For 50 Days, Israel Kept This Palestinian Village Under Siege

For almost two months the IDF closed off all the entrances to the village of Deir Nizam, other than one, where soldiers were posted day and night. During this period the army also raided homes and the local school. The village of Deir Nizam is situated in the Ramallah District, opposite the settlement of Halamish and the outlaw outposts that occupy part of the village’s land. The village’s tribulations began with the establishment of Halamish in 1978. Some 2,500 dunams (625 acres) of its land was usurped. Because of its proximity to the settlement, construction in the village is permitted only on 200 dunams that are not in Area C (i.e., under full Israeli control). The settlers monitor all the construction activity that goes on and report it to the occupation authorities.

— source Jews For Justice For Palestinians | Gideon Levy, Alex Levac | Feb 6, 2022

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Making bricks out of ashes and rubble in Gaza

Majd Mashharawi

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The devastating environmental effects of Israeli settler-colonialism in the West Bank

Ever since its genocidal birth in 1948, Israel has used settler-colonial expansion—and the urbanization of native Palestinian lands—to devastate both the indigenous Palestinian people and the natural, non-human environment. While the intense global concern about climate change is rarely applied to Israel’s catastrophic policies and practices, the inherent and inescapable illegalities of Israeli settlements, coupled with their disastrous effects on Palestinian life and natural resources, have formed the crux of the Palestinians’ rejection thereof.

Israeli settlements embody urbanization and the immense harm it poses. First, Israeli settlements are almost entirely built on confiscated Palestinian agricultural or grazing lands and are only erected after clear-cutting and uprooting local flora, namely olive trees: a primary source of food and income for Palestinians. The olive tree is also and an integral element of Palestinian identity, dating back millennia and symbolizing peace, steadfastness, fortitude, and resilience. As of 2015, the olive sub-sector constituted 15% of Palestine’s total agricultural income, supported over 100,000 Palestinian families, and provided “3 to 4 million days of seasonal employment per year”. Not only are

— source mondoweiss.net | Zubayr Alikhan | Jan 31, 2022

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Saving seeds, counting cows: work of a “terror” group?

Ibrahim Abu Ghoula has a farm near the boundary separating Gaza and Israel.

He is in an extremely vulnerable situation. On many occasions, the Israeli military has invaded his land in tanks, causing great damage to his crops.

Abu Ghoula has managed to keep working, with aid from the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC).

During the current winter season, the UAWC tilled his land – located to the east of Maghazi refugee camp – and supplied him with seeds and fertilizers.

“They have been helping our family for 10 years now,” he said. “Without their support, we would not have been able to take proper care of this land.”

It is not certain that UAWC will be able to continue with its vital assistance. In October last year, it and five other Palestinian groups – all campaigning for human rights or

— source electronicintifada.net | Rami Almeghari | 26 Jan 2022

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Why Palestine is Burning Like Never Before

When no one is steering the ship, the wind, the currents and the waves lead it into the depths. This is what is happening in Palestine. The Naqab is burning, Sheikh Jarrah is burning, young and old Palestinians are being killed everywhere, Gaza is practically underwater with flooding, and Palestinian refugees are barely alive in camps throughout the region. Furthermore, in the U.S. capital there isn’t a single entity that represents Palestine; and, in those rare capitals where some representation does exist, it is quite useless.

Zionist trolls on social media are disrupting the lives of Palestinians and those who support Palestine, while social media platforms allow Israeli Defense Force (IDF) pages to portray hate-filled, racist Zionist terrorist organizations as peace-loving, attractive – even sexy – groups of well-meaning people.
The refugees

Palestinian refugees, both in Palestine and in the neighboring countries, not only are forgotten but are also being allowed to perish slowly as the world denies them meaningful relief. Living in camps built 75 years ago that were only supposed to house them temporarily; living through the hunger, poverty, constant bombardment and terrorizing by Israel.

— source mintpressnews.com | Miko Peled | Jan 22, 2022

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The Ghosts of Tantura

The ghosts of Tantura shall not let go until the last of the witnesses and the descendants die. The ghosts of Tantura may not let go until the truth comes to light and Israel acknowledges it. That’s how it is with truth, it never relaxes its grip. Despite all the efforts to conceal it and eliminate those who expose it, it keeps popping up. Alon Schwarz’s disturbing documentary “Tantura,” that was screened Friday and Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, should have been shown at an Israeli film festival. It has the power to bring these ghosts to rest and force Israel to finally acknowledge the truth. This will not happen, of course.

There were few names in my childhood that were more loaded than “Tantura.” Tantura was the magical beach with the blue lagoons where we went to after Father bought our family’s first car, with reparations money from Germany. A trip to Tantura – who then had heard of “Dor Beach”? – thrilled us more then than a flight to New York today. But it wasn’t just the turquoise water. I knew that the white sand was drenched in blood. Tantura was where Gideon Bachrach died. He was the only son of physicians Albina (Bianca) and Arthur Bachrach, my grandparents’ good friends. I was named for Gideon. I knew that the beach at Tantura was soaked with his blood. I didn’t know, of course, that

— source haaretz.com | Gideon Levy | 23 Jan 2022

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Boycott Emirates Airline Festival of Literature 2022!

The Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) calls on all conscientious Arab and international authors to withdraw from the “Emirates Airline Festival of Literature 2022,” which is set to start on February 3rd.

This festival, predominantly sponsored by the UAE dictatorship, including the Dubai police and the Government of Dubai, is a clear attempt to whitewash its brutal violations of human rights. By inviting – with a lot of fanfare – Israelis who publicly oppose basic Palestinian rights under international law, the festival also attempts to normalize the regime’s military-security alliance with Israel’s regime of settler-colonialism and apartheid.

In addition to this festival being an attempt to normalize[1] Israel in an Arab country and for an Arab public, it is also part and parcel of the UAE regime’s policy of artwashing and sportswashing its war crimes in Yemen, and its horrific domestic human rights record, including criminal oppression of migrant workers, mostly from South Asian

— source bdsmovement.net | Jan 21, 2022

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Netherlands ends funding to Palestinian agricultural NGO outlawed by Israel

The Dutch government has ended its funding for Palestine’s Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), one of six non-profit groups recently outlawed by Israel. In October, Israel designated the Palestinian human rights groups “terrorist organisations,” saying that they acted as “part of a network of organisations operating under cover in the international arena” on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). On Wednesday, UAWC said it was “shocked and saddened” by the Netherlands’ decision to stop its funding. UAWC was outlawed by Israel along with Al-Haq, Bisan Center for Research and Development, Addameer, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC) and Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P). The decision has prompted condemnation from prominent human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and the Israeli organisation B’Tselem.

— source middleeasteye.net | 6 Jan 2022

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Israel Holds Up Vital Spare Parts for Gaza’s Water and Sewage Systems

Israel is holding up the entry of hundreds of vital replacement parts for the proper functioning of Gaza’s water and sewage systems. As a result, partially treated wastewater is being released into the sea, water leakage from pipes is even worse than usual, rainwater runoff is causing a danger of flooding. The quality and quantity of drinking water, purified in special facilities, is also being affected, and the same problems keep happening because repairs are being made with makeshift materials.

Palestinian officials in the Gaza Water Utility say that there have been unexplained prolonged delays and foot-dragging in getting approvals to bring in the various necessary items since the war ended in May. An Israeli security official rejects the claims of delays.

Maher an-Najar, deputy director general of the Coastal Municipalities (Gaza) Water Utility, says that prior to the war, suppliers and contractors waited from a week to a month to obtain an Israeli permit to bring in urgently needed items for regular maintenance or repairs, whereas the waiting time now is two to five months or more. About 500 water and

— source Jews For Justice For Palestinians | Amira Hass | Jan 9, 2022

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The long battle to save the largest Palestinian cemetery in Haifa

The Muslim cemetery in Balad a-Sheikh reminds us of the days before the 1948 Nakba, when Haifa was a major Palestinian city. Since 1948, the state of Israel and private companies have been trying to destroy the cemetery and convert it to commercial property. The Palestinian community succeeded, so far, to prevent its destruction. Now, facing new plans to build on the cemetery, the struggle is entering a new phase.
The Historic Significance of “Al-Qassam Cemetery”

In the beginning of the twentieth century Haifa was a rising city on the Mediterranean shore, with its port, new rail lines that stretched to Damascus and Amman, and developing industry and commerce. This development accelerated under the British occupation (since 1918) with a deep water port, an airport and the petrol refineries. People from all over the region were emigrating to Haifa to look for work and opportunities. Haifa developed as a center of Arab cultural and political activities. Many Palestinian trade unions, clubs, associations and parties were established or expanded in the city.

As the city was full of people, its old cemeteries became overcrowded. So, in the thirties, a new Muslim cemetery was established in Balad a-Sheikh, a few kilometers South-East of the city. It was a big cemetery, spanning over 44 dunam (dunam is a thousand square meters), and it served people from Haifa and the surrounding villages and shanty towns.

A central figure in Haifa’s public life at the time was Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, the Imam of the Istiqlal mosque and head of the Young Men’s Muslim Association. In the

— source mondoweiss.net | Yoav Haifawi | Jan 7, 2022

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