Palestine Affairs

NOVANEWS   Here's Mike Marqusee on the charges facing the Edinburgh 5 over their protesting the visit of "ambassadors for Israel", the Jerusalem Quartet, about 18 months ago: March 29th will see the resumption in an Edinburgh court of an extraordinary trial with disturbing implications for freedom of expression and campaigners for Palestinian rights. Back in August 2008, five members of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign disrupted an Edinburgh performance of the Jerusalem Quartet, who are promoted and indeed contracted to act as official ambassadors of the Israeli state and specifically the Israel Defence Forces. The protesters shouted “End the siege of Gaza”, “Boycott Israel”, “Israel is an apartheid state”, “Stand up for human rights” and similar slogans, were detained by se...

NOVANEWS Adalah is an Israeli organisation that focuses on legal rights for the country’s Arab minority. Its new short film, Targeted Citizen, highlights the inherent discrimination against non-Jews in Israel. The only democracy in the Middle East, indeed: see; www.adalah.org

NOVANEWS Matti Tuchfeld Kadima Council Chairman Haim Ramon is working to sabotage the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians -- say high-ranking political officials. The senior officials say that according to information recently obtained by intelligence agencies that was placed on the desk of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak, Ramon is working with senior PA officials to prevent negotiations from being launched between Jerusalem and Ramallah. According to this information, PA sources confirmed this. It was also said that other figures in Kadima might be partners Ramon’s activity. Political sources say that Ramon has been urging Palestinian and European figures to wait for Kadima to come to power, saying that this would make it possible to launch neg...

NOVANEW Thank you so much to all of the people who joined us on Wednesday night to support the ASUC bill urging divestment from companies that directly fund Israel's illegal occupation and war crimes (General Electric and United Technologies), and to all who sent letters in support of the bill to senators these last couple of weeks. We could not have accomplished the 16-4 win without the massive support we received from the UC community and beyond. Now, we need your help one last time to get this bill fully passed. Tomorrow is the last day ASUC President Will Smelko can VETO this bill and we have believe he is considering such action. We hope you can find one last surge of energy and put it toward emails to President Smelko. We know he is now receiving a large number of emails urging him t...