West Bank Village Struggles to Survive

by Stephen Lendman

Batir is special. Its heritage is longstanding. It's been that way for centuries. It's one of Palestine's most beautiful villages. 

It's built around natural spring water. It's dotted by wells and reservoirs. Traditional agriculture is its way of life. Villagers want it kept that way.

By Gareth Porter, IPS

WASHINGTON, Feb 18 2013 (IPS) - When European Union foreign ministers discuss a proposal to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation, Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov will present his government’s case for linking two suspects in the Jul. 18, 2012 bombing of an Israeli tourist bus to Hezbollah.

PA Recognizes Palestinian Statehood

by Stephen Lendman

Mahmoud Abbas is a longtime Israeli collaborator. It took him 24 years to acknowledge it. More on that below.

Palestinian statehood existed since November 15, 1988. It was proclaimed in Algiers. The PLO adopted the Palestinian Declaration of Independence. 

No Relief for Palestine in New Year

by Stephen Lendman

Gaza remains isolated under siege. No relief in sight looms. Occupation harshness is policy. Peace is a four-letter word. 

Dominant Israeli hardliners scorn it. So does Washington. Violence and instability advance their agenda. Conflict will continue in 2013. So will Palestinian suffering.

The Larger Question of Chuck Hagel

Editor Note: The up-in-the-air nomination of Chuck Hagel to be Defense Secretary has become a test of whether the Israel Lobby can still shoot down an American public servant who is deemed insufficiently passionate regarding Israel, a test that now confronts President Obama, says ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern.

By Ray McGovern

The Israel Lobby is hell bent on sabotaging President Barack Obama’s tentative plan to appoint former Sen. Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense. And – with Obama now dithering about this selection – the Lobby and its neocon allies sense another impending victory.

By Joshua Brollier

“The problems started for me at eighteen,” Madleen Kulab said quietly, sitting just meters from the shore of the Mediterranean. “The police and port authorities did not want me to sail as a woman.” Though Madleen has emerged from this recent challenge, receiving a permanent permission to fish from the Gazan Interior Ministry, this is not the first hardship she has stared down and overcome in her lifetime.    

As Gaza’s only professional fisherwoman, Madleen’s sailing career began at an early age.  Her father, Mahrous Kulab, taught her how to fish from the time she was six years old. “I went with my father from six years to thirteen. Our boat had no engine at that time,” she remembered with a certain fondness.  At thirteen, Madleen personally made the decision to carry on fishing and support her family when her father’s legs were paralyzed from a form of palsy. Her father initially refused to allow her to go alone, but having no other viable means to support the family, he conceded.

While many children were focusing on the usual hassles of homework and finishing primary school, Madleen found it “easy and enjoyable” to sail due to her strong background on the sea. That is not to say that fishing off Gaza’s coast has been without the typical dangers associated with maritime work nor the specific challenges that Palestinian fishers face due to the Israeli blockade.  There were frightening times, like the instance she fell overboard in rough waters or when the Israeli Navy fired on her with water cannons and live ammunition.

“They had to know who I was and that I was a woman. All the Gazan fishermen are forced to register with Israel so they even had my ID and picture,” said Madleen.  She has intentionally limited herself to staying within the increasingly shrinking limits of the blockade imposed by the Israeli Navy to avoid troubles, but this has not spared her harassment.  She says the prime area to fish is around 11 nautical miles, but the Gazans sometimes experience confrontations with the Navy even within the three nautical miles that Israel says is acceptable. This three mile limit was supposedly reopened to six after the November 21^st, 2012 ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, but Gazan fishermen have had little practical success with many having been shot, arrested, imprisoned and their boats confiscated.   According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 85% of the Gaza Strip's fishing waters are totally or partially inaccessible due to these Israeli military measures.  

Though Madleen’s fishing crew has grown to include her younger brothers and her little sister, Reem, Madleen is still the primary provider for the family and is also responsible for selling the fish in the market.  With approximately 90% of Gazan fishermen living in poverty and the industry rapidly declining, Madleen hopes that she can continue to sail for at least another two years.  “If my brothers can take over at that point, fine.”  Madleen and the Kulab family have attracted considerable amount of international attention due to the uniqueness of their situation. They received a motorized boat as an Eid gift from the Welfare Association for Youth. Additionally, Al Jazeera, BBC and Press TV ran features about Madleen.

Two-thousand and twelve proved to be most challenging year for Madleen when she crossed the line into official womanhood in the eyes of the law.  Her boat was confiscated by Hamas authorities and held for nearly six months.  With the assistance of concerned Gazans and human rights organizations, Madleen challenged the impoundment in court and won.  She is now the only permitted fisherwomen in Gaza, provided that she does not sail with any other adult males.  This makes her work difficult, but she is eager to be on the water again and earning money for family. When asked about general acceptance from the other fishermen, Madleen replied, “I have no problems with the fishermen. They support me and treat me as a daughter or sister.”  Without question, she deserves their respect.

Madleen is currently resuming school after taking a year’s break to work.  She hopes to study sport in college, and she has recently passed an examination by the Civilian Defence Administration for swimming and diving. 

Joshua Brollier is a co-coordinator with Voices for Creative Nonviolence in Chicago.  He has just returned from an emergency delegation to the Gaza Strip. He can be reached at Joshua@vcnv.org.

Captions:

1.     Madleen Kulab. December 19^th, 2012.        
Photo- Maher Alaa

2.     The Israeli Navy shot Gazan fisherman, Mosa'ad Baker, and confiscated his boat on Dec 17, 2012. 
Photo- Maher Alaa

Remembering Mira

As the country, and indeed, the world, mourns the tragic and unnecessary loss of so many young lives to the Newtown School Massacre, many peace activists and advocates for non-violence around the world are mourning another loss… the loss of a tireless advocate for peace and reconciliation, Mira Dabit.  

I was sound asleep in my grandson’s bed when my cell phone woke me on December 15^th at 12:30 a.m.  Slightly annoyed at being awakened, I answered.  It was my partner from Searching for Occupy, Denise Valdez.  She was crying.  No.  She was sobbing.  For a few moments, I listened to her crying.  Then, she managed to blurt out, “Crystal, I have some bad news…”  A pause.  A sob.  “Mira is dead.”

The other day I tweeted an article that reported on a rather horrible story.  It seems that the Israeli government gives African women drugs that keep them from reproducing. 

I think if this story had been about Canada, Korea, France, or Brazil people would have read it.  The conversation would not have immediately shifted to my alleged hatred of all Canadians. 

Since it was about Israel, some people chose to announce that I hated Jews.  Such a response is not only baseless and nonsensical, but it shifts attention to me and away from the story, which in the end isn't seen. 

Now, I don't know any more about that story than what I've read at that website (the website of a Jewish organization, as it happens).  The report may be accurate or not.  Israeli newspapers seem to report it as fully established, neither doubted nor challenged.  The story at least seems to merit investigation.  The point is that nobody told me it was inaccurate (news that would have delighted me).  Instead, they told me that I was anti-Semitic. 

This happens with the United States too, of course.  If I criticize the U.S. government a few thousand times, and if the president is a Republican, I'll hear from some disturbed individual who wants to recommend that I leave the country since I hate it so much.  Why one would try so hard to reform the government of a country he hated is never really explained. 

With Israel, such nonsense is triggered much more swiftly.  I haven't made a career of trying to reform Israel's government.  All I had to do was tweet a link to an article.  Those who have gone to greater lengths to criticize the crimes of the government of Israel have, in some cases, seen themselves censored, vilified, and their careers derailed.  Many persevere despite this climate.

There is, however, a way to speak openly and honestly about Israel.  Not everyone can do it.  The trick is to be a veteran of the Israeli military.  This approach helps people whose "service" was years ago.  And it helps those whose memories of what they did "for their country" are very fresh.  Not only does such status shield one from a great deal of criticism, but it provides a substantive advantage in being able to report first-hand on what the Israeli military has been doing.  Just as Veterans For Peace are able to speak with some legitimate authority in the United States against the use of war (see Winter Soldier now if you haven't), members of the Israeli military, and those who recently were Israeli soldiers, command attention.

A new book called "Our Harsh Logic: Israeli Soldiers' Testimonies from the Occupied Territories 2000-2010," collects the accounts of numerous Israeli soldiers, although withholding their names.  Videos of some of the soldiers telling their stories can be seen online.  The online database sorts the stories into categories: › Abuse› Assassinations› Bribery› Checkpoints› Confirmation of killing› Curfews/closures› Deaths› Destruction of property› Human shields› Humiliation› Looting› Loss of livelihood› Routine› Rules of engagement› Settlements› Settler violence.

"Supporting the troops" is usually understood to exclude listening to the troops.  But these troops should be listened to.  Their experiences are very similar to those of the U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq.  But their war has lasted much, much longer, and with no end in sight.  Their testimonies make clear that their tactics do not serve the supposed purpose of reducing violence, and are in fact not intended to do any such thing.  The bizarre ordeals imposed on the soldiers outdo Kafka and pale in comparison to the nightmares imposed on Palestinians.  The driving forces are quite clearly racism, sadism, imperialism, and excessive obedience.

A very few of the many samples I was tempted to provide:

"They  called us to some location, they found [rockets] in the minaret of a mosque.  What do you do?  You look for someone to go up to the mosque and take down the [rockets] because it's dangerous for us.  So they knocked on doors in the area.  There's always someone with us who speaks Arabic. . . .  So they knocked on the doors and found someone.  He was retarded.  They said, 'Go up to the mosque.  There are pipes in the minaret.  Bring them down.'  They didn't even tell him it was explosives."

"There was an operation in the company next to mine where they told me that a woman was blown up by [an explosive used to break through doors], her limbs were smeared on the wall, but it wasn't on purpose.  They knocked and knocked on the door and there was no answer, so they decided to open it [with live ammunition] . . . .  and just at that moment the woman decided to open the door.  And then her kids came over and saw her. . . . someone said it was funny, and everyone cracked up, that the kids saw their mother smeared on the wall."

"[T]he brigade commander . . . briefs us, 'Any kid you see with a stone, you can shoot at him.' Like, shoot to kill. A stone!"

"[I]t's unbelievable how in the end the report on the radio was, 'In an operation in Tul Karem the IDF captured,' like, you know, 'twenty suspects, ten weapons, and fertilizer suspected for use in manufacturing [explosives], a ton and a half of fertilizer.'  So it's a success, because you hear it on the radio, and you say, 'Hey, look, like we went there, this is what we got, we did what we were supposed to do.'  And what we did was just the opposite.  Because what did we do?  We committed crimes.  We destroyed homes.  No house that we went into was the same when we left."

"There was this house we captured in Hebron . . . we took this house.  You know the procedure: the family moves down a floor.  Now, what did we do?  We were . . . on the third floor, the guys set up a pipe, a pipe to pee, so they could pee outside.  They put the pipe, we put the pipe exactly so that all the piss would flow into the courtyard of the house below us.  There were a few chicken coops just there, it all poured out there.  That was the joke every day, waiting for the father or one of the kids to go to the coop, and then everyone stands and pisses." 

"Apparently, that captain had gone to Takua, which is a pretty hostile village -- they were throwing stones at the jeep.  So, he just stopped a Palestinian guy who was passing, forty-something years old, and tied him to the hood of the jeep, a guy just lying on the hood, and they drove into the village."

"The Palestinians didn't know there were soldiers behind them, and the soldiers would just spray their legs. . . . His one goal was to lure Palestinian children, just to cut off their legs."

"We had a commander in the unit who would just say in these words, . . . 'I want bodies.  That's what I want.'"

"You're not ranked by arrests -- you're ranked by the number of people you kill."

"[The company commander] taught us about rubber bullets, and they showed us how it comes in what's called a 'tampon,' which is a kind of plastic bag that contains the bullets.  So they said, 'You need to separate them, meaning you tear open the package and put them in one by one so you cause damage.'  And they actually explained it to us, in this really pornographic way, 'Aim for the eyes so you take out an eye, or at the stomach so it goes into the stomach.'"

"Try to imagine it: I see my officers with their backs to me, laughing, falling about, and below I see the Border Police beating people up, guys being choked, one guy bleeding.  And I think, 'This is just like the books I read.' . . . Whenever people get shot, I have this image in my head, I must've seen it in a movie, of Nazis shooting Jews in pits, and officers standing at the side, laughing."

Connection to the Land Cannot Not Be Broken

The struggle for land rights near the Gaza border

By Joshua Brollier

Gaza City-Yesterday in al-Faraheen, Gaza, Israeli Occupation Forces shot and wounded an unarmed 22 year old farmer, Mohammed Qdeih, from behind. Mohamed and nine others went out to their fields in the early afternoon, walking approximately 250 meters from the Israeli border.  Within minutes, two heavily armed Israeli military jeeps rushed to the security fence.  They issued a warning for the farmers and residents to leave the area and shortly thereafter the Palestinians, intimidated by the heavy military presence, began to head back to the village of Abasan.  The soldiers were not satisfied and opened fire, piercing Mohamed’s right arm from the backside. Israeli forces continued to shoot rounds of live ammunition while Mohamed and the others frantically evacuated and waited for an ambulance. Another young Palestinian, 19, was shot yesterday near the border in Jabaliya.
 

Under the siege, Israeli “closed military zones” have confiscated up to 35 per cent of Gaza’s arable land, which was previously used for fruit and olive orchards, wheat and various vegetables.  With nearly half of Gaza’s population designated as “food insecure” by UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the farming industry having been crippled from the inability to export products under the Israeli blockade, this land is essential for the livelihoods of thousands of farmers and residents of Gaza.  Even so and given that four Palestinians have been killed and over 50 injured since the November 21st, 2012 ceasefire agreement, one might ask why anyone would risk their life and venture near the border at all.

By Ann Wright

Last week I was in Gaza, just days after the 8 day Israeli attack on Gaza that killed over 180 Palestinians and subsequent rockets from Gaza that killed 6 Israelis.

This week I have been in Afghanistan where tens of thousands of Afghans have been killed since the United States began its military operations after September 11, 2001 to capture al Qaeda leadership, and where over 2 million have been killed in the past 30 years of war.

The United States now is in its twelfth year of war on Afghanistan.  In fact, it was 12 years ago, almost to the day, that I arrived in Kabul on a small State Department team to reopen the US Embassy.

After my resignation from the US government in opposition to Bush’s war on Iraq, I have returned to Afghanistan three times, 2007, 2010 and now 2012.

By International Solidarity Activists      

Gaza Strip---  Israeli forces fired live ammunition and tear gas at unarmed farmers and international solidarity activists working in Khuza’a, a small village outside of Khan Younis located near the Israeli border.  At 10:30 AM, the farmers arrived and began to plough approximately 100 meters from the separation fence while internationals lined up in between the border and the farmers.  They were quickly met by an Israeli military jeep and transport vehicle.  An Israeli soldier issued a warning in Arabic to leave the area and then fired two rounds into the air. The farmers and internationals remained calm and continued their work and the Israeli soldiers left the area.  

At around 11 AM, approximately 20 Palestinians and farmers gathered around 300 meters back from the fence. Two military jeeps returned to the area.  One soldier exited his vehicle and fired four shots in the direction of the farmers and activists.  The fourth shot crossed the line of the activists and landed in the field being ploughed.  Again, the Palestinians and internationals were not deterred. The Israeli jeeps left and the farmers finished working on this section of land and moved on to an adjacent plot.

Fifteen minutes later, two Israeli jeeps returned, one equipped with an automatic machine gun.  A soldier fired three canisters of tear gas directly in front of the activists.  He proceeded to shoot at the tractor, damaging its engine and bringing the work to a halt.  An international was accompanying the driver aboard the tractor. The accompaniment team included participants from Spain, Italy, France, England, Scotland, Germany and the United States  

Gazan farmers successfully ploughed and sewed wheat in adjacent plots, with the presence of internationals, during the two days prior to the incident.  Though they were issued warnings by Israeli forces to stay 100 meters from the fence, they were not fired upon in a similar fashion. “This incident is a prime example of the military harassment and unpredictability of the Israeli occupation forces that farmers routinely face while working their land in Gaza,” said a solidarity activist from Spain.  For a report from the previous days farming, see http://palsolidarity.org/2012/12/gazan-farmers-at-work-in-kuzaa/.

Residents from Khuza’a said they have not planted in this area, declared a closed military zone by Israel, for the past thirteen years.  Formerly an orchard, Israeli forces bulldozed the field multiple times during military incursions and regularly shoots at farmers who attempt to work there.  Farmers were under the impression that this area was now accessible after the November 21st ceasefire’s stipulations that Israeli forces would “refrain from targeting residents in the border areas” and to “stop all hostilities in the Gaza Strip land, sea and air including incursions and targeting of individuals.”  This is the optimum season for planting wheat and the Gazan farmers only have a small window of time in which to work before the land will be rendered unusable.

By Joshua Brollier

Today, Gazan farmers from Kuzaa, a small village near Khan Younis, worked on their land in defiance of Israeli military harassment. Farmers ploughed approximately seven dunams and then sewed wheat in a plot that they had previously been denied access to before the November 21st, 2012 ceasefire.  The farmers successfully worked up to 100 meters from the separation fence.  The Israeli military arbitrarily designates this area as a restricted military buffer zone, otherwise known as the “kill zone.” According to the workers, they have not been able to farm on this specific plot of land for the past ten years.  Formerly an orchard, Israeli forces bulldozed the field multiple times during military incursions and regularly shoots at farmers who attempt to work there.  

At approximately 8:00 AM, the Palestinian farmers began their morning‘s activities when two Israeli tanks, one military jeep and five bulldozers lined up across from the farmers on the Israeli side of the fence, threatening to fire.  Around 9:30 AM, the farmers were joined by a group of 14 solidarity activists from Gaza, Spain, Italy, France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and the United States.  The Israeli forces left after half an hour and were quickly replaced by two more military jeeps.  The Palestinians and internationals stood their ground approximately 100 meters from the fence despite multiple Israeli warnings to leave the area. One of the international activists accompanied a Gazan driver aboard his tractor to act as a deterrent to Israeli fire.  Other farmers sewed wheat by hand. The work concluded around 12:30 PM without any fire from Israeli forces.

This was a small, yet very important victory for the farmers, especially as Israel has frequently and unapologetically breached the ceasefire’s stipulations to “refrain from targeting residents in the border areas” and to “stop all hostilities in the Gaza Strip land, sea and air including incursions and targeting of individuals.” 

Abbas: Betrayal Pays Well

by Stephen Lendman

In 2003, Forbes magazine estimated Yasser Arafat's wealth at about $300 million. No verifying source was listed. Fatah was notoriously corrupt. It still is today. 

Its finances are a black hole. Bribes, foreign aid, secret investments, hidden bank accounts, slush funds, and other ill-gotten gains define them.

Hamas Commemorates 25th Anniversary

by Stephen Lendman

On Friday, Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Khaled Meshal arrived in Gaza. It was his first time in Palestine in decades. 

At age 11, his family fled after Israel's Six Day War. In 1975, he returned briefly. 

Eman El-Hawi, a smart and perky 24-year-old business student from Gaza got teary when she told our delegation about what she witnessed during the eight days that Israel pounded Gaza. “I saw the babies being brought into the hospital, some dead, some wounded. I couldn’t believe Israel was doing this again, just like four years ago. But at least this time,” she said with pride, “we struck back.”

By Joshua Brollier

Gaza City- Dr. Majdi Na'eim worked for eight consecutive days at Al-Shifa Hospital throughout Israel’s “Pillar of Cloud” operation in the Gaza strip.  With hundreds of wounded pouring into the emergency room, there was no time for him and many of his colleagues to even leave the hospital.  On the final and one of the most brutal days of the assault, Israel targeted Ni’ma tower in Gaza City.  Dr. Na’eim was in the emergency room aiding physicians when he learned that one of the arriving casualties was his two year old son, Abdel Rahman Na’eim. Imagine a father’s horror and instant grief.  At his son’s wake, Dr. Na’eim told friends and family who were seeking to comfort him, "I'm terribly sorry.  I'm unable to talk about anything."   

By Dooler Campbell

Since the ceasefire was put into effect on Thursday, 22 November 2012, 29 fishermen have been arrested while out at sea, including 14 fisherman arrested on Saturday, 1 December 2012. An announcement was issued by the Hamas government stating that the maritime boundaries had been extended from three to six nautical miles under the terms of the recent ceasefire. International standards set the limit at 12 miles, while the Oslo Accords granted Gaza fishermen 20 miles in 1995. However, this limit was reduced to three miles in January 2009 after the attacks of Operation Cast Lead.

In late January 2009, when fishermen returned to the sea after Operation Cast Lead, they were viciously attacked. Boats were completely destroyed, and many fishermen were shot, with serious injuries. Some were even shot in the back as they attempted to return to the shore.

Why to Say No to Susan Rice

Editor Note: Key Republicans object to Susan Rice getting a promotion from UN ambassador to Secretary of State, citing her flawed account of the Benghazi assault. But a more legitimate concern is her lack of judgment on the Iraq War and other foreign policy decisions.

By Ray McGovern

President Barack Obama should ditch the idea of nominating U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice to be the next Secretary of State on substantive grounds, not because she may have – knowingly or not – fudged the truth about the attack on the poorly guarded CIA installation in Benghazi, Libya.

Waging War on Palestine

by Stephen Lendman

Palestinians know what they're up against. UN success changed nothing on the ground. Daily Israeli state terror continues. World leaders do nothing to help. 

Rhetorical Palestinian support rings hollow. Americans like to say: Put your money where your mouth is. World leaders able to change things put theirs on Israel. They're complicit with US/Israeli imperial crimes.

First, Israel ended its latest attack – which some believe should be re-named “Operation Pillar of Shame” – just eight days after it began, agreeing to a ceasefire that actually offered some concessions and to continue negotiating in the coming weeks.

And then, a Palestinian state received overwhelming recognition and acceptance from virtually the entire rest of the world, with the United States, Israel and Canada now clearly alone and anachronistic. Yes, the U.S. is still able to limit that status to a symbolic one, but the writing is on the wall.

By Johnny Barber

I have been in Gaza for five days now and I am having difficulty understanding the 8-day war and the subsequent ceasefire. Let me explain the difficulty I am having. The Israeli Offensive Forces insist they protect civilians in Gaza, only targeting terrorists. They have several methods to protect innocent civilians. One method is to call the civilians on the phone, another method is to drop leaflets telling them to flee for their lives, as an attack is imminent. During the latest offensive, Israeli dropped leaflets in the rural areas telling people to flee to the city. In Gaza City, leaflets were dropped warning people to flee to the rural areas. A new, ingenious method they use to protect civilians is to drop ‘loud, non-lethal bombs’ on a home as a warning for the inhabitants as to what will come. They even have a name for this warning. They call it ‘roof tapping’. Then anywhere from 3 minutes to 20 minutes pass before they bomb the house from F-16’s. These bombs are a very large and very lethal. The homes I have seen today have been completely flattened, and the houses around the target are also rendered uninhabitable.

By Kathy Kelly

On November 15, 2012, day three of the recent eight day bombardment of Gaza, Ahmed Basyouni and his family were watching news of the attacks on TV in their home in the eastern section of Beit Hanoun. He and his wife assured his older children that they would be safe because they lived in a calm area where there are no fighters. Two of his younger sons were asleep in the next room.  While they were talking, at approximately 10:35 pm, the Israeli Air Force fired three rockets from a U.S.-provided F-16 bomber into a nearby olive grove.  Ahmed's house rocked, all his windows shattered, electricity went out plunging the family in darkness, and Ahmed's fifteen year old son Nader screamed  from the next room that his brother was dead.

Punishing Palestine

by Stephen Lendman

Terror-bombing Gaza ended. Occupation harshness continues unabated.

Israel didn't wait long to violate memorandum of understanding truce terms. They went further. They exacted revenge. They punished Palestinians for getting overwhelming nonmember observer status UN support.

By Kathy Kelly

Dr. T., a medical doctor, is a Palestinian living in Gaza City.  He is still reeling from days of aerial bombardment. When I asked about the children in his community he told me his church would soon be making Christmas preparations to lift the children’s spirits.  Looking at his kindly smile and ruddy cheeks, I couldn't help wondering if he’d be asked to dress up as "Baba Noel," as Santa Claus.  I didn't dare ask this question aloud. 

“The most recent war was more severe and vigorous than the Operation Cast Lead,” he said slowly, leaning back in his chair and looking into the distance.  “I was more affected this time. The weapons were very strong, destroying everything. One rocket could completely destroy a building.” 

The 8-day Israeli offensive in November lasted for fewer days and brought fewer casualties, but it was nonstop and relentless, and everywhere.

UN Vote on Palestine

by Stephen Lendman

Haaretz said Israel suffered a humiliating defeat in New York. So did truth about what actually happened, what it means, and what's likely going forward. More on that below.

Palestine UN Vote Postmortems

by Stephen Lendman

Pillar of Cloud echoes are still audible. Cast Lead crimes aren't forgotten. Nor is Gaza's siege, occupation harshness, expanding settlements, and horrific daily persecution.

Palestine remains locked down and isolated. UN voting changed nothing. Partial or full membership grants no immunity. Israel takes full advantage. That's how rogue states operate. Palestinian suffering continues.