MalarkyNews

Seven years after Rachel Corrie, a US peace activist, was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza, her family is to put the Israeli government in the dock today. A judge in the northern Israeli city of Haifa is due to be presented with evidence that Corrie, 23, was killed unlawfully as she stood in the path of the bulldozer, trying to prevent it from demolishing Palestinian homes in Rafah.

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The renewed Middle East peace process appears to be little more than a charade. Israel has taken this opportunity to crack down on Palestinians who advocate nonviolent protests against the Israeli West Bank segregation barrier and charged them based on questionable or false evidence. I know: I was arrested for talking too much. All we Palestinians want is a life free from racial discrimination.

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The maxim "actions speak louder than words" may be a cliche but it is surely an accurate one when writing about Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's sincerity in reaching a peace deal with the Palestinians. Since his Bar Ilan speech last June, Netanyahu has been boasting of his "outstretched hand", his genuine intentions to make peace with his neighbors and his stoic patience in waiting for a Palestinian partner to finally grab this incredible opportunity.

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Visibly frustrated by Israel's utter disregard for Palestinian objections to Israeli encroachment on Muslim holy places in Hebron, Bethlehem and East Jerusalem, Palestinian Authority (PA) officials have been appealing to the international community, especially Israel's guardian-ally, the United States, to rein in the Israeli government. "These provocations are killing the last hopes for peace. Israel is turning the occupied Palestinian territories into a powder keg."

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Reports like the Cape Town, South Africa-based Human Sciences Research Council's (HSRC) May 2009 one titled, "Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid" highlight what many others understand, including former UN Special Human Rights Rapporteur for Occupied Palestine, John Dugard, stating in January 2007: "Israel is clearly in military occupation of the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territories). At the same time, elements of the occupation constitute forms of colonialism and of apartheid, which are contrary to international law."

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Today, our American civil rights movement is praised worldwide for its humanism, righteousness, and courage. But, it was not always this way. The same leaders we now hold in high esteem were once labeled as rabble-rousers for their principled and unpopular stands. It is no surprise then, that those who stand today against one of the greatest injustices of our time are similarly labeled.

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Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, with its ubiquitous closures, checkpoints, military raids and arrests, has decimated the Palestinian economy in the West Bank and Gaza. The World Bank (WB) warned over a year ago that unless Israel eased its restrictions on movement and access in the West Bank the Palestinian economy would further deteriorate.

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The children of Gaza are not "economically superfluous" because they were born into large families. Their inability to be productive members of society is not the fault of society itself, but the fault of the occupying and devastating force of the state of Israel. The occupation of Gaza and the subsequent siege and attacks by Israel have destroyed lives, industry and infrastructure.

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They come by the hundreds every day to sand dunes and rubble sites to sift for pebbles, stones and sand that can be used in making concrete blocks. They lean into trash bins across the Strip, and wade through piles of rubbish scavenging for plastics, metals, and any bits worth reselling. They venture dangerously close to the border fence to unlock metal and steel rods from their demolished home heaps.

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In Gaza, a 1-year-old boy sees pictures of his daddy and says, "Baba." In Kansas City, Baba toils away in his car-repair shop. He longs to embrace the son he has never met, whose wartime birth made the news, and to reunite with his wife. Texts and cell phone photos from the Middle East help Yaser Wishah only so much. "He started calling me 'Baba,' but I'm told he says that now to all of the male adults. They're all 'Baba' to him," Wishah says with a pained chuckle.

Article from The Institute for Middle East Understanding : All site additions (global feed) read more here