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How Barack Obama learned to love Israel
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 4 March 2007
On March 2, Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama gave a speech that proved that when it came to supporting Israel he is "as strong as Clinton, as supportive as Bush, as friendly as Giuliani" in the words of one Israeli journalist. Obama blamed Palestinians for the failure of peace efforts and uttered no criticism of Israeli policies. Yet once upon a time Obama supported Palestinian rights and an even-handed US approach to solving the conflict. EI co-founder Ali Abunimah who has met the candidate half a dozen times over a decade analyzes the speech and traces Obama's path into the hardline pro-Israel camp. [MORE]
   

How to Live with Hunger
Ran HaCohen, The Electronic Intifada, 27 February 2007
When I was a child, a popular argument in favor of the Israeli "liberation," i.e., occupation, of the Palestinian territories was its being a blessing for the Palestinians themselves. "When we took it over," I was told at school, "there were just a couple of cars in the entire West Bank. And look how many they have now!" Indeed, in the first decades of the Israeli occupation, the Palestinian standard of living was on the rise -- not because of Israeli investments (Israel never invested a cent in Palestinian welfare or infrastructure), but mainly because Israel exploited the Palestinians as a cheap labor force, and even a cheap labor force gets paid. [MORE]
   
Apartheid looks like this
Jonathan Cook, The Electronic Intifada, 23 February 2007
The scene: a military checkpoint deep in Palestinian territory in the West Bank. A tall, thin elderly man, walking stick in hand, makes a detour past the line of Palestinians, many of them young men, waiting obediently behind concrete barriers for permission from an Israeli soldier to leave one Palestinian area, the city of Nablus, to enter another Palestinian area, the neighbouring village of Huwara. The long queue is moving slowly, the soldier taking his time to check each person's papers. The old man heads off purposefully down a parallel but empty lane reserved for vehicle inspections. A young soldier controlling the human traffic spots him and orders him back in line. The old man stops, fixes the soldier with a stare and refuses. [MORE]
    
Reinforcing the Occupation: Israel's High Court
Louis Frankethaler, The Electronic Intifada, 21 February 2007
Journalist Gideon Levy wrote in the Israeli daily Haaretz: "From now on, the [Israeli] Supreme Court will act without Aharon Barak. It will, however, presumably continue to act within his legacy, which has authorized nearly all injustices in the territories. Barak, meanwhile, will continue to be depicted in Israel and the world as a pursuer of justice." The Israeli High Court of Justice under the presidency of Professor Barak has impressed many observers as being many things: progressive, daring, precedent setting. However, the actual results of the Barak Court offer little in the way of comparison to a Court like the Warren Court in the United States. [MORE]
   
Core issues absent from Rice's peace rhetoric agenda
Michael F. Brown, The Electronic Intifada, 19 February 2007
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet today with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Ostensibly, they are to talk of a "political horizon" in order for Abbas to relay to the Palestinian people a "vision" of what could be. This now appears to be little more than a hallucination put out for public consumption. Borders, Jerusalem, and Palestinian refugees cannot be expected to highlight the agenda. Consequently, if these three issues are not central to discussions, this is not a political horizon but a cliff for Palestinians. A horizon, properly viewed, simply cannot omit these three central concerns. [MORE]
   
It's Time to Visit Gaza
Miko Peled, The Electronic Intifada, 13 February 2007
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one area where liberals and neo-conservatives in America find common ground. From Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton all the way to George Bush and Condoleezza Rice one and all are united in supporting Israel's assault on the Palestinian people and their land. The criticism of Jimmy Carter's book Palestine Peace Not Apartheid is a case in point. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi outdid herself by issuing a statement that: "It is wrong to suggest that the Jewish people would support a government in Israel or anywhere else that institutionalizes ethnically based oppression." Wrong to suggest? Here is something right to suggest: Madam Speaker, it is time for you to visit Gaza. [MORE]
   
Israeli Arabs: 'Who are we and what do we want?'
Rima Merriman, The Electronic Intifada, 13 February 2007
While Palestinians under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza are scrambling to come up with a new national Palestinian vision, Israeli Arabs are looking for ways to wrest equal citizenship rights for themselves as non-Jews in a state whose reason for existence is to nurture Jewish identity and culture. According to a recent New York Times news item, "A group of prominent Israeli Arabs [in a report issued in December 2006] has called on Israel to stop defining itself as a Jewish State and become a 'consensual democracy for both Arabs and Jews,' prompting consternation and debate across the country." [MORE]

 

Info-avond en benefiet optredens voor politiek café in Palestina
             
Zaterdag 24 maart 2007
´Vrankrijk´
Spuistraat 216, Amsterdam
 
Aanvang info-avond 20.00 uur
Kort overzicht van de geschiedenis van Israel en Palestina, persoonlijke ervaringen van verblijf in de Westbank en informatie over het politieke café en andere interessante projecten in Palestina.
 
Vanaf 21.30 uur optredens van de Palestijnse muziekgroep ´Hanien´ (heimwee), punkbank ´Cathode´ en de swingende Utrechtse rock ´n roll band ´Elvis and the Burgerkings´
 
In Beit Sahour, vlakbij Bethlehem,  is onlangs een alternatief café opgericht waar internationale vrijwilligers en actieve Palestijnen elkaar kunnen ontmoeten, ideeen en ervaringen kunnen uitwisselen en nieuwe plannen kunnen ontwikkelen. In samenwerking met het Alternative Information Center worden ook lezingen georganiseerd en documentaires vertoond en er wordt een alternatieve bibliotheek ingericht.
 
Entree 3 euro
 
Uitgebreide info-stand aanwezig
 
Info-night and benefit concert for political café in Beit Sahour, Westbank, Palestine.
For non-dutch speakers, there will be translation into English
 
Info: kletschert@hotmail.com / 06 22080450
 
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