More colonial homes in Palestine

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=549128>
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 18 Dec -- Israeli officials said they would press on with plans this week to build 6,000 homes for 'settlers' on Palestinian land, defying criticism from Western powers who fear the move will hit already faint hopes for a peace accord. Stung by the de facto recognition of Palestinian sovereignty in a UN General Assembly vote last month, Israel announced it would expand the so-called settlements in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem.

Homes flattened for theme park

Israeli occupation municipality officials broke into Bustan in Silwan town, Jerusalem on the 3rd December and handed a number of residents demolition orders.

Fakhri Abu Diab, a member of the Committee for the Defence of the Bustan neighbourhood, said in a press statement that the officials handed over to the citizens new administrative demolition orders for their houses after raiding them.

In an echo of Donald Trump's recent attempt to convert a chunk of Scotland's coastal greenery into a tourist-friendly golf course,the Israeli Occupation had issued earlier decisions to demolish 88 houses in the suburb in order to build a biblical theme park.

Zionists rename West Bank

In a legal sleight-of hand way, Israel is pushing its annexation of the West Bank by stamping visas of visitors there, 'Judea and Sumaria only' .This is in addition to the long-established policy of denying many people born in Palestine the right to enter their country except as 'visitors', while Jewish visitors from any part of Planet Earth are still automatically afforded citizenship.

Even though many foreign nationals live and work in the West Bank, there is no such thing as a work permit that allows them to work for Palestinian institutions or companies based in the occupied West Bank, or simply to live there securely. The only option for such people would be Israeli “tourist” visas which they have to constantly renew and which are often arbitrarily denied.
It is not just ordinary people who are denied entry by the occupying regime, but even foreign government officials trying to meet with the Palestinian Authority.
This is where Zionism will have  the 'roadmap to peace' leading.  A single state ghetto.

What cease-fire?

During the present 'cease-fire' between the occupying forces and the Gazan authority Hamas, it's business as usual for Zionism. Attacks on Gaza itself continue. In Jerusalem, more illegal colonies have been built since Palestine's winning of observer status at the UN, while one non-Jewish family was forced to demolish its own home. Daily attacks on fishermen. Mosques destroyed. violence and delays, often fatal, at checkpoints.

Palestine - One Four Nine!

the UN  has voted overwhelmingly to recognise Palestine as the world's 194th state. It’s a largely symbolic but huge victory for the Palestinian people and for peace, and people across the world are joining with huge crowds in Palestine to celebrate.

The Palestinian people's journey to freedom is far from over. Zionist pressure groups managed to persuade the US to stand against this move, and the British Government, as ever more mindful of the 'Special Relationship' than anything else, cravenly kept out of the vote. The online pressure organisation Avaaz played a considerable part in the lead-up; the photo shows their banner hanging in Brussels.

Attack on Gaza widely condemned

Picture by Gaza artist Majed Badra

The 'fish in a barrel' analogy is undoubtedly a cliché, but it is difficult to come up with a more graphic description of the attacks the Israeli Occupation carries out on the giant open-air prison of Gaza; and no less the current one. Here is a pithy summing-up of both the on-going situation and the recent history leading to today's violence: http://imeu.net/news/article0022250.shtml
Probably the most important thing to remember is that the people of Gaza have long been serving as guinea-pigs for Israel's high-earning arms industry - certainly since all Jewish colonists were moved out.

trial threatens Israel's impunity

 

Earlier this week PSC’s Director, Sarah Colborne, gave evidence in Istanbul alongside hundreds of other witnesses, on Israel’s attack on the Mavi Marmara on 31 May 2010. Four senior Israeli commanders are being tried in Turkey as ‘fugitive suspects’. The case is being brought on behalf of 490 plaintiffs and victims including flotilla passengers and relatives of the dead and injured. Among those present were convoy veteran Bristol's Sakir Yildirim, who was en-route,taking aid to Syria.  Sakir Yildirim on the road Israeli response was initially to try and block the trial. Israel’s concerns about this trial are well-founded. If, as a result of this trial, international arrest warrants are issued for those responsible, this will have a major impact on the freedom of movement of senior Israeli generals.