July 4 2010 New York Times

Photo Chinese construction workers at their camp on Tel Aviv’s outskirts this month. Their presence has increasingly clashed with Israel’s Zionist ideology.

Tel Aviv — Perched 22 stories above an affluent suburb of this prosperous seaside city, three Chinese construction workers inched their way along the arm of a crane last autumn and refused to budge. Facing deportation because of expiring visas, theirs was an act of desperation aimed at getting thousands of dollars in wages they claimed their Israeli employer had illegally withheld.

(more…)

Eva Bartlett, Electronic Intifada, 8 July 2010

Photo Eva Bartlett Explosive experts and Palestinian civilians are working together to clear Gaza of remaining white phosphorous shells.

Gaza City, occupied Gaza Strip – At precisely 12 noon on a Thursday afternoon, among the rolling sandy hills in southern Gaza, a controlled explosion destroys another round of white phosphorous shells left in Gaza following the 2008-09 Israeli assault on Gaza.

Explosives experts from the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and the United Nations Mine Action Team (UNMAT) are working together to eliminate the remainders of a deadly Israeli attack. The Israeli bombings from land, sea and air left behind large amounts of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in civilian areas.

(more…)

Sonja Karkar, Electronic Intifada 9 July 2010

Photo Palestine solidarity vigil.

It is five years since Palestinian civil society first made the call for a global boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the apartheid state of Israel. At the time, introducing such action in Australia seemed impossible when the public barely knew anything about the Palestinian struggle for justice and freedom. Education had to be a priority if there was to be any overturning of the long-accepted and indulged Zionist narrative.

(more…)

July 2010 by Mohannad El-Khairy download pdf

Photo Palestinian worker at stone quarry in Gaza Strip.

Charles C. Boycott seems to have become a household word because of his strong sense of duty to his employer. An Englishman and former British soldier, Boycott was the estate agent of the Earl of Erne in County Mayo, Ireland. The earl was one of the absentee landowners who as a group held most of the land in Ireland. Boycott was chosen in the fall of 1880 to be the test case for a new policy advocated by Charles Parnell, an Irish politician who wanted land reform.

Any landlord who would not charge lower rents or any tenant who took over the farm of an evicted tenant would be given the complete cold shoulder by Parnell’s supporters. Boycott refused to charge lower rents and ejected his tenants. At this point members of Parnell’s Irish Land League stepped in, and Boycott and his family found themselves isolated without servants, farmhands, service in stores, or mail delivery.

(more…)

download report by Richard Lightbown June 2010

Photo Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to an Israeli navy base.

An international flotilla comprising the cruise ship Mavi Marmara, a cargo ship and four smaller craft sailing to Gaza with humanitarian aid was attacked in international waters by a large Israeli naval force on 31 May 2010. Nine passengers were killed and many injured by live fire. The legality of the raid is considered according the San Remo Manual and the Fourth Geneva Convention. The report concludes that the International Committee of the Red Cross declaration of a ‘dire situation’ in the Gaza Strip renders the raid unlawful.

(more…)

Sarah Irving, Electronic Intifada 7 July 2010

Photo Palestinian woman in Gaza cleans dishes.

For the last year Mark Buttle has been the coordinator for the “WASH cluster,” the group of aid organizations working on water, sanitation and hygiene in the Gaza Strip. A chartered water engineer, Buttle has worked for a development-oriented nongovernmental organization (NGO) for more than a decade, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and has been based in Gaza since May 2009. He spoke to The Electronic Intifada contributor Sarah Irving about the challenges faced by international agencies working in Gaza.

(more…)

Amy Darwish, Electronic Intifada 1 July 2010

Photo ActiveStills Palestinians drive a flag covered truck in Bil’in.

On 30 June an Israeli military prosecutor demanded two years’ imprisonment for grassroots activist Adeeb Abu Rahmah, at a military court hearing at the Ofer Military Complex in the occupied West Bank. Abu Rahmah has already spent 11 months behind bars and his arrest and detention is part of Israel’s repressive efforts to criminalize the grassroots popular resistance to the Israeli occupation.

(more…)

Celebrating 5 yrs since the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions!

Friday, July 9, 2010
12pm – 5:30pm
Indigo Bookstore
1500 McGill College, corner Ste-Catherine
Métro McGill
Montreal, QC

(more…)

Center for Constitutional Rights, July 1, 2010, Washington, D.C.

Photo Palestinian boats gather at Gaza coast-line awaiting for the freedom flotilla

Yesterday, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed eight Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests regarding the United States government’s knowledge of, and actions in relation to, the May 31, 2010 attack by Israel on a flotilla of six vessels in international waters seeking to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, and U.S. policy towards the blockade of Gaza, which has entered its fourth year. The FOIA requests were made to a number of U.S. departments and agencies, including the Coast Guard, the Department of State, the Navy and the U.S. European Command.

(more…)

Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem, guardian.co.uk Thursday 1 July 2010

Photo Dome of the Rock at Al Aqsa mosque compound under open sky in Palestine.

A 29-year-old lawyer from Gaza has launched a legal challenge against Israel’s refusal to allow her to travel to the West Bank to study human rights and democracy.

Fatima Sharif must register for her masters degree at Birzeit University near Ramallah in two weeks’ time or she will lose her place.

(more…)