Middle East Watch

475 Article

• The Structure of Israel’s Occupation

  11 March 2009, by Ludwig Watzal
  Israel has used Gaza as a free fire zone for 22 days and nights. Inevitably, the question arises how could Israel’s occupation become so brutal taking into account the country’s claim of being a “benign occupation power”. Neve Gordon’s book asks exactly that question. Did it happen because of decisions made by politicians or military officers or did the reasons lay in certain elements of the occupation’s structure? The author sees the latter as the main cause of the conflict. Initially, “the (…)  continue
  

• Israeli park a lesson in forgotten history

  10 March 2009, by Jonathan Cook
  As spring sets in early, Israelis have been pouring into one of the country’s most popular leisure spots. Visitors to Canada Park, a few kilometres north-west of Jerusalem, enjoy its spectacular panaromas, woodland paths, mountain-bike trails, caves and idyllic picnic areas. A series of signs describe the historical significance of the landscape, as well as that of a handful of ancient buildings, in terms of their Biblical, Roman, Hellenic and Ottoman pasts. Few, if any, visitors take (…)  continue
  

• The Israel lobby tightens its grip on Washington

  10 March 2009, by Charles Freeman, Paul Woodward
  In the face of an onslaught of personal attacks from individuals associated with Washington’s Israel lobby, a key intelligence appointee in the Obama administration has been pressured to withdraw his name. On Feb 26 the US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dennis C Blair announced his choice of Charles (Chas) W Freeman Jr to become chairman of the National Intelligence Council. In that position Mr Freeman would have been responsible for the production of national intelligence (…)  continue
  

• Pots of urine, feces on the walls - how IDF troops vandalized Gaza homes

  6 March 2009, by Amira Haas
  We had already visited this house, belonging to the Abu Eida family. It is the only one of the family’s nine large houses that remained standing at the eastern edge of the city of Jabalya following Operation Cast Lead. The demolition of the family’s houses and its four cement factories spells the loss of 40 years of hard work. One Hebrew word scrawled on a wall tells the story of the 10 days when young Israeli soldiers became the ostensible prison wardens of five people. The youngest is (…)  continue
  

• Israel annexing East Jerusalem, says EU

  7 March 2009,
  A confidential EU report accuses the Israeli government of using settlement expansion, house demolitions, discriminatory housing policies and the West Bank barrier as a way of "actively pursuing the illegal annexation" of East Jerusalem. The document says Israel has accelerated its plans for East Jerusalem, and is undermining the Palestinian Authority’s credibility and weakening support for peace talks. "Israel’s actions in and around Jerusalem constitute one of the most acute challenges (…)  continue
  

• Ethnic Cleansing and Israel

  3 March 2009, by Conn Hallinan
  One of the more disturbing developments in the Middle East is a growing consensus among Israelis that it would acceptable to expel—in the words of advocates “transfer”—its Arab citizens to either a yet as unformed Palestinian state or the neighboring countries of Jordan and Egypt. Such sentiment is hardly new among Israeli extremists, and it has long been advocated by racist Jewish organizations like Kach, the party of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, as well as groups like the National Union, (…)  continue
  

• La reconstruction de Gaza tributaire de la politique

  2 mars 2009,
  Amertume et résignation : les deux termes résument l’état d’esprit de la délégation européenne appelée à participer, lundi 2 mars, à la conférence de soutien à l’économie palestinienne et à la reconstruction de la bande de Gaza, à Charm el-Cheikh, en Egypte. Après l’offensive militaire israélienne de trois semaines, cette réunion des donateurs présidée par l’Egypte et la Norvège réunira, outre l’Union européenne (UE), l’ensemble des bailleurs de fonds internationaux qui viennent en aide aux (…)  suite
  

• Israël envisagerait de doubler le nombre de colons en Cisjordanie

  2 mars 2009,
  Le gouvernement sortant israélien a préparé des plans de colonisation intensive visant à quasiment doubler le nombre de colons en Cisjordanie occupée, selon un rapport publié, lundi 2 mars, par le mouvement anti-colonisation La Paix maintenant. Ces plans de colonisation, élaborés par le ministère de l’habitat et qui doivent encore être soumis par le prochain gouvernement de droite, prévoient la construction de 73 000 logements dans les prochaines années, dont 5 700 dans des quartiers de (…)  suite
  

• A PRE-PLANNED AND PRE-MEDITATED EFFORT FOR ETHNIC CLEANSING AND LAND THEFT

  by Nizar Sakhnini
  PROLOGUE: The Zionist propaganda began with a big lie claiming that Palestine was a “land without people for a people without a land”. Palestine, however, was not a ‘land without people’. Accordingly, creation of a ‘Jewish State’ with a ‘Jewish Majority’ implied getting rid of its indigenous population and stealing their homes and lands. The pre-planned and pre-meditated Zionist efforts for Ethnic Cleansing and Land Theft started in 1948 and never stopped to this date. HISTORICAL (…)  continue
  

• Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict - A Primer

  by Joel Beinin, Lisa Hajjar
  Introduction The conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Jews is a modern phenomenon, which began around the turn of the 20th century. Although these two groups have different religions (Palestinians include Muslims, Christians and Druze), religious differences are not the cause of the conflict. It is essentially a struggle over land. Until 1948, the area that both groups claimed was known internationally as Palestine. But following the war of 1948-49, this land was divided into three (…)  continue