Bethlehem, Ma’an. By Deema Dabis

Photo: number four prison | constitution hill | Johannesburg, South Africa

A South African anti-Apartheid leader and union official is in the West Bank this week to share ideas and create stronger links for solidarity work with Palestinians.

“In South Africa we are familiar with the struggle of the people of Palestine for freedom and self determination,” said Zeko Tamela, the Head of External Relations of the South African Transport and Communications Workers Union. “As a previously oppressed people ourselves we forged alliances with freedom fighters around the world.”

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A former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, has told the BBC she was taken aback by the “terrible” conditions in Gaza on a recent visit.

Mrs Robinson said it was “almost unbelievable” that the world did not care about what she called “a shocking violation of so many human rights”.

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Photo: Beirut by Piax. Tadamon! special edition: entire program is on-line for download.

A special edition produced by Mostafa Henaway, featuring music that spans different eras and moments in Middle East history, music composed and performed during the moments of social and political transformation. Music from the Middle East that either directly or indirectly is a reflection of these critical historical moments, from Egypt with music from the 1950’s and 1960’s that is a celebration of a new era, independent of colonialism, or more contemporary songs that present a critique dictatorship and tyranny in Egypt in the 1970’s song by Sheikh Imam.

Music from Lebanon, compositions and artists that emerged in the context of over twenty years of Israeli occupation and fifteen-years of civil-war in the country. Music from Lebanon that reflects a will of people to not be divided by sectarian politics, expressed by artists such as Ziad Rahbani in the famous song Ana Mesh Kafer, a song which asks how people of different religious faiths can condemn each other.

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Beirut: [Yet another] blackout has descended upon Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp this night. It makes your efforts to find the Palestinian Arab Center that much more atmospheric and inspires vague hopes that perhaps you won’t miss the first minutes of Jackie Salloum’s “Slingshot Hip Hop” after all.

You find the hall’s exterior bathed in generator-driven light. The interior is dim but for the concert footage projected on a screen and reflected back upon the white plastic chair-mounted eyeballs fixed before it.

Salloum’s first feature-length film, “Slingshot” chronicles the rise of the Palestinian hip-hop scene – starting in ’48 Palestine (sometimes called “Israel”) and the other occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza.

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Yet more haunting images of blindfolded, stripped down Palestinian men being contemptuously dragged by soldiers in uniform from one place to another. Yet more footage of bloodied men lying on hospital beds describing their ordeals to television reporters who have heard this story all too often. Yet more news of Palestinian infighting, tit-for-tat arrests, obscene language and embarrassing behaviour from those who have elected themselves — or were elected — to represent the Palestinian people.

Once again, the important story that ought to matter the most — that of a continually imposing and violent Israeli occupation — is lost in favour of Palestinian-infused distractions, deliberate or not.

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Photo: Active Stills. Palestinians protest against Israel’s apartheid wall in Bil’in.

Despite largely facetious denials, the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA) has been carrying out a vindictive campaign against Hamas sympathisers and supporters. According to various sources, hundreds of school teachers, college students, journalists, and other professionals as well as ordinary citizens have been arrested and imprisoned on largely amorphous charges such as “constituting a threat to state security” — when the PA is neither a state nor a sovereign entity — and “violating the rule of law”.

In cities and villages throughout the West Bank, PA security agencies raided Islamic-oriented cultural and academic centres, non-governmental organisations, sports clubs as well as schools and charitable associations, closing them down and arresting members.

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I had expected conditions in Gaza to be bad, but I was still shocked at the devastation when I went there in July.

Last month my companion and I entered Gaza at the Erez crossing through a modern building reminiscent of an airport terminal. After questioning by the Israeli border police, we left the building and had a kilometre walk to pick up transportation.

It was as if we had travelled to another planet. The sandy track is surrounded by the blown-up remnants of Gaza’s former industrial district. Rubble stretching for hundreds of metres lines the route.

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regards sur Bil’in: musique et de présentations contre l’apartheid israélien.

DIMANCHE 7 SEPTEMBRE 2008
20h. 5-10$
La Sala Rossa, 4848 St. Laurent
Montréal, Quebec

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Photo: Nilin Cisjordanie.

Bil’in, Cisjordanie: Le village de Bil’in, situé en Cisjordanie, dans les territoires occupés palestiniens, a annoncé aujourd’hui qu’il a entamé une action en justice contre deux entreprises canadiennes pour crimes de guerre. L’action a été introduite devant la Cour supérieure du Québec, qui siège à Montréal (Canada). Vous trouverez ci-joint copie intégrale de la plainte.

Les représentants de Bil’in allèguent que Green Park International Inc. et Green Mount International Inc., deux sociétés immatriculées dans la province du Québec agissant à titre d’agents pour l’État d’Israël, ont entrepris la construction illégale de résidences et autres bâtiments sur des terres sous juridiction municipale du village et procèdent à la mise en marché et à la vente de logements en copropriété à la population civile israélienne. En outre, les représentants de Bil’in prétendent dans leur plainte que ses terres ainsi que les intimés sont soumis aux règlements et obligations du droit international étant donné que la Cisjordanie est un territoire qui a été occupé à la suite d’un acte de guerre datant de 1967.

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Israel’s apartheid wall and Israeli colony Beth-Hal Homar, West Bank, Palestine

Photos from Montreal photographer and community worker Scott Weinstein, who has traveled to Palestine to work with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society as a registered nurse. This photo essay documents the contemporary realities of Israeli colonialism and occupation in the West Bank, specifically focusing on the realities of settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, specifically in the Palestinian city of Hebron. As documented by numerous Israeli human rights organizations, such as B’Tselem, Israeli settlers have beaten Palestinian civilians and forced many Palestinians to leave the historic city center in Hebron, traditionally an important and vibrant Palestinian market in the West Bank.

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