In April 2003 Tom Hurndall, a 22-year-old British peace activist and photojournalist, was shot in the forehead by an Israeli sniper. Wearing bright orange jacket and trousers to identify him as a peace volunteer, and clearly unarmed, he was trying to rescue a Palestinian child pinned down by gunfire in the town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. He died after nine months in a coma.
The Israeli marksman responsible, Taysir Hayb, convicted of manslaughter, obstruction of justice, incitement to…
Israel’s 45-year occupation of Palestine’s West Bank and Gaza Strip has witnessed its establishment as a ‘legitimate’ player in the global economy and its crippling of Palestinian livelihoods. These two books explore this process of ‘normalisation’ and the apartheid nature of the Israeli state.
The first draws its inspiration from Bertrand Russell’s 1966/67 investigation of the Vietnam War, and contains evidence and testimonies from prominent activists, lawyers and human rights…
On 28 May, charges were at last brought for Israel’s May 2010 assault on a humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza (PN 2523- 2524).
The indictments were laid at a Turkish court against four Israeli military leaders, the former chief of staff of the Israeli defence force and the former heads of military intelligence, the navy and the air force. They were indicted for incitement to murder the nine unarmed humanitarian volunteers killed during the assault, and incitement to torture others…
WISE Up for Bradley Manning is a grassroots network in Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England (WISE) taking action for the young US military intelligence analyst who has been held by the US government for two years without trial.
Accused of blowing the whistle on US war crimes and revealing other truths the US would have preferred to keep buried, Bradley Manning has been tortured and denied his constitutional rights.
When US president Barack Obama, commander-in-chief of the…
One of the nightly mass rallies in Freedom Square, Manama, Bahrain,
February 2012. PHOTO: K. Flo Razowsky
I have just arrived back in the US after being arrested and deported from the Kingdom of Bahrain. I was forced into an unmarked car by uniformed officers as I photographed a small, nonviolent protest march and the police’s violent response.
The march at which I was arrested was headed for LuLu Square, or Pearl Roundabout as it is known, the birthplace of this most recent…
17 December 2011:
Arriving in Kabul
The sun was setting as my plane approached to land in Kabul. My first sights of Afghanistan were the snow-capped hills and gigantic mountain ranges which seemed to stretch forever.
As I got off the airport bus, I immediately headed for a queue with some other women in it. My pious Islamic outfit purchased from Whitechapel market only a week beforehand was probably too authentic as all the Afghani women wore western jeans and tops with…
On 2 January, Scottish members of a “Stop the JNF” delegation joined trade unionists and Stop the Wall campaigners to re-plant trees as part of a new project in a previously devastated area of Palestine.
The group, which included people from a nearby refugee camp, planted 111 trees, representing the number of years since the foundation of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) which plays a key role in Israel’s policy of displacing and dispossessing Palestinians.
Non-Jewish people are…
Please help an Afghan family survive this winter, by giving a donation to the Peace News Kabul Winter Appeal.
Please make your donation before Friday 23 December to enable us to send your contribution directly to the refugee camp, with nothing deducted for administration, on 1 January.
The camp
Three hundred families live on a derelict site in District 2 of Kabul. They have no access to electricity or clean water. Most of them returned to Afghanistan in early 2002 having…
On 4 November, the latest attempt to break the siege of Gaza ended when Israeli defence forces (IDF) boarded two ships in international waters, before taking them to the Israeli port of Ashdod.
The two ships, Saoirse (“freedom”) from Ireland and the Tahrir (“liberation”) from Canada, were carrying 27 passengers (including Irish MEP Paul Murphy and an Egyptian reporter) and $30,000 worth of medicine and supplies.
Dr Fintan Lane, aboard Saoirse, said: “The boats were corralled to…
Following a prolonged campaign of fortnightly protests in London (recorded in past PNs), the Israeli cosmetics firm Ahava shut its Covent Garden shop in September. Shaftesbury PLC, the shop’s landlord, refused to renew Ahava’s lease because of the effect of anti-occupation demonstrations (and pro-Israeli counter-demonstrations) on adjoining stores. Ahava manufactures its products at the illegal Israeli settlement of Mitzpe Shalem in the occupied West Bank. Solidarity activists have switched…
On 21 September, there will be a seventh Global Day of Listening for the entire 24 hours (GMT). Anyone can book a slot to speak to the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers and their friends via Skype, the free internet telephone system. To book a call, check the schedule on the website to see when a slot is available, then email the team (with your Skype ID) to request a call-in time. Anyone can listen on the internet on 21 September without needing to install Skype. Full details, and live…
This year’s Freedom Flotilla 2 still managed to make waves, despite failing to make it out of Greece, as Israel extended its blockade of Gaza to the entire Mediterranean. Nine ships participated in the venture this year – three up on last year’s effort. Named “FF2 – Stay Human” in memory of slain Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni [see PN 2533], the mission included: the Italian and Dutch ship Stefano Chiarini named after the prolific Italian journalist; the French ships Dignité and Louise…
It’s a bit odd to me that with my sense of geographical direction I’m ever regarded as a leader to guide groups in foreign travel. I’m recalling a steaming hot night in Lahore, Pakistan, when Josh Brollier and I, having enjoyed a lengthy dinner with Lahore University students, needed to head back to the guest lodgings graciously provided us by a headmaster of the Garrison School for Boys.
We had boarded a rickshaw, but the driver had soon become terribly lost and with my spotty sense…
