Report Defence for Children International, September 2009.

Photo: Palestinian youth amongst destruction in the Gaza Strip.

In September 2009, the Goldstone Mission published a 575 page report based on the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (download report). The fact finding mission was established by the UN in April 2009, following the 23 day war in Gaza which killed over 1,400 hundred Palestinians, including 353 children. Eighteen Israelis were also killed during the conflict.

The Report not only deals with the direct impact of the war but also considers the broader effects, including the effect on Palestinian children from the West Bank detained by Israel during, and immediately after, the offensive.

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Friday, October 23, 2009. report Bil’in Popular Committee

Photo: Israeli solider in occupied Palestine, Bil’in village.

Several demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation from canisters thrown at them by the Israeli occupation soldiers in their attempt to suppress the weekly protest of Bil’in citizens and solidarity groups.

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remembering political prisoners in Palestine

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
20h00 $8 in advance | $10 at door
La Sala Rossa
4848 St. Laurent
Montreal, Quebec

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Al Jazeera Thursday, October 22, 2009.

Photo: Zoriah (c) Palestinian youth among rubble in the Gaza Strip.

Richard Goldstone, the jurist who authored a UN report accusing Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity during its war on Gaza, has challenged the US to justify its claims that his findings are flawed and biased.

Goldstone told Al Jazeera on Thursday that he had not heard from the administration of Barack Obama, the US president, about the flaws Washington claims to have identified in the report.

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photo by Tom Llewellin

Photo: Tom Llewellin. Palestinian hip-hop artist Tamer Nafar from DAM.

Hundreds gathered at Café Campus in downtown Montreal for Artists Against Apartheid featuring celebrated Palestinian hip-hop ensemble DAM along with Montreal’s own Iraqi hip-hop artist Narcicyst. An inspiring concert this special edition in the ongoing Artists Against Apartheid series featured rhymes strait from Palestine via DAM who delivered a lively an inspiring performance.

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Yves Engler, Electronic Intifada, 12 October 2009

Photo: Israeli apartheid wall in occupied Palestine.

In June, Israel began barring some North Americans with Palestinian-sounding names entry through Ben Gurion Airport. Forced to reroute through a land-border crossing that connects the West Bank with Jordan, their passports were stamped “Palestinian Authority only,” which prevents them from entering Israel proper.

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Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) report 08 – 14 October 2009

Photo: Current Israeli colony construction in the Palestinian West Bank.

During the reporting period, a Palestinian child of wounds inflicted by IOF earlier this year, and 5 Palestinian civilians, including a child, were wounded by IOF gunfire in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

On 12 October 2009, medical sources at al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron declared that Tha’er Sa’id Mohammed Abu ‘Ayash, 17, from Beit Ummar village north of Hebron, died of wounds he had sustained on 04 March 2009. According to PCHR’s documentation, on 04 March 2009, IOF moved into Beit Ummar village, north of Hebron.

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Interview: Independent Iraqi activist Asma Al-Haidari by Stefan Christoff

Photo: Urban skyline in Amman, Jordan.

Iraq’s refugee crisis extends across the world, as millions of Iraqi refugees have been displaced since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. A majority of Iraqi refugees are living in dire conditions and without permanent status in neighbouring countries, the largest populations residing in Jordan and Syria.

As media headlines remain focused on the ongoing and immediate daily violence inside Iraq, the refugee crisis expanding across the Middle East is often forgotten.

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Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service, 19 October 2009

Photo: Zoriah (c) Destroyed Palestinian buildings in Gaza Strip.

UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – The 47-member Human Rights Council (HRC) approved a resolution Friday endorsing war crimes charges against Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, as spelled out in a report by a four-member international fact-finding mission headed by Justice Richard Goldstone.

As expected, the United States threw a protective arm around Israel and voted against the resolution, along with some members of the European Union (EU): Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and Slovakia, as well as Ukraine.

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Crash the party! Bring your shoes!

Thursday, October 22, 11am-1pm
In front of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel,
900 René-Levesque Boulevard

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