NewsTrust - Israel - Most Recent Stories: News (Independent)

Mahmoud Abbas Threatens to Step Down in Light of Ongoing Israeli Colonization of West Bank

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Nov. 06 (News Analysis) - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says he wants to stand down and he declines to run in the upcoming Palestine Authority elections. The decision came in the wake of the US failure to convince the Israelis to halt colonization of the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem. It also followed a series of embarrassing flip-flops by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who praised hard line right wing PM Netanyahu for his efforts in favor of the peace process. Even for a diplomatic statement, this tack is is a little embarrassing in its obsequiousness toward Netanyahu, who has undermined the peace process at every turn and rejects out of hand the US demand that he freeze settlements. Reactions of Arab allies of the US were sharp.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Pentagon Speeding Up Production of Bunker Busters

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Scott Canon - Oct. 23 (News) - This month, the Defense Department awarded $51.9 million to McDonnell Douglas to more quickly adapt a 30,000-pound bunker buster to the B-2 stealth bomber.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.2 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Pro-Israel Group's Money Trail Veers Hard Right

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Eli Clifton - Oct. 22 (News) - But an IPS investigation into the tax records of the donors to StandWithUs, which professes to be ideologically neutral, found a web of funders who support organisations that have been accused of anti-Muslim propaganda and encouraging a militant Israeli and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Some of these organisations have tied the origins of Palestinian nationalism to Nazi ideology, and suggested that a vast Muslim conspiracy - in a similar vein to the anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion - is mobilising to undermine the U.S. constitution and impose Sharia law.

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The olive grove wars

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

GlobalPost - By Sara Sorcher - Oct. 22 (Special Report) - The olive branch may be a universal symbol for peace, but in the West Bank, the olive harvest brings a season of unrest between Jewish settlers and Palestinians. It owes much to proximity. Small communities of Israelis

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Help Israeli Human Rights Activist Ezra Nawi

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

supportezra.net - Oct. 21 (Not sure) - The Palestinians in this small desolate area in the very south of the West Bank have been under Israeli occupation for almost 42 years; they still live without electricity, running water and other basic services, and are continuously harassed by the Jewish settlers who constantly violate both Israeli and International law, and are backed by a variety of Israeli military occupation forces, all of which operate in an effort to cleanse the area from its Palestinian inhabitants and create a new demographic reality in it.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Arabisto: Countering Benjamin Netanyahou's Orwellian Spin at the UN

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

arabisto.com - By Eileen Fleming - Sep. 29 (News Analysis) - In defense and support of freedom of the press, conscience and speech; this article should be read which counters every point Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spun at the UN on September 24, 2009.

NewsTrust Rating: 5.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Yearning for the Golan Heights: Why Syria Wants It Back

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Julien Barnes-Dacey - Sep. 28 (News) - Syria's cooperation is crucial to the chief goal of President Obama's Middle East policy: Arab-Israeli peace. With ties to three Israeli enemies - Iran, and the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas - Syria says it can moderate the threats against the Jewish state and thus pave the way for reciprocal Israeli concessions to the Palestinians and their Arab allies.

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

US-Mideast: A Week of Dimming Peace Prospects

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Helena Cobban - Sep. 25 (News) - This observer said he judged Mitchell had paid too much attention to pushing for the settlement freeze, which was only ever seen as an interim step. It was described by Mitchell and others as part of a package - along with some sweeteners from Arab states -that would help build initial confidence between the parties.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

UN Inquiry Finds Israel "Punished and Terrorized" Palestinian Civilians, Committed War Crimes During Gaza Assault

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Norman Finkelstein - Sep. 16 (News Report) - A United Nations fact-finding mission has found Israel “punished and terrorized” civilians in its three-week assault on Gaza earlier this year and cited strong evidence that Israeli forces committed “grave breaches” of the Geneva Conventions. More than 1,400 Palestinians—about a third of them women and children—were killed in the assault.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Gaza water supplies in danger of ‘collapse,’ U.N. says

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Grist - Sep. 15 (News) - “The underground water supplies, upon which 1.5 million Palestinians depend for agriculture and drinking water, are in danger of collapse,” the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) said in a statement accompanying a new report.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Israel Authorizes 455 New Settlement Units

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - Sep. 07 (News) - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has authorized the construction of more than 450 new housing units in settlements in the occupied West Bank, his ministry said in a statement on Monday.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Jamal Dajani: Settlement Freeze: Been There, Done That

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jamal Dajani - Aug. 28 (News Analysis) - UN resolutions, the Oslo Agreement, and negotiations over Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 have all been replaced by buzzwords, such as, "settlement freeze" and "confidence-building measures." Israel's Prime Minister

NewsTrust Rating: 4.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Many Layers of Nahalat Shimon beg the question: Where's the money coming from?

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

arabisto.com - By Eileen Fleming - Aug. 09 (Special Report) - Last Sunday morning just before sunrise, Israeli forces evicted seventy more Palestinians from their homes in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, which is being taken over by the Nahalat Shimon settlers. "The events in Sheikh Jarrah garnered international censure from the European Union, the United Nations (UN) and from Britain, which said it was 'appalled' at the move. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday night called the Israeli evictions "deeply regrettable" and she urged "the government of Israel and municipal officials to refrain from such provocative actions."

NewsTrust Rating: 5.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

First-hand account details Israeli cruelty to children

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

presstv.ir - Aug. 06 (News Report) - Amid shocking revelations that Israeli soldiers employed Palestinian children as human shields during the war on Gaza, a former Israeli military commander explains how Palestinian minors are treated on an ongoing basis. ... "You take the kid, you blindfold him, you handcuff him, he's really shaking... Sometimes you cuff his legs too. Sometimes it cuts off the circulation. He doesn't understand a word of what's going on around him," he said. "He doesn't know what you're going to do with him. He just knows we are soldiers with guns. That we kill people. Maybe they think we're going to kill him."

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Israel's Jerusalem Evictions Defy Obama, Undermine Peace Process

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Dan Murphy - Aug. 03 (News) - On Monday, three people protesting the eviction were arrested by the police. The two families had lived in the homes for almost 50 years. They moved into the neighborhood after being evicted from their homes in West Jerusalem in 1947 by Israeli forces.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Rabbis start fast for Gaza

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Jewish Telegraphic Agency - Jul. 10 (News) - An ad hoc group of rabbis is organizing a monthly communal fast to protest Israel's actions in Gaza.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Lieberman being sidelined as foreign minister

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Jewish Telegraphic Agency - By Leslie Susser - Jul. 07 (News) - If Avigdor Lieberman's appointment as foreign minister seemed odd when it was made, recent developments cast more doubt over his capacity to function as Israel's top diplomat.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Minister Ben-Eliezer 'concerned over absence of US response to N. Korea' - Israel News, Ynetnews

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Ynetnews - By Roni Sofer - Jul. 05 (Special Report) - Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer on Saturday said he is "very concerned over the absence of an American response to North Korea's provocation". North Korea has reportedly test-fired seven ballistic missiles of the "Skud type" since Saturday morning, which South Korean officials have said may be a message to the United States on Independence Day. (Roni Sofer)

NewsTrust Rating: 2.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

UN Probe Into Gaza Conflict

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Erin Cunningham - Jun. 29 (News Report) - In a tearful and gruesome testimony, Salah Al-Samouni spoke of the two days of Israeli helicopter attacks in the Zaytoun area of Gaza that claimed 29 members of his family on Jan. 5 and 6. "They hit us, they hit us with Apaches," Mr. Samouni told United Nations war crimes investigators in Gaza City on Sunday. "I found my 2-year-old daughter, she was dead.... Why?"

NewsTrust Rating: 4.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Some Jewish settlers turning against Israel

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Jewish Telegraphic Agency - By Dina Kraft - Jun. 24 (News) - They are a key part of a movement of settler youth, rabbis, leaders and supporters determined to hold onto the West Bank at any cost. Located mostly in isolated corners of the West Bank like Yitzhar, radicals represent a small but vocal and increasingly violent constituency of the Jewish settler movement.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Despite No Links to Violence, Founders of Muslim Charity Sentenced to Lengthy Terms for Donations to Needy Palestinians in Occupied Territories

Fri, 29 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Nancy Hollander,Noor Elashi,JUAN GONZALEZ, AMY GOODMAN - May. 29 (News Analysis) - Five founders of the Holy Land Foundation, once the nation’s largest Muslim charity, have received prison terms of up to sixty-five years on charges of supporting the Palestinian group Hamas. The five were never accused of supporting violence and were convicted for funding charities that aided needy Palestinians. The government’s case relied on Israeli intelligence as well as disputed documents and electronic surveillance gathered by the FBI over a span of fifteen years.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Ahmadinejad: Ballots and Missiles

Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jamal Dajani - May. 22 (News Analysis) - The competition in the Iranian presidential election is heating up, or so it seemed until recently on Iranian government-sponsored television. Unlike the previous election, the challengers to incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are well-known heavyweights.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Israel Lobby Is in a Public Opinion Pickle: Jewish Voters Went for Obama Big Time, and He's No Neocon

Tue, 19 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Robert Dreyfuss - May. 19 (Poll) - "American Jews are mostly in the peace camp," says John Zogby. That means the opposition to Obama will come first and foremost from the ultra-right wing of the Israel lobby, such as the allies of Likud, the Zionist Organization of America, and hard-line neoconservatives, along with their allies on the Christian right and among the Republican Party's right, including most of its congressional wing. But middle-of-the-road, moderate, and especially liberal Jews are likely to back Obama. That's a dynamic that can isolate AIPAC, the central player in the Israel lobby.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Jerusalem: The Pope in Search of Christians

Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jamal Dajani - May. 15 (News Analysis) - Before arriving in the region, the Pope declared that he was coming as a "pilgrim of peace." The Vatican billed the visit as spiritual rather than political. In fact, from day one his trip was mired with political controversies.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Shortages Stymie Rebuilding Efforts in Gaza

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Lourdes Garcia-Navarro - Apr. 28 (News Report) - Every day, Israel allows 80 to 100 truckloads of humanitarian aid into Gaza, but that does not include building supplies. The United Nations is calling on Israel to allow vital reconstruction materials like cement into Gaza. But Israel is resisting the appeal, citing the continuing security threat from militants.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer