Hour, by Stefan Christoff, May 7th, 2009.

Photo: ActiveStills. Protest against Israeli apartheid wall in Bil’in.

In April, Palestinian activist Bassam Ibrahim Abou Rahme was killed by Israeli military forces after being shot at close range by a teargas canister, becoming the 18th Palestinian to have been killed for protesting against the Israeli wall being built in Bil’in, a farming village.

“Bassam was a leader from the Bil’in movement against Israeli apartheid. Everyone in the village loved Bassam, who regularly worked with Israeli activists,” remembers Abdullah Abu Rahme, a Bil’in resident and activist.

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photo essay from Lora Gordon.

Photo: Rafah crossing point, Gaza, Palestine.

In the aftermath to the Israeli military bombardment of the Gaza Strip, from late December 2008 extending twenty-two days into late January 2009, Lora Gordon a Jewish American writer and photographer based in Chicago traveled to Gaza. Gordon traveled to Gaza on a medical aid delegation organized by the Middle East Peace Forum of Cleveland.

Beyond direct solidarity work on the ground in Gaza, including work with Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Lora Gordon also chronicled the situation on the ground in Gaza through photography which documented life in Gaza after the Israeli bombing campaign that killed 1300 Palestinians, while destroying universities, hospitals, UN buildings and generally large parts of the civilian infrastructure in Gaza.

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Hour interview by Meg Hewings, April 2009.

Photo: Ehab Lotayef. Egyptian soldiers at Rafah border crossing into the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli-Palestinian crisis is one of the most radioactive issues of our day, but it was conspicuously absent from the official program of this week’s Durban Anti-Racism Review Conference in Geneva.

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Rory McCarthy, guardian.co.uk, Friday 1 May 2009.

Photo: Open sky over Jerusalem.

The United Nations has called on Israel to end its programme of demolishing homes in East Jerusalem and tackle a mounting housing crisis for Palestinians in the city.

Dozens of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem are demolished each year because they do not have planning permits. Critics say the demolitions are part of an effort to extend Israeli control as Jewish settlements continue to expand. The 21-page report from the UN office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs is the latest round in an intensifying campaign on the issue.

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action to remember Palestinian activist Bassam Ibrahim Abou Rahme.

FRIDAY MAY 8 12h00
Indigo Bookstore
corner of St. Catherine & McGill college
(metro McGill)
Montreal, Canada

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BBC news April 29, 2009

Photo: Damon Lynch. Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem through barbwire.

Construction has begun on approximately 60 new homes in a Jewish settlement in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, the Israeli campaign group Peace Now says.

The work, in East Talpiot settlement, is aimed at creating a belt around East Jerusalem that would sever it from the rest of the West Bank, the group says.

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Bil’in international conference on non-violent resistance.

Photo: Israeli apartheid wall in occupied Palestine.

As we conclude our conference today, we remember our friend and fellow in struggle, Bassem Abu Rahma, who was killed by the Israeli army last Friday during the weekly peaceful demonstration. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and we wish them peace in these hard times. Our thoughts and prayers are also with Tristan Anderson and his family. Tristan, an American solidarity activist, was shot and seriously injured by the Israeli army last month while he was visiting Ni’lin village.

The Fourth Bil’in Conference for Non-Violent Resistance is held this year at a critical stage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. As Israeli violence and oppression against the Palestinian people to force it into submission has intensified, and an extremist Israeli government ascended to power, the Palestinian leadership is unacceptably divided and weakened.

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April 2009, by Rafeef Ziadah.

Photo: Filippo Minelli. Israeli apartheid wall in Palestine.

Since its inception Israel has taken great pains to destroy all signs of Palestinian culture and target Palestinians who chose cultural production as their method of resistance. Edward Said explained “Culture is a way of fighting against extinction and obliteration”, and it is basic to colonial policy to present the colonized as primitive, backward and uncultured.

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April, 21 2009. Palestinian Center for Human Rights Gaza, Palestine.

Photo: Palestinian cemetery bombed in Gaza during latest Israeli attack.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is concerned at recent Israeli statements implying that the State of Israel will not cooperate with the independent investigation established by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

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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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