‘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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Israel ‘has 150 nuclear weapons’

Ex-US President Jimmy Carter has said Israel has at least 150 atomic weapons in its arsenal. The Israelis have never confirmed they have nuclear weapons, but this has been widely assumed since a scientist leaked details in the 1980s.
Mr Carter made his comments on Israel’s weapons at a press conference at the annual literary Hay [...]

Breaking the silence - Israeli soldiers talk about the occupied territories

Breaking the Silence is an organization of veteran Israeli soldiers that collects testimonies of soldiers who served in the Occupied Territories during the Second Intifadah. Soldiers who serve in the Territories are witness to, and participate in military actions which change them immensely. Cases of abuse towards Palestinians, looting, and destruction of property have been [...]

Our Defense Forces, our war crimes, our terrorism

Author’s note: This is the second version of this piece. The first was written, I freely admit, in anger and in suspicion, not least because of the many cases of the unwarranted killings of Palestinian civilians which have gone unreported, underreported, glossed over, or misrepresented in the Israeli media, and because the army was initially [...]

Palestinians clash with IDF troops during Nakba protests

Marking the 60th anniversary of what Israelis call independence but Palestinians call the “Nakba” (or the “Catastrophe”), hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israel Defense Forces soldiers on Wednesday at military checkpoints in the West Bank.
Some six people were reported injured at the Qalandiyah checkpoint, north of Jerusalem, as the protesters threw stones at IDF [...]

Work of UN employees impeded by delays at Israeli checkpoints

Bethlehem – Ma’an – exclusive report – After receiving several complaints from UN officials about the treatment they receive at Israeli military checkpoints, Ma’an sent a reporter to monitor southern West Bank checkpoints. He found that Israeli soldiers at military checkpoints deliberately undermine UN employees and impede their activity.
UN employees travel to their working places [...]

(Another week of) Israeli Human Rights Violations

The four children from the Abu Me’tiq family who were killed by an Israeli missile that hit their house
- 9 Palestinians, including 5 children and a woman, were killed by IOF in the Gaza Strip.
- The victims include a woman and her 4 children who were killed when IOF shelled their house in Beit Hanoun [...]