Month: June 2010

Settlers target Israel’s “shared cities”

by adminin Writing

dsc09670Al Jazeera English, June 21, 2010
Maan News Agency, July 10, 2010

Jewish settlers storming the garden of an elderly Palestinian woman– it seems like a page from Hebron’s book, not that of cosmopolitan Tel Aviv. But that’s exactly what happened to Zeinab Rachayel, an Arab resident of Tel Aviv’s mixed suburb, Yafo.

Rachayel was in her courtyard on a Sunday afternoon when several buses full of settlers from the West Bank arrived, parking nearby. Armed with Israeli flags, young men lined the sidewalk outside her home chanting “This is our land.” One by one, they entered her garden. Rachayel, a grandmother, was soon facing dozens of settlers in their late teens and early twenties.

“Another one entered and he said, ‘Listen, you’re not staying here. Yafo is just for Jews. Get out of Yafo,'” Rachayel says. The men continued to threaten and intimidate her, repeating over and over that the Arab presence in Yafo is only temporary.

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Deserted

by adminin Politics, Writing

dsc09573 Tablet, June 11, 2010

A small country intent on preserving its demographic balance, Israel is a Petri dish for globalization’s conflicts, including those being fought in Arizona.

Arizona’s controversial Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, also referred to as SB1070, takes effect in July. Proposed by Republican State Senator Russell Pearce, a staunch conservative, and ratified by Republican Governor Jan Brewer, the new legislation allows law enforcement to ask anyone for documentation of their legal status when “reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien.”

Last month, Pearce announced plans to promote legislation that would strip American citizenship from the children of illegal immigrants. Speaking to Reuters, Pearce referred to the kids as “jackpot” or “anchor babies.” These children, English speakers born on US soil, “are not citizens,” he added.

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Challenger I passengers: Commandos shot first

by adminin Writing

931471Maan News Agency, June 8, 2010
(Click here for Arabic)
The Huffington Post, June 9, 2010

Alex Harrison, a British activist who participated in the Freedom Flotilla, was on the neighboring Challenger 1 when the Israeli army overtook the Mavi Marmara, leaving nine activists dead and dozens injured.

The Israeli army has released edited video footage showing soldiers being beaten by passengers on the Mavi Marmara. The army’s footage depicts soldiers dropping down from helicopters into a crowd armed with sticks and chairs. Many Israelis have likened this scene to a “lynch.” The Jewish Israeli public also firmly believes that its soldiers were lured into a “trap.”

But the army’s footage does not include the crucial moments prior to the soldiers’ boarding that would allow viewers to determine if the activists were behaving in self-defense as Israel overtook its ship in international waters.

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Israel under fire for doctoring flotilla recordings

by adminin Politics, Writing

931161Maan News Agency, June 5, 2010
Update of earlier story

The Israeli army came under intense public scrutiny Saturday after releasing a new, heavily edited version of a video it had previously released Monday.

Bloggers picked up on discrepancies between the two. Maan also investigated, placing a phone call to the army late Saturday afternoon, and confirming with Huwaida Arraf, Palestinian activist and chair of the Free Gaza Movement, that her voice was included in the recording.

Saturday’s version supposedly came from the Mavi Marmara. Arraf was a passenger on another one of the flotilla’s ships, the Challenger 1.

Late Saturday afternoon, the Israeli army released yet another version of the recording, bringing to three the total number of different takes.

On the Israel Defense Spokesperson website, the army issued what it called a “clarification/correction.”

“There have been questions regarding the authenticity of the recording as well as its attribution to a communication with the Mavi Marmara,” the statement said.

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Israel fakes recording in propaganda war

by adminin Lead Story, Writing

3566_268mideast-israel-palestinians_sffMaan News Agency (with video), June 5, 2010

On Monday morning, an Israeli army spokesperson released video footage of the Israeli Navy radioing the Mavi Marmara prior to the raid that took place in international waters and left nine activists dead.

But on Friday, an Israeli army spokesperson released a new version of the same footage—one that critics say has been very obviously tampered with.

In the first video, a soldier says, “Mavi Marmara, you are approaching an area of hostility which is under a naval blockade.”

There is no recorded response.

The soldier continues. “The Gaza area, coastal region, and Gaza harbor are closed to all maritime traffic.”

Again, there is no response.

The soldier radios again, saying, “The Israeli government supports delivery of humanitarian supplies to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip and invites you to enter the Ashdod port…”

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Israeli leftists denounce deadly flotilla raid

by adminin Lead Story, Writing

dsc09643
Maan News Agency, June 1, 2010
The Huffington Post, June 1, 2010

Some 2,000 demonstrators gathered outside Israel’s Ministry of Defense late Monday to protest the military’s violent raid on an aid flotilla that attempted to break the country’s years-long siege on the Gaza Strip.

Approximately 100 Tel Aviv and border police officers were present and one left-wing activist, Matan Cohen, was arrested. A few dozen right-wing Israelis staged a counter-protest, but police kept them from interfering in the leftists’ demonstration.

Haggai Matar, a left-wing activist and member of the Coalition Against the Siege, told The Huffington Post that the demonstrations were an expression of anger and shock about an Israeli navy raid that left at least 10 activists dead and dozens injured a day earlier. Israel’s military has conceded that the raid took place in international waters, but continues to accuse activists of instigating the violence, which also injured soldiers.

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