Annapolis Conference or not….nothing has changed on the ground in Palestine.
Censorship of news about the reality on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza is so extensive in the United States, that it is only from selected websites like this one where one can learn the truth. The logo shown, I blog for Palestine, tells you that you are closer to learning more about that reality than you would be by searching, usually in vain, for news in the mainstream media. Meanwhile in Palestine is just one of hundreds of sites available to keep from being deluded by censorship and propaganda about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Here is the front page of Meanwhile in Palestine for a review of the latest news concerning the conflict (links to these stories are available at the site):
DCI/PS signs joint NGO statement on ending isolation of Gaza: As international NGOs working in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) we are increasingly concerned by the isolation and steady deterioration in the living conditions of Gaza’s civilian population. This isolation could generate further economic collapse and the subsequent dependency of most of its people.
Woman dies after being denied medical treatment: On Saturday morning, 24 November 2007, a Palestinian patient from the Gaza Strip died as Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) refused to grant her permission to enter Israel to receive medical treatment at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns measures taken by IOF violating Palestinians’ right to health, and denying them access to hospitals outside the Gaza Strip. PCHR also demands IOF to allow Rowaida ‘Omar Shakshak, who is in a serious health condition, to receive urgent medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip.
International and Israeli peace activists attacked by Israeli forces in Qalqilia: A peaceful protest organized to challenge the Israeli closure of the Qalqilia ghetto was attacked by Israeli forces on Wednesday.
Israeli army shoots three children, abducts two in Azzoun village: Approximately 10 Israeli military vehicles invaded and took over the residential streets of Azzoun village Tuesday mid-afternoon, abducting two young men and shooting 3 teenagers with live ammunition.
Israeli occupation forces kill two “Hamas militants” in Gaza: The body of the second man was found under the rubble in Khan Yunis refugee camp several hours after the strike, they said.
Palestinian prisoner release still in chains: Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners receive official word from PA, Red Cross that they will be released this coming Sunday. Many, however, remain skeptical of this timeline due to two-week delay in their release. ‘We will wait until our release actually comes and not get our hopes up beforehand,’ a prisoner says.
PSL: On the International Day of Solidarity with Palestine, we remember the Nakba: Palestinian right of return still a fundamental demand. The struggle in Palestine can be complex and confusing even for the closest of observers. Like all great struggles, it has had many twists and turns, and will have many more. But the root cause of the conflict– the forcible expulsion of a people from their homeland–is neither ambiguous nor confusing. Sixty years ago, this is precisely what happened to the Palestinians in “The Catastrophe,” known as “Al-Nakba” in Arabic.
Bahraini parliament calls to boycott Israel and parley: “Most of the parliament is in favor of cutting off any contact with Israel,” Abd-Ali Muhammad Hassan, a member of Bahrain’s Chamber of Deputies, told The Jerusalem Post by phone from Manama. “We are not going to recognize Israel and have any dealings with them until the rights of the Palestinians are achieved,” he said.
Mustafa Barghouthi: Israel intends to annex the Jordan Valley : The Jordan Valley comprises around 24% of the West Bank. Barghouthi said that Israel intends to annex this area and completely separate Jerusalem from the West Bank.
I have always told Palestinians in refugee camps: don’t despair. Your time will come. “If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights (also for the Palestinians in the territories), then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished,” Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Haaretz Wednesday, the day the Annapolis conference ended in an agreement to try to reach a Mideast peace settlement by the end of 2008.”
Palestinian refugees see dream of return under threat: Palestinians who fled after Israel was created in 1948 voiced fear on Wednesday that the peace process launched in Annapolis spells a new threat to their dream of returning home. Israel and the Palestinians pledged on Tuesday to seek a peace deal by the end of 2008 and spoke of resolving “all outstanding issues, including all core issues without exception.”
Jerusalem, refugees hinder Mideast peace: If Israelis and Palestinians have any hope of achieving their stated goal of signing a final peace treaty within a year, they may have to slice Jerusalem in half with a wall, come up with $85 billion for Palestinian refugees and figure out how to wrest control of the Gaza Strip from Hamas.
Vatican: Palestinian refugees have right to return : A Vatican official said Wednesday that Palestinian refugees have the right to return to their homeland, and said he hoped Israeli-Palestinian peace talks would address the issue.
Archbishop thrown into row over US Middle East policy: The archbishop told Emel magazine in what it described as “a series of profound views expressed in serene tranquillity” that the US had lost the moral high ground since the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001, and that Washington’s attempts to accumulate influence and control in the region were not working.
Peace process without Hamas not viable – UN: A Palestinian peace process that does not include Hamas cannot be viable, the head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency said on Wednesday, after talks in the United States to try and revive the effort.
US announces new Mideast security envoy: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday named retired Marine Gen. James Jones as her special envoy for Middle East security, focusing on Palestinian and Israeli security issues.
Lies from Annapolis: The peoples of the world are being subjected to a fresh dose of lies, this time coming from Annapolis, Maryland, in the United States. George Bush, the Fuehrer of the White House, who has destroyed two nation-states and killed a million human beings, and then had the chutzpa to claim that the Almighty told him to do so, displayed some of his characteristically morbid magic this week.
Jim Miles: Same Old, Same old – Israel Wins Again: While negotiations drag on, while more land is settled, while the brutality of the occupation continues, the Palestinians lose, Israel wins.
Who’s in favor of ending (Israeli) terrorism? The Annapolis diary, day 3
Tragedy and Travesty at Annapolis: With Gaza under siege, Hamas uninvited, and an illegitimate government in its place, peace and any progress toward resolution can’t happen.
Poll: Most of the public believes Annapolis summit was a failure: The lavishly produced Annapolis summit, the bombastic speeches, the impressive participation by Arab states and the deadline set for the final status agreement – the end of 2008 – left no impression on most Israelis.
Bush won’t force plan on Palestinians, Israelis: President George W. Bush will not force a solution on Israelis and Palestinians nor impose a U.S. peace plan as they work toward Middle East peace, White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said on Wednesday.
FACTBOX-Bush, Olmert, Abbas quotes on Mideast peace efforts: Following is a selection of quotes from U.S. President George W. Bush, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and their advisers after Wednesday’s ceremonial resumption of the first formal Middle East peace talks in seven years.
McCain doubts peace talk progress: ANDERSON, S.C. – Republican presidential hopeful John McCain said Tuesday that progress in peace talks between Israeli and Arab officials is doubtful because Middle East terrorists don’t want Israel to exist. “It’s complicated rather dramatically by the fact that in Gaza you have a terrorist organization in charge that is dedicated to the extinction of the state of Israel,” the Arizona senator told about 150 people at a town hall meeting. “It’s kinda hard to make progress in negotiations with a group of people who want to take you out completely.”
Scottish groups call for boycott of Israel’s Eden water brand: The city council of Edinborough, Scotland, is about to vote on whether to renew a contract with the Israeli bottled water company ‘Eden Springs’, and local activists have stepped up the pressure on the council to drop the bid.
When the Roadmap is a One Way Street: One may well think that the struggle inside the Jewish community of Israel is between those of the political right, who want to maintain the settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank so as to “redeem” the Greater Land of Israel as a Jewish country, and those of the left who seek a two-state solution with the Palestinians and are thus willing to relinquish enough of the “territories”, if not all, in order that a viable Palestinian state may emerge.
42 percent Israelis say Annapolis a failure: poll: A near majority of Israelis consider this week’s US-hosted peace conference in Annapolis to have been a failure, according to a poll published by the Haaretz daily on Thursday.
All options open against Israel after peace meet: Hamas: Hamas warned on Thursday that all options were open for the Islamists against Israel after a US conference that revived peace talks and five days in which troops had killed 12 militants in Gaza.
Spokesperson of Saraya aL-Quds to IMEMC: resistance is our strategic choice: The Gaza-based spokesperson of the Saraya aL-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, Abu Dajjana, in an exclusive interview with IMEMC on the eve of the Annapolis peace summit, says that resisting the Israeli occupation is the Saraya’s strategic choice.
COMMENT : Israel’s nukes missing from the table: Israel on the one hand pays lip service to the threat its nuclear weapons pose to the chances of genuine peace in the Middle East. Yet it appears to be serious about peace, as it was in this week’s peace summit in Annapolis, without showing any initiative on its nuclear monopoly.
Mission accomplished: So it is over. The much heralded Annapolis “meeting” attended by over 50 countries and organizations has ended, and the result is a vague, non-binding agreement to begin negotiating. In typical fashion, the Bush administration has hailed the conference of low-expectations and even less tangible results as a “success.”
Ali Abunimah discusses Annapolis on KPFA: On November 25, EI Co-founder Ali Abunimah, author of One Country, joined Daniel Levy, former Israeli negotiator and adviser in the Israeli prime minister’s office and Nadia Hijab, senior fellow and co-director at the Institute for Palestine Studies to preview the Annapolis Conference and debate the prospects for a single democratic state in Israel-Palestine. The discussion, hosted by Amy Allison, was broadcast on KPFA’s The Morning Show.
Hundreds converge on Ramallah for boycott summit: An important milestone in building the global boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign was achieved in Ramallah on 22 November 2007. Some 300 activists, members of unions, associations and NGOs in towns, villages and refugee camps of the occupied West Bank, with monitors from the global solidarity movement in Britain, Canada, Norway, Spain and South Africa, convened for a day of discussion and debate about ways to promote all forms of boycott against Israel among Palestinian community organizations, unions, as well as political, academic and cultural institutions. Organizers and participants left the conference with a sense of accomplishment: practical recommendations are in place for building the popular Palestinian BDS campaign as a strategic form of civil resistance in the long struggle ahead against Israel’s regime of apartheid over the Palestinian people.
Some Palestinians Survive by Garbage Picking: Palestinians in the West Bank who live near Israeli settlements have discovered a new way to make a living. VOA’s Jim Teeple reports from the West Bank that some Palestinians now survive by picking through Israeli garbage.
Report: Wide gaps between test scores in Jewish, Arab schools: The Education Ministry published statistics Wednesday that indicate significant differences between the test scores of students attending Jewish and Arab schools. The statistics were drawn from the Measure of Efficiency and Growth in School standardized tests (Meitzav), which were last given at the end of the last school year.
Nixon Papers Recall Concerns on Israel’s Weapons: In July 1969, while the world was spellbound by the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, President Richard M. Nixon and his close advisers were quietly fretting about a possible nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Their main worry was not a potential enemy of the United States, but one of America’s closest friends. “The Israelis, who are one of the few peoples whose survival is genuinely threatened, are probably more likely than almost any other country to actually use their nuclear weapons,” Henry A. Kissinger, the national security adviser, warned President Nixon in a memorandum dated July 19, 1969.
Enlightenment and deprogramming at one’s fingertips.