Palestine in focus

Eyewitness

Update: Still Breathing
The Palestinian refusal to be broken is a call and challenge to us all, Caoimhe Butterly reports from Gaza (17 January)

Ewa Jasiewicz reports from Gaza:

A house upon them
Speaking with the victims of Israel’s attacks (13 January)

The ceasefire
Ewa Jasiewicz in Beit Hanoun and Jabaliya (11 January 2009)

Kamal Odwan’s ‘mosque’ Missiles have been falling throughout the afternoon ‘ceasefire’ reports Ewa Jasiewicz (12 January 2009)

Gaza today: ‘This is only the beginning’
The ‘darkest night people have seen in their lifetimes’

Older reports: Civilians dead
Bombardment by F16s and Apaches as children leave their schools for home reveals a contempt for civilian safety

There is a light ...
The world must turn the light of conscience into activism

Lemma, Haya and Iman
Reports from Beit Hanoon

Analysis

Bringing Hamas in from the cold
Bombing Hamas into Gaza’s scorched earth will not change the rules of the game, says Arthur Neslen

Meaning of Israel’s attack on Gaza
Phyllis Bennis on holding Israel to account

Talking with the enemy
Peace requires negotiating with your enemies, says Gerald Kaufman MP. The Annapolis summit was a complete waste of time and so will be any other attempt at a solution that does not involve negotiations with Hamas

Background

The new (and old) Hamas
What lay behind the sweeping victory of Hamas in the Palestinian elections – and what will it do with its new-found power, asks Graham Usher

Gaza stripped
The continuing siege of Gaza has turned into a wholesale onslaught on Palestinian democracy, says Mustafa Bhaghouti

Stop the Wall
Nadia Idle looks at the grassroots campaign against Israel’s ‘apartheid wall’

The mega prison of Palestine
Ilan Pappe sees a deliberately genocidal policy by Israel towards the Palestinians

Singling out Israel
Its supporters constantly laud Israel as the only democratic country in the Middle East with the most moral army in the world. Why single it out for criticism, they ask

Cultural

This is what you do
As long as Israel’s occupation continues, this article by Michael Kustow is not out of date

A walk in the hills
Once Raja Shehadeh would lose himself in long walks across the open countryside around his home in Ramallah on the West Bank. Israeli settlement in the Palestinian occupied territories has put a stop to that

The legacy of the Nakba
Academic institutions pride themselves on fostering freedom of expression and thought. But Israeli universities are accused of complicity in the silencing of Arab voices by British academics. Jaimie Kaffash reports

Pluto threatened over Israel book
The publication of Joel Kovel’s Overcoming Zionism has once again stoked controversy in the United States over academic criticism of Israel

Resources

URGENT ACTION

On 13 January, the European Parliament votes to upgrade relations with Israel. Events of the last two weeks are a clear demonstration that this would be completely inappropriate.

Send a letter - see a suitable text here - to your MEP.

War on Want’s statement on Gaza: End Israel’s attack on Gaza

The truth about Gaza
In the face of many ‘modern myths’, here’s the truth about Gaza based on reports by the UN and ngos on the ground, including Israeli human rights groups

Anti-semitism and the Israel lobby
In this extract from his book, If I Am Not for Myself: Journey of an Anti-Zionist Jew, Mike Marqusee says that no one should be deterred from criticising the Israel lobby by charges of anti-semitism

American interest
John Mersheimer and Stephen Walt’s The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy offers a brilliant account of US economic and military support to Israel, writes Richard Kuper. Its flaws lie not in an alleged anti-semitism, but in overstating the influence of the lobby over a US administration that is out of step on a broad range of foreign policy issues

Blogs and websites:

Latest images and commentary from the London Gaza protest (10 January)

Noam Chomsky on the US, Israel, and Gaza

The electronic intifada

Palestine blogs

Azzam Tamimi at Comment is free

Mike Marqusee

Tariq Ramadan

Protection of civilians : Casualties database

Gush Shalom

Organisations:

Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Adalah: the legal centre for Arab minority rights in Israel

B’TSELEM - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories

Free Gaza

Stop the War Coalition

Jews for Justice for Palestine

Refusenik watch

The British Muslim Initiative

What you can do

War on Want urgent action Call on the foreign secretary to place sanctions on the State of Israel

Join the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign

Sign the petition to Gorden Brown asking for immediate action for Gaza

Plus Help to raise funds for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign with the Philosophy Football Gaza 09 t-shirt, featuring words inspired by one of the hand-written anonymous placards carried on the London demonstrations