Shooting Back: Israeli occupation filmed by 100 Palestinian cameras

4 August, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont recently filed this report on a B’Tselem initiative to equip 100 Palestinians with small video cameras to film Israeli settler and IDF abuses (thanks Homey). The story also made it to MSNBC (watch here: 2 mins 40).

Peter Beaumont speaks to Palestinians filming abuse from settlers and Israeli armed forces as part of a remarkable project called Shooting Back (5:45)

Meanwhile, more Palestinian youngsters are being shot, two more fatally, in Ni’lin: Ahmed Moussa, aged 10 and Ahmad Amirah, aged 18, as IOF abuses continue in other areas.

Posted in Israel, Israel Watch, Palestine, People, Photography, Video, Violence. Tags: , , . 10 Comments »

Militant Zionism and the Invasion of Iraq: Ron Andreas

28 July, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

An important reminder of the goals of destabilisation of the Middle East and the instrumentalisation of war for militant zionism, with thanks to Ron Andreas (submitted by the author).

Unlike the Western oil majors, the militant Zionist proponents of greater Israel view stability and peace in the Middle East as inimical to their goals. Chaos and strife create the “revolutionary atmosphere” (as Ben Gurion one of the key founders of the state of Israel put it) in which more land and water resources can be taken under their control. This fact explains the motive behind the ceaseless provocations and destabilization that the Israeli military and secret services perpetrate.

The “iron wall” policy established by Ze’ev Jabotinsky prior to the founding of the Jewish state requires the expulsion of Christian and Muslim Arabs from Palestine. Such a goal requires war or other violent means. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Empire, War and Terror, Iraq, Israel, Israel Watch, Middle East, US Foreign Policy, USA, War, Zionism. Tags: , . 2 Comments »

Dr H. in the Holy Land VII: Hebron and the Christian Peacemaker Teams

27 July, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

Hebron is a town that lies to the south of Bethlehem in the West Bank. In Arabic it is known as Al Khalil. We went by bus and the drive from Bethlehem south was beautiful, a lot of arable land and the green vegetation was lush making a change from the arid scenery that marks the horizon elsewhere. Scattered amongst the hills there were settlements.

Hebron, Old City. Credit: Pharoah Berger

Hebron is full of hustle and bustle and in fact I was surprised to see it so lively. The last stop on the bus was Bab-iz-Zawieh. After getting off the bus we went to meet our guide for the day. Headed towards the old city, there were rows upon rows of closed metal doors – here it is common that the shops in the old cities have often green or blue iron doors that come across the whole shop front. As we walked towards the old city and the further in we went, more and more shops were bolted and closed, I wondered how long they had been closed for – months, years? From the market area of where the bus has dropped us off it felt like we were walking into another world of destitution. People were delighted to see foreigners and always shouted out “Ahlan wa sahlan” or “welcome”. We were met by a man who despite his grey hair, walking stick and slightly stooped posture was as fit as a hare. He beamed at us clearly glad to see us and said follow me in an English accent. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Apartheid, Israel, Israel Watch, Occupation, Palestine, Peace education, People, Travel. Tags: , , , , , . 4 Comments »

Dr H. in the Holy Land VI: Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation

27 July, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

The hospital I am volunteering in gives me hope for this country, it is a symbol of a community working hard despite the daily hardships that they encounter in a land where the word “mam-noa” meaning “forbidden” is often said. Although a very small establishment, it is functional and serves the population here, people all over the West Bank come for their treatment. It is recognized primarily for its rehabilitation service, and people that I have met in Jerusalem speak highly of BASR having come here following strokes.

In addition, it has a brilliant ward for the rehabilitation of children. The children have neurological deficits as the result of cerebral palsy, road traffic accidents, congenital and unfortunately also trauma. The focus is on short term rehabilitation with physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy.

Most of the doctors have been trained abroad and they chose to come back to their country – a statement of their loyalty to the plight of their people. Of course without a doubt had they stayed abroad their life would be easier and more comfortable. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Apartheid, Children, Israel, Israel Watch, Medicine, Occupation, Palestine, People, Water. Tags: , . Leave a Comment »

Dr H. In The Holy Land V: Qalandia Check-Point

27 July, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

Qalandia check point is the main check point into Jerusalem from Ramallah. It is worse than I remember it to be. A humiliating example of every day life for the Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories, in fact I think that animals are often treated better than these people. I had met a guy in Ramallah, who was traveling back to Jerusalem and for this I was grateful. This meant that I did not have to go through the check point alone.

The road leading from Ramallah to Qalandia has the grey cement wall on your right hand side, decorated with graffiti: “CTRL+ALT+DEL, illegal wall, this wall must fall” and pictures of sorts. The ground is littered with rubbish and alongside lie large huge stone boulders – which I suspect were used previously to create land blocks (something that the Israelis often do when they want to close a road). Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Apartheid, Discrimination, Empire, War and Terror, Human Rights, Israel, Israel Watch, Occupation, Palestine, People. Tags: , . Leave a Comment »

Dr H in the Holy Land IV: Land

27 July, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

The battle here is about land… and it has always been. Last night Nicholas took us to his land or his family’s land, it’s called Al Makhror, and now lies on the other side of the checkpoint.

It’s beautiful, hilly and full of trees, the sun was setting in between the valley and the sky was blue. When you look to the left and up you can see the ugly slabs of grey concrete wall on the horizon, and when you look further up you can just about see the tree tops peering above the wall. In fact this wall separates Palestinian land on one side from Palestinian land on the other side.

“I want to come and live here”, Nicholas said.

“How? It’s just hills…. And nothing more?”

“It’s beautiful and it’s my land.”

Yes I agreed with him, it certainly was picturesque, you could feel the breeze at the back of your neck, see the olives trees across the landscape, a goatherd in the distance with his animals, and the sun setting in the middle of two mountains, creating a beautiful orange sky. It was quiet, in the distance to the left you could see Route 60 – the road that only Israelis could drive on. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Apartheid, Empire, War and Terror, Illegal settlements, Israel, Israel Watch, Palestine, People. Leave a Comment »

Bil’in Habibti – Bil’in My Love

2 July, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

Winner of a Special Award at Rotterdam’s Movies That Matter and of Best Documentary at the 2006 Jerusalem Film Festival, this all too short teaser is of a excellent film directed by Shai Carmeli-Pollak, Bil’in Habibti (Bil’in My Love).

Bil’in Habibti – Bil’in My Love (1:47)
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Activism, Apartheid, Israel, Israel Watch, Palestine, Video, West Bank. Tags: . Leave a Comment »

‘Compromise’: a cartoon

29 June, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

An excellent cartoon just in from comrade David Baldinger. The cartoon captures the Orwellian rhetoric and term ‘compromise’ as used by the Israeli regime so well, as it continues to build illegal Jewish-only settlements in flagrant contravention of international law, peace agreements and all precepts and percepts of human rights:

Posted in Cartoonists, Empire, War and Terror, Israel, Israel Watch, Palestine. Tags: , . 4 Comments »

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti presentation

26 June, 2008 — peoplesgeography.com

An excellent extended overview of the I-P conflict by Dr Barghouti and Israel’s apartheid policies of continued ethnic cleansing and annexation of up to 58% of the West Bank through illegal settlement expansion. It really helps to see it by way of maps and slides.

Moved to a dedicated page here.

Posted in Gaza, International Law, Israel, Israel Watch, Palestine, War crimes, West Bank. Tags: , . Leave a Comment »

Congratulations, Raytheon 9!

4 June, 2008 — peoplesgeography

Good news from Belfast via FL:

The Raytheon 9 have just this morning been acquitted of terrorism charges stemming from their courageous actions taken against the Raytheon Corp. in Derry, following the Massacre at Qana on July 30 when Israel used the Raytheon JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition). It was the Raytheon JDAM which guided the US MK-84 bombed to its target, a bomb shelter in the village, killing 27 and wounding 30 women and children and three elderly men. This news should soon be posted on their trial updates here.

(UPDATE: Apparently the judge has imposed an embargo on reporting his findings in order to give the prosecution leave to appeal, which they have until tomorrow morning to do.)

Posted in Empire, War and Terror, Ireland, Israel, Israel Watch, Lebanon, USA, War, War crimes, Weapons. Tags: , , , . 9 Comments »
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