Al-Jazeera report on the Sixth Israeli Apartheid Week and how the comparisons with Aparthied SOuth Africa is really getting too the Israeli establishment.

Gaza, March 3, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) -An increase in birth defects among newborns in the Gaza Strip - first documented in the Palestine Telegraph - has become apparent, despite claims to the contrary by some doctors at Al-Shifa Hospital. Pregnant women say they are living in constant fear. Noha Abu Laban, 37, a resident of Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, is in her final month of pregnancy and says: "In the war, I inhaled the smoke of white phosphorus, which was fired on the roof of our house. I have been feeling sick since my pregnancy, and have had heavy bleeding." Noha is currently being treated in the High-Risk Pregnancy Care Unit at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. more

"A situation of development going backwards" is how the UN's John Holmes describes the situation he encountered in Gaza, reported in the New York Times . Below is the open-air prison statement report by Al-Jazeera. John Holmes, the United Nation's humanitarian chief, has revisited the Gaza Strip, a year after Israel's assault on the territory ended. He told Al Jazeera that it was disappointing how little has changed since the war and that there has been no real possibility of reconstruction, mainly because of Israel's siege of the Strip. He said the blockade resulted in misery for the Palestinians. "They're living in a kind of open-air prison. They're still suffering from this kind of collective punishment they've been suffering for three years now." more

Dubai police say that Israelis are no longer welcome in Dubai and anyone carrying Israeli or dual citizenship would be barred from entry. The police have also called in the FBI to investigate the Iowa-based Metabank that issued credit cards to the murder suspects and has links to Israel. Dubai authorities have asked the FBI to investigate the links between suspects in the murder of the Hamas leader Mahmoud al Mabhouth and their American-issued payment cards, an FBI source confirmed yesterday. ... ...Also yesterday, Gen Tamim said people travelling to the UAE who are suspected of having Israeli citizenship will not be allowed to enter the country regardless of what passport they hold. He said the police had previously allowed Israelis who held dual citizenship to enter the country using their other passport. more

GAZA, March 1 ( Xinhua ) -- A Palestinian militant was killed Monday afternoon and his faction said an Israeli shelling caused his death in northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya. Ali Ghaben, 20, was killed when Israeli tanks fired shells at a group of militants who were monitoring the border between northern Gaza and Israel, said Abu Mujahed, spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC), a Gaza-based faction. Another fighter was injured in the shelling, the spokesman added. The incident happened as witnesses said that several Israeli tanks rolled for 200 meters into Palestinian-controlled areas in Beit Lahiya.

The Jerusalem Municipality issued a further 8 demolition orders on February 24 applying to Palestinian homes in Silwan village East Jerusalem. The main street of Wadi Hilweh neighbourhood of Silwan collapsed that evening at the same point it collapsed in January due to structural damage caused by settler project “City of David”’s subterranean excavations. more

Solidarity in Action: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions March 2010 Mark your calendars - the 6th International Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) will take place across the globe from from the 1st to the 14th of March 2010! Since it was first launched in 2005, IAW has grown to become one of the most important global events in the Palestine solidarity calendar. Last year, more than 40 cities around the world participated in the week's activities, which took place in the wake of Israel's brutal assault against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. IAW continues to grow with new cities joining this year. IAW 2010 takes place following a year of incredible successes for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement on the global level. Lectures, films, and actions will highlight some of theses successes along with the many injustices that continue to make BDS so crucial in the battle to end Israeli Apartheid. Speakers and full programme for each city will be available soon. If you are pl...

Following Israeli violence at Al-Aqsa mosque on Sunday and the heritage site provocation, Hamas and Islamic Jihad are calling for action to be stepped up. The PA cabinet is convening its next meeting in Hebron as a protest and Jordan has issued a stern denunciation of the move as concern mounts. Hamas and Islamic Jihad urged an escalation of protests in the West Bank on Sunday, against what they called an Israeli assault on Palestinian religious sites. Islamic Jihad staged a mass rally in Gaza denouncing renewed violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem and Israel’s recent decision to lay claim to two holy sites in Bethlehem and Hebron. Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad Al-Hindi told the assembled crowd that Israel "only understands the language of force. This settlement, called Israel, cannot intimidate our people and our resistance through aggression. more

7,000 expected to exit Gaza over three days as the southern terminal opens for entry and exit for the first time in two months. Hamas officials say "three days are not enough." more

A new documentary series launched today on YouTube homes in on the lives of four young Palestinian women in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Sleepless in Gaza ... and Jerusalem will bring 26-minute video diaries to the wider world every day (except Friday) for the next three months. more

al-Mabhouh was drugged and then suffocated. No mention of signs of torture refered to in earlier reports. A Hamas official who was killed in his hotel room here in January was first injected with a fast-acting muscle relaxant and then suffocated, Dubai police officials said Sunday. The disclosure was the latest in a near-daily drip of information about the killing, which has riveted people across the Middle East and provided a rare level of detail about a political assassination widely believed to have been carried out by Israel’s intelligence service, the Mossad. The drug, succinylcholine, is often used by doctors to administer a breathing tube, but it has also been used in killings and as a paralyzing agent before lethal injection. Investigators discovered the relaxant in the body of the Hamas operative, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, after noticing an injection mark on his thigh, according to a forensic specialist who spoke at a news conference alongside Dubai’s deputy police chief, Khamis al-...

Earlier this week the Corrie family opened proceeding to sue the Israeli defence ministry for the killing of Rachel. Rachel Corrie was 23 years old when she was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip. The young, idealistic American peace activist, who left her home in Olympia, Washington, in 2003 to travel to the Middle East with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was attempting to prevent the demolition of Palestinian homes. The events around her death are disputed to this day. It was reported this week that, seven years after Corrie died, her family is to bring a civil lawsuit over her death against the Israeli defence ministry. But Corrie left an insight into her character in her diaries, which have been adapted for the stage by the British actor Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner, the deputy editor of The Guardian. This one-woman show, performed by Mairi Phillips, the Citizens Theatre actor intern, depicts a shy, skinny, chain-smoking and articulate woman who was...

Important move by EU court piles pressure on governments to stop agricultural imports from Israel's illegal settlements on the West Bank. (CN) - Europe's high court ruled that Israeli products manufactured in the West Bank and Gaza Strip might not qualify for duty-free import under two trade agreements. A special trade treaty governs products from Israel, while another treaty with the Palestinian authority regulates trade from the disputed territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Court of Justice explained. The ruling stems from German company Brita's attempt to secure the duty-free import of drink supplies from a West Bank factory run by Soda-Club, a company based in Israel. more

As predicted UN General Assembly strings it out on Goldstone and war crimes investigation of Israel... UN General Assembly one more time called Israel and the Palestinians on Friday to hold credible investigations regarding the war crimes they were accused of committing during Gaza war last winter. The General Assembly gave the two parties a period of 5 months to do their investigations. more

al-Qassam fighters have been confronting IDF incursion near Rafah. No injuries reported on Palestinian side. GAZA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas militants and Israeli soldiers clashed on Friday in east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, Hamas armed wing al-Qassam Brigades and witnesses said. The armed wing of the group, which controls the Gaza Strip, said in a leaflet faxed to reporters that its militants confronted an Israeli army force in the area with grenades and gunfire. "We will defend our people and our fighters against any Israeli aggression by all means," said the group's leaflet, adding "our militants will keep guarding the Gaza Strip and protecting its population." more

Arabic translates as 'A Lifeline from Britain to Gaza'. Back shows route of convoy, Britain-Gaza. VivaPalestina3 A very special T-shirt in support of the third 'Viva Palestina' convoy which left London for Gaza on Sunday 6 December. Staffed by volunteers, carrying hundreds of thousands pounds worth of vital humanitarian supplies via a route which takes them through Northern Europe, Greece, Turkey, via Jordan and Egypt before finally crossing into Gaza. That crossing will be of huge symbolic importance. A year on from Israel's murderous assault on Gaza the third convoy of vehicles in a year arrives representing all that is best in popular internationalism. And every vehicle, many are fully-equipped ambulances, will be left in Gaza to carry out essential public services which have been devastated by the Israeli army and air force. All profits from the shirt help fund the convoy . Wear it with pride, be part of making history on the road to a free Palestine. Details ...

Join the Global BDS Day of Action: 27th to 30th March 2010 Following the call made by the Palestinian BNC for a day of Action on 30 March 2010, in solidarity with the Palestinian people and for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, the PSC encourages all supporters of the Palestinian struggle to respond to this call and begin organising actions from the 27th to the 30th of March. The BNC asks you to focus actions on: * 1. Boycotting and divesting from Israeli and international corporations that sustain Israel’s apartheid, colonialism and occupation. * 2. Taking legal action towards ending Israel’s impunity, including by investigating and prosecuting suspected Israeli war criminals in national courts and international tribunals; * 3. Promoting and applying pressure to implement arms embargoes against Israel as well as a freeze or cancellation of free trade and other preferential agreements with it, as a crucial and urgent step towards full- fledged sanction...

15 kids have been jailed so far for throwing placard sticks and the like. The majority of demonstrators were in fact not Muslims but the police have only rounded up young Muslims, in dawn raids as if they were terrorists. This is an outrage, especially given the fact that it was the police that were the ones using violence. The protest will take place at 9.30am this Friday 26th February 2010 at: Isleworth Crown court, 36 Ridgeway Road, London, TW7 5LP (nearest tube: Osterley, Piccadilly line) Gaza protestsThe Palestine Solidarity Campaign, British Muslim Initiative and Stop the War coalition have called a protest outside Isleworth Crown Court this Friday against the shocking sentences given to those who protested against Israel's assault on Gaza last year as a ‘deterrent' for future protesters. Seventeen people - all Muslim - have already been given extremely harsh and disproportionate custodial sentences to the alleged offence of violent disorder. Last week, a 19 year old aspi...

Dubai-based National newspaper reports Hamas claim that there were two attempts on Al-Mabhouh's life, one as recently as last year. He was admitted to hospital in May last year in semi-conscious state. DUBAI // Mahmoud al Mabhouh faced two previous assassination attempts in recent years, Hamas officials said yesterday. They said the Hamas operative was poisoned last year and, earlier, was the target of a shooting in Lebanon. Dubai Police released a hospital report yesterday showing that al Mabhouh was treated at Rashid Hospital in May last year. The report said al Mabhouh was suffering from dizziness and was half-conscious when he was admitted, but had no fever. X-rays showed a lung infection. He was treated with antibiotics and released on May 10. “We always lived with the possibility that al Mabhouh could be killed at any time due to the sensitivity of his job,” said Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official in Lebanon and a relative of al Mabhouh. Another senior Hamas official said ...

BBC has an interesting article on the Mossad assasination of Mabhouh: Excellent base for operations against Iran - two of the gang has travelled there; Mossad underestimated the thoroughness of the Dubai police; Mossad's entire station in Dubai is now under threat. Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer who is now a senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, says Wednesday's revelations did not change his opinion that Israel was behind the assassination in Dubai. "This most likely was a Mossad operation. All the signatures - European passports, the way the team moved quickly to leave the country - cumulatively paint a pretty convincing case," he told the BBC News website. Mr Riedel says it would have been highly unusual for the hit squad to have visited Dubai using the stolen identities last year just for reconnaissance, as the police claim, and that this may have been an attempt to eliminate the Hamas leader that had failed. He also doubted that all of ...