Human Rights

NOVANEWS    Tania Kepler  Alternative Information Center (AIC) An Israeli court has given the green light for destruction of an additional 200 graves in Jerusalem’s Mamilla Cemetery. Judge Dov Falk issued a decision on 19 January to Mohammed Suleiman Igbarieh, the lawyer acting on behalf of Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage, which is undertaking the graveyard's maintenance and restoration.   The Islamic Mamilla Cemetery is located at the center of West Jerusalem and the city’s municipality would like to use the historic burial ground as the site for a “Museum of Tolerance” sponsored by the Simon Wiesenthal Center (a Jewish human rights organization).   Judge Falk rejected the request made by the cemetery's religious officials, Haj Sami Rizkallah Abu Mokh and Alhaji Mustapha Abu Z...

NOVANEWS    On Wednesday (04.08.2010) morning, Israeli machinery began the sweeping of a number of graves in the historic Islamic Ma'man Allah cemetery in occupied Jerusalem which contains dozens of tombs dating back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The Al-Aqsa Foundation for Heritage and Endowments said: "Machinery and bulldozers belonging to the Israeli municipal authorities in Jerusalem have dug up and destroyed 15 tombs in the Ma'man Allah cemetery located in the far north east of Jerusalem. This action is in accordance with Judaisation plans for the Holy city which aims at ridding Jerusalem of all that is Arab and Islamic". In a copy of a written statement sent to 'Quds Press', the Foundation clarified that the Israeli violation had "occurred after the Al-Aqsa Foundation ...

NOVANEWS No more cancer: Israeli Army admits Jawaher killed by tear gas  No more cancer: Israeli Army admits Jawaher killed by tear gas More Recent Articles Search The Only Democracy?   By Jesse Bacon   I In a triumph of the obvious truth over incoherent lies, the Israeli Army now admits that Jawaher Abu Rahmah was indeed killed by tear gas at a  demo, not as their anonymous speculation would have it by cancer or an honor killing. These tales violated basic plausibility, but they did provide animplausible denial, which is all Israeli government’s supporters need to fan out online with the narrative that there were “doubts about her death.” The new Army version still blames Palestinians for not treating her better. We know from the Republican Party’s...

NOVANEWS by crescentandcross     This article was a response to a piece on WIRED.COM  entitled .. 25 Tons of Bombs Wipe Afghan Town Off Map Well, Well, Well .. Let me see if I got this right .. Our ‘oh so brave’ troops and their 50 trillion dollar war machine with the finest collection of mass murder hardware in the world .. attack and flatten some village over there and I’m supposed be ‘proud’ ?? !!   Boy I’m sure those villagers really appreciated the ‘job’ we did !   Just like the 1.5 MILLION dead Iraqi Men, Women, and Children we butchered on the basis of lies !!   (No doubt enjoying the new found democracy that we brought to them .. the right to die!)   When you cut through the crap and get down to it, we go half way around the world to rape, pillage and plunder countries because...

NOVANEWS   Stop the Brutal Transfer of Bedouins, Citizens of Israel   Yeela Raanan, Jan. 18th, 2011. The Israeli Governments' actions in El Araqib right now are new and terrifying… In a nutshell: On Sunday and again on Monday the police helped the JNF people in "clearing out the area", which included beatings, bullets, injured, arrested: both of the village and activists, leaving several activists in jail overnight, some people injured and in hospital, the police remained in the village "clearing out" the rubble for hours, thus the village people for most of the day were "imprisoned" in the village cemetery. We have not witnessed this level of violence against Israeli citizens in the past few decades. And so far there is silence, and the Government of Israel knows it may continue... For p...

NOVANEWS   Israel National News reports that “Israeli tanks and bulldozers crossed several hundred feet into Gaza Tuesday afternoon and killed one terrorist after a bomb exploded near an Israel patrol vehicle at the Gaza separation/security barrier.” I know that this isn’t true, because I know who they killed: Amjad Sami Za’aneen. I know because I got a call from his relative Saber Za’aneen earlier today that there had been an incursion in Beit Hanoun, and because my friends went to the hospital to go interview his family members. They said he’d been collecting rocks with friends in the buffer zone when an Israeli tank unloaded a shell at them. It blew a hole in his abdomen so big he didn’t even make it to the hospital before he died. The murderers’ newspaper says: “it is widely known that...

NOVANEWS Thousands of Israelis rally in defence of human and civil rights Tel Aviv sees largest demonstration in years as people protest against parliamentary investigation into funding of rights groups  Harriet Sherwood in Tel Aviv guardian.co.uk  16 January 2011 Israeli and Palestinian flags are waved by thousands of activists from leftwing groups at a rally in Tel Aviv. Photograph: Oded Balilty/AP Thousands of Israelis marched in Tel Aviv at the weekend in the biggest demonstration for years to protest against a series of attacks on civil and human rights organisations and a rise in anti-Arab sentiment. Under the banner of the "Democratic Camp", a coalition of organisations and prominent individuals, the marchers heard speakers lambast the Israeli government, singling...

NOVANEWS Exclusive Interview: JNF demolishes village for the 9th Time More Recent Articles Search The Only Democracy? By Jesse Bacon Bulldozes from the Jewish National Fund demolished the Bedouin village for Al-Arakib for  the  ninth  time yesterday and today. They also demolished the village’s olive groves the  week of Tu  Bshvat,  which  celebrates the flowering of trees so they can grow a forest named after a Fundamentalist Christian TV channel and foreign ambassadors. The visitors were held in the village’s grav- eyard while the demolition took place, with much more force than usual. The Only  Democracy?  spoke  with  Roii Ball, an Israeli activist with the joint groupTarabut-Hithabrut: Arab–Jewish Movement for Social & Political Change, who ha...

NOVANEWS please give this wings. From Hithabrut-Tarrabut Movement press release:   Monday, January 17 2011     On Sunday, January 16th, 2011, the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) accompanied by a heavy police presence destroyed the Bedouin village of Al Araqib for the 9thtime since its total destruction in July 2010. During the village's destruction the police forces used large amounts of violent force, including sponge bullets (a police method of crowd dispersal) which injured eleven of the residents, one of them in his eye.   This time it seems that the ILA has decided to expel the residents once and for all. This is corroborated by statements made by Shlomo Zeiser, the ILA officer in charge of inspection, in an interview with the "Walla" news website: "In addition to the ongoing work, ...

NOVANEWS GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, TOM HURNDALL AND PALESTINIAN CHILDREN SHOT IN THE HEAD   By Alison Weir in Counterpunch   Tom Hurndall Shot in the Head by Israeli Sniper There is something particularly horrifying when someone is shot in the head. Perhaps it’s the gruesome image, the destruction of the brain, the clear intent to kill. The recent shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is made even more nightmarish by the location of her devastating injury. Those of us who focus on Israel-Palestine are acutely aware of this horror. Several years ago, I was researching the cause of death of Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces during the first months of the Second Intifadah, the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. As I counted up the numbers, I was chilled t...