Resistance and Efforts for Peace

 Calling Bono: Your Palestinian Gandhis Exist ... in Graves and Prisons 
Alison Weir, CounterPunch - In your recent column in the New York Times, "Ten for the Next Ten," you wrote: "I’ll place my hopes on the possibility – however remote at the moment – that...people in places filled with rage and despair, places like the Palestinian territories, will in the days ahead find among them their Gandhi, their King, their Aung San Suu Kyi." Your hope has already been fulfilled in the Palestinian territories. more

 The Death of Bassem Abu Rahme 
Frank Barat, Palestine Chronicle - As it usually happens, as soon as the march reached the corner where the Israeli soldiers can be seen, the tear gas started. A few brave ones continued anyway and reached the beginning of the wall, after a few minutes. Bassem, as usual, was one of those. The Israelis, present at the front of the demonstration started talking with the nearby soldiers in Hebrew and Bassem too, screamed “We are in a non violent protest, there are kids and internationals...”. He was shot in the chest and never managed to finish his sentence. He fell on the floor, moved a little bit, fell again, and died. more

 VIDEO: Nonviolent Protest in Bil'in on April 17, 2009; Bassem Abu Rahme is Killed 
Demonstration by village of Bil'in Friday April 17th 2009, Bassem Ibrahim abu-Rakhma ('Phil") mortally wounded. more

 Hope as Palestinians Use Nonviolence in their Struggle for Human Rights and Freedom 
Mairead Maguire (Nobel Peace Laureate), PeacePeople.com - On this the second boat journey into Gaza the siege-breakers brought with them 6 cubic meters of medicine, and their hope that by going to Gaza across the sea (only the second boat to do so in over 41 years) they would give hope to the people of Gaza and that the outside world would break its silence to the tragedy of Gaza's suffering and act to get the siege lifted. more

 Ex-Mossad agent’s daughter protests occupation 
Press TV - The daughter of an ex-Mossad deputy has refused to do military service because of Israel's killing of Palestinian civilians. more

 Witness for the Defenseless 
Anna Baltzer in The Link - Every time I think I have understood the Israel/Palestine conflict, something will remind me how much more I have to learn. My first breakthrough came during a trip to southern Lebanon, where for the first time I heard a narrative about the state of Israel altogether different from the one I had learned growing up as a Jewish American. more

 Presbyterian Divestment – Still on the Table 
Presbyterian Israel-Palestine Mission Network - The Presbyterian Church (USA)'s 217th General Assembly retained the process known as "phased, selective divestment." The current resolution urges investments "only in peaceful pursuits" in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank including East Jerusalem; and affirms the "customary corporate engagement process" of the Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee (MRTI) charged with carrying out General Assembly policy. more

 American priest and nun join Palestinian non-violent resistance in Gaza 
Michigan Peace Team - On November 21 and 22, Father Peter and Sister Mary Ellen of the Michigan Peace Team visited the homes in Jabalya and Beit Lahia, Gaza, that have been surrounded with Palestinian men, women, and children, in order to prevent the Israeli military from destroying them. more

 Nonviolent resistance continues as Israel confiscates another 100 dunams of Bethlehem 
Najib Farag in Palestinenet.org - The central West Bank’s Bethlehem is going piece by piece. Israeli army Commander of the Central Region, Yair Naveh, adopted a new resolution Friday providing for the confiscation of 100 additional dunams of Palestinian land. more

 Boycott Israel 
Mazin Qumsiyeh in Global Agenda Magazine - Millions of activists have come to see an organic link between the occupation and colonization of Palestine and diverse and pressing globalissues ranging from the war on Iraq to global poverty. How did we reach apoint where Palestinian flags dominate anti-war rallies and thedemonstrations against US-dominated world financial institutions? Why dothese activists see the hypocrisy of American foreign policy with regard toIsrael/Palestine as the Achilles' heel that might allow a successful challenge to its hegemony? How did we get to the point where mainstreamchurches and more than 30 American campuses have active divestment andboycott campaigns against Israel? Why do the US and Israel stand isolated in international fora, and in public opinion around the world? more

 Hamas drops call for destruction of Israel from manifesto 
Chris McGreal in the UK Guardian - Hamas has dropped its call for the destruction of Israel from its manifesto for the Palestinian parliamentary election in a fortnight, a move that brings the group closer to the mainstream Palestinian position of building a state within the boundaries of the occupied territories. more

 Nonviolent Resistance in Palestine 
Patrick O’Connor in ZNet - The fact that thousands of Palestinians and hundreds of Israelis are together employing nonviolent tactics similar to those of the US civil rights movement and the South African anti-Apartheid movement would come as surprising and welcome news to most Americans. Americans are largely unaware of the struggling but vibrant grassroots nonviolent movement in Palestine, because the US corporate media prefers a simple, flawed story of Palestinian terrorist attacks and Israeli retaliation. more

 A Moment that Changed my Life 
IMEMC - On April 22, 1991, I was only 18 years old; I was out with some of my comrades planning to conduct a march and rally in the streets of our town, Beit Sahour, against the Israeli occupation of our land. This march was one of many peaceful protests held as part of what had become known as the ‘first Intifada’ (popular uprising), which had begun in 1987. more

 Tom Hurndall Obituary 
Carl Arrindell in The Guardian of London - In the spring of 2002, Tom Hurndall made a journey around Europe, which then took him on to Egypt and Jordan. He was young, a soon-to-be student, interested in philosophy – and most interested in the contrast between cultures. It was a formative experience. Indeed, an abiding image for his friends is of Tom, who has died aged 22, on his motorcycle, cigarette in hand, riding into the Egyptian desert. more

 The Boy Who Kissed the Soldier: Balata Camp 
Starhawk - “What source can you believe in order to create peace there?” a friend writes when I come back from Palestine. I have no answer, only this story:
June 1, 2002: I am in Balata refugee camp in occupied Palestine, where the Israeli Defense Forces have rounded up four thousand men, leaving the camp to women and children. The men have offered no resistance, no battle. more

 Letter from Prison: My Interview with Israel’s Shin Bet Intelligence Agency 
Patrick O’Connor in Electronic Intifada - Recently the Israeli authorities have begun searching for and arresting experienced International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and international activists. My arrest and attempted deportation is another example of this. Evidently the Israeli authorities find nonviolent resistance and active support of Palestinian rights to be threatening. Despite claims to the contrary, they have adopted an unstated goal of breaking down and eliminating the ISM and other groups using nonviolence to support Palestinian rights. more

 Caterpillar Bulldozes Shareowner Concern Over Aiding Alleged Israeli War Crimes 
William Baue in SocialFunds.com - Caterpillar faces a shareowner resolution as well as a lawsuit filed by the family of peace activist Rachel Corrie that cites the Nuremberg Tribunal as precedent in alleging war crime complicity. more

 The Palestinian Resistance: Its Legitimate Right and the Moral Duty 
Dr. Samah Jabr - The overwhelming and ceaseless atrocities of Israel’s government leave most Palestinians with little opportunity to reflect on the moral aspect of our resistance. Most often our reactions to events are immediate, instinctive and emotional. The few who still manage to consider the moral, political and strategic aspects of our struggle may find themselves all but stymied by the contradictions, the lack of choice, and the damage done by war to both reason and conscience. more

 Israel Abducts, Tortures Wives Of Palestinian Resistance Fighters 
Islam Online and News Agencies in Palestine Chronicle - [Feb. 2003] Israeli occupation forces have recently started a heavy abduction campaign among the wives of the Palestinian resistance fighters and the women affiliated to Islamic groups in Palestinian universities. more

 World Council of Churches Gives Nod to Israeli Divestment Proposal 
Stephen Brown in Ecuemenical News International - The World Council of Churches (WCC) on February 21 urged its members to consider economic measures to oppose Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and praised the action of a U.S. denomination that has started a process of selective divestment from companies linked to the occupation. more

 Speaking to the Presbyterians About Selective Divestment 
Liat Weingart - On February 8, 2005, JVP Co-director Liat Weingart and Israeli human rights attorney Shamai Leibovitz spoke to an audience of members of the Presbyterian Church in Chicago. Read a transcript of Liat’s speech | Watch Video of Liat Weingart’s Speech | Watch Video of Shamai Leibovitz’s Speech

 250 Israeli high school students declare refusal to serve 
A new declaration of refusal by “shministim” – students of the 11th and 12th grades of Israeli high schools – addressed to prime minister Ariel Sharon, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, IDF chief of staff Moshe Yaalon and Education Minister Limor Livnat, has already collected 250 signatures of youngsters facing their term of compulsory military service. more

 Corries send plea for investigation to Israeli chief Sharon 
Ellyn Ferguson in The Olympian - During his trip to the Middle East, a congressman made a special delivery to Israel’s top leader: a plea from the family of an Evergreen State College student and Olympia resident who died in the path of an Israeli bulldozer for an independent investigation into her death. more

 Family of American Woman Killed by Military Bulldozer Files Suit Against Caterpillar, Inc. 
The Center for Constitutional Rights and partnering law firms today filed a federal lawsuit against Illinois-based Caterpillar, Inc. on behalf of the parents of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American peace activist and student who was run over and killed by a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer on March 16, 2003. more

 Uprising on the Anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s Death 
Alison Weir in Counter Punch - There is a quiet battle going on for the memory of a young woman who could have been my daughter, or perhaps yours. On one side are those who would like to erase her from history her actions, her beliefs, her murder. If they are unsuccessful at that, they will settle for posthumous slurs on her character, falsifications of her death. more

 Levantamientos en el aniversario de una muerte en Español 

 Rachel, Full of Life 
Brooks Berndt in Znet - At the age of 23, Rachel Corrie was full of life. At the age of 23, she was a senior in college ignited by a passion for justice. At the age of 23, she traveled to the Gaza strip as an activist for peace. And, it was at the age of 23 that Rachel Corrie knelt to the ground wearing an orange fluorescent jacket as a 9-ton Caterpillar bulldozer came toward her, knocked her down, crushed her with its blade, ran her over, backed up, and ran her over again. At the age of 23, Rachel Corrie was loved by family and friends who would never see her radiant life again. more

 Israel Ends Some Home Demolitions 
Amos Harel in Haaretz - Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz adopted the recommendation made by a military committee to end the policy of demolishing houses belonging to terrorists’ families. The majority of home demolitions, however, will not be halted. more

 Imprisoned in Israel 
Kate Raphael Bender (IWPS) - This Sunday, Israeli bus 19, which was the target of a Palestinian bombing, will be displayed in Berkeley. It is a reminder of lives lost in the terrible attack. Not visible are the millions of Palestinian lives being destroyed daily in the occupied Palestinian territories by Israel’s refusal to allow them basic human rights: to work, to travel freely, to visit family, to live in their homes, even to possess a nationality. more

 Congressional Representative Calls for Investigation into Killing of Rachel Corrie 
Les Blumenthal in the News Tribune - U.S. Rep. Adam Smith will hand-deliver a letter to Israel’s prime minister from the family of an Evergreen State College student who was killed almost two years ago as she tried to block an Israeli bulldozer from demolishing a home in a Palestinian refugee camp. more

 Soldier who shot Briton admits lying 
Chris McGreal in the UK Guardian - The Israeli soldier on trial for killing the British peace activist Tom Hurndall in the Gaza Strip has admitted he was lying when he said his victim was carrying a gun, but said he was under orders to open fire even on unarmed people. more

 Another Faceless Crime 
Jonson (ISM) in Palestine - When I look back upon my experience staying in a house that was set for demolition I only think of the kind eyed father crippled by Israeli fire two years ago, the mother numb from the loss of her son, periodically asking tentative questions in Arabic and the friend sitting opposite us in the newly rented family house staring incessantly at the wall, thinking of past times with his young friend, in between handing us glasses of coke, an atmosphere of loss hung over our uncomfortable conversation. more

 Heroism in the Holy Land: Chris Brown Beaten for Walking Children to School 
Alison Weir in the San Francisco Bay View Newspaper – There are a small number of people around the world who exhibit extraordinary courage. An even smaller number commit repeated acts of heroism. San Francisco resident Chris Brown is one of them. more

 Debate between Noah Cohen and Noam Chomsky 
Axis of Logic – A back-and-forth between Noah Cohen and Noam Chomsky about how peace can be achieved between Israelis and Palestinians and their disagreement over the applicability of the principles of human rights and equality. more

 Advocacy and Realism: Chomsky’s Reply

 Cohen’s Rebuttal: Advocacy for What and for Whom?

 Anglican Peace and Justice Network Statement on the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict 
September 22, 2004 – We, as members of the Anglican Peace and Justice Network, representing 23 Provinces of the worldwide 75,000,000 member Anglican Communion, have visited the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem over these last 8 days, and during that time have been inspired by the faith of the people in the diocese, while also being exposed to the draconian conditions of the continuing Occupation under which so many Palestinians live. more

 Freedom March Builds as it Nears Jerusalem 
ISM in Ramallah, West Bank - The Freedom March Against the Wall, that began July 30 in Jenin, has traveled for 16 days and visited approximately 60 villages and towns. On several days the March has been joined by over 1000 Palestinians, Internationals and Israelis and numerous organizations and political parties. They have met with families and farmers along the path of the Wall, under the constant watch of the Israeli Army. On several occasions the marchers have been met by military force as the Israeli Army has attempted to block their path and arrest them. more

 In Jenin, Seven Shattered Dreams 
Molly Moore in the Washington Post - As Mahmoud Kaneri, 25-year-old stonemason, traced the name across the polished tombstone in the Jenin Martyrs Cemetery, he was transported to another time and another place – a theater stage where he and his closest childhood friends once stood in shimmering robes and delivered lines imbued with optimism. more

 Children, Artists Paint Mural on Apartheid Wall at Mas’ha 
IWPS in Mas’ha, West Bank - For almost nine months, Maisa, Assia, Ishak, Nidal, and Shaad have looked out their front door to see an 8-meter grey wall where their village used to be. On Sunday, the children worked with muralists from San Francisco’s Break the Silence Mural Project to transform their view into one of hope and freedom. Where dark concrete loomed, a yellow bird now soars from a lush green valley dotted with red flowers. Read Report | Watch Video in Realplayer | Watch Video in Widows Media Player

 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church Endorses Israel Divestment 
Alexa Smith - July 2 – The 216th General Assembly approved several measures opposing the Israeli occupation of Palestine Friday, including a call for the corporate witness office of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to begin gathering data to support a selective divestment of holdings in multinational corporations doing business in Israel/Palestine. more

 Biddu-Palestine: Israeli Military Uses Violence Against Nonviolent Women 
ISM in Biddu, West Bank - Friends, I just spoke to Molly Malekar on her way to Sha’arei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem, and here is what she reported: “We were about 60 women, only women: roughly 1/3 Israeli, 1/3 Palestinian, and 1/3 nternationals. We gathered at Bidu to protest the construction of the wall in this village.” more

 Another Palestinian Shot in Biddu 
ISM in Biddu, West Bank - Five citizens of the West Bank village of Biddu have been killed by the Israeli military over the last month and a half during protests against the Apartheid Wall that the government of Israel is building on their farmland. Despite the use of excessive and lethal force against protesters, the people of Biddu remain committed to resisting the Wall through non-violent protests. more

 One year after the shooting of Brian Avery 
Lasse S. (ISM) - Yesterday a year ago an Israeli soldier shot my American friend Brian Avery in the face. Yesterday a year ago I stopped running, turned around, and saw Brian laying on his stomach faced down on a street in Jenin. Yesterday a year ago my white T-shirt turned red. more

 Activists say Border Police held boy, 13, as human shield  
Reuters and Ha’aretz Service - When older Palestinian boys started throwing stones at Border Police officers in the flashpoint West Bank village of Biddu last week, 13-year-old Muhammed Badwan went along to watch. He ended up on the hood of a Border Police jeep, at least one of his skinny arms tied to a wire mesh screen that blocks the windshield from incoming stones. more

 Nuclear whistleblower Vanunu released after 18 years in Israeli prison 
Associated Press - A defiant Mordechai Vanunu walked out of prison Wednesday after serving 18 years for spilling Israel’s nuclear secrets, saying he was proud of his actions and complaining he was treated cruelly by his jailers. Vanunu, dressed in a checkered shirt and black tie, flashed victory signs and waved to hundreds of cheering supporters as he walked into the sun-splashed courtyard of Shikma Prison in the coastal town of Ashkelon. Dozens of counter-demonstrators booed and shouted epithets. more

 Israeli Whistleblower Nears Freedom 
Jonathan Cook in Al Jazeera - In less than three weeks, Israel’s most notorious prisoner will be released. Mordechai Vanunu, the man who exposed his country’s secret nuclear weapons programme, will walk free after 18 years behind bars – most of them in harsh solitary confinement. more

 Trying to stop the destruction of land in Biddu: Israeli soldiers violently attack unarmed protesters
ISM, Biddu, West Bank - We awoke this morning at 5:30 (Palestinian time) to the sights of four bulldozers and many soldiers beginning work, cutting down trees and destroying the land here in Biddu. By 7AM people began to converge at the local council and by 7:30 we had reached the worksite. Due to the level of violence directed at such nonviolent protests in the past, it was decided that it might help if internationals were at the front of the march as we approached the soldiers and the worksite. Upon reaching the worksite we were confronted by a group of soldiers who within a matter of 10 seconds fired tear gas and concussion grenades at the peaceful march. Demonstrators quickly dispersed and the one who remained, our local coordinator, was immediately arrested, taken by soldiers into the hills and badly beaten with soldiers’ batons. He along with another man who was arrested, were both released in the middle of the day. more

 Biddu people’s nonviolent resistance pushes Israeli military out of village
ISM in Biddu, NW Jerusalem, West Bank - Today was the first day that the bulldozers were allowed to return to work on the apartheid wall in this area after nearly 5 weeks when no work was allowed because of the pending court case in the Israeli High Court. At approximately 3:30pm 2 bulldozers accompanied by at least 7 jeeps, approximately 90 soldiers (mostly border police) as well as members of an anti-terrorism task force and a truck with a water canon attached to the top, arrived in Biddu and began bulldozing their land. Immediately a call for a demonstration was made in the mosques and people began to arrive at the work site. About 150 Palestinians, as well as 7 internationals, and 4 Israelis came and peacefully confronted the soldiers. The soldiers cut off the road leading out of Biddu as well as occupied a partially-constructed home overlooking the worksite and surrounded the demonstration. Demonstrators attempted to negotiate with the soldiers at which time the soldiers showed a piece of paper declaring the area a closed military zone and threatened arrests. more

 Conscientious Objector likely to be sent to prison 
New Profile Press Release - Conscientious objector Daniel Tsal will present himself at the IDF conscription center, refuse to enlist, and most likely be sent to military prison immediately. more

 “A sane individual must rise up against the system that makes the ongoing oppression possible” 
Israeli Refuser Daniel Tsal in a letter to the Israeli Minister of Defense - I hereby request to be exempted from obligatory service in the IDF due to reasons of conscience, and to allow me, instead, to do alternative service outside the army. If I should not be enabled to be thus exempted I shall be obliged to refuse service. more

 Land Day in Beitunia
Perla and Gabriel (ISM), Beitunia, Ramallah, West Bank - For the past ten days bulldozers have been working in Beitunia, a town of 20,000 people four kilometers southwest of Ramallah. The path of the Apartheid Wall will confiscate 17,000 dunums (four dunums equal one acre): 2,000 dunums will be used for the construction of the Wall itself while 15,000 dunums will fall on the other side of the Wall. This stolen land consists of olive grooves, wheat fields and grape vines. The town will be left with 9,000 dunums, which represent the built-up area of the city. Beitunia is being robbed of the entirety of its agricultural land. In the past Beitunia lost about 1,000 dunums to a military outpost, 2,000 dunums to the settlement of Givat Zeev, and another 3,000 dunums to bypass roads – roads that the Palestinians are not allowed to drive on. more

 Those who are defeated by violence will become obsessed by it
Maia Williams (CPT), Azariyya, West Bank - For more than half of each week, I live in Azariyya, a West Bank town a couple of miles outside of Jerusalem. I leave from Azariyya to Jerusalem by walking up a steep path, passing taxis and vans constipating the road. Then I arrive at the slabs of rock, standing vertically, one next to the other, and stare at the soldiers dressed in green cloth and jaunty hats posturing with their guns, joking with one another, sitting in their jeeps to avoid the hot noon day sun, and yelling at the Palestinian taxi drivers as the taxi drivers yell at the passersby to fill their vehicles. This is the place where the wall touches me and I touch the wall. more

 60 Palestinian intellectuals, Fatah officials call for calm
AP in the Sydney Morning Herald - Sixty prominent Palestinian officials and intellectuals have urged the public to refrain from retaliation for Israel’s assassination of Hamas’s spiritual leader, saying it would ignite a new round of bloodshed that would only hurt Palestinian aspirations for independence. more

 Shot twice today, but I’m ok – and one of the lucky ones
Neal (ISM) in Kharbatha Bani Harith, West Bank - Today has been quite a crazy adventure, but has also cemented emotions of how absolutely insane the soldiers here are, and how absolutely necessary it is for people to call for an end to this wall, and more importantly, an end to this occupation.  It is amazing how quickly one day, actually really only five hours, can really push one forward.  Today for the first time I really felt endangered, pretty scared during various moments, and even decided I would rather be shot in the back of the head than in the face, but I will get there a little later. more

 Letter from Jayyous
David Bloom in The Nation - The wall took less than a year to be constructed in an arc around much of Jayyous, a village in the occupied West Bank near Qalqilya. Seventy percent of the villagers’ farmland—and all their irrigated land—has ended up on the western [Israeli] side of Israel’s “security fence.” There are gates for Jayyous’s farmers to access their land, but Israel has made the ability to do so steadily more difficult—in a process most villagers believe will eventually lead to the confiscation of their ancestral lands. more

The Death of Tom Hurndall
It is with great sadness that If Americans Knew shares with you the news of the passing away of Tom Hurndall. Tom, 22, had been shot in the head by an Israeli sniper nine months before, while trying to escort several small children to safety in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestine. more

 WCC demands Israel dismantle its barrier 
World Council of Churches Press Release - The executive committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) has issued a powerful appeal to the Israeli government demanding that they “stop and reverse the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories”. The “construction and location” of the Israeli wall on occupied Palestinian territory is a “violation of the Charter of the United Nations and fundamental principles of international law”, says the WCC executive committee in a statement adopted during its 17-20 February 2004 meeting in Geneva. It also calls on all member churches and ecumenical partners to “condemn the wall as an act of unlawful annexation”, which “should not be recognised by any state”. more

 The Way to School
Andrew (ISM) Jenin, Palestine - I am standing about 10 meters from the settler road (Israeli only) and roadblock that divides the western part of the village of Abaa and the city of Jenin from the eastern part of the village. Ahead of us on the far side of the road looms the grey concrete of an Israeli army tower. The tower dominates the area where the Palestinian road to eastern Abaa becomes subsumed by the settler road and a series of trenches, concrete and razor wire obstacles. more

 The one-family Bantustan in Mas’ha one year into its residents’ demise
Anna (IWPS) in Mas’ha, West Bank - Hani unlocks a tiny gate embedded between an alarmed fence and an eight metre high concrete wall, and ushers the Danish television crew across a military road and quickly into his home. Two Canadian farmers, and three activists from Germany, South Africa and France are already seated inside, having come to interview Hani and Munira Amer on “life in the one-family Bantustan”, as their home has become known since Israel built the Apartheid Wall and three fences around it. Hani says that since today is the anniversary of the main catastrophe to befall his family, he wants to tell us about his life from the beginning. more

“We Can Do It”
Kate and Anna (Budrus, West Bank) - Budrus is a small village of 1200 people in West Ramallah, three kilometres from the green line. The Apartheid Wall’s bulldozers reached Budrus village three months ago, having already cut a swathe through the land of Qibbya, the neighbouring village. In 1953, Ariel Sharon led a massacre of 60 people in Qibbya and the site of the massacre is still visible today. more

 Nuns on the Wall
Sr. Marie Dominique Croyal, Directress of the Home of Our Lady of Sorrows in East Jerusalem/Abu Dis - I would like to inform you about what is happening in our neighborhood and around our house concerning the construction of the new wall of separation, 9 meters high (30 feet), which began on January 11, 2004. It replaces a much lower wall that allowed people to climb over it once they were no longer permitted to go from Bethany and Abu Dis to Jerusalem. more

 The Price of Ignorance 
Gideon Levy in Israeli daily Ha’aretz - The suicide bomber at the Geha Junction, Shehad Hanani, was from Beit Furik, one of the most imprisoned villages in the territories that is surrounded by earth roadblocks on all sides. It’s a place where women in labor and the sick have to risk walking through fields to get to the hospital in adjacent Nablus. At least one woman in labor, Rula Ashatiya, gave birth at the Beit Furik checkpoint and lost her infant. Few Israelis are capable of imagining what life is like in Beit Furik: the almost universal unemployment, poverty, endless siege and humiliations of life inside a prison. A young man like Hanani, who was 21, had no reason to get up in the morning other than to face another day of joblessness and humiliation. more

A one-state solution
Ahmad Samih Khalidi in the UK Guardian - Something is stirring in Israel these days. After a long hiatus, the country’s left is gearing up for a new ideological offensive. Major figures, including the writer David Grossman and former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg, have recently spoken out against the right-wing policies of Ariel Sharon. Their impassioned pleas for a radical alternative cannot but impress all those who genuinely seek a way out of the deadly cycle of Palestinian-Israeli violence. more

 Mother Jones Smears Rachel Corrie: Specious Journalism in Defense of Killers 
Mother Jones demonstrated how low it could set its standards for investigative journalism when it hired Newsweek reporter Joshua Hammer to surf the web and write a 7000-word feature story on Rachel Corrie and the International Solidarity Movement. more

 A Jew Among 25,000 Muslims 
Jonathan Cook in the UK Guardian - Even as a young girl in Wimbledon Susan Nathan knew she would one day move to Israel. But why did she choose to settle in the Arab town of Tamra? more

 “You Belong in the Past”
Gabriel Ash in Yellow Times - An American columnist compares and contrasts life in Mas’ha, a Palestinian village, and in Elkana, an Israeli settlement, recently constructed on confiscated Palestinian land, and investigates the effect of the separation barrier Israel is building through the entire West Bank on these two communities. more

Adam and Huwaida: A Love Under Fire
I first saw Adam Shapiro and Huwaida Arraf on April 18 2002, by the steps to the souk in the centre of Bethlehem. I had already heard so much about them, two Americans who had met in Jerusalem and fallen in love, Adam from a Jewish background and Huwaida from a Palestinian: folklore in the making. I was not disappointed. more

 Rachel’s Letters 
Rachel Corrie in her own words - On the 16th of March, 2003, 23-year-old American human rights worker Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer. She was trying to prevent the Israeli army from destroying the home of a physician and his family in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. In a remarkable series of emails to her family, she explained why she was risking her life. more

 Las Cartas de Raquel en Español 

 Rachel'ın Mektupları 

Israel, We Won’t Forget Rachel
On March 16th, 2003, an Israeli soldier driving a bulldozer two-stories high crushed to death 23-year-old Rachel Corrie, an American nonviolent human rights protestor. According to numerous witnesses and photographic documentation, she was killed intentionally. more

 Our girl was killed by a suicide bomber.. 
Alexandra Williams in the London Mirror - A BIG red “Free Palestine” sticker has a prominent place on the Elhanan family’s front door. But this is not a Palestinian house in the occupied territories. Remarkably, this home is in an affluent Jewish area in Jerusalem and belongs to a couple whose daughter Smadar, 14, was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber. Rather than being motivated by revenge and hatred, Nurit Elhanan and her husband Rami are fighting for peace. more

 Palestinians run ‘popular schools’ to get around Israeli curfew 
Mohammed Daraghmeh - The children of the Al Qasr neighborhood dodge Israeli military patrols on the way to class in a cramped dorm room. They sit on chairs brought from home or crouch on mattresses. Their teachers have no textbooks, only a blackboard. The “popular school” in Al Qasr is one of several that have sprung up in mosques, empty factories and apartments in Nablus, the West Bank’s largest city, since Israel first imposed a round-the-clock curfew June 21 to prevent Palestinian militants from attacking Israeli civilians. more