FlotillaHyves1
  • Front Page
  • Home
  • UNRWA & Refugees
    • UNRWA & Refugees 2019 >
      • UNRWA & Refugees 2018
      • UNRWA & Refugees 2017
      • UNRWA & Refugees 2016
      • UNRWA & Refugees 2015
      • UNRWA & Refugees 2014
      • UNRWA & Refugees 2013
      • UNRWA & Refugees 2012
  • Palestinian Education
    • Palestinian Education 2019 >
      • Palestinian Education 2018
      • Palestinian Education 2017
      • Palestinian Education 2016
      • Palestinian Education 2015
      • Palestinian Education 2014
      • Palestinian Education 2013
      • Palestinian Education 2012
  • Palestinian Economy
    • Palestinian Economy 2019 >
      • Palestinian Economy 2018
      • Palestinian Economy 2017
      • Palestinian Economy 2016
      • Palestinian Economy 2015
      • Palestinian Economy 2014
      • Palestinian Economy 2013
      • Palestinian Economy 2012
  • Palestinian water
    • Palestinian water 2019 >
      • Palestinian water 2018
      • Palestinian water 2017
      • Palestinian water 2016
      • Palestinian water 2015
      • Palestinian water 2014
      • Palestinian water 2013
      • Palestinian water 2012
  • Palestinian Gas
    • Palestinian Gas 2019 >
      • Palestinian Gas 2018
      • Palestinian Gas 2016/17
      • Palestinian Gas 2015
  • Internet
    • Internet 2019 >
      • Internet 2018
      • Internet 2017
      • Internet 2016
      • Internet 2015
      • Internet 2014
      • Internet 2013
      • Internet 2012
  • Fire in and across Palestine
    • Fire in and across Palestine 2019 >
      • Fire in and across Palestine 2018
      • Fire in and across Palestine 2017
      • Fire in and across Palestine 2016
      • Fire in and across Palestine 2015
      • Fire in and across Palestine 2014
      • Fire in and across Palestine 2013
  • Palestinian New Buildings
    • Palestinian New Buildings 2019 >
      • Palestinian New Buildings 2018
      • Palestinian New Buildings 2017
      • Palestinian New Buildings 2016
      • Palestinian New Buildings 2015
      • Palestinian New Buildings 2014
      • Palestinian New Buildings 2013
      • Palestinian New Buildings 2012
  • Boycott Israel
    • Boycott Israel 2019 >
      • Boycott Israel 2018
      • Boycott Israel 2017
      • Boycott Israel 2016
      • Boycott Israel 2015
      • Boycott Israel 2014
      • Boycott Israel 2013
      • Boycott Israel 2012
  • New Weapons
    • New Weapons 2019 >
      • New Weapons 2018
      • New Weapons 2017
      • New Weapons 2016
      • New Weapons 2015
      • New Weapons 2014
      • New Weapons 2013
  • Jews vs Zionism
    • Jews vs Zionism 2018 >
      • Jews vs Zionism 2017
      • Jews vs Zionism 2016
      • Jews vs Zionism 2015
      • Jews vs Zionism 2014
      • Jews vs Zionism 2013
      • Jews vs Zionism 2012
  • Breaking the Silence
    • Breaking the Silence
    • Breaking the Silence 2018
    • Breaking the Silence 2017
    • Breaking the Silence 2016
    • Breaking the Silence 2015
    • Breaking the Silence 2014
  • Church
    • Church 2019 >
      • Church 2018
      • Church 2017
      • Church 2016
      • Church 2015
      • Church 2014
      • Church 2013
      • Church 2012
  • US America
    • US America 2019 >
      • US America 2018
      • US America 2017
      • US America 2016
      • US America 2015
      • US America 2014
      • US America 2013
      • US-America 2012
  • Saudi Arabia
    • Saudi Arabia 2019 >
      • Saudi Arabia 2018
      • Saudi Arabia 2017
  • Syria
    • Syria 2019 >
      • Syria 2018
      • Syria 2017
      • Syria 2016
      • Syria 2015
      • Syria 2014
      • Syria 2013
      • Syria 2012 >
        • Syria 2012 nov
        • Syria 2012 oct
        • Syria 2012 sept
  • Egypt
    • Egypt 2019 >
      • Egypt 2018
      • Egypt 2017
      • Egypt 2016
      • Egypt 2015
      • Egypt 2014
      • Egypt 2013
  • Lebanon
    • Lebanon 2019 >
      • Lebanon 2018
      • Lebanon 2017
      • Lebanon 2016
      • Lebanon 2015
      • Lebanon 2014
      • Lebanon 2013
      • Lebanon 2012
  • Jordan
    • Jordan 2019 >
      • Jordan 2018
      • Jordan 2017
      • Jordan 2016
      • Jordan 2015
  • Iran
    • Iran 2019 >
      • Iran 2018
      • Iran 2017
      • Iran 2016
      • Iran 2015
      • Iran 2014
      • Iran 2013
      • Iran 2012
  • Iraq
    • Iraq 2019
  • Yemen
  • Turkey
    • Turkey 2019 >
      • Turkey 2018
      • Turkey 2017
      • Turkey 2016
      • Turkey 2015
      • Turkey 2014
      • Turkey 2013
      • Turkey 2012
  • Freedom Flotilla
    • Freedom Flotilla 2017-18 >
      • Freedom Flotilla 2016
      • Freedom Flotilla 2015
  • Mavi Marmara
    • Mavi Marmara 2015 >
      • Mavi Marmara 2014
      • Mavi Marmara 2013
      • Mavi Marmara 2012
      • Mavi Marmara 2011
  • UK-Britain
    • UK-Britain 2019 >
      • UK-Britain 2018
      • UK-Britain 2017
      • UK-Britain 2016
      • UK-Britain 2015
      • UK-Britain 2014
      • UK-Britain 2013
      • UK-Britain 2012
  • The Netherlands
    • The Netherlands 2018 >
      • The Netherlands 2017
      • The Netherlands 2016
      • The Netherlands 2015
      • The Netherlands 2014
      • The Netherlands 2013
      • The Netherlands 2012
  • Anti Semitism?
    • Anti Semitism? 2019 >
      • Anti Semitism? 2018
      • Anti Semitism? 2017
      • Anti Semitism? 2016
      • Anti Semitism? 2015
      • Anti Semitism? 2014
  • "Nice" Rabbis
    • "Nice" Rabbis 2019 >
      • "Nice" Rabbis 2018
      • "Nice" Rabbis 2017
      • "Nice" Rabbis 2016
      • "Nice" Rabbis 2015
      • "Nice" Rabbis 2014
      • "Nice" Rabbis 2013
      • "Nice" Rabbis 2012
      • "Nice" Rabbis 2009
  • Pictures/names of martyrs
15 oct 2017
Blair: We were wrong to boycott Hamas after its 2006 election win
Picture
Former British premier and Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair has admitted for the first time that he and other world leaders were wrong to yield to Israeli pressure to impose an immediate boycott of Hamas after it won Palestinian elections in 2006, according to the Guardian newspaper.

The results of the 2006 elections were judged free and fair by international monitors,

At the time, Blair offered strong support for the decision, driven by the George W Bush White House, to halt aid to and sever relations with the newly elected Hamas-led Palestinian Authority unless it agreed to recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by previous agreements between its Fatah predecessors and Israel, but such ultimatum was rejected by Hamas.

Interviewed for a new book “Gaza: Preparing for Dawn,” Blair said: “In retrospect, I think we should have, right at the very beginning, tried to pull [Hamas] into a dialogue and shifted their positions. I think that’s where I would be in retrospect.”

“But, obviously, it was very difficult; the Israelis were very opposed to it. But you know we could have probably worked out a way whereby we did, which in fact we ended up doing anyway, informally.”

Blair did not elaborate on subsequent “informal” dealings with Hamas, but he appears to be referring to clandestine contacts between MI6 and Hamas representatives during and possibly after the kidnap of BBC journalist Alan Johnston by an extreme fundamentalist group in 2007. The kidnappers eventually released Johnston after heavy pressure from the Hamas government.

The Guardian quoted sources as saying that Blair had held at least six lengthy private meetings with Khaled Mishaal, the former Hamas political bureau chief, and his successor Ismail Haneyya.

Those meetings were to explore a possible long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but the international block on official contacts with Hamas eroded western leverage in the region, increased the isolation and suffering of the Gaza public, and helped to drive the Movement into the arms of Iran, all without dislodging it from its dominance of Gaza.

12 oct 2017
Conf. to be staged over historical fallouts of Balfour Declaration
Picture
A conference over the upshots of the notorious Balfour Declaration is to be held on November 17 in Beirut by the Palestinians Abroad Conference, in partnership with the Arab-International Center for Communication and Solidarity.

“Balfour . . . . The Centenary of an Imperialist Project” Conference is expected to kick start in Beirut on November 17 so as to discuss the tragic fallouts of the Balfour Declaration and of the British mandate in Palestine.

The conference will also shed light on the legal flaws of the Declaration and the UK’s historical responsibility for the tragedy befalling the Palestinians over decades.

The conference follows attempts by the Palestinians in Europe Conference to urge the UK to backtrack on the celebration of the Balfour centenary.

4 oct 2017
AOHR urges UK to arrest Israel’s Ehud Barak over war crimes
Picture
The Arab Organization for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR) urged on Wednesday the Counter Terrorism Command (CTC), also called SO15, to arrest Israel’s former PM, Ehud Barak, in London.

AOHR said Barak was spotted on Tuesday evening in London streets with his wife and a bodyguard. However, the local police made no efforts to nab him despite the man’s incontestable involvement in war crimes against the Palestinians and in the notorious attack on the Mavi Marmara aid-ship.

“London has become a safe resort for war criminals,” AOHR said, slamming the British authorities for dragging their feet over ongoing calls to issue arrest warrants against Israeli leaders charged with war crimes.

It added that Britain is amongst the world’s states which have adopted an overriding priority to disrupt terrorist-related activity and impeach war criminals regardless of their nationality and origin.

“When it comes to Israelis indicted for UN-documented war crimes such laws become shallow. The suspect is either granted diplomatic immunity on claims that he/she is on an official visit; or else the suspect goes invisible in case he/she shows up again, despite the decisive proof police have access to,” AOHR’s Arabic statement further read.

29 sept 2017
Israel 'terrified' of Corbyn as PM, Israeli activist tells Labour audience
Picture
Israel is “terrified” of Jeremy Corbyn becoming British prime minister and will do everything they can to stop him, a leading Israeli activist and writer told an audience of Labour party members on Monday.

Miko Peled, who has spoken around the world against Israel’s occupation, was speaking in Brighton during the Labour Party conference where Corbyn’s position has been strengthened following the 8 June election.

Peled said the Israelis “are terrified of the possibility of Jeremy Corbyn being prime minister. They are going to pull all the stops, they are going to smear, they are going to try anything they can to stop Corbyn from being prime minister."

He said it was up to Labour members to stop that happening. “Jeremy Corbyn is an opportunity for Britain that, if it gets lost, won’t come back for a very long time.”

The meeting exposed cracks within the ranks of Labour’s Jewish membership with one audience member calling for the Jewish Labour Movement, which has traditionally supported Israel, to be expelled from the party.

The meeting was organised by a rival group, Jewish Voice for Labour, which advocates Palestinian rights and supports the boycott campaign against Israel.

British-Palestinian barrister and campaigner Salma Karmi-Ayyoub warned the meeting that if what she described as the “New Anti-Semitism campaign” was successful, activists would not be able to criticise Israeli policies or demand Palestinian rights.

"The issue is that the Jewish state in the form that Israel is now is incompatible with Palestinian rights. That is just the reality. You can't have both."

Israel is using the anti-Semitism label to block all meaningful discussions on Palestine, she said. “I’ve been in a meeting with a spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs who said the [Palestinian] right of return is anti-Semitic,” she said.

“What Israel now faces as a result of its own expansion is a bi-national reality. It faces a choice of becoming an apartheid state or a state of all its citizens,” said Karmi-Ayyoub, who is co-chair of the British legal charity Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights.

Following his 2015 surprise election to the Labour leadership, Corbyn faced criticism over alleged anti-Semitism in the party and a commission was set up to investigate the claims, while a number of Labour members were suspended for alleged anti-Semitism.

"The reason anti-Semitism is used is because they [the Israelis] have no argument, there is nothing to say," said Peled. "How can a call for justice and tolerance be conflated with anti-Semitism? I don't know if they realise this but they are pitting Judaism against everything good and just."

Labour leaders have traditionally supported a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine issue, although there has been a push ahead of the conference for the party to take a more pro-Palestinian stance.

Peled has spoken around the world about his experience of growing up as the son of Israeli general and war hero Matti Peled, losing a niece to a Palestinian suicide bomber and his growing opposition to Israel’s occupation.

Corbyn has been an active supporter of Palestine Solidarity Campaign in the UK for many years, facing accusations that he supported Hamas during the 2017 general election campaign.

Peled, who lives in the US and recently published a book The General’s Son, said the Palestinian cause had received growing support in the US. “There have been enormous strides on this issue in the last five to six years.... I’m in Palestine a lot and I see the Israeli state collapsing from within.”

Pro-Israel Lobby Losing Its Grip On Westminster
Picture
by Yvonne Ridley, Days of Palestine

This has not been a good week for Israel, especially in Britain, where the Zionist lobbyists have spent millions in recent years oiling the cogs in Westminster to persuade politicians of all stripes to give their unconditional support to their favourite state.

It has worked rather well for them, with Labour Party leaders like Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband joining their counterparts in the Tory Party as “Friends of Israel” along with the majority of their ministers and shadow ministers.

However, after this week’s triumphant Labour Party conference in Brighton it looks as if the pro-Israel lobby has lost its grip on the party led by Jeremy Corbyn. If anyone had any doubt that the Zionist influence has all but gone, it was dispelled by the Labour leader’s speech.

“And let’s give real support to end the oppression of the Palestinian people, the 50-year occupation and illegal settlement expansion and move to a genuine two-state solution of the Israel-Palestine conflict,” Corbyn roared. “Britain’s voice needs to be heard independently in the world,” he added to cheers from around the conference hall. As if to reinforce that this was not some sentence thrown in at random, Corbyn fired a warning shot to Israel’s greatest friends in Washington for good measure: “We must be a candid friend to the United States, now more than ever.”

There was also a Corbyn broadside aimed at the President of the United States: “The values we share are not served by building walls, banning immigrants on the basis of religion, polluting the planet, or pandering to racism. And let me say frankly, the speech made by the US President to the United Nations last week was deeply disturbing. It threatened war and talked of tearing up international agreements. Devoid of concern for human rights or universal values, it was not the speech of a world leader.”

Clearly relishing his time in the spotlight, Corbyn rubbed salt into the wound. “Our government has a responsibility,” he pointed out. “It cannot meekly go along with this dangerous course. If the special relationship means anything, it must mean that we can say to Washington: that way is the wrong way. That’s clearly what’s needed in the case of Bombardier where thousands of jobs are now at stake. A Prime Minister betting our economic future on a deregulated trade deal with the US might want to explain how 220 per cent tariffs are going to boost our exports. So let Britain’s voice be heard loud and clear for peace, justice and cooperation.”

Corbyn’s message will be especially well-received in Northern Ireland, where 4,500 jobs are under threat after it emerged that a ruling on punitive tariffs by the US plunged the Canadian-owned Bombardier Inc. into crisis after threatening to make its key C Series jet all but unsellable.

It was sensational stuff. A shot in the arm for Palestine, a slap in the face to the US and lots of talk of peace and justice from a political leader who is no longer the butt of jokes or political satire. Like it or not, Labour is a party ready to take office; in a climate where Britain’s current Prime Minister is hanging on to her job by a thread, some political observers are already talking about “when” Jeremy Corbyn becomes Prime Minister, and not “if”.

One can only guess what Australian-born Mark Regev makes of it all. He might even tear down his anti-BDS war room charts in Israel’s London Embassy now and focus instead on how to stop Labour from forming the next British government. The Israeli Ambassador was left reeling after being snubbed publicly by Corbyn this week, so his aides could well have been reaching for the smelling salts when the Labour leader pledged to give “real support” to Palestine. To add to the ambassador’s misery, that particular comment brought the loudest cheers and applause from the audience.

Regev, clinging to the comfort blanket of victimhood that he keeps to hand in case of emergency, condemned what he alleged was “anti-Jewish bigotry” at the Labour conference after Jeremy Corbyn didn’t show up at a pro-Israel reception. He made his claim at a Labour Friends of Israel event, where those present shouted “where is he?” and “why isn’t he here?” when it was revealed that Mr Corbyn would not be appearing alongside the former spin-doctor who sought to justify the killing of children, women and men when he was Benjamin Netanyahu’s mouthpiece during successive Israeli military offensives against civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry told the pro-Israel gathering that the Labour leader was “not attending any of these receptions” on Tuesday night in order to prepare for his keynote conference speech on Wednesday. However, photographs later emerged showing that Corbyn had turned up at a Daily Mirror party, where shadow ministers were in karaoke mood.

“The Labour movement has a proud history of supporting Zionism,” said Regev. “So to those who called for the expulsion of Zionists from the Labour Party on Monday, I ask, would you have expelled some of Labour’s greatest luminaries too?” The ambassador was clearly rattled by the humiliating snub.

Thornberry insisted that Labour is “completely committed” to a two-state solution in the Middle East. She added, pointedly, that it is “completely inappropriate for those on the fringes of the Labour Party, on the fringes of this conference, to try to strangle that debate.” In a written statement to the pro-Israel reception, Corbyn said, “Labour will continue to campaign for peace through a two-state solution, a secure Israel alongside a secure and viable Palestinian state. I look forward to working with you all to achieve that together.”

The powerful leader of the Unite union, Len McCluskey, is a close ally of Corbyn. He claimed later that allegations of anti-Jewish sentiment within the party are “mood music” created by those wanting to “undermine” the Labour leader.

To add to the misery of Regev and his lobbyists, it was announced on Wednesday that Interpol is to admit Palestine as a member of the International Police Organisation, despite Israel’s strong opposition to the Palestinian Authority joining any international body, arguing that it is not a state. The last time that the PA applied to join Interpol was last year, in Indonesia, where Israel’s lobbying paid off when the application was rejected.

This time, though, the Zionist state hasn’t been so lucky, and the PA may well use its membership of Interpol to have “red notices” issued against senior Israeli officials, something that Israel dreads. Interpol itself doesn’t issue arrest warrants — its members do that — but a red notice is a trigger which would make overseas travel very difficult for those Israelis suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Benjamin Netanyahu cheered last year and gloated that his country’s diplomats had secured a major victory in denying the PA Interpol membership. What will he make of the announcement today? And, indeed, the news from the Labour Party conference? Alarm bells must be ringing.

Nevertheless, Regev and Netanyahu can at least reassure themselves that the pro-Israel lobby is alive and well within the ranks of Tory MPs, and no doubt Prime Minister Theresa May will reassure Tel Aviv of this during the Conservative Party conference next week. Such reassurances from a lame duck PM and a government declining in popularity, though, will be cold comfort to the wounded Israelis. Not only are they losing their friends in one party, but those in the other are losing their influence. Dark days ahead, then, which means a ray of hope for the beleaguered people of Palestine as the pro-Israel lobby loses its grip on Westminster.

Yvonne Ridley is an author, famous journalist and film-maker Yvonne is a committed peace activist, champion of civil liberties and advocate for women’s rights. She was on the first international flotilla to sail to Gaza in 2008.

Archive IMEMC post: 08/31/17 Murder Case of Cartoonist Naji al-Ali Reopened in UK

26 sept 2017
PRC holds debate on Balfour declaration in Geneva
Picture
The Palestinian Return Center (PRC) on Monday held a panel discussion about the Balfour declaration on the sidelines of the 36th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The participants in the debate called on Britain to necessarily apologize for the declaration, which they said led to the displacement of millions of Palestinians and brought endless calamities upon them

In his speech, Salman Abu Sitta, head of the general committee for the National Conference for the Palestinians Abroad, talked about Britain’s role in establishing the Israeli occupation state and committing massacres against the Palestinian people.

Abu Sitta demanded Britain to apologize for the letter made by its foreign secretary Arthur Balfour in 1917 on Palestine and compensate the Palestinian people financially for the harm and destruction which they have suffered from at the hands of the Zionists for over 100 years.

For his part, head of the Palestinian Prisoner Society Qaddura Fares criticized Britain for its refusal to apologize for the Balfour declaration, stressing that the Palestinian people at home and abroad are in agreement that Britain must shoulder its responsibilities towards them.

PRC chairman Majed al-Zeer, in turn, spoke on the importance of the role that can be played by civil society and human rights groups in pressuring the British government to apologize for its crimes in Palestine.

Page:  6 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.