World Palestine Newswire Archive

Welcome to Palestine Today a service of the International Middle East Media Centre www.imemc.org, for Monday June 6, 2011

Today, on a very sunny and mild Saturday afternoon, approx thirty human rights campaigners took to the streets and continued their fortnightly presence outside AHAVA, London’s leading purveyor of stolen goods produced in Occupied Palestine.

Sarah Colborne, Director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, lent her invaluable presence and Mick Napier, Chair of Scottish PSC, travelled all the way down from Scotland to show his solidarity. Activists from Devon also attended.

Ahava’s landlord announced in March that they will not renew the shop’s lease when it comes up for renewal in September as the result of the fortnightly protests and other actions that have been ongoing for the past two years.

John, our saxophonist, also helped draw people’s attention to the BDS campaign, as well as entertained everyone on Monmouth Street.

This Week in Palestine week 22 2011

Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for May 22 through June 3rd , 2011

Composed of roughly equal parts racism, war-mongering, fawning and fabrication, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech before a joint session of the U.S. Congress on May 24 was received with adulation by the assembled Democrats and Republicans alike.

Netanyahu devoted a considerable part of his speech to a call for more aggressive action against Iran, which is surrounded by U.S. military power and has been subjected to several rounds of United States and European Union economic sanctions.

He called for a policy stipulating “that all options are on the table.” This position, shared by the Obama administration, is a coded way of saying that Iran could be the target of military attack, including the use of nuclear weapons.

Welcome to Palestine Today a service of the International Middle East Media Centre www.imemc.org, for Wednesday June 1st , 2011

One of the two graduate students in the law department of King's College London who had planned to collude in an illegal act of Iraeli settlement on occupied Palestinian territory, says that he has not participated as planned.

Police arrested CODEPINK peace activist Rae Abileah at the George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC. Abileah was taken to the hospital after having been assaulted and tackled to the ground by AIPAC members of the audience in the House Gallery during Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to Congress.

Abileah interrupted Netanyahu with a banner that said “Occupying Land Is Indefensible” and shouting, “No more occupation, stop Israel war crimes, equal rights for Palestinians, occupation is indefensible.” She rose up to speak out just after the Prime Minister talked about the youth around the world rising up for more democracy.

As this 28-year-old Jewish American woman spoke out for the human rights of Palestinians, other members of the audience—wearing badges from the conference of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee—brutally attacked her. The police then dragged her out of the Gallery and took her to the George Washington University Hospital, where she was being treating for neck and shoulder injuries.

One year ago today, six ships carrying nearly 700 human rights defenders, met at sea to commence the last leg of our voyage to Gaza to break Israel’s brutal stranglehold on 1.5 million Palestinians. A few hours later the Israeli military launched a full-scale assault on our civilian convoy, killing nine of our colleagues and injuring over 50 others.

Despite widespread condemnation and an UN-commissioned investigation that found Israel’s acts unlawful, possibly amounting to war crimes, Israel has yet to be held accountable. Families of the victims killed on the Mavi Marmara await justice and millions of Palestinians continue to demand their human rights respected.

In the wake of continued government inaction to stop Israel’s human rights abuses, we, members of global civil society representing dozens of national coalitions and international organizations will launch next month Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human.

At the weekend, another major blow was received by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), a UK registered charity with links to Israeli state agencies. Members of Friends of the Earth Scotland (FoES) voted unanimously to endorse an international call against the JNF. This comes after last week’s news that Prime Minister David Cameron has resigned as the JNF’s Honorary Patron.

The JNF is accused by campaigners of using an environmental image to cover up its role in taking Palestinian lands and denying access for refugees.

The FoES decision took place at the organisation’s Annual General Meeting and land rights conference. Stan Blackley, Chief Executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, confirmed on Saturday that “members at today’s AGM voted overwhelmingly to endorse the international call to stop the JNF. At today's land rights conference the activities of the JNF were brought to the attention of our members, supporters and interested members of the public. Our organisation is pleased to join the call for the revocation for the JNF's charitable status in the UK and to help raise awareness on this little known issue."

Heavy military training today in the Valley

Welcome to Palestine Today a service of the International Middle East Media Centre www.imemc.org, for Monday May 30, 2011

Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for May 21st to 27th, 2011.

The famous British Rap group "Foreign Beggars" ticket page to buy tickets for the Tel Aviv event in Israel was hacked by TriCk - Teamp0isoN

Welcome to Palestine Today a service of the International Middle East Media Centre www.imemc.org, for Thursday May 26th, 2011

Two graduate students in the law department of King's College, London, are planning to collude in an illegal act of Iraeli settlement on occupied Palestinian territory

Welcome to Palestine Today a service of the International Middle East Media Centre www.imemc.org, for Wednesday May 25th, 2011

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is "the most powerful and feared lobby in Washington." For years, it's "drawn on a well-organized, well-connected, highly visible, successful, and wealthy Jewish population," subverting potential opposition.

Obama's May 22 AIPAC speech affirmed rock solid support for a "strong and secure Israel," leaving Palestinians entirely out of his equation, despite paying disingenuous lip service to their interests.

An official AIPAC statement expressed gratitude for his assurance that Washington doesn't expect Israel to withdraw to June 1967 borders, besides explicitly calling Hamas a terrorist organization, ignoring its January 2006 electoral victory as Palestine's legitimate government.

Friday 27th May - 4pm-6pm

Welcome to Palestine Today a service of the International Middle East Media Centre www.imemc.org, for Tuesday May 24th, 2011

On May 1st, Zionist groups held a vigil in front of the Iranian Mission to the United Nations in New York City to use the memory of the Holocaust to condemn Iran. Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews showed their opposition to this provocation by demonstrating on the opposite side of the avenue.