Nova Newsletter

NOVANEWS As war rages in Gaza, West Bank routine of violence and arrests unabated Arrests, expulsions, home demolitions, land seizure and settlers harassing Palestinians continues: Since the beginning of the fighting in the south on July 8, soldiers and police have injured 2,139 Palestinians in the West Bank. http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.612198 By Amira Hass Last Wednesday, about an hour and a half after midnight, a group of armed men in uniforms burst into the home in the West Bank city of Ramallah of Khalida Jarrar, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council representing the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. One of the group tried to hand her a document written in Hebrew. She refused to accept the piece of paper. A female soldier, she recounted, rea...

NOVANEWS       Dear Friends, 7 items below tonight, in addition to the ones forwarded earlier.  There are many more.  At times as these Israel and Gaza do receive attention.  Better to not have violence, even though it means less reports. At present, am waiting to hear whether or not the cease fire will continue past midnight (it is 10:55 in Israel now).  There was one shooting of rockets about an hour ago, which leads me to expect that the cease fire will not be extended, but one never knows.  Could be one of the lesser organizations that decided to jump the gun.  Enough killing.  Enough! Item 1 begins with a death caused by an explosion during attempts to defuse a bomb.  Sad that these things also occur.  Five people (or perhaps 6, not clear) were killed in this ...

NOVANEW Dear Friends, These are sad times.  We have a cease fire now, scheduled to last another 2 days (from midnight to midnight).  The cease fire is to give time for the sides to talk. My personal feeling is that Israel feels that it is doing excellently and will continue without giving the Palestinians the time of day.  May I be wrong.  They have the same right as do all human beings to be free!  Imagine the United States telling Mexico that it can have no ports either sea or air ones!  The Palestinians badly need their freedom.  Will Hamas raise its hands without gaining the end of the siege?  Israel is obviously not ready to give Gaza anything—well just small things, like extending the distance that fishermen will be allowed to fish.  One thing that is not spoken of much is the fact ...

NOVANEWS Dear Friends, I am using these few precious days of cease fire (if they last the whole 3 days) to catch up on a huge backlog, which does not yet include going through the +5000 emails that have accumulated in my inbox.  That will come too.  Eventually. Meanwhile, below are 9 items that I think are worth reading and had intended to send yesterday, but didn’t.  By 2 AM had read all, but was too exhausted to put them together and send.  I apologize for any duplications. Item 2, Amira Hass’s “Israel’s attack on Gaza is revenge for the Palestinian refusal to accept occupation” is from July, but is worth re-reading now in the light of what actually happened. As for the rest, my impression is that there is much more criticism of Israel now than ever before, and many more attempts to air...

NOVANEWS Dear Friends, Just 6 items below (in addition to those I have already forwarded today).  The 4th item, Today in Palestine for August 3, 2014, is the only site that keeps you up to date on what is happening in the West Bank in addition to Gaza.  Well, today is different.  There was what is described in the media as ‘a terrorist’ attempt in Jerusalem to kill Israelis. That will be in the news.  But most of the rest, the daily happenings in Jerusalem and the WB are barely mentioned if at all in the media.  Thus, Today in Palestine is a crucial source of information. In item 1 Gideon Levy sarcastically states that it took Washington 25 days to call the Gaza war “barbaric.”  The question mark does not indicate a question but rather amazement that it took so long.  His conversation by ...

NOVANEWS Dear Friends, The latest figures of casualties that I am aware of till now are over 1,300 Gazans killed and 53 IOF soldiers plus 3 civilians in Israel.  Bloody enough without continuing another minute, much less day or days!  And yet the fighting continues. Below are 5 items. In item 1 the writer fantasizes about how he would react and what he should do should he receive one of Israel’s famous phone calls telling him that he has so many minutes to leave before his home is bombarded. Item 2 is about Israel’s bombardment of another UNRWA school, in which 19 lost their lives, Immediately following is an article on the laws of engagement, from which we learn that schools are not a legitimate target, even if someone presumably shoots from the school. Item 4 discusses the dilemma that ...

NOVANEWS Dear Friends, Another 5 items below.  They begin with positive news (for a change)! Item 1 contains 2 reports on demands to label products that come from the Opt—one from England, the other from Belgium. And item 2 reports on criticism of Israel by Spanish artists.  Finally, we are beginning to see reactions additional to the protests in many countries.  Let us hope that there will be many more open letters as these! Item 3 is less pleasant.  A recent poll shows that the large majority of Israelis are with the government in this horrid attack on Gaza. Well, most Israelis don’t know the whole story—why it began at all, so of course they stand up for their government, just as Gazans stand up for Hamas. Item 4 is from an Israeli who speaks of “Israel’s tarnished moral calculus.  Goo...

NOVANEWS Dear dear Friends, I don’t know what happened to me yesterday—maybe mental and emotional exhaustion.  I can’t bear to read and hear about what is happening in Gaza.  But I have to to keep you informed. Nevertheless I will not do again what I did yesterday—send you a ton of articles with no comments or means of knowing what each is about.  There is too much on the internet.  Hard to keep up with. This will end sometime after the conflict ends—which has not happened yet. From now on, so long as the conflict lasts, I will send not more than 4 or 5 items at a time, but probably will send more than one collection.  This should make it easier for you to find what interests you most.  I very likely will also forward to you some of the materials that I receive in emails. As for today, be...

NOVANEWS Dear friends and family, Instead of having some good news today, I have to say that things are getting worse in Gaza.  Resistance in the West Bank is growing--resistance to what is happening in Gaza and resistance to the Israeli military occupation.  I read a very interesting article today that says the leadership at a crossroads similar to when they had to decide whether or not to leave Beirut just before the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.  Today the decision is whether to stay with negotiations and the status quo that has not brought them any closer to a just peace or whether to listen to the street--those resisting in Gaza and West Bank.  Things can hardly get worse.  All Palestinians, especially those in Gaza are paying a very high price.  The death toll in Gaza passed ...