harmonicminor.com » Israel

The Only Democracy in the Middle East

Kris Petersen — Tue, 25 May 2010 12:49:02 +0000

Thus, Nawi’s conviction points to a relatively recent development regarding the restriction of resistance, to extremely passive modes of protest. And, in some cases, even these kinds of protests are prohibited, as in Sheikh Jarrah where activists are repeatedly arrested simply for demonstrating against the seizure of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem. (full article…)

Couldn’t Have Said It Better

Kris Petersen — Tue, 25 May 2010 12:43:21 +0000

Let’s start with the most obvious. This is a cynical ploy by the Israeli government to divert attention from the findings of the UN report. Government officials have almost said as much. A foreign ministry official described the investigation by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth as “explosive PR material”. Hasson claims: “Had [the Israeli foreign ministry discovered this earlier], it would have greatly helped us in our activity against the report.” But the report is about Gaza, not Goldstone. Having lost control of the message, Israel is now trying to shoot the messenger. (full article…)

The IOF’s specialty: shooting unarmed demonstrators.

Kris Petersen — Mon, 24 May 2010 12:44:21 +0000

A Palestinian protester was wounded by IDF fire in the northern Gaza Strip after he and 10 of his colleagues refused to abide by IDF orders given on the site not to approach to border fence. The Palestinian group refused to heed the warnings given by the IDF when they fired shots into the air. (full article…)

Your Tax Dollars at Work

Kris Petersen — Mon, 24 May 2010 12:42:42 +0000

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is helping Israel to construct an apartheid road infrastructure in the occupied Palestinian West Bank by financing nearly a quarter of the segregated road system primarily for the benefit of Israeli settlers.

USAID’s figures state that the agency has financed 235 km of roads in the West Bank in the past decade, and is preparing to add another 120 km by the end of this year, reported Nazareth-based journalist Jonathan Cook in the United Arab Emirates paper ‘The National’. (full article…)

Apartheid Regimes Heart Apartheid Regimes

Kris Petersen — Mon, 24 May 2010 12:41:07 +0000

Secret South African documents reveal that Israel offered to sell nuclear warheads to the apartheid regime, providing the first official documentary evidence of the state’s possession of nuclear weapons.

The “top secret” minutes of meetings between senior officials from the two countries in 1975 show that South Africa’s defence minister, PW Botha, asked for the warheads and Shimon Peres, then Israel’s defence minister and now its president, responded by offering them “in three sizes”. The two men also signed a broad-ranging agreement governing military ties between the two countries that included a clause declaring that “the very existence of this agreement” was to remain secret. (full article…)