Gaza

NOVANEWS "Hamas has demonstrated a will and a capacity to think and act pragmatically when it believes it useful or necessary. There’s no better example of this than its governance of Gaza. Yes, it continues to play the role of peace-process spoiler when that role suits its interests. But Hamas has also demonstrated a serious capacity to exercise responsibility and restraint when that role suits its purposes. It has demonstrated its ability to control Gaza effectively, to both enforce a long-term cessation of hostilities and to withstand the combined efforts of the United States, Israel, and Egypt to bring it to its knees." See: www.tnr.com

NOVANEWS Norman Finkelstein spoke at Harvard Law School last night. My friends who were there said he was fabulous. Here are their telegraphic notes: Nancy: Points worth making: i) His two reasons for the Gaza war: a) Hamas becoming too reasonable, and b) an effort to restore Israeli "credibility" after the defeat in Lebanon 2006 ii) His very impressive and classy refusal to get into his personal issues with Dersh iii) Total calm command of the facts iv) Standing ovation v) His endorsement of the the Amnesty International report recommending an arms embargo vi) Audience respectful, a sea change from our appearance in the adjacent building 2002. Molly Potter: I think Nancy has summed it up. I would only add that Finkelstein discussed the Goldstone report and its reception by the Israelis in...

NOVANEWS Zio=Nazi tanks have crossed the border into the Gaza Strip with helicopters and drones reportedly flying over the coastal area. Citing Palestinian sources, Reuters reported that five Zionist tanks and two armored bulldozers entered into the Gaza Strip and started firing towards the central town of Khan Yunis on Friday. According to the report, the Popular Resistance Committee confirmed one of its fighters was critically wounded by the tank shelling. Eyewitnesses also reported Israeli helicopters and unmanned military drones flying in the Gaza sky. Fresh clashes erupted between Palestinians and Zionist forces earlier on Wednesday, leaving four people, two from each side, dead.

NOVANEWS Zionist Egyptian police have detained 22 people as a part of a major crackdown launched earlier this week to keep a tight grip on the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of Mu-Barak dogs searched homes in Rafah and Sheikh Zuayed to confiscate goods prepared to be transferred to Gaza. The impoverished territory that is home to 1.5 million people has been under siege by Mu-Barak Zionist army for more than 1,000 days. As Zio=Nazi controls access to the territory by sea and air, Zionist Mu-Barak keeps shut the Rafah border crossing — the sliver's only border that bypasses the Zionist regime. Mu-Barak regime justify his actions by saying that the border post is an Egyptian-Zionist crossing and should not be used without Zionist's permission. Zionist Mu-Barak is additionally building a steel wall alon...

NOVANEWS Between March 1 — March 5, 2010, the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was open, and 4427 people passed through the crossing, including 461 students. Of these students, 100 were returned to Gaza by the Egyptians either because Egypt believed that they would seek to remain in Egypt, or because they were missing the requisite exit documents. According to the latest information, 502 students are presently seeking to leave the Gaza Strip in order to realize their dreams and study in universities abroad. Yet why do students in Gaza aspire to study outside the Strip? Among the reasons is the fact that in Gaza it is not possible to study certain fields, such as dentistry, occupational therapy, veterinary studies, environment preservation and democracy and human rights. In cont...

NOVANEWS Norman Finkelstein has reportedly been disinvited from a speaking gig at DePaul, but he speaks at Harvard Law School tonight about the Goldstone Report. A teaser he sent this site : I was rereading the Zionist Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center’s 350-page response to Goldstone: Hamas and the 'Terrorist' Threat from the Gaza Strip: The main findings of the Goldstone Report versus the factual findings. It is such an embarrassment that you almost — I said almost — begin to feel sorry for the authors. If you have read the Goldstone report, you will recall the harrowing passages [Paragraphs 1112-26] of Palestinians forced to kneel blindfolded and handcuffed in sandpits surrounding Israeli tanks that are firing away or moving back and forth. So, listen to what this Zio=Nazi r...

NOVANEWS On Saturday we went on a non-violent demonstration in central-east Gaza. We marched into the buffer zone. We were quite close to Israeli soldiers. One Palestinian woman was carrying a small child, maybe two years old, with her. She could have left the baby at home. She didn't. The young men were the bravest, staggeringly so. They repeatedly ran up ahead of the larger contingent, to the border fence, planting Palestinian flags within 20, then 10 meters from the border, then on the border, running at dead sprints, dancing, waving the flag. These boys are frustrated beyond belief. But they are brave, and the younger shebab run with them, boys of 8, 10, 11, maybe some even younger, little kids, standing, frontally challenging Zionism and the IDF. Quite literally so: we were in front o...

NOVANEWS Tomorrow evening Norman Finkelstein speaks on the Goldstone report at Harvard Law. Notice that NO Harvard human rights group has co-sponsored the event. Remember that Judge Richard Goldstone was a fixture on the Harvard Law School and Harvard human rights landscape. I’m not sure if everyone is now afraid to touch him. *This Time We Went Too Far: Truth and Consequences of the Gaza Invasion. A Talk by Dr. Norman Finkelstein Moderated by Duncan Kennedy Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence at Harvard Law School Thursday, March 25th , 7:15 – 9:00 p.m., Langdell South, Harvard Law School Co-sponsored by the National Lawyers Guild HLS Chapter, Alliance for Justice in the Middle East at Harvard University, and the Palestine Caucus at Harvard Kennedy School. Now look at this: On t...

NOVANEWS This is what I like: Jews being honest about their personal investment in Israel. Here is Jonathan Tasini, eternal Senate candidate, applauding Obama re settlements and calling for lifting the Gaza blockade. I speak out not just as a candidate for public office. I speak as a Jew. I speak out as the son of a father who was born in Palestine, and who fought in the Jewish underground. I speak as someone who has had family members killed in the decades-long conflict, and who has lived in Israel and witnessed violence first-hand. And I speak as someone who has many family members still living there—and, therefore, I will not rest nor be silent, as a candidate and as a U.S. Senator, until our government is clearly an unstinting supporter of a two-state solution and is willing to speak u...

NOVANEWS Australia’s 60 Minutes program is a tabloid current affairs program that seems to take an unusual interest in the Middle East conflict (here’s a good story from last year about the West Bank occupation in Palestine.) Last Sunday they featured a piece about the economic and political isolation of Gaza. It didn’t pull any punches and outlined fairly accurately the reality of the situation under brutal Israeli and Egyptian bombardment. Palestine is entering the mainstream. See: www.antonyloewenstein.com