‘Everything is a target’: Gaza residents decry indiscriminate Israeli strikes
November 16th, 20180 GAZA — Ahmed Abu Saif struggles to maintain a straight face as he looks at the amorphous pile of rubble of what used to be a five-story building he owned. The structure is one of the several civilian sites that have been flattened over the past 24 hours in Gaza as Israeli jets pounded the besieged and densely-populated coastal...
Israeli court upholds entry ban on U.S. student over her BDS activities
October 13th, 20180 An Israeli court on Friday upheld the barring of an American student from the country over her activities in support of an international boycott campaign by pro-Palestinian groups. Lara Alqasem, 22, flew to Israel last week on a student visa but was refused entry. While in airport detention, she filed an appeal with Tel Aviv District...
U.N. Palestinian refugee agency narrows shortfall after U.S. cuts
September 30th, 20180 NEW YORK — A United Nations agency that supports Palestinian refugees received contributions of $118 million on Thursday, narrowing a budget gap for this year to $68 million as it aims to fill a shortfall left by a cut in U.S. funding. Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA),...
Palestinian president urges Trump to rescind Jerusalem, aid decisions
September 28th, 20180 UNITED NATIONS — On Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the United States to reverse its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and cuts in aid to the Palestinians, saying these had undermined the two-state solution to the conflict. “With all of these decisions, this administration has reneged on all...
Why Israel demolishes: Khan Al-Ahmar as representation of greater genocide
September 24th, 20180 Like vultures, Israeli soldiers descended on Khan Al-Ahmar, on Sept. 14, recreating a menacing scene with which the residents of this small Palestinian village, located East of Jerusalem, are all-too familiar. The strategic location of Khan Al-Ahmar makes the story behind the imminent Israeli demolition of the peaceful village unique...
Oslo Accords 25 years later, peace hopes a fading memory
September 14th, 20180 The Oslo Accords 25 years later. As Palestinians prepare to lower the flag over their shuttered mission in Washington, no one can predict when they'll return to the city where just a quarter of a century ago a diplomatic triumph was celebrated on a sunlit White House lawn. Hosted by then-President Clinton, Palestinian and Israeli...
Ahed Tamimi to address civil right group’s annual gala
September 12th, 20180 DEARBORN — Famed Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, held at an Israeli jail at 16 for slapping an Israeli officer, will be the keynote speaker at the Arab American Civil Rights League's (ACRL) seventh annual Fight for Justice Gala on October 11 at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center. If Tamimi, who had previously been...
Twenty-five years on, Oslo Accords peace hopes a fading memory
September 12th, 20180 JERUSALEM — As Palestinians prepare to lower the flag over their shuttered mission in Washington, no one can predict when they will return to the city where just a quarter of a century ago a diplomatic triumph was celebrated on a sunlit White House lawn. Hosted by then-U.S. President Bill Clinton, Palestinian and Israeli leaders...
Trump administration closing PLO office in Washington
September 11th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration on Monday threatened tough action against the International Criminal Court should it try to prosecute Americans for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan and said the PLO’s office in Washington would be closed for seeking to punish Israel through the court. “The United States will use any...
Israel closing embassy in Asuncion after Paraguay moves mission back to Tel Aviv
September 9th, 20180 JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also the foreign minister, ordered the closure of Israel’s embassy in Asuncion, Paraguay on Wednesday hours after the Latin American nation said it had decided to return its embassy from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. The United States and Guatemala also moved their embassies...
Lana Del Ray cancels Israel festival appearance
September 5th, 20180 Pop singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey has canceled her September 7 appearance at Israel’s Meteor Festival. Del Rey (real name Elizabeth Woolridge Grant) had pulled out of an earlier engagement in 2014. According to Variety Magazine, the entertainment trade paper, “the organizers are said to be livid”, especially since Grant...
Seventy U.S. lawmakers urge for immediate humanitarian aid for Gaza
August 4th, 20180 GAZA — Seventy members of the U.S. Congress are urging the Trump administration to immediately reinstate U.S. aid in order to alleviate the growing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Israel has seized a boat and detained almost two dozen people as they were trying to reach Gaza by sea with a cargo of medical...Ahed Tamimi freed from Israeli prison pledge to continue resistance
July 30th, 20180 WEST BANK - Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian teenager released by Israel on Sunday after completing a prison term for kicking and slapping an Israeli soldier said she wanted to become a lawyer so she could continue her struggle against the occupation of her country. Tamimi, 17, became a hero to Palestinians after the incident last December...
Gaza artist takes on Trump despite disabilities
July 13th, 20180 GAZA — How can an artist capture the anger of a people when the most powerful politician in the world tries to discard their rights? Mahmoud al-Moqayad may have succeeded in doing just that. After Donald Trump delivered a grave insult to Palestinians by announcing that the U.S. was recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,...
Jewish American BDS activist denied entry into Israel
July 6th, 20180 WEST BANK — A Prominent Jewish American activist, Ariel Gold, was denied entry into Israel on Sunday, July 1, over her activism in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Gold was prevented from entering Israel when she landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport Sunday afternoon. She was held until 11 p.m.......
Four Arab states support U.S. ‘deal of the century’ in the Middle East
July 1st, 20180 AMMAN/WASHINGTON — Four Arab states have backed the U.S. plan for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, regardless of the position of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, an Israeli newspaper reports. The Israel Hayom daily interviewed officials from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan who...
Palestinian hit in face by tear gas canister fired by Israeli soldier in Gaza protests
June 12th, 20180 GAZA - A Palestinian hit in the face by a tear-gas canister fired by an Israeli soldier, was on life support in a Gaza hospital on Friday. Israel says it uses tear gas as a non-lethal measure against Gaza border protests. But the projectile, launched by a soldier on the Israeli side of the frontier, hit Haitham Abu Sabla in......
Israel’s premature celebration: Gazans have crossed the fear barrier
May 25th, 20180 Sixty Palestinians were killed in Gaza on May 15, simply for protesting and demanding their Right of Return as guaranteed by international law. Fifty more were killed since March 30, the start of the “Great March of Return”, which marks Land Day. Nearly 10,000 have been wounded and maimed in between these two...
International court’s prosecutor warns Israel on Gaza violence, expresses “grave concern”
May 16th, 20180 AMSTERDAM - The office of the prosecutor of the world’s permanent war crimes court on Wednesday expressed “grave concern” about escalating violence in Gaza against Palestinian civilians and said alleged crimes could be subject to an investigation. Dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire during protests on Monday,...
France says Middle East is ‘explosive,’ criticizes U.S. policy and unjustified Israeli violence
May 15th, 20180 PARIS - French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Tuesday described the situation in the Middle East as “explosive” and criticized the United States for unilateral acts in the region and Israel for what he said was an unjustified level of violence. Thousands of Gaza residents turned out on Tuesday for the funerals of...
Palestinians hold protest in Cannes against Israeli killing in Gaza
May 15th, 20180 CANNES, France - Hollywood actor Benicio del Toro joined Palestinians at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday in a demonstration against the Israeli army’s killing of Palestinians on the Gaza border. Sixty people were killed on Monday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, by Israeli gunfire or tear gas, in what Palestinian......
Pro-Trump pastor who claims Islam is a “cult” picked to lead prayer at opening of U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem
May 14th, 20180 WASHINGTON - An anti-gay, pro-Trump pastor from Dallas will give the opening prayer Monday night at the introduction ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem. Pastor Robert Jeffress, a Fox News contributor and supporter of President Donald Trump, will add to the controversy surrounding the diplomatically awkward event. Jeffress,...
Israeli occupation forces kill dozens, injure hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza
May 14th, 20180 GAZA - Israeli occupation forces killed dozens of Palestinians taking part in mass protests on the Gaza border on Monday as the United States opened its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem. The U.S. move fulfilled a pledge by President Donald Trump, who has recognized the holy city as the Israeli capital, but it has fired Palestinian anger......
Israeli forces kill Palestinian near Gaza border
March 3rd, 20181 GAZA - Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Palestinian officials said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said that a“suspect had approached a restricted area in the southern Gaza Strip.” Soldiers then“fired warning shots into the air, and when the suspect...
State Department: U.S. ready to open Jerusalem embassy in May
February 25th, 20180 WASHINGTON - The United States said on Friday it will open its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem in May, a move from Tel Aviv that reverses decades of U.S. policy and is bound to trouble U.S. allies who have already objected. President Trump announced last December that the United States recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,......
