Palestine Watch

Palestinian Perspectives on Palestine

This website (admittedly pro-peace biased) was created because its author, a Quaker pacifist/activist and web activist, must speak speak Truth to Power. That truth resides not just in one side's perspective. British, Israeli, Palestinian, and American parents continue to grieve for their dead children.--Dennis W. Mills

• Boats Sailing Now to Gaza Nov 2, 2011 At this moment, two boats are in international waters in the Mediterranean heading to Gaza. One boat, the Saoirse from Ireland, includes parliamentarians among its passengers. The other, the Tahrir, carries representatives from Canada, the U.S., Australia, and Palestine.
• Palestinian Bid for Full Unesco Membership Imperils American Financing United States legislation dating back more than 15 years mandates a complete cutoff of American financing to any United Nations agency that accepts the Palestinians as a full member. Unesco membership "is in the core security interests of the United States," the agency's director general, Irina Bokova, said in an interview here. "I think the United States should take a very careful look at this legislation, in their own interests. I don't believe it's in the U.S. interest to disengage from the U.N. system as a whole."
• Carter: If no Plastine, 'catastrophe' for Israel first published on January 27, 2009, but still very relevant today.
• Hamas-Held Soldier Arrives in Israel as Prisoner Swap Begins October 18, 2011 The New York Times
• The transfer of prisoners: Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit is returned home in exchange for some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners
• AL-KHALIL (HEBRON): Water shortage—a daily Palestinian experience On average, Israelis use 300 liters of water per day, Palestinians only sixty liters. Palestinians are not even allowed to dig their own wells. The situation in area C, controlled by the Israeli Civil Administration is worse. The Israeli military often destroys cisterns, which collect rainwater, to make life in this area more difficult. An OCHA official told me, “It’s easy to make the fields bloom in dry areas [in Israel] when you deny others the use of their own water.”
• Mocking the Gaza Flotilla Col. Ann Wright and Hagit Borer 8/1/2011
• Political Prisoners Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine. 
• Netanyahu Announces Deal to Free Shalit Israel and Hamas have reached a tentative agreement on a proposal to exchange Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier held captive for more than five years, both sides said Tuesday. The Israeli cabinet was meeting in emergency session to discuss it. Oct 11, 2011
• 'Permanent' Despair: Did Egypt Really Open Rafah Crossing? - Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story (Pluto Press, London), available on Amazon.com.
• Israel Considering Proposed Deal to Free Soldier Held by Hamas
• Colonization of Palestine Precludes Peace Jimmy Carter 3/9/2006
• Israel: A Call for Divestment by Shamai Lebowitz, an Israeli Jew Phil Haslanger: Voices of peace in Middle East look to the future, not the past
• Israeli Settlers Poison Sheep Hebron 31 Mar 05 
• Israel's aid to illegal settlers JERUSALEM Illegal settler outposts that are consolidating Israel's grip on the West Bank are not pirate operations by hard-line settlers. They are established, maintained, and expanded with the backing of the Israeli government. It's now the official finding of a report commissioned by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, which was released Wednesday.
• New Scandal: Israeli Forces Used Orders to Demolish Two Houses in Rafah to Demolish 25
• Palestine Calendar This project aims to help keep significant dates of the Palestinian issue alive in the world's mind.
• Palestine Now: Zeev bin Natan in Slingshot. Slingshot is a quarterly, independent, radical, newspaper published in the East Bay since 1988 by the Slingshot Collective.
• Craig and Cindy Corrie Video Interview on Every Church a Peace Church
• Wednesday, April 13, 2005 -- International Day of Action Against Caterpillar
• An Initiative from The Palestine Solidarity Committee: PSC Response Network 
• From churches, a challenge to Israeli policies 
• Listen to the interview with Mohamed Omar, Rafah   View Mohamed Omar's website Rafah Today 
• Doctor killed in Gaza by Israeli gunfire: Palestinian medic A Palestinian doctor was killed on Sunday evening in his home by gunfire from the Israeli army in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
• Officer charged over 'confirmed killing' of Gaza girl, 13 Mon., November 22, 2004 Kislev 9, 5765
• The Staggering Cost Of Israel To Americans By Richard Curtiss 11-15-04
• Link TV Video Coverage of Arrafat's Funeral in Ramallah also other coverage in Iraq. 15 minute report translated into English.
• Khan Younis: Israeli Forces Kill Nine-Year-Old Child Friday, 29 October 2004
• Israeli Supreme Court demands army justify demolitions ABC Online - Australia The Israeli Supreme Court has demanded explanations from the army over the scale of the destruction of Palestinian homes in the Rafah region of the Gaza Strip
• Criticizing Israel is Not Anti-Semitism Ralph Nader
• Five Minutes from Palestine The Weekly news cast , Five Minutes from Palestine is now online. It is available for streaming and downloading.
• ''Why the United States Supports the State of Israel'' Power and Interest News Report
• Palestine in Athens - Poem by Junichi Semitsu
• Gandhi's grandson to kick off unarmed Palestinian Campaign By Amira Hass, Haaretz Correspondent
• John Kerry's Misperception of Palestine Kevin Mink, CounterPunch, July 28, 2004
• Turning Pain into Hope Rami Elhanan, Bereaved Families For Peace
• Presbyterian Assembly Will Study Divestment from Israel July 2, 2004
• Reports from Rafah - Palestine [Scenes are graphically violent]

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land
U.S. Media & the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Summary:

This pivotal video exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites -- working in combination with Israeli public relations strategies -- exercise a powerful influence over news reporting about the Middle East conflict. Combining American and British TV news clips with observations of analysts, journalists, and political activists, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides an historical overview, a striking media comparison, and an examination of factors that have distorted U.S. media coverage and, in turn, American public opinion.

Interviewees include Seth Ackerman, Mjr. Stav Adivi, Rabbi Arik Ascherman, Hanan Ashrawi, Noam Chomsky, Robert Fisk, Dr. Neve Gordon, Toufic Haddad, Sam Husseini, Hussein Ibish, Robert Jensen, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Karen Pfeifer, Alisa Solomon, and Gila Svirsky.

Reverse the Reversal Retired U.S. diplomats urge President Bush to rethink his Israel policy. Archived

Hello, Peace! is a free phone service that lets Israelis and Palestinians start talking again.  Now you - Palestinian or Israeli - can talk with someone on the other side.

If you're in Israel, the West Bank or Gaza, you can pick up the phone and talk to someone on the other side about reconciliation, tolerance, and peace.

 

• A list of Grassroots Organizations in Israel/Palestine compiled by Dr. Simona Sharoni at The Evergreen State College.
• ROGUE STATES EMBRACE:  THE BUSH-SHARON PRESS CONFERENCE  By Phyllis Bennis Institute for Policy Studies15 April 2004
• "From the Children of Rafah"  These letters were written shortly after the Israeli army's incursion into these children's area, where they experienced firsthand the destruction of their homes and the shooting of one of their friends.
• ISM volunteers witness killing of seven-year-old boy  (Archived)
• UN: Israel fails to meet demand to halt barrier
• Israeli report clears troops over US death 4/14/03
• ISM Rejects Israeli Investigation into Death of US Peace Activist
• What Do We Do Now? Arden Buck offers positive suggestions. ..."A cloud of mosquitoes can send a rhinoceros running."
• Rep. Baird's Response to my letter to end Funding to Israel unless they stop settlements and violence towards Palestinians. 4/17/03
• US lone vote against human rights resolution on the occupied Arab territories
• Press Release from United Nations Human Rights Commission
• Wall fears grip West Bank BBC News
• UN accuses Israel of illegal land grab A UN investigator said the wall Israel says is to protect its citizens from Palestinian gunmen and suicide bombers was an illegal "creeping annexation" of Palestinian territory.
• The Night After by Uri Avnery
• US gives Israel 3 years to quit occupied Arab land News Scotsman 3/13/03
• Seasons of Murder Song by Lorcan Otway.
• U.S. peace activist shot in West Bank One of Rachel's ISM friends was shot.
• The Brian Avery shooting: When will we realise that there can't be this many "accidents"? Nigel Parry, The Electronic Intifada, 5 April 2003
• In Nablus on the Eve of War by Starhawk. You need to read this account!
• Israeli Soldiers Take Hostages in Nablus; Attempt to Kill Another US Activist
• Campolo calls evangelicals to 'face facts' about Middle East We've embargoed Iraq for the last 10 years. A half a million children in Iraq under the age of 12 have died as a direct result of that embargo, either from malnutrition of from lack of medicine. Here's the foreign policy I would suggest: to end the embargo! The Bible says if your enemy hungers -- what? -- feed him. If he's naked, clothe him, if he's sick, care for him.
• Israeli Soldier Talks About Destroying Jenin also click here
• Why Every Jewish Soldier Should Refuse
• Palestinian non-violence confronts Israeli Violence Amira Hass | 09.26.2002
  Non-violent demonstrations by Palestinians (against Israeli violence) are unnoticed in the Western press--so perhaps that helps explain why we end up thinking that "the Palestinians" are only resorting to violence.
• Israel's Penal Colonies--Gaza and the West Bank Gaza has become a huge prison
  Tanya Reinhart | 06.30.2002 The assault on Palestinians increases--and most Americans have no idea what is happening, because the media only pays attention when a Palestinian attacks Israelis. Yet the attacks on Palestinian civilians defies imagination.
• The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict Published by Jews for Justice in the Middle East
• Geography of Palestine
• Palestine Maps
• American Task Force On Palestine Resources
• Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) MERIP's site includes a primer on the Palestinian uprising.
• An Iron Triangle: Raytheon-Israel-Congress by Joshua Ruebner, co-founder of Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel (JPPI) and a former Analyst of Middle East Affairs for Congressional Research Service (CRS).
• Research Guide
• Electronic Intifada
• Palestine Indymedia
• Israel Indymedia
• Barak's 'Generous Offer' Flash presentation of what the land would look like under the Barak plan.
• Tikun Olam-תיקון עולם: Make The World A Better Place
• Israel Palestine Blogs - The Peace Blog Aggregator

Caterpillar Campaign The purpose of this campaign, is to stop the sales of Caterpillar heavy bulldozers to the Israeli army. These bulldozers are used by the Israeli army for wide scale demolition of Palestinian homes.

Refusenik Watch

add this to your site Yesh Gvul Courage To Refuse Shministim Pilots Free The Five New Profile Refuser Solidarity Network

Bat Shalom, together with The Jerusalem Center for Women, a Palestinian women's peace organization, comprise The Jerusalem Link.

 Blogs

The 2004 Best Bahraini Blog: Ali's QuixotiQ Writings
The 2004 Best Egyptian Blog: Beyond Normal
The 2004 Best Emirati Blog: Pink Sushi
The 2004 Best Iraqi Blog: Baghdad Burning
The 2004 Best Kuwaiti Blog: So I Want to be an Astronaut
The 2004 Best Lebanese Blog: Mysterious Eve
The 2004 Best Moroccan Blog: Bluesman
The 2004 Best Palestinian Blog: AquaCool
The 2004 Best Arab Expat Blog: Beyond Normal
The 2004 Best MediaJournalist Blog: Beyond Normal
The 2004 Best Music Blog: me: UzF
The 2004 Best Politics Blog: طق حنك
Rafah Pundits  http://rafahpundits.com/ 

Sami Awad, Part 1
http://www.aibtv.com/ECAPC_011.wmv
Sami Awad, Executive Director of The Holy Land Trust-Palestine, a resident of Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine and an advocate for the use of non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
In Part 1, Sami discusses what it is like to live and work under the Israeli occupation; the prospects for peace in the Middle East; The construction of the Israeli wall and how present day Palestine compares with the brutality of South African apartheid. Will non-violent resistance work in Palestine?

Sami Awad, Part 2
http://www.aibtv.com/ECAPC_012.wmv
In Part 2, Sami continues the discussion of the use of non-violent resistance as a technique to confront the oppression and humiliation of the Israeli occupation. Listen to the personal and poignant narrative of being held hostage to the IDF. Why did the Israeli military commander in Bethlehem tell Sami that his nonviolent resistance efforts will not work?
 

• Al-Haq Online
• AlJazeera Net
• Palestine Media Center
• Jerusalem Media & Communication Centre
• Ha'aretz 
• BBC News MIDDLE EAST
• Palestine Life - daily news and current events
• Palestine Times Monthly
• ArabNet - The Resource for the Arab World in the Middle East and North

American Committee on Jerusalem

Jerusalemites Al Quds; Arabs, Palestinians, Muslims, Jews & Christians

Sunbala Support Palestinian women by buying their handicrafts.

The home of all Ethnically Cleansed Palestinians

• Stop Caterpillar Join Jewish Voice for Peace, SUSTAIN (Stop US Tax-Supported Aid to Israel Now), the US Campaign to End Israeli Occupation, and Progressive Portal in holding the Caterpillar Corporation accountable for the criminal use of its products by the Israeli army.
• SUSTAIN Promo
• Settlers Target Olive Pickers
• Activist Organizations
• Jewish Friends of Palestine
• Human Rights Watch Israel/Palestinian National Authority Section
• Amnesty International's Israel/Occupied Territories Section
• Israel-Palestine Conflict Reading List
• "Citizens of the Empire" Thoughts on Patriotism, Dissent, and Hope - Robert Jensen is a professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin.
• Living with the Holocaust: The Journey of a Child of Holocaust Survivors Sara Roy, author of The Gaza Strip: The Political Economy of De-Development, among other works, is a senior research scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University.
• Suicide Bombers: Dignity, Despair, and the Need for Hope Dr. Sara Roy
• Revenge of a Child By Uri Avnery, an Israeli writer shares what makes an ordinary, non-violent individual into a suicide bomber! Uri Avnery is a journalist, peace activist, former member of the Knesset, and leader of Gush Shalom. This is one of the most powerful writings I have seen.
• The Ayalon - Nusseibeh "Peoples' Voice" - a critical reading

Israeli Perspectives on Palestine

• American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) The major pro-Israeli lobby in the United States.
• Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs Operated by former and current national security officials, the Institute supports military aid toIsrael.
• Anti-Defamation League's Israel Section
• Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Washington Institute for Near East Policy A conservative policy think-tank