By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem, The Independent (UK), 23 November 2007
A senior United Nations official has issued an unprecedented appeal to British MPs to use their influence to try to alleviate the impact of “indiscriminate” and “illegal” Israeli sanctions in Gaza which display “profound inhumanity” and are “serving the agenda of extremists”.
In one of the strongest attacks on recent Israeli strategy issued by a senior international official, John Ging, Gaza’s director of operations for the refugee agency UNRWA, said that “crushing sanctions” imposed since the Israeli cabinet declared the Strip a “hostile entity” in September had contributed to “truly appalling living conditions.”
Continue reading ‘UN official says Israel’s siege of Gaza breeds extremism and human suffering’
An open letter* sent to Australia’s Prime Minister John Howard, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, the Leader of the Opposition, Kevin Rudd, and the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Robert McLelland, on 16 November 2007
We are a group of concerned Australians acting now because the blockade of Gaza is escalating to a new and concerning level that will profoundly affect the lives and welfare of over 1 and half million people (women and children included). This has followed upon an almost complete paralysis of economic, social and administrative activity. This siege has included a prohibition of infant milk powder and denial of crucial medical supplies for patients who are largely disallowed from leaving the Gaza Strip.
Continue reading ‘Open Letter: Australia’s role in the blockade of Gaza’
By Shulamit Aloni* Haaretz, 15 November 2007
The government of Israel, with all due respect, does not represent the Jewish people but rather the citizens of the State of Israel who elected it. Israel is a sovereign state, which is still considered to be a democracy. In other words, it is a state for all of its citizens. Therefore it must not demand of the Palestinians to recognize it as a Jewish state, because in that way it would be declaring that any citizen whose mother is not Jewish or who did not convert with our strict Orthodox rabbis is a second-rate citizen, and his rights as a human being and a citizen are not ensured.
Continue reading ‘Still a democracy?’
In April 2007 Leichhardt Council voted unanimously to form a Sister-City/Friendship Agreement with Hebron in the Occupied Territories. Subsequently, the decision was attacked publicly with false charges of “anti-semitism” and hard-left control of the Council thrown about (The Australian, 26 May 2007). Following interventions from the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and the Inner West Chavurah, representing “some 50 households” (Australian Jewish News, 10 September 2007), attempts were made to stop the project, despite having only intended to do little more than initiate Mayoral exchanges and provide support for Council residents to undertake fund-raising for community-based projects in Hebron. In October an agreement was reached which will see a 4-person panel of Councilors oversee proposed projects with Hebron (The Glebe, 10 October 2007).
Below, we publish JAO-Sydney’s letter to the Mayor of Leichhardt Council, Carolyn Allen, in support of the initiative. We would also recommend reading B’Tselem’s May 2007 Report Ghost Town: Israel’s Separation Policy and Forced Eviction of Palestinians from the Center of Hebron for an understanding of conditions in the city.
Continue reading ‘Sydney Jewish Group Supports Leichhardt Council’s Programme with Hebron’
By Uri Avnery, 27 October 2007
THE PRESIDENT of the Knesset invited me to take part in the special Knesset session to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.
I debated with myself whether to accept the invitation.
On the one hand, I would like to honor the man and the achievements of his last years. I liked him.
On the other hand, I had no wish to listen to a eulogy delivered by Shimon Peres, the man who pretended to follow Rabin’s path and who buried the Oslo agreement out of sheer cowardice. And even less to a eulogy from Ehud Olmert, one of the people who led the incitement campaign against the Oslo agreement and its authors. And still less to a eulogy from Binyamin Netanyahu, who stood on the balcony while the picture of Rabin in SS uniform was paraded below.
Continue reading ‘12 Years Later’
