By Ralph Nader Greater Boston and its citizens are the focus of media attention in recognition of the first anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings that took three innocent lives and injured over 264 people, some of them severely. City leaders praised the heroism of the first responders and the deepened community spirit (“Boston Strong”). […]...
By Vacy Vlazna At the low point of the farcical ‘peace’ process stalemate, President Mahmoud Abbas signed, on Tuesday 1st April 2014, letters of accession to 15 multilateral treaties and conventions, (a right gained following Palestine’s upgrade to Observer State status by the UN General Assembly back in November 2012) in defiance of Israel’s refusal […]...
By Ramzy Baroud To understand how thoughtless the latest US “peace process” drive has become, one only needs to consider some of the characters involved in this political theatre. One in particular who stands out is Martin Indyk. Indyk, a former US ambassador to Israel, was last July selected by Secretary of State John Kerry […]...
By Ramzy Baroud Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Ze’ev Elkin, is a member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and his predominantly rightwing cabinet. In a recent interview with The Economist, Elkin used the familiar tone of being conceited and oblivious to such notions as international or human rights, and reaffirmed his rejection of a Palestinian state. […]...
By Tamar Fleishman The thousands of people who arrive at Qalandiya checkpoint and its surroundings each day didn’t hold their breaths when they heard Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that “unilateral actions by the Palestinians will be responded by unilateral actions”. What other unilateral actions could the Israeli government take against the Palestinians...
Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian youth in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, witnesses told Ma’an. Soldiers positioned at Erez crossing opened fire at a group of Palestinian men collecting stones from nearby fields, hitting 19-year-old Wasim Abu Audah in the leg, locals said. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed the shooting, saying there […]...
By Gary Corseri Before Moses or the Romans, Before Jesus and Muhammad, Before the Turks and the English, We dwelled in this land. We built cities out of the dust, Watered with our tears, Mortared with our joys; We fished the abundant seas, Blessed our children’s marriages In our cool olive groves. We did not […]...
A three-hour meeting between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held without the presence of US envoy Martin Indyk on Sunday ended without clear signs of progress. PLO sources said Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni demanded that the Palestinians withdraw their applications for international treaties because the Israelis considered it a unilateral step. The demand was rejected by […]...
Israeli soldiers and police have hurled stun grenades at Palestinian worshippers after entering the holy Haram al-Sharif compound in Jerusalem. Violence erupted on Sunday morning after Israeli police opened one of the walled compound’s gates to non-Muslim visitors after dawn prayers. The Palestinians had remained in the courtyard of the al-Aqsa mosque in anticipation of […]...
By Uri Avnery Poor John Kerry. This week he emitted a sound that was more expressive than pages of diplomatic babble. In his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations committee he explained how the actions of the Israeli government had torpedoed the “peace process”. They broke their obligation to release Palestinian prisoners, and at the […]...
More than 3,000 runners from around the world took part in the second annual Palestine Marathon on Friday, passing the Israeli separation wall and curbing around checkpoints on the 42-kilometer (26 miles) course. The marathon is held under the banner “Right to Movement” in order to highlight Israeli obstacles to freedom of movement in the […]...
Orthodox Archbishop Atallah Hanna condemned Israeli authorities on Thursday for imposing obstacles on Christians wishing to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem to celebrate the upcoming Christian holiday of Easter. “It is the right of every Christian to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulchre without facing any obstacles, or impediments,” Hanna […]...
Four Palestinians were injured across the Gaza Strip on Thursday as Israeli forces opened fire in two incidents and fired a tank shell into the besieged Palestinian enclave, medical sources said. A young Palestinian was shot and injured by Israeli forces east of Jabaliya refugee camp north of Gaza on Thursday afternoon. Spokesman for the […]...
In a poem that he wrote and gave me forty years ago, my friend Jack B wrote about what it was like to be an American Indian. For him, and for so many other American Indians, the experience was devastating. Treated like vermin, and discounted as if they had no identity, so many lost hope. […]...
By Sam Bahour and Tony Klug Suppose the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, fails to cajole the Israeli and Palestinian leaders into finally ending their conflict. What would happen next? A tsunami of pent-up animosities is likely to be unleashed, with each side holding the other responsible for the failure and calling for retribution. […]...
By Ramzy Baroud Crisis seemed to loom large as Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signed applications to join 15 international treaties on April 1. The decision prompted irate reactions from Israel, and sent US Secretary of State John Kerry into panic mode, unsuccessfully attempting to salvage the peace process. Yet something is strangely familiar […]...
By Ramzy Baroud U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry couldn’t hide his frustration anymore as the U.S.-sponsored peace process continued to falter. After eight months of wrangling to push talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority forward, he admitted while in a visit to Morocco on April 4 that the latest setback had served as […]...
By Roger Sheety As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shuttles from one country to another in a (seemingly) desperate, last-minute attempt to save the latest round of fake “peace” talks between Israelis and Palestinians from collapsing, mainstream media journalists are dutifully following him around, reporting on his every utterance as if the fate of […]...
By Stuart Littlewood US-brokered negotiations with Israel, which started on 29 July 2013 and were to last nine months, are nearing their ignominious end. And Israel, the serial defaulter that it is, has reneged on the agreed release of 104 pre-Oslo prisoners in exchange for Palestine’s postponing joining international organizations to help achieve their long-overdue […]...
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators remained at odds on Tuesday on how to salvage teetering peace talks as Washington prepared to review the scale of its involvement in the troubled process. The two sides met US envoy Martin Indyk late on Monday and are to meet him again on Wednesday, a Palestinian source told AFP. But […]...