Report from Bil’in Palestine.

Photo: ActiveStills. Israeli military launches chemical gas in Bil’in, Palestine.

Three injured and Dozens suffered from gas inhalation when Israeli troops attacked the weekly protest in Bil’in village near the central West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday.

International and Israeli supporters joined the villagers of Bil’in and marched from the village center after the Friday midday prayers. The protesters demanded the halt of the Israeli illegal settlements and the construction of the wall.

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Daily Star, Friday, June 26, 2009.

Photo: Zoriah (c). Israeli air strikes on Beirut in 2006.

BEIRUT: The Israeli Army stepped up its presence along the border with Lebanon deploying armored tanks and setting up fortifications as it intensified airspace violations in the area, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Thursday. In “unusual military activity,” the Israeli Army deployed Merkava tanks and soldier carriers, among other armored vehicles, along the barb-wired fence separating Shebaa Farms from liberated Lebanese territories, the NNA said.

Israeli tanks were also amassing along a 5-kilometer area, stretching from Tallat Sobaih army post to Jabal al-Sheikh observatory. Sporadic gunfire was also heard throughout the day, the NNA report said.

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video report on Israeli Apartheid on Trial event on Bil’in Palestine by Boban Chaldovich.

Photo: Valerian Mazataud. Presentation in Montreal from Mohamed Khatib of Bil’in.

A video report by filmmaker Boban Chaldovich on the Montreal conference on Bil’in’s strugle against Israeli colonization. Watch the video on Bil’in Palestine: view on-line.

Bil’in village has launched a historic lawsuit in Quebec against two locally registered companies, Quebec Superior Court against Green Park International and Green Mount International, which are accused of illegally constructing residential and other buildings on the village’s lands. According to the lawsuit, the lands of Bil’in are subject to the rules and obligations of international law because the West Bank is currently under Israeli military occupation.

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Hamid Dabashi, Al-Ahram, June 2009.

Photo: Faramarz Hashemi. Protests over election results in Iran.

The Iranian presidential election of June 2009 will go down in history as one of the most magnificent manifestations of a people’s indomitable will to achieve enduring democratic institutions. The beleaguered custodians of the Islamic Republic, thoroughly aware of their own lack of legitimacy, were quick to use the occasion as a vindication of their illegitimate rule.

They are wrong. This was not a vote for their legitimacy. It was a vote against it — albeit within the mediaeval juridical fortress they have built around the notions and principles of citizenry in a free and democratic republic. The feeble “opposition” to the clerics abroad also rushed to admonish those who participated in the election, insisting on regime change, at a time when upward of 80 per cent of eligible voters willingly participated in the election. Both these desperate, hasty, and banal readings of the election, predicated on bankrupt positions are false.

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Ismailia, Egypt, June 28. Reuters

Photo: Ehab Lotayef. Gate along with Egyptian border with Gaza.

The security sources said they had spotted three men attempting to slip across the border into Israel and ordered them to stop, opening fire when the migrants failed to do so.

The unidentified African man was killed by a bullet fired into the right side of his chest, and the two Eritreans with him were also shot, the sources said.

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Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) opposes Israeli apartheid.

Photo: Protest against the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip at Erez Crossing, Palestine.

Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) a major trade federation in Quebec has voted to support the international campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israeli apartheid, a major step forward for the Palestinian solidarity movement in Quebec.

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photo essay by Antoine Rouleau

Photo: Antoine Rouleau. Colors of Palestine at Bil’in solidarity protest in Montreal.

A photo essay by photographer Antoine Rouleau capturing the Bil’in solidarity protest outside the Palais de justice de Montréal to coincide with the opening the lawsuit launched by Bil’in village at the Quebec Superior Court against two Montreal registered companies constructing Israeli colonies on Bil’in lands. A decision on the jurisdiction of the Quebec courts to hear Bil’in’s case is expected within the upcoming months, stay tuned for updates and other Palestinian solidarity actions.

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Haaretz, June 2009, by Gideon Levy

Photo: Palestinian grave bombed in the Gaza Strip.

It might be useful to recall who this Tamir is. From his stint as commander of the Golani infantry brigade – when his troops twice shelled the Jenin market (2002), killing several children, including two small brothers – to Operation Autumn Clouds in Gaza (2006) which he commanded, he has been responsible for wanton bloodshed, with at least half the 80 Palestinians killed on his watch being civilians.

Nor should we forget the notorious shelling of the Gaza town of Beit Hanun under his command and responsibility (also in 2006), in which a volley of 11 unnecessary shells were fired at a residential neighborhood, in the wake of which the Israel Defense Forces of course blamed the cannon’s computer chip instead of the division commander, Chico Tamir. We would do well to pause and wonder why an officer like this, with the blood of innocents on his hands, earns such praise from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. But let that pass.

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Bil’in village continues battle against Israeli settlements in Quebec courts

Photo: Valerian Mazataud. Mohamed Khatib from Bil’in, Palestine.

Bil’in village’s legal battle against two Quebec-based companies for constructing Israeli settlements on Palestinian land continues.

After a week of hearings at the Quebec Superior Court, Bil’in’s lawsuit is now being considered by Justice Louis-Paul Cullen. A response from the judge is expected in the upcoming months.

“Bil’in’s case was fully argued, the illegality of Israeli settlements under international and Canadian law was clearly outlined,” outlines Bil’in’s Canadian lawyer Mark Arnold.

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Agence France-Presse (AFP), June 26th, 2009.

Photo: Author Naomi Klein

Bil’in, West Bank — Bestselling author Naomi Klein on Friday took her call for a boycott of Israel to the occupied West Bank village of Bilin, where she witnessed Israeli forces clashing with protesters.

“It’s a boycott of Israeli institutions, it’s a boycott of the Israeli economy,” the Canadian writer told journalists as she joined a weekly demonstration against Israel’s controversial separation wall.

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