Tadamon! Bulletin

Economic and political pressures at Ramadan

August 19th, 2010 | Posted in Economy, Jordan, Palestine
    Jerrold Kessel & Pierre Klochendler, Electronic Intifada 17 August 2010

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Photo: Luay Sababa Palestinians try to cross into Jerusalem through an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank city of Bethlehem during the first Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, 13 August 2010.

Hirbet Deir, occupied West Bank – For Muhammad al-Baradiyeh, 38, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is always a blessing.

In fact, every day of the month-and-a-half prior to Ramadan has been good for Muhammad. Thanks to a permit granted by the Israeli authorities, he’s been able to work inside Israel and save extra money he’ll need for the holiday.

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Jordan Valley is a microcosm of Israel’s colonisation

August 19th, 2010 | Posted in Palestine, Solidarity
    guardian.co.uk by Ben White, Tuesday 17 August 2010

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    Photo Beduoin Camp, Dead Sea Valley, Jordan.

The Jordan Valley, stretching all the way down the West Bank’s eastern side, is a microcosm of Israel’s discriminatory policies of colonisation and displacement. For 40 years, settlements have been established, military no-go areas declared, and Palestinians’ freedom of movement restricted. There are now 27 colonies in the Jordan Valley – most of them had been established by the late 1970s under Labour governments. There are also nine “unauthorised” outposts. In the 1990s, the size of territory afforded to the settlements increased by 45%.

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The Message of the Bulldozers

August 18th, 2010 | Posted in Palestine
    August 2010 by Jeff Halper Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

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    Photo Palestinian home under Israeli demolition.

On the day before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began, at 2:30 in the morning, workers sent by the Israeli authorities, protected by dozens of police, destroyed the tombstones in the last portion of the Mamilla cemetery, an historic Muslim burial ground with graves going back to the 7th Century, hitherto left untouched. The government of Israel has always been fully cognizant of the sanctity and historic significance of the site. Already in 1948, when control of the cemetery reverted to Israel, the Israeli Religious Affairs Ministry recognized Mamilla “to be one of the most prominent Muslim cemeteries, where seventy thousand Muslim warriors of [Saladin’s] armies are interred along with many Muslim scholars. Israel will always know to protect and respect this site.”

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Formalizing Israel’s Land Grab

August 18th, 2010 | Posted in Economy, Imperialism, Palestine
    TruthDig by Chris Hedges, Aug 16, 2010

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    Photo: Palestinian child standing close to Israeli occupation soldiers in West Bank.

Time is running out for Israel. And the Israeli government knows it. The Jewish Diaspora, especially the young, has a waning emotional and ideological investment in Israel. The demographic boom means that Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories will soon outnumber Jews. And Israel’s increasing status as a pariah nation means that informal and eventually formal state sanctions against the country are probably inevitable.

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A million dollar festival will not rescue Israel’s image as an apartheid state

August 17th, 2010 | Posted in Boycott, Culture, Palestine
    PACBI – Occupied Ramallah, 15 August 2010

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    Photo Palestinian walks along Israeli apartheid wall.

Once again, the Brand-Israel machine is in high gear, this time organizing a million-dollar international youth extravaganza in Eilat in September 2010 called “Funjoya.” This unabashed propaganda exercise is sponsored by the Israel Ministry of Tourism and the Israeli Student Union, among other official and semi-official bodies. The Ministry of Tourism explains one of the aims of the festival: “branding Israel as an attractive tourism destination for students, an improvement in Israel’s image among this target group and facilitating multi-cultural encounters for students from Israel and European countries.” [1]

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Sharp Increase in Demolitions and Displacement in the West Bank

August 17th, 2010 | Posted in Boycott, Canada, Events, Palestine, Politics, Quebec

U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. July 2010. download report

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Photo: Palestinians surviving in terrible living conditions under Israeli occupation.

In recent weeks, around 550 people have lost their homes or sources of livelihood as a result of demolitions carried out by Israeli authorities in East Jerusalem and Area C. These recent developments represent a significant increase in demolitions and forced displacement in the West Bank, raising a number of serious humanitarian concerns.

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Bourj el-Barajneh: Searching for Meaning in a Refugee Camp

August 17th, 2010 | Posted in Beirut, Lebanon, Palestine
    by Ramzy Baroud, Palestine Chronicle – Beirut, Lebanon

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    Photo Simon Norfolk Palestinian refugee camp Bourj el-Barajneh.

Two young girls stood, as if frozen, starting below them at an ever vibrant Beirut. Their balcony, like the rest of their house and most of their refugee camp was of an indistinct color. It was dirty, as were their clothes. They, on the other hand, looked beautiful and bright, although their future didn’t.

Here in Bourj el-Barajneh, one of a dozen Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, time seems to have stood still for years. Generation after generation, children grow up in the same desperate reality, punished for crimes they did not commit, injured by a history not of their making. They stand on dirty balconies, cracked beyond repair, watching Beirut and the world go by.

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Poisoning of Gaza water puts population at risk

August 16th, 2010 | Posted in Environment, Palestine
    Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) August 2010.

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Photo Palestinian boy fills container with water collected at UN school in Gaza.

The signs which dot the beach along the Gaza City waterfront are clear: “THIS BEACH IS POLLUTED,” they read, and yet they seem to serve only as obstacles for children running to the sea rather than warnings to be heeded of the serious health risks associated with swimming here. For those who care to doubt the sign’s veracity, one need only to stroll north along the beach for a couple hundred meters to see raw sewage being pumped directly into the Mediterranean Sea from one of the 16 discharge sites along the coast. Yet thousands fill Gaza’s beaches and waters in spite of the clear dangers.

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Besieging Israel’s siege

August 12th, 2010 | Posted in Boycott, Palestine
    The Guardian by Omar Barghouti Thursday 12 August 2010

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    Photo Open sky over the Gaza Strip 2010.

Despite Israel’s siege of Gaza, and the escalating displacement in the Negev and East Jerusalem, Palestinians have some reason to celebrate. In Washington a food co-op has passed a resolution calling for a boycott of Israeli products, confirming that the boycott movement – five years old last month – has finally crossed the Atlantic. Support for the move came from prominent figures including Nobel peace laureates Desmond Tutu and Máiread Maguire, and Richard Falk, the UN’s special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories.

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Irish artists make BDS history, issuing the first nation-wide ‘pledge’ to boycott Israeli apartheid

August 12th, 2010 | Posted in Boycott, Culture, Palestine
    PACBI – Occupied Ramallah, 11 August 2010

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    Photo Israeli apartheid wall in Palestine

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) strongly welcomes the Irish artists’ ‘pledge’ to boycott Israeli cultural institutions until Israel complies with international law. This pledge not only represents a significant victory for the ethical responsibilities of international cultural figures; a key factor in the cultural boycott of Israel, but is a ground breaking strategy in supporting Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice.

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