Middle East Watch

475 Article

• Israel to build 700 new homes in East Jerusalem

  2009, by Akiva Eldar

  Israel is planning to build nearly 700 new apartments in East Jerusalem, government spokesman Mark Regev announced on Monday.
  Under the new blueprint, the Housing Ministry has invited contractors to bid on the construction of 198 housing units in Pisgat Zeev, 377 homes in Neve Ya’akov and 117 dwellings in Har Homa.
  Palestinians consider Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem to be settlements and say such construction impedes peacemaking.
  Israel claims all of the city its capital and (…)

    continue
  

• Colonisation : Israël veut construire 700 nouveaux logements à Jérusalem-Est

  28 décembre 2009,

  Israël a dévoilé, lundi 28 décembre, un projet de construction de plus de 700 nouveaux logements dans des secteurs de Cisjordanie que l’Etat considère comme appartenant à Jérusalem. Sous la pression américaine, le premier ministre israélien, Benyamin Nétanyahou, a ordonné en novembre un "gel" de dix mois des nouvelles constructions en Cisjordanie en excluant de cette mesure des zones frontalières situées à la périphérie de Jérusalem.
  elon la feuille de route du projet dévoilé lundi, le (…)

    suite
  

• Failing Gaza

  22 December 2009,

  This report is published by: Amnesty International UK Broederlijk Delen (Belgium) CAFOD (UK) CCFD Terre Solidaire (France) Christian Aid Church of Sweden Diakonia (Sweden) Finn Church Aid (Finland) Medical Aid for Palestinians medico international (Germany) medico international schweiz (Switzerland) Mercy Corps MS ActionAid Denmark Oxfam International Trocaire (Ireland) United Civilians for Peace (a coalition of Dutch organisations - Oxfam Novib, Cordaid, ICCO, and IKV Pax Christi) For
  A (…)

    continue
  

• Utopia as Alibi: Said, Barenboim and the Divan Orchestra

  by Raymond Dean

  As a classical musician involved in pro-Palestinian activism, I frequently encounter the assumption that I am an unconditional admirer of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (WEDO). My reservations on this score tend to produce shocked disapproval: How could I not enthuse about such an idealistic project, particularly since it was co-founded by the late Edward Said, a figure for whom I have frequently expressed respect and admiration?
  In truth, I have always been a little wary of Said’s (…)

    continue
  

• Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni ’cancels London visit over prosecution fears’

  14 December 2009, by Adrian Blomfield

  Mrs Livni, who now leads the Israeli opposition, is the second prominent Israeli in just over two months to abandon trips to London amid a growing campaign across Europe to press charges against officials involved in military action in Gaza.
  Israel’s best-known female politician had been expected to attend a Jewish conference in north London at the weekend before holding private talks with Gordon Brown.
  Dozens of protestors massed outside the conference building in Hendon to denounce Mrs (…)

    continue
  

• The Height of Kitsch

  5 December 2009, by Uri Avnery

  IT WOULD have been the epitome of political kitsch.
  Binyamin Netanyahu and ten of his ministers were to hold a joint meeting with Angela Merkel and ten members of the German cabinet.
  What for? To demonstrate Germany’s love for Israel.
  At the last moment, Netanyahu announced that he was sick, and the meeting was canceled. I imagine that Netanyahu was not very sorry about this. What did he need it for? In any case the Israeli government is already getting from Germany anything it wants. (…)

    continue
  

• La radicalisation de soldats religieux inquiète les autorités israéliennes

  16 décembre 2009, par Laurent Zecchini

  Comment juguler la polémique croissante avec quelques rabbins ultra-orthodoxes qui enjoignent aux soldats de désobéir aux ordres d’évacuation des colons ? Le ministre israélien de la défense, Ehoud Barak, avait le choix entre deux mauvaises solutions : ne rien faire, c’était prendre le risque que l’épidémie de la désobéissance s’étende au sein de l’armée ; sanctionner pouvait conduire à élever les intéressés au rang de "martyrs" et renforcer leur aura.
  Suivant les recommandations du chef (…)

    suite
  

• Israel has made settlers of all its citizens

  9 December 2009, by Amira Haas

  Would any of the settlers who opposed the Civil Administration inspectors this week be living in the territories had the governments of Israel not established and encouraged them? Would the Gush Katif evacuees have moved to mobile homes in Ariel in the expectation of spacious permanent housing had the government clearly declared that this was forbidden - because the settlements will be evacuated in the near future for a peace agreement - and that evacuation-compensation money would not be (…)

    continue
  

• U.K. government urges businesses: Label products from settlements

  11 December 2009, by Barak Ravid

  The British government has issued an official recommendation urging business owners to mark Israeli products produced in West Bank settlements so that consumers who want to boycott such items will find it easy to identify them.
  The recommendation is not binding, but this step marks an escalation in the country’s attitude toward Israel’s settlements.
  Foreign Ministry official Naor Gilon passed along Israel’s harsh condemnation of the move to officials at the British Embassy in Israel on (…)

    continue
  

• Les Palestiniens en colère : les colons saccagent une mosquée près de Naplouse

  12 décembre 2009,

  Des colons extrémistes israéliens se sont livrés à de graves actes de vandalisme dans une mosquée palestinienne proche de Naplouse (nord de la Cisjordanie) dans la nuit de jeudi à vendredi, ont indiqué hier les services de sécurité palestiniens. Selon les autorités locales palestiniennes, les colons ont mis le feu à des livres de prière, dont des Corans, et à un tapis dans la principale mosquée du village de Kfar Yassuf après en avoir fracturé la porte. Les agresseurs ont également peint un (…)

    suite