Israel’s departing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced measures Nov. 2 in response to a rise in violence by extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank, including a halt to all government financing of “illegal” Jewish settlement outposts. The announcement amounted… Read moreIsrael to cut West Bank settler funds after clashes
The Palestine People’s Party (PPP) denounced the latest Israeli decision to demolish five Palestinian homes in the town of Bruqin in the northern West Bank Oct. 31. Senior PPP member Isam Baker called the decision “part of the ethnic cleansing… Read moreWest Bank house demolitions protested
The European Campaign to Break the Siege on Gaza is preparing to send a massive international parliamentarian delegation to Gaza by sea. The delegation had arranged a solidarity visit to Gaza, but was denied entry to the area by Egypt… Read moreSolidarity efforts grow as Gaza polarizes
The Lebanese Industrialists Association is accusing Israel of falsely taking credit for traditional Middle Eastern cuisine. The organization’s president Fadi Abboud said his group plans to sue Israel to stop it from marketing hummus and other regional dishes as Israeli…. Read moreMiddle East gastro-wars push limits of absurdity
Cars and stores were damaged as Jews and Arabs clashed in the Israeli city of Acre after an Arab man was assaulted for driving during Yom Kippur Oct. 9. The violence erupted around midnight, several hours after Jews began marking… Read moreJews, Arabs clash in Acre on Yom Kippur
Palestinian medics in the Gaza Strip Sept. 23 recovered the bodies of four Strip residents who were killed in an explosion in a tunnel at the Egyptian border. At least one was wounded and hospitalized in Rafah. The explosion took… Read moreFour killed as Egypt blows up Gaza tunnel
From B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, Sept. 10: Access Denied: Israeli measures to deny Palestinians access to land around settlements For years, Israeli authorities have both barred Palestinian access to rings of land… Read moreIsraeli rights group charges “piratical” land enclosure on West Bank
Ex-UK prime minister Tony Blair’s sister-in-law Lauren Booth is among ten peace activists who arrived in Gaza by sea last month and remain stuck there, denied entry by both Israel and Egypt. Israeli authorities allowed the boat to dock Aug…. Read moreInternational peace activists stranded in Gaza
A new report by the Israeli group Peace Now said Israel has nearly doubled construction in its West Bank settlements this year—violating commitments under the US-backed “road map” peace plan even as it pursued revived talks with the Palestinians. Secretary… Read moreIsraeli settlement accelerates on West Bank —despite “road map”
We aren’t sure that the optimism in his closing assessment of Obama’s AIPAC speech is warranted. But this June 13 piece by Bernard Avishai in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz says much about the dilemmas the candidate faces. The piece is… Read moreIsraeli elites “edgy about Obama”
