PUBLIC MARKS with tag israel

Reiterating his opposition to the Israeli occupation and expressing his support for the Palestinian people in “their struggle to be free,” the internationally renowned rock star Roger Waters has announced that he is relocating his Israel performance in recognition of the problematic nature of the previously planned Tel Aviv venue, particularly at a time when Israel is escalating its repression and apartheid designs to further dispossess, ghettoize and ultimately ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their homeland. The former member of Pink Floyd and the writer of its timeless song “Another Brick in the Wall” called off his Tel Aviv gig, heeding an appeal by many Palestinian artists and cultural organizations and their supporters around the world who feared such a performance, particularly by a respected and progressive artist like Waters, would have given legitimacy to Israel’s colonial Wall, condemned as illegal by the International Court of Justice at The Hague in July 2004.

Why do I list the names of the dead before the usual talk about the geopolitical implications, the responses of shock and outrage from heads of state, the defiant statements by Hamas and Islamic Jihad? Because there are three things about the violence in Israel, or more to the point, media coverage of it, that have been bothering me of late, but especially since I've been reading more and more blogs from the people whose lives are most affected by it...

This was written two days ago by an Israeli journalist (one of the brave handful that see the results of Israel’s occupation) in an Israeli newspaper. Today, watching the latest suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, I think many of his questions are answered!

Two years after James Miller was shot dead (shot three years ago - 2 May, 2003) while making a documentary on the region (for the American cable giant HBO), his film has been honoured with three Emmy awards. Death in Gaza looks at the lives of three children at the Rafah refugee camp caught up in the cycle of violence between the Israeli army and Palestinian fighters, and documents the killing of the 34-year-old British documentary maker. Initial findings from an Israeli Occupation Forces investigation into the affair claimed that the correspondent was shot in the back, and suggested that he may have been hit by Palestinian gunfire. Another Briton who had been with Mr Miller said they were waving a white flag and moving towards an Israeli armoured vehicle when it opened fire. By chance, the team were being filmed by an agency stringer from APTN. The videotape proves that there is no crossfire. They were wearing helmets and flak jackets littered with TV signs. The Israeli army has, thanks to the Americans, some of the best night vision technology in the world. Their kit turns nights into day. James was shot in the front of his neck by an Israeli bullet and was mortally wounded. No soldier has been disciplined or charged and in court the cameraman’s family have accused Israel of a coverup, claiming there is evidence that his killer is Lieutenant Heib of the Israeli occupation force. Finaly, few days ago, and after three years of shooting James, a UK court rules that IOF shooting of the filmmaker was a deliberate cold-blooded murder.

Kill them of course… No… not you, that’s Israel only. Israeli shell kills girl in Gaza An Israeli artillery shell has killed a young Palestinian girl in a house in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian hospital and security sources have said.

BADSTRING

Menaces nucleaires americaines et israelienne sur l'Iran

WE ARE INTERESTED to note that the story that Intel is to set up a $1 million training facility in the Gaza Strip was picked up by AP today and has subsequently appeared in a number of news outlets, including on these very pages.

If Palestinians are going to be required to renounce violence — as they should be — shouldn’t Israel also be required to renounce violence, and to stop building settlements and walls on Palestinian territory? Rather than belittling others for allegedly failing to grasp our “democratic concepts,” we could begin by showing we grasp these concepts ourselves.

Less than a week ago extremist Jews defaced the Nabi Elias Mosque east of Qalqilia - Palestine, with graffiti insulting the Prophet Mohammad and Islam. Early Friday morning, extremists wrote nearly the same words on the mosque for the second time.

Oxford University is this week holding an "Israeli Apartheid week." Hosted by the Palestinian Society, flyers state it is to commemorate the "30th anniversary of the international convention on the suppression and punishment of the crime of apartheid."

INA has secured Olympic gold in its quest to outrank any and all Arab and Islam Websites as when one searches for the key words: “iran holocaust cartoons” the Israel News Agency has secured a Google first place ranking. So, since I’m an Arab/Muslim, regardless of what I say and advocate for, I’m outranked. Thanks to INA, SEO and Google!!!

Israeli and U.S. diplomats and Jewish groups are lobbying organisers of next month’s Academy Awards not to present a nominated film (Paradise Now) about Palestinian bombers as coming from Palestine, an Israeli newspaper reports.

What do you call a man, effectively the proprietor of a magazine called Global Agenda in one of his roles, who attempts to censor an article in his publication after it has already been printed and circulated to a large part (perhaps 3,000 people) of its intended audience? More than that, the author of the offending article holds an electronic file of its final form sent to him as a proof and is happy to circulate it more widely. And what if the “proprietor” attempts to impose his retrospective censorship under the gaze of the world press at one of the world’s highest-profile forums, the annual Davos meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF)?

Wonderful photos of people in Israel

Israeli soldiers killed twice as many Palestinians last week alone - both of them children - as the number of Israelis killed by Hamas all last year.