Using video cameras, Palestinians shoot back
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- Written by Martin Fletcher, NBC Martin Fletcher, NBC
- Published: 23 July 2008 23 July 2008
- Hits: 3781 3781
US elections: Obama's political straitjacket
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- Written by David Hearst in Jerusalem David Hearst in Jerusalem
- Published: 23 July 2008 23 July 2008
- Hits: 3699 3699
Top of the iceberg
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- Written by Gush Shalom Gush Shalom
- Published: 22 July 2008 22 July 2008
- Hits: 3832 3832
Gush Shalom press rel4ease, 22/07/08
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/press_releases/1216734331/
The shooting of a tied-up Palestinian detainee at Ni`ilin is an example of what takes place every day in the Occupied Territories
Investigation of soldiers and officers must be taken out of the army`s hands
The battalion commander present during the shooting should be prosecuted
There must be put an end to the situation where the Army investigates itself and finds itself not guilty. The severe case of a bound Palestinian detainee being shot and wounded at Ni`ilin Village is not exceptional. Every day, severe cases of mistreatment of Palestinian inhabitants take place – only that in the overwhelming number of cases, there is nobody to take photos and bring an objective proof. The army is not seriously investigating complaints of this kind, and had not seriously intended to investigate this case, either. In fact, even after the photos were produced, the army still does not intend to investigate and prosecute the battalion commander, who was present when the detainee was shot and without his order the shooting cannot have taken place.
Nor is it only the responsibility of a single officer, but of the occupation as a whole, The government of Israel has imposed on the soldiers sent to Ni`ilin – as to dozens of other villages – a brutal and despicable mission: to rob from the villagers their land, which is their sole source of livelihood, and transfer it to nationalist and racist settlers, as well as to real estate sharks who make enormous profits from settlement construction. It is no wonder that the Palestinian inhabitants are rising up against the stealing of their land; nor should it be wondered at that the soldiers and officers on the ground take increasingly brutal measures in their effort to fulfill this brutal mission.
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Revealed: Secret Plan to Keep Iraq Under U.S. Control
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- Written by Patrick Cockburn Patrick Cockburn
- Published: 22 July 2008 22 July 2008
- Hits: 3687 3687
Bush wants 50 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal immunity for all American soldiers and contractors
A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American
military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of
the US presidential election in November.
The terms of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to
The Independent, are likely to have an explosive political effect in
Iraq. Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would
occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and
enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilise Iraq's position in the
Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in their country.
Read more: Revealed: Secret Plan to Keep Iraq Under U.S. Control
The Palestinian Bar-Mitzvah
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- Written by Bassam Aramin, Translated from Arabic by Miriam Asnes Bassam Aramin, Translated from Arabic by Miriam Asnes
- Published: 21 July 2008 21 July 2008
- Hits: 3771 3771
It was a beautiful day on Friday the 12th of July when Arab went with his friends to the beach in Tiberias. He spent all of his time in the days leading up to the trip trying to convince me that I should let him go. At first I refused—he’s young to be traveling so far in a group without his parents. But then I remembered the regret I still feel about the death of my daughter Abir.
Abir was ten when she was killed by the Israeli Occupation Force on January 16th, 2007 in front of her school in Anata. That morning, when she asked her mother and me for permission to play with her friends after school, I’d refused. I told her, “Don’t even think of coming home late, come back right away so you can prepare for your next exam.” And she answered me with the last words I ever heard from her, petulant and innocent. “Well, I’m going to be late.” She was angry with me. She was late that day, but not because she met her friends. A bullet from an Israeli border patrolman found her instead, and she never came back. I regret having refused her request, not knowing that it would be her last—that she would be late despite me and despite herself.
When I saw how much Arab wanted to go, I thought of Abir and gave my permission with the condition that he look after himself and be in constant phone contact with me.