Israel-Palestine

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 took over 100 days but in the end we did it. After passing through spectacul-ar landscapes from lush forest to barren desert, experiencing unbounded human warmth and pushing ourselves to our physical and mental limits while cycling 7,000km – we finally arrived in our destination: Palestine.

“PEDAL: 100 Days to Palestine” was conceived as a solidarity cycle ride based on the idea of linking people and groups struggling against different forms of oppression, with the goal of…

The grating sound of metal on metal as the reverberating CLANNGGG of the heavy prison doors closing on you for the first time cannot be forgotten. The smell of prison; the malicious looks of the guards; the claustrophobic feeling of a cell which distorts your intestines and bleaches your thoughts bare before you even see it.

“I am here for no reason. I have not been charged with anything. Does anyone know I am here?”

My crime was to say I was going to Bethlehem. There were 11…

Since the beginning of the second intifada in September 2000, conscientious objection in Israel has developed rapidly to an unprecedented scale. This is a counter trend to the general shift to the right within Israeli society. While the electoral “peace camp” lost considerably in the recent elections, the radical refusenik movement continues to grow.

Israel has a very rigid conscription system, which is also quite complicated. In theory, all men…

The current bloody struggle between Israel and the Palestinians has continued for about two years. The many hundreds of victims on both sides, and the even greater number of injured, are merely the most conspicuous part of the terrible suffering that the war has brought.

No-one knows whether either side will eventually achieve its aims in the struggle. But we do know that the cost is terrible. Witnessing the appalling suffering and its appalling cost, we need to ask ourselves if it…

The Free Gaza expeditions, designed to break the Israeli siege, have been unable to reach Gaza since November. Twice, on 30 December and 15 January, the Israeli navy forced the boats to turn back. The SS Dignity embarked on its journey from Cyprus on 29 December, carrying 16 people and over three tons of badly needed medical supplies.

In the early hours the next morning, two Israeli gunboats began shadowing the 20-metre yacht. One of them opened fire without warning 30 minutes…

Five protestors were arrested on 29 August, and charged with disrupting the performance of the internationally-acclaimed Israeli Jerusalem Quartet at Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall.

The Quartet were playing as part of the official Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) program and have other tour dates in the UK. The protest, organised by Scottish Palestine Solidarity (SPS), stopped play on four occasions during the concert, whilst a leafleting protest took place outside the building…

Nothing in the disruption to me and my family described here compares with the continued suffering and desperation of those driven off their land in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.

My father’s family were of Crusader stock and came from Malta via Greece, hence the name and the fair looks. My father was Anise Saleem George born in Haipha in 1906. His father, Saleem, was a Palestinian-born grain merchant. My father was the only son amongst five sisters, all born and raised in…

ZZZ: We try to walk the walk, whether we are challenging the Israeli occupation or resolving conflicts locally.

We're living in a pressure cooker. When you are confined to your home or your bantustan, when the economic situation is deteriorating, unemployment is skyrocketing, and trauma among children is increasing, abnormal conditions create abnormal relationships among people. They create displaced anger against each other.

Yesterday we were mediating conflicts between…

Norman Finkelstein, author and academic, was punished for his principled stand against Israeli brutality by being denied tenure at DePaul University in June 2007. On 12 November, during a whirlwind British speaking tour, and before delivering a talk in Maastricht about Gandhi’s relevance to the Middle East conflict, Norman Finkelstein sat down with Peace News to discuss nonviolence, Gandhi and the role of the intellectual.

Peace News: What are the current peace prospects in Israel…

A year ago, Freedom Flotilla 1 was attacked by the Israeli navy causing the deaths of nine crew members aboard the Mavi Marmara. The new flotilla will consist of 10 boats (two of them cargo ships), supported by campaigns in over 20 countries, including the UK. The Mavi Marmara, however, has pulled out of the flotilla, under pressure from the Turkish government.

On 16 May, a Malaysian ship carrying 7.5km of sewage pipes for Gaza’s shattered sewage system was fired on by Israeli naval…

The Arab Spring appears to be having positive results for Palestinians, notably the rapprochement between the main Palestinian political parties Fatah and Hamas, and the re-opening, after four years, of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

However, the antipathy between Fatah and Hamas persists and it remains to be seen whether they will indeed form a joint government and hold elections in 2012. And the re-opening of Rafah on 28 May was only partial: commercial traffic is not…

The Llanidloes-As Sawiya Friendship Association (LASFA) group was formed about two years ago. As Sawiya is a village of approximately 3,000 people in Salfit province, right in the middle of the West Bank, Palestine. It is dominated on all its surrounding hills by illegal Israeli settlements, from which comes the continual threat of settler violence.

LASFA aims to provide support for this village through publicising its situation, financial contributions to community projects, and…

300 Israeli lecturers and teachers have publicly signed an advertisement supporting the Israeli women’s group “Civil Disobedience”, which drives Palestinian women and children on day trips to Israeli beaches and other leisure sites. The advertisement appeared in a national Israeli newspaper on 17 June, next to an ad published by Civil Disobedience itself. Members of Civil Disobedience now have criminal records for breaking the “law of entry”.