april t/m mei 2008

 

1948 – 2008, 60 JAAR NAKBA

60 jaar verwoesting van Palestina
60 jaar verdrijving van Palestijnen
60 jaar onderdrukking van de Palestijnen
60 jaar landroof

Een land met een volk wordt een volk zonder land

Een herdenking en een solidariteitsbijeenkomst

Zaterdag 17 mei te Amsterdam

Herdenkingsceremonie op de Dam
60 minuten voor 60 jaar Nakba
Van 13.00 uur tot 14.00 uur
Verzamelen vanaf 12.30 uur

Solidariteitsbijeenkomst in de Doopsgezinde Singelkerk
Singel 452  (OV: vanaf CS tram 1, 2 of 5 tot halte Koningsplein)
Vanaf 14.45 uur, start programma:  15.15 uur.

Thema: Historie, toekomstperspectieven en hoe het recht te laten zegevieren.

Hoofdspreker is Omar Barghouti, Palestijns politiek analist uit Jeruzalem.

Andere sprekers: Robert Soeterik (Midden-Oosten deskundige) en Hajo Meyer (Een Ander Joods Geluid)

Muzikale bijdrage: Jacob Allegro Wegloop (piano) en Jonathan Wegloop (hoorn)

Presentatie van het 1e exemplaar van het boek “De Verwoesting van Palestina” van Robert Soeterik aan oud-premier Dries van Agt.

Organisatie: Nederlands Palestina Komitee i.s.m. Palestijnse Gemeenschap Nederland, Palestina Komitee Rotterdam, Al Awda, Vrouwen in het Zwart Nederland, Internationale Socialisten, Stop de Oorlog, Keerpunt, Haags Vredesplatform, Vrijwillige Internationale Aktie, Stop de Bezetting, TALLIQ, Palestijns Platform voor Mensenrechten en Solidariteit, Een Ander Joods Geluid

Aanmelden via  NPK-site bij contact  o.v.v. 17 mei

STOP DE NAKBA !

WEES SOLIDAIR EN PROTESTEER

Zaterdag 17 mei herdenking en bijeenkomst vanwege 60 jaar Nakba. Te Amsterdam, zoals bekend beginnend om 13 uur op de Dam. Details op de NPK-site en zie in de agenda ook de andere activiteiten.
Hierna één der dagelijkse berichten uit/over Palestina …………….

—– Original Message —–
From: Shadi Fadda
To: president@whitehouse.gov
Cc: enquiry@dfid.gov.uk ; inquiries@un.org ; gernot.erler@bundestag.de
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 5:02 PM
Subject: [f_shadi] Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines May 16, 2008 ~

Weekly Report: On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2008/15-05-2008.htm

The Gaza strip – Grave dearth of medical supplies and lifesaving treatments
The health situation in the Gaza Strip has been steadily deteriorating since Israel tightened its siege on the area in June 2007, following Hamas’ forceful takeover. The closure of all entrances and exits from Gaza has barred patients from receiving treatments unavailable within Gaza and has caused a grave dearth of medical supplies, while the sporadic cuts in fuel supply prevent the system from functioning fully. This is exacerbated by the fact that Palestinian internal disputes have led to labor strikes in the Gazan health system.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-7EP3GD?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P

IOF troops shoot at Palestinian protesters at Biet Hanon
At least nine Palestinian children and a woman were wounded on Thursday after IOF troops stationed at the Beit Hanon (Erez) crossing opened their fire at thousands of Palestinian demonstrators.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Dx4m5wU8uKJXcvbZbt0Glc28I2dwcdrfHhTqpAixU5chqsZf6MbQ7LNwRpuZP2Z9jAp8V7iNAIirxe%2bk0CV9TY%2fFgxBhOxr93tAzd9g2eZQ%3d

Israeli Drone Strikes north Gaza Strip
Israeli warplanes raided on Friday noon for the second time on the north Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya, witnesses said.
http://english.wafa.ps/?action=detail&id=11671

Israeli military kidnaps 19 Palestinians across the West Bank
Palestinians sources reported that 19 Palestinians had been kidnapped from different part of the West Bank early on Thursday morning. Army kidnapped those Palestinians in military operations that were carried out in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus and Hebron.

Israeli military kidnaps 19 Palestinians across the West Bank

Palestinians hurl rocks at Israelis near Hebron, no injuries
Palestinians threw stones at Israeli cars traveling north of Hebron on Thursday evening. No injuries were reported but damage was caused to several vehicles.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3543994,00.html

Israeli vehicle stoned near Ramallah
Palestinians hurled stones at an Israeli vehicle travelling northwest of Ramallah in the West Bank. No injuries were reported, but the vehicle was damaged.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3544059,00.html

Rocket damages synagogue in Israel: army
A rocket fired by Gaza militants damaged a synagogue and another hit a kindergarten in the southern Israeli city of Sderot overnight, a military spokeswoman said on Friday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080516/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictgazasynagogue

2 Qassam rockets land in Sderot area; no injuries reported
Two Qassam rockets were fired from northern Gaza at Sderot. One of the rockets landed near the industrial zone, and the other in an agricultural field.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3543948,00.html

Undercover gunmen blow up entrance to Rosary Sister’s school in Tal Al-Hawa
Gaza – Ma’an – Palestinian sources reported early on Friday morning that unidentified gunmen blew up the door of the Rosary Sister’s school in Tal Al-Hawa in the middle of the Gaza city.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=29315

Al Khader village protests the Israeli wall
On Friday midday, the popular committee of Al Khader village—near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem—held a non-violent demonstration to protest the construction of the illegal Israeli wall, demanding an end to the Palestinians Nakba and recognition of their right of return.

Al Khader village protests the Israeli wall

Hundreds join nonviolent anti-wall protest in of Al-Me’sara
Around 250 Palestinians and Internationals, including 70 Americans demonstrated against the construction of the separation wall on the land of of Al-Me’sara village south of Bethlehem on Friday morning.

Hundreds join nonviolent anti-wall protest in Al-Me’sara

Paramilitary Police Attack Al-Nakba March
It has been a week of adulation from world leaders, ostentatious displays of military prowess, and street parties. Heads of state have rubbed shoulders with celebrities to pay homage to the Jewish state on its 60th birthday, while a million Israelis reportedly headed off to the country’s forests to enjoy the national pastime: a barbecue.
http://www.counterpunch.com/cook05162008.html

Reuters demands explanation from Israel for death of cameramen
A month after journalist Fadel Shana was killed by an Israel Defense Forces tank crew in the Gaza Strip, Reuters renewed its demand on Thursday for a prompt explanation from the Israeli army of why it fired on its cameraman.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/983952.html

ISRAEL-OPT: Opening of Gaza’s borders not imminent – analysts
The recent visit by Egyptian intelligence chief Gen Omar Sulaiman to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories was supposed to help advance a ceasefire deal between the Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip, headed by Hamas, and the Jewish state.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=78237

Settlement stumbling blocs
Getting from the current reality on the ground to a negotiated agreement will require mutual goodwill and strong, credible Palestinian leadership. If Israel continues to build in settlement blocs, it will find itself with neither, and will likely lose the best, and perhaps last, Palestinian partner for peace it will see for a very long time. Last week, during a press briefing regarding Bush’s latest visit to the Middle East, National Security Advisor Steve Hadley was asked, for the umpteenth time, to clarify U.S. policy regarding Israeli settlements. His response was unequivocal: “There must be an end to settlement expansion, full stop.” No mention of settlement blocs. The U.S. should stand by this message. And Israel, for its own good, should listen.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/984192.html

Olmert to hand Bush a weapons wish list
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is expected to ask Bush to upgrade substantially the security relationship between Israel and the U.S., according to sources close to Olmert.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/983197.html

Driver: I personally handed Olmert envelopes stuffed with cash
Avi Sherman, a limousine driver who drove Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during his tenure as mayor of Jerusalem, testified to police on Thursday that he personally gave Olmert envelopes stuffed with cash from several businessmen, among them U.S. businessman and fund-raiser Morris Talansky and American billionaire Daniel Abraham.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/984041.html

Gaza’s children suffer as conflict enters the classroom
The Israeli blockade and years of fighting have taken their toll on Gaza’s schools, where failure rates are rapidly rising.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/16/gaza

‘There is no normal childhood’
Concluding his week of films about life in Gaza, multimedia reporter Clancy Chassay meets those counselling the area’s traumatised children.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/may/16/gaza.children

Reham Alhelsi – What about the children of Palestine?
While the children of Palestine face the atrocities of the Israeli military occupation, the children of Israel celebrate the on-going ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
http://palestinethinktank.com/2008/05/16/reham-alhelsi-what-about-the-children-of-palestine/

Text of President Bush’s speech to the Israeli parliament
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080515/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_mideast_text

Barakeh: Bush’s speech a declaration of war
Hadash Chairman MK Mohammad Barakeh said that “Bush’s speech is a declaration of war against the nations of the region, who oppose the establishment of an Israeli-American state that is against righteous peace in the region. It is the worst speech ever given by a statesmen.” He also called upon those who support peace to unite against Israeli and American politics. Barakeh spoke during a demonstration held by his party on Thursday, in protest against US President George W. Bush’s visit to Israel.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3543956,00.html

Israel firm on refugees after Bush dismays Arabs
Israel ruled out all debate on letting Palestinian refugees return in any peace deal, as U.S. President George W. Bush ended a visit on Friday that left Arabs dismayed by his outspoken support for Israel’s “chosen people”.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1617257.htm

Bush basks in Israel’s love
Facing dismally low approval ratings at home, US President George W. Bush basked for three days in near-adulation as he joined Israel’s 60th anniversary festivities.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080516/pl_afp/mideastusdiplomacybushpolitics

MK Miller calls for ban of ‘Nakba’ events
Following several violent incidents related to events commemorating the ‘Nakba,’ MK Alex Miller (Yisrael Beitenu) announced on Thursday he intends to put forward a bill proposal banning events honoring the day.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3543979,00.html

Israel demands UN strike ‘Nakba’ from its lexicon
World body’s spokeswoman says Ki-moon phoned Abbas to stress his support for Palestinians on day marking ‘catastrophe’ of Israel’s inception; Israel demands retraction.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3544098,00.html

FM: Palestinians will celebrate independence when they stop using the word ‘nakba’
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday said that the Palestinians will be able to celebrate their independence day on the same day that the word “nakba” or catastrophe is erased from their lexicon. Livni was referring to the Palestinians’ “Nakba Day” which is commemorated on May 15, the day Israel was founded in 1948.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=984009&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7

Largest demonstration since the start of the second Intifada across Palestine
Over 50,000 people filled the streets of Ramallah today, marking the 60th anniversary of the Nakba with the largest protest since the start of the second Intifada. Other actions were held across Palestine and in Palestinian communities in Jordan and Lebanon.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/1653.shtml

Palestinians mark the ‘Nakba’
Palestinians have held protests across the occupied territories to mark the 60th anniversary of the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, when they were uprooted from their homes by the establishment of Israel.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CC7C6AF7-D771-4A0F-A85B-4D3EE86FDA0C.htm

Christian Residents of Nablus commemorate the Nakba
The Good Shepherd Church in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and the Palestine Forum, held an activity on Wednesday at night commemorating the Nakba. Members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, representatives of Private and Governmental Institutions participated in the protest.

Christian Residents of Nablus commemorate the Nakba

General Strike, protest and commemorations of the Nabka in Jerusalem
Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, their political and social leaders conducted a general strike in the occupied city of Jerusalem in commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of the Nabka, while Israeli soldiers and policemen were intensively deployed in the area.

General Strike, protest and commemorations of the Nabka in Jerusalem

Students in Tel Aviv protest university event planned for Nakba day
Arab and Israeli students demonstrated outside of Tel Aviv University, where a celebratory university event is taking place, against the holding of the event on the day of the Nakba. Over 100 demonstrators were present, and held signs reading: ‘We won’t forget’.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3543962,00.html

Arab, Israeli students of the Hebrew University hold a protest commemorating the Nakba
The Regional Union of Arab Students in Israeli Universities organized on Thursday a protest at main entrance of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of Palestinian disposition, the Nabka.

Arab, Israeli students of the Hebrew University hold a protest commemorating the Nakba

Galloway: Oslo did not liberate one inch of the Palestinian lands
British MP George Galloway stated that the Oslo agreement did not liberate one inch of Palestine, admitting he committed mistakes regarding his views of the solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Usy0xxGSs%2fEYa4SySdiGTkbcJlVfRLZDesBw0QPE69uT5lMelF5PXlvBPMgHldnWKIPqp%2bqkFSz%2bxa%2fJWr8NNV8%2fpETBhzMOpWxUnkiHMgI%3d

Netanyahu: We’ve made mistake of ceding land before
Foreign Affairs Minister says two-state solution only viable when ‘nakba’ stricken from Palestinian lexicon while Opposition leader Netanyahu warns Israel must learn from past, refuse to give up land with no return.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3543937,00.html

Skepticism Grows Over Two-State Mideast Solution
Even as President Bush tries to boost prospects for peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, optimism on both sides is dwindling. Many, including a growing number of moderate Palestinians, are now questioning the basis of the process — the idea of Israel and Palestine living side by side — and the two-state ideal is increasingly slipping away.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90474343

George and Laura wish Israel happy birthday
On this, his second, and presumably last, visit to the Holy Land as the President of the United States, Mr Bush brought with him some “beautiful presents” for Mr Peres. But as Channel One’s reporter Ayala Hasson tantalisingly explained, the details could not be disclosed “for security reasons”. What could this mean? True, the newspaper Yedhiot Ahronot had in the morning speculated that the US President would mark Israel’s 60th by transferring “goodies” negotiated between the two governments in the preceding weeks, such as “advanced types of armament, fighter planes, cruise missiles and new radar systems that will increase the early-warning time for surface-to-surface missile fire”. But you had to hope that the mysterious gifts he brought to lunch at the Israeli President’s official residence yesterday were a little more, well, homely.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/george-and-laura-wish-israel-happy-birthday-828308.html?service=Print

Resisting the Nakba
The viciousness of Israel is testament to its knowing that Palestinians will always remain steadfast and defeat its past and present attempts to erase them, writes Joseph Massad.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/897/op8.htm

Remembering the Nakba, 60 years later
“I am not sure what year I was born. But it was around 78 years ago, in Palestine.” Handuma Rashid Najja Wishah sits on the patio overlooking her large garden, recalling the turbulent story of her long life. “I am a Palestinian from the village of Beit Affa” she says, tucking her long white scarf under her chin. “It was a beautiful village and we had a good life there. There was a small Jewish settlement nearby, called Negba, and we had a good relationship with the Jews.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9546.shtml

Al-Jazeera Video: Palestine Street – The Lost Bride (4 videos)
“In a special two-part series Al Jazeera relives the tragic narrative of the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) through the stories of one street in the city of Jaffa”
http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2008/05/al-jazeera-video-palestine-street-lost.html

Real News Video: Palestinians commemorate al-Nakba–the catastrophe
http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1514&thisview=item&renewx=2008-05-16+08%3A57%3A18

Today marks 60 years of Al Nakba: growing up a refugee
In Deheisha Refugee Camp, 21 year old Ghassan Hamash is talking about returning to his village, with his grandmother and the key to their home. He said the soldiers let them pass because he was small and they were with a television crew from Al Jazeera. They asked his grandmother, “Where do you want to go? You want to look at your land?
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2776&Itemid=1

We Should Not Celebrate Dispossession
This month, Israel is celebrating its 60th anniversary. American Jews will be invited to join in those celebrations. But, in refusing to recognize that its national existence rests on the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland, Israel fails to speak to Jews of conscience. Here is why I cannot join the celebration.
http://www.counterpunch.com/spangler05152008.html

The Ongoing Nakba, and the Struggle for Return
The events of 1947-49, and specifically 1948 itself, are known as Al Nakba – the Catastrophe. It was the time of the forced expulsion of at least 750,000 Palestinians by Zionist militias, but has ’the catastrophe’ now finished? Another year has now passed, this one marks the 60th since May 1948, and the pain is no less now than it was all those years ago. Once again May 15th has come around without answers and justice. Still millions wait for their rights. Still millions are forced to live crowded together in the refugee camps of Palestine and surrounding countries. But whilst some are marking this as the 60th year ‘since’ Al-Nakba, should we not be marking this as the 60th year of the ‘on-going Nakba’?
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=13800

“Their independence is our Nakba”
An Nakba (the catastrophe) commemorations continued in Nablus on Thursday 15th May, with approximately 500 people gathering in the main square of the city to demand their right to return home. Organised by the National Committee to Commemorate the Nakba at 60, in conjunction with many Nablus organisations, the official statement of the demonstration was “There can be no alternative to our return to our homes and properties.”
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2008/05/16/%e2%80%9ctheir-independence-is-our-nakba%e2%80%9d/

The Nakba march
Israel’s Palestinian minority staged an alternative act of commemoration: a procession to one of more than 400 Palestinian villages erased by Israel in a monumental act of state vandalism after the fighting. In a sign of how far Israel still is from coming to terms with the circumstances of its birth, EI contributor Jonathan Cook reports that this year’s march was forcibly broken up by the Israeli police who clubbed unarmed demonstrators with batons and fired tear gas and stun grenades into crowds of families that included young children.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9547.shtml

Palestinians still call it ‘Nakba,’ the catastrophe; They mark the day of Israeli statehood and the pain since
Across Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Palestinians on Thursday mourned their exodus from the land with moments of silence, in black clothing and displaying defiance. The day marked the 60th anniversary of Israel’s declaration of statehood, an event that Palestinians still refer to as the Nakba: the catastrophe. It led to wars between the new state and the surrounding Arab nations – and lives as rootless refugees for generations of Palestinians.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/05/16/MN8G10N8TI.DTL

Palestinians mark 1948 uprooting with rallies
Palestinians marked the 60th anniversary of their uprooting with rallies, sirens and black balloons Thursday — an annual ritual made even darker this year by crippling internal divisions and diminishing independence hopes.
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/base/international-43/121086355777130.xml&storylist=international

60 Years of Denial
‘Don’t ask for what you never had,’ is the underlying message made by supporters of Israel when they claim Palestine was never a state to begin with.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=13801

Fast forward to the past
“I direct my speech … to the people of Israel, to say, ‘How can you?’ How can you celebrate [the 60th anniversary of Israel when] the Palestinian people are suffering from your settlements and the crimes of your settlers and the siege of your state and the conduct of your occupying army?” The speaker is no member of Hamas. He is Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, the linchpin of Israel’s negotiations with the Palestinian Authority and for this reason regarded by Hamas as a Palestinian Uncle Tom. The angry words of the former World Bank economist and current Washington pet are a measure of the frustration felt even by Palestinians who recognise Israel’s existence.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/16/israelandthepalestinians

Israel at 60: Zionism’s Fatal Flaw
In the first generation of Zionists, a large majority shared one overriding goal: They wanted to live as “normal” people in a “normal” nation.
http://www.religiondispatches.org/Gui/Content.aspx?Page=AR&Id=241&SP=1

Israel’s Twilight Years
As Israel ostentatiously celebrates the passage of 60 years since its creation in Palestine in 1948, more than nine million Palestinians at home and in exile are commemorating the Nakba, the violent seizure of their ancestral homeland by Zionist Jews and the dispossession, expulsion and dispersion of the bulk of Palestinians to the four corners of the globe.
http://palestinethinktank.com/2008/05/15/israels-twilight-years/

We remain
Nothing can annul the legitimacy of the Palestinian struggle for justice and self-determination, writes Mustafa Barghouti*
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/897/op1.htm

Project tabula rasa
In the Galilee, Jonathan Cook hears how erasing all traces of Palestine and its people was the lynchpin of the Zionist agenda.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/897/sc7.htm

An irreducible fact
In the face of the most sustained assault on the collective memory of a people in recent history, the Palestinians still remember who they are, writes Ramzy Baroud*
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/897/sc8.htm

Nakba ongoing
Unseen and unreported, Israeli police attacked children and parents who wished to remember the Palestinian national tragedy that is the flipside of the birth of Israel, writes Jonathan Cook in Nazareth
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/897/sc4.htm

Memory for forgetfulness
Mahmoud Darwish was born in 1941 in the village of Birwe, in Upper Galilee. Birwe was destroyed in 1948 after its inhabitants were made to flee the village. The extract which follows is taken from a memoir Darwish wrote during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. In it, he remembers his first encounter with Beirut in 1948, before his family stole back into what has since become Israel, where Darwish remained until 1972 .
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/897/sc5.htm

Palestinians waiting
It’s the 60th anniversary of what Palestinians call the Nakba, or the Catastrophe. It has now been 60 years since Palestinians were forced from their homeland and became refugees, many walking barefoot to Gaza and the West Bank, living in caves before the first refugee camps formed.
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080516/OPINION03/805160337/1014/CUSTOMERSERVICE02

Helen Thomas: Israelis celebrate birthday while Palestinians mourn loss
The Israelis are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the creation of the nation of Israel. The Palestinians have only to mourn the loss of their land, the oppression they have suffered as refugees in camps and caves since 1948, their life under military occupation and their humiliation at myriad Israeli checkpoints. Defeats in wars that had U.S. military and financial support have left the Palestinians in despair. But all that is history now.
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_9274693

Rare pics from Nakba
http://palestinethinktank.com/2008/05/15/rare-pics-from-nakba/

In Memory of the Nakba in Palestine
http://baghdadtreasure.blogspot.com/2008/05/in-memory-of-nakba-in-palestine.html

Expressions of Nakba Gallery
http://expressionsofnakba.org/gallery/

Living for the Children of Palestine
On the way to the St. James Episcopal Church of Austin Texas, the bus is happy to drop you into knee-high grasses and wildflowers along East Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, treating you to an unexpected nature walk.  Yellow, white, purple, and brown blooms all smile up toward the sun which has not yet turned into the summer harshness that burns even the breeze into hiding.
http://www.counterpunch.com/moses05152008.html

Rightists getting it wrong when they explain why God punishes Israeli politicians
There is no doubt that as we speak, word processors are in action at Kabbalist dens across the country, while holy quill pens are hopping on parchments, and soon the message will be disseminated at synagogues and religious-Zionist communities: The latest trouble that has befallen Ehud Olmert is the work of God. The prime minister is being punished for sinning against our holy country; for daring to pursue peace.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3542594,00.html

Hagee’s apocalyptic support of Israel
When Sen. John McCain was forced to distance himself from Pastor John Hagee earlier this year, he denounced the pastor’s attacks on Catholicism. But asked why he wouldn’t “repudiate” Hagee’s endorsement of him, McCain found something to praise. “I’m grateful for his commitment to the support of the state of Israel, and I’m very grateful for many of his commitments around the world, including to the independence and freedom of the state of Israel,” he told CNN’s Campbell Brown on April 29.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10375.html

Bush and Israel’s Alamo
In January of last year, I wrote an op-ed in Haaretz suggesting that Israel ought to beware of riding in President Bush’s back seat, precisely because his Administration is pursuing a Middle East policy that is anything but sober. The “friendship” he offers is hardly likely to help Israel resolve any of its security dilemmas. And listening to what Bush said in his address to the Knesset, today, sobriety clearly remains a long way off: “Masada will never fall again,” he intoned, as in, “Remember the Alamo!” Having visited the iconic site at which Jewish Jihadists of yore are said to have committed mass suicide rather than surrender to the Romans, Bush was plainly moved to substitute war cries for serious policy.

Bush and Israel’s Alamo

New York Muslim leader forges close ties with city’s Jews
New York’s largest mosque, the Islamic Cultural Center (ICC) on East 96th Street in Manhattan, is getting applause from an unexpected quarter — the city’s influential Jewish community.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/984284.html

Twilight Zone / Home from the sea – by Gideon Levy
In the remote village of Tarrameh, not far from the Adurayim army base, lives a U.S. citizen, a former sailor and diver, an electrical engineer who fought in Vietnam and whose son is serving in the U.S. Marines. His arms are tattooed all over and he lost three fingers on his left hand under circumstances he is not willing to reveal. Rumor has it that he lost them in Vietnam, but he is not willing to talk about Vietnam.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/984031.html

Film review: “Shadow of Absence”
“Born in Palestine. Died in Lebanon.” “Born in Palestine. Died in Syria.” “Born in Palestine. Died in Jordan.” The camera pans across an endless row of white tombstones. Shadow of Absence takes death as its subject yet in doing so presents a powerful statement about Palestinian life. Isabelle Humphries reviews director Nasri Hajjaj’s new documentary for EI.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9548.shtml

Crossing the Line interviews author Phyllis Bennis
This week on Crossing The Line: Former US President Jimmy Carter met with the political head of Hamas in Syria while insisting that Hamas must be included in any future Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. The visit has drawn criticism from both the US and Israel which until now have refused to take part in any official negotiations with the Hamas government. What does Carter’s meeting with Hamas mean? Is it as “historic” as some are calling it? Host Naji Ali speaks with author on Middle East issues, Phyllis Bennis about Carter’s controversial visit to the Middle East.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9545.shtml

Biden: Bush’s comments were ‘bullshit’
Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), piling on to Democratic complaints about President Bush’s speech in Israel today: “This is bullshit, this is malarkey. This is outrageous, for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, to sit in the Knesset … and make this kind of ridiculous statement.”
http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0508/Biden_Bushs_comments_were_bullshit.html

Iraq: at least 35 killed in another bloody day of US occupation
The final death toll from a suicide attack on a funeral west of Baghdad on Wednesday was 25, police said. They said 48 people were wounded.
http://www.reuters.com/article/middleeastCrisis/idUSKAM519741

Bomber strikes Iraq funeral
US officials say al- Qaida remains a threat in Iraq because of a recent increase in attacks. A suicide bomber has killed at least 22 people and wounded dozens more at a funeral being attended by Sunni Arab tribesmen opposed to al-Qaeda.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3CD4D56F-F296-4D65-A4E8-74ECC7C8772E.htm

At least 12 people killed in clashes between Iraqi forces, militias in Baghdad
Clashes between Iraqi forces and militias in Sadr city in the Iraqi capital left 12 people killed in the last 24 hours, Iraqi police sources said on Thursday.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1908565&Language=en

Suicide bomber attacks police station in Falluja
A suicide bomber blew up his explosive vehicle near a police station in central Falluja city on Friday with no word yet on casualties, an official security source in Anbar province said. “A suicide bomber attacked a police station in the al-Dhubbat neighborhood in central Falluja on Friday afternoon. Fire broke out in the attack site,” the source, who refused to give his name, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).
http://66.111.34.180/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=79410&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1

Witnesses: Abu Ghraib bomber was a teenage boy
The U.S. military said it does not have a “forensic review” that would reveal the attacker’s age, but “he was certainly older than a child and old enough to carry out this horrible attack.”
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/15/iraq.main/index.html

Gunmen wound two Iranian diplomats in Baghdad
Gunmen opened fire on a car carrying two Iranian diplomats in Baghdad on Thursday, wounding them and two other people in the vehicle, an Iranian embassy official said.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15389840.htm

Iraq: Iranian Embassy convoy ambushed
Gunmen ambushed an Iranian Embassy convoy in Baghdad, wounding three Iranians, including two diplomats, and an Iraqi, a spokesman said Friday.  The convoy was en route to a revered Shiite shrine in the northern neighborhood of Kazimiyah when it came under fire, Iranian Embassy spokesman Manoucher Taslimi said.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ghCt-SYlOf5wgNTpSg_q1b-RROHgD90MKBUG0

Al-Sistanti’s aide warns of assassination attempts in Iraq
Baghdad – An aide of senior Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani warned Friday of the phenomenon of organized assassination attempts that had started to reappear in Iraq.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1405837.php/Al-Sistantis_aide_warns_of_assassination_attempts_in_Iraq

Unknown gunmen kidnap Tikrit hospital director
Unknown gunmen kidnapped the director of Tikrit public hospital and two doctors in Salah al-Din province, a police source said.
“Unknown gunmen kidnapped doctor Jabbar Mahroos, director of Tikrit public hospital, his assistant doctor Abdel Razzaq al-Qaisi and doctor Ahmed Salah in al-Hamra district on thr road between Tikrit city and Beiji town”, a Salah al-Din hospital source, who requested anonmity, told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq(VOI).
http://66.111.34.180/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=79362&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1

9 Diwaniya policemen arrested by mistake in Hilla
Nine Diwaniya policemen on Thursday were arrested by mistake in the neighborly Hilla city, said a source from Babel police.
He explained that policemen in Hilla thought that the Diwaniya policemen were gunmen, and clashed with them.
http://66.111.34.180/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=79354&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1

Killing By The Numbers
In 2007 elite U.S. snipers executed an unarmed Iraqi prisoner in cold blood. Have the insidious tactics that led to atrocities in Vietnam reemerged in Iraq?. Why would these elite American soldiers kill an unarmed prisoner in cold blood? The answer: pressure from their commanding officers to pump up a statistic straight out of America’s last long war against an intractable insurgency.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/05/09/snipers/print.html

Shiite power struggle behind Iraq clashes, analysts say
Recent deadly clashes in Basra and Baghdad’s Sadr City represent Shiite-vs.-Shiite political maneuvering ahead of Iraqi provincial elections, analysts say. And the fighting, according to the analysts who study Iraq, represents the struggle between U.S.-backed Shiites and those allied with the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/15/iraq.shiites/

Iraqi forces to infiltrate al-Mahdi Army stronghold
Iraqi soldiers and police are preparing to push deeper into Sadr City in an ambitious move that could either bring order to the notorious Baghdad Shia slum or create an even deadlier battlefield.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3934121.ece

Iraq offers amnesty in northern Qaeda stronghold
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, leading a northern offensive against al Qaeda, on Friday offered cash and freedom from prosecution to fighters who give up their weapons within 10 days.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080516/wl_nm/iraq_dc

IRAQ: Nature Adds to Occupation Blows
Farmers in the Diyala province in Iraq have been hit by just about every crisis possible. First the security disaster dried up supplies and markets, then lack of electricity cut irrigation, and now comes a drying up of water resources.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42378

Baghdad morgue is final stop in search for the missing
Dozens of Iraqis gather in a dimly lit room to scan hundreds of pictures on computer screens — disfigured images of burnt faces, blown up body parts, beheaded corpses.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080516/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestmorgue

RAED JARRAR & ERIK LEAVER: Getting Iraq to pay more is not the answer
Congress should stop blaming the Iraqi government for our economic woes. As our economy sputters to a halt and Congress is set to spend an additional $160 billion on the war, U.S. lawmakers are openly criticizing the Iraqi government for not paying the bills.
http://www.adn.com/24hour/opinions/story/405632.html

Jordan to set up joint border free zone with Iraq
Jordan is ready to establish a joint free zone at the Karama border with Iraq to facilitate increasing flows of goods on border, said an official of Jordan’s free zones authorities after a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/16/content_8186687.htm

ACLU obtains new Defense Department docs on prison deaths in Iraq
One of the documents is a list of “at least four prisoner deaths” that were investigated by the Navy, including one detainee at Abu Ghraib who died after “his head was beaten with a stove”
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/14/aclu-obtains-new-defense-department-docs-on-prison-deaths-in-iraq/

Iraq victory within four years
Senator McCain says any decades-long presence of US troops would be aimed at maintaining stability in the region and has likened it to the US military presence in Japan, South Korea and Germany.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/16/2246327.htm?section=justin

House defeats $162.5 bln in new war funds
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday defeated legislation that would have funded the war in Iraq for another year, in a surprise move that the Senate could overturn.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080515/pl_nm/iraq_usa_funds_defeat_dc

Olbermann special comment slams Bush’s golf ‘sacrifice’
MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann offered a “special comment” Wednesday on President George W. Bush’s remarks during an online interview the day before. Olbermann explained that his comment would include “two topics a lot of us had foolishly thought, and naively hoped, we would not again have to address. And a third topic nobody thought a president would ever seriously mention in public … how he expressed his empathy with the families of the dead in Iraq by giving up golf.”
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Olbermann_special_comment_slams_Bushs_golf_0515.html

Wealth But No Political Power
Arab oil producers are awash in wealth. They have never been so rich. But the paradox is that, in spite of their great and growing wealth, their political weight in the world remains small, even derisory. They have not – or, at least, not yet – converted their wealth into political influence on a global scale.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc_Articles.asp?Article=217254&Sn=COMM&IssueID=31055

Congress to Saudis: Give Us Oil or No Guns
A group of Democratic senators wants to make a massive arms sale to Saudi Arabia contingent on getting cheaper oil, reports AFP. “We are saying to the Saudis that, if you don’t help us, why should we be helping you?” says Chuck Schumer, a Democratic senator from New York.
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/05/congress-to-sau.html

Failed war on terrorism on display
Some of the disastrous consequences of George W. Bush’s foreign policy, and therefore Stephen Harper’s, are on display this week in Israel, Lebanon, Pakistan and elsewhere.
http://www.thestar.com/article/425503

Italian Trial of C.I.A. Operatives Begins With Torture Testimony
As a judge ruled that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi could be called to testify about the abduction of a radical Muslim cleric here in 2003.

Bush stirs up U.S. campaign with “appeasement” remark
U.S. President George W. Bush stirred up the campaign to replace him by suggesting on Thursday that Democratic front-runner Barack Obama’s pledge to talk to Iran’s leader amounted to “the false comfort of appeasement.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080515/ts_nm/usa_politics_dc

Democrats accuse McCain of hypocrisy on Hamas
Democrats accused Sen. John McCain Friday of hypocrisy on the question of whether the United States should negotiate with terrorists and dictators, saying the certain Republican nominee had previously been willing to negotiate with the militant Palestinian group Hamas.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080516/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_hamas

McCain Iraq, Iran Policies Make Him Favored Candidate to Saudis
John McCain, who is trying to strike a distance from the policies of President George W. Bush, accuses Saudi Arabia of sponsoring insurgents in Iraq and condemns it for human-rights violations, including imprisoning people whose “only crime is to worship God in their own way.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080515/pl_bloomberg/atpowyoepvy8

Bush, McCain dream on in war land
US President George W Bush and the man who hopes to replace him, Senator John McCain, have divulged to the world their beautiful dreams, in which Middle East weapons have become ploughshares, bitter enemies lie down together as lambs and evil powers abandon nuclear weapons. This stuff keeps the neo-cons happy, even though the politics that will make it reality are absent.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JE17Ak01.html

Lies of Aggression
On May 15, the White House Moron, in a war-planning visit to Israel, justified the naked aggression he and Olmert are planning against Iran as the only alternative to “the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.” But the White House Moron has the roles reversed. It is not Iran that is threatening war. It is Bush. It is not Bush who is appeasing. It is Iran.
http://www.counterpunch.com/roberts05162008.html __._,_.___

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Zaterdag 17 mei herdachten honderden mensen op de Dam 60 jaar Nakba: 60 jaar catastrofe voor de Palestijnen, door de stichting van de staat Israel.
Verslag daarvan en van de bijeenkomst in de Singelkerk:
http://www.palestina-komitee.nl/NPK-berichten/53
Met verwijzingen naar nog andere verslagen.

Zondagochtend 18 mei liet een kleine groep activisten minister Verhagen en andere bezoekers zeer zichtbaar weten dat
60 jaar Israel voor de Palestijnen geen feest is en was, integendeel.
Bij Hilton Amsterdam was een – Palestijnenloos, hoe symbolisch! – symposium over 60 jaar Israel.
Niet zo kosher.

Vanmiddag 19 mei om half vijf te Den Haag bij het ISS: debat tussen Omar Barghouti en Salomon Bouman.
http://www.iss.nl/News/Events/Public-Debate-Acknowledging-the-past,-Imagining-the-future
Het is ook live te volgen
http://www.iss.nl/iss/video/1

Last-minute possibity: Conference The Hague saturday 24th of May 2008. On the occasion of 60 year of the Palestinian Nakba the ANVK invites you to a Conference Untold Stories of Palestinian Women.

TV-tip: Zondag 25 mei NMO-aandacht voor 60 jaar Nakba met o.a. Omar Barghouti
http://www.nmo.nl/67-InFocus_II_in_Mei_2008.html?aflevering=3328

Debate between Omar Barghouti and Salomon Bouman at ISS 19-5-2008.
Posted are the audio and video transcripts on the ISS-website; written transcript will follow soon. Feedback is very much welcome!
http://www.iss.nl/HDS-portal/Projects/Israel-Palestine

Remembering 1948 and looking to the future, Ali Abunimah, 13 May 2008
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9536.shtml

De minister aan het woord
– Antwoord op Kamervragen van Mariko Peters over het Israëlische nederzettingenbeleid, 21-5-2008
http://www.minbuza.nl:80/nl/actueel/brievenparlement,2008/05/Beantwoording-vragen-van-het-lid-Peters-over-het-I.html

Geen konkrete actie door de minister ……..
– Israel at Sixty: Destined to Succeed, Toespraak Verhagen bij symposium CIDI over 60 jaar Israël
http://www.minbuza.nl/nl/actueel/speeches,2008/05/Speech-verhagen-bij-symposium-CIDI-over-60-jaar-Is.html
Quote: “…Israel’s past is truly exceptional….”; Israel heeft dus ook recht op onze buitengewone – aparte – “behandeling”.
– Toespraak Verhagen voor VN Veiligheidsraad, 20-5-2008, Open Security Council debate 20 May 2008
http://www.minbuza.nl/nl/actueel/speeches,2008/05/speech-verhagen-bij-veiligheidsraad.html