorities was arbitrary and a large...

Israel, reputedly the only democracy in the Middle East, is willing to arrest its own citizens for communicating on the Internet. That was the experience of Samih Jabarin when he recently arranged for Leila Khaled, the Palestinian resistance icon, to address the al-Warsheh cultural center in Haifa — a city in present-day Israel — via Skype. As soon as Khaled had completed her opening remarks and invited questions from members of the audience, three Israeli secret police officers entered the center unnoticed and quietly escorted Jabarin, its owner, from the building. He was released after interrogation later that night (11 July), but al-Warsheh was closed by police two days later. Shabak, Israel’s secret service (also known as the Shin Bet), had previously tried to pressure Jabarin into canceling the event. “The Shabak called me that Friday morning [11 July] and demanded that I come to their Haifa offices for interrogation,” he told The Electronic Intifada. “I refused because it was...

The Palestine Papers reveal in yet more detail the extent of the co-operation between the PA and the Israeli oppressors. They had a meeting to collaborate on how to kill Palestinian resistance fighter Hassan al-Madhoun. Four months after the meeting he was killed in a targeted Israeli air strike. Presumably the PA provided the targeting information. No wonder the Palestinan Authority is hitting down Al Jazeera on the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has shown operational willingness to co-operate with Israel to kill its own people, The Palestine Papers indicate. Among the documents are notes, handwritten in Arabic, revealing an exchange in 2005 between the PA and Israel on a plan to kill a Palestinian fighter named Hassan al-Madhoun, who lived in the Gaza strip. more

Israel's parliament is creating a committee of inquiry into Israeli human rights group that have had the audacity to speak out, and act, against injustice. Gideon Levy writing in Haaretz has written an article attacking the 'democrats' for attempting to outlaw all such groups. There isn't much of an Israeli left, but what there is deserves our support. The Israeli right is on the march and there is no sign that they will be stopped. The next time someone tells you Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East point them to the Knesset's McCarthyite committee. It's high time a legal ban on the Israeli left be instituted. Why do we continue beating around the bush? Why do we need such a taxing, exhaustive legislative process in enacting law after law? What's the use of all these various proposals and amendments? In lieu of all the aforementioned, let's just do one very simple thing: declare the left an illegal entity in the State of Israel. From then on,...

Imprisoned for criticizing Israel April 12, 2010 I AM writing to you on behalf of Convergencia de Izquierda , a Trotskyist party in Argentina. Our leader, Juan Carlos Beica, has been sentenced to six months in jail by the justice system of the city of Buenos Aires. The current mayor of Buenos Aires is Mauricio Macri, a prominent businessman with close links to Israel. Beica has been condemned because of his participation in several demonstrations that took place last year against the occupation of Gaza by Israel. He has been accused of "discriminating" against the Jewish community in Argentina. The main witness of the prosecutor was Eduardo Elsztain, who is the chairman of the World Jewish Congress and one of the richest businessmen in Argentina. He personally took part in the trial. That will give you an idea of the importance given to this "leading case" by Israel and the organizations that serve the Zionist state worldwide. Beica has been the first in a list of p...