Citizenship law makes Israel an apartheid state

The government’s decision last week to extend the validity of the Citizenship Law (Temporary Order), for another year, is evidence that the legal barriers preventing severe discrimination against Israel’s Arab citizens and harm to their civil rights have been removed.
This extension is the eighth since the law was first passed in 2003, and it [...]

‘Dutch Jimmy Carter’ accuses Israel of terrorism in new book

The emotion in Andreas Van Agt’s voice as he lambastes Israel’s behavior seems puzzling for a man of his status. It is especially intriguing when one is reminded that this blue-eyed professed idealist is an astute statesman who presided as the Dutch prime minister for five years, until 1982.
“My involvement in the Middle East [...]

Gaza truce ‘violated repeatedly’

A fragile eight-day-old truce between Israel and Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip appears to have been violated repeatedly by both sides.
A UN source says Israeli troops have opened fire on Palestinian farmers several times, causing injuries. Israel says its forces fired warning shots.
Palestinian militants have also broken the ceasefire, firing rockets and mortars into [...]

Palestinians say 17-year-old shot dead by IDF troops in West Bank

Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed a Palestinian teenager during a raid into the West Bank on Friday, local residents and medical workers said.
The residents said the 17-year-old was killed while confronting IDF troops who raided the village of Beit Umar, near the West Bank city of Hebron.
The military said that soldiers entered Beit [...]

Lost in Translation: Alhurra—America’s Troubled Effort to Win Middle East Hearts and Minds

(excerpt from longer artical)…
Alhurra has not come close to realizing the Bush Administration’s hope that it would someday compete with Al Jazeera, the most-watched station in the Middle East. According to six years of polling by Zogby and the University of Maryland, Al Jazeera remains the favored channel for news for more than 50 percent [...]

West Bank ‘attackers’ arrested

Israeli police say they have arrested two Jewish settlers over an apparent assault of Palestinians that was filmed as part of a human rights project.
An adult male and a minor were arrested in Susia settlement overnight and will appear in court on Tuesday. B’Tselem human rights group has been giving Palestinians video cameras as part [...]

Israel and Hamas ceasefire begins

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has begun, despite a last-minute flurry of cross-border attacks. The truce is designed to halt Israeli incursions into the Gaza Strip, and to stop missiles being fired from Gaza into southern Israel. If it holds, Israel will ease its blockade on Gaza and there may be further [...]

Paramilitary police attack Al-Nakba march

It has been a week of adulation from world leaders, ostentatious displays of military prowess, and street parties. Heads of state have rubbed shoulders with celebrities to pay homage to the Jewish state on its 60th birthday, while a million Israelis reportedly headed off to the country’s forests to enjoy the national pastime: a barbecue.
But [...]

‘Jewish settler attack’ on film + Three Palestinian shepherds tell police: We were attacked by masked settlers in Hebron Hills

A Palestinian woman, 57, was badly injured and her husband and another relative were battered, in an assault by masked Israelis in the southern Hebron Hills yesterday. The police are investigating whether the Israeli attackers hailed from the West Bank settlement of Susia, as the injured Palestinians claim.

The three, Thamem al-Nawaja, 57, her husband [...]

Soaring food prices and the falling dollar cause havoc

This is not a solicitation letter that we send to you periodically, usually before the holidays. This is an urgent plea for help.
For over 25 years, Yad Eliezer has been distributing monthly food packages to over 10,000 impoverished families in Israel. We traditionally distribute the packages on the start of the new month, Rosh Chodesh, [...]