In a move akin to the four-year-long economic blockade against the occupied Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers have closed the six entrances to the village of 17,000 inhabitants and have imposed a widespread prohibition policy against all major imports and exports from the village -- including gasoline, produce, raw industrial materials and basic supplies. Ambulances have also been prevented from entering or exiting the village.
Is Israel preparing to seize the Philadelphi corridor?
Israel is set to put up an electronic security barrier on the border with Egypt as the anti-Tel Aviv sentiment is on the rise in the North African nation.
Israel has proposed paying compensation to relatives of Turkish activists it killed in exchange for Ankara to give up lawsuits against the Israeli navy.
It must be fun being the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, or the American Jewish Committee. You can switch policies on a dime and everybody understands.
For decades, these three have been unabashedly pro-Turkish...No more. Ever since the Turks opposed the Gaza invasion and blockade, the lobby has been furious at Turks for their temerity. Its prime minister even publicly admonished Shimon Peres about Gaza in Davos. And then there was the flotilla incident (about which Turkey has infinitely more reason to be angry about than Israel), Within the period of a few months, Israel and its lobby turned on Turkey with a vengeance.
Attari (India - Pakistan border) Dec 4 – A group of 34 Indians on a humanitarian visit to Gaza as part of an Asian outreach initiative were stopped here by Indian authorities Saturday despite having valid visas, organisers said.
Ha'aretz has really come into its own given a near total blackout on reports in the UK media regarding Wikileaks reports involving the State of Israel. Many of the reports have been on the Ha'aretz site for a few days now. This one on Ireland blocking American arms transfers to Israel via Ireland's Shannon Airport shows how public opinion can have an impact.
The report of the fact-finding mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla released last week shows conclusively, for the first time, that US citizen Furkan Dogan and five Turkish citizens were murdered execution-style by Israeli commandos. [...]
Although the report's revelations and conclusions about the killing of Dogan and the five other victims were widely reported in the Turkish media last week, not a single story on the report has appeared in US news media.
Passengers aboard Gaza-bound vessel refute IDF claims of non-violent takeover. 'There are no words to describe what we went through,' former pilot Yonatan Shapira says. Holocaust survivor who took part in sail: I can't sleep at night because of what Israel is doing to Gazans
Reuven Moskowitz, an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor who was also aboard the vessel, backed Shapira's claim. "We are people who came with a message of peace and we did not anticipate a burst of violence against us, but the officers acted violently.
A relief mission entirely composed of Jewish human rights campaigners has set sail from northern Cyprus to break Israel's siege of the Gaza Strip.
The activists, who are of Israeli, German, British and American nationalities, departed for the coastal sliver on Sunday, AFP reported.
Earlier in the year, Israeli commandos attacked the Freedom Flotilla, a Turkish-backed aid convoy carrying aid supplies to Gaza. The assault in international waters killed nine Turkish activists on board the fleet's lead vessel, MV Mavi Marmara.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Andy David called the Jewish cause "a provocative joke that isn't funny."
The world is full of illusions that are used by the rich and powerful to manipulate and control the people. The greatest illusion, and the one with the most devastating consequences, is that the American people and the Israeli, and the British, and numerous others, vote in their governments and hold them to account. Those who really control the governments are those powerful few who control the banking systems, the major multi-national corporations and, of course, the mass media. If you look beyond the faces of the presidents, prime ministers and politicians you will see that these governments' policies remain virtually the same, no matter who is 'leading' these countries. These 'leaders' do not answer to the people they have pledged to serve; they answer to those who remain behind the scenes.
Human rights activists reach Hamas-ruled strip by sea, despite Israeli blockade.
Two vessels carrying 46 international human rights activists have reached the Gaza Strip, despite Israel's strict 14-month siege of the Palestinian territory.
The end of the mission to symbolically break the siege came after Israel backed down from an earlier warning to the 'Free Gaza' protest group not to breach the blockade.
Al Jazeera's Ashraf Amritti in Gaza said: "The arrival of these two boats is a very symbolic gesture for the Palestinian cause, to end the siege, end the occupation.In fact, those phrases are written across the peace boats which carry flags from more than 70 nationalities."
Defending Tel Aviv's deadly attack on the Gaza-bound flotilla, Israel's army chief has vowed to block future aid shipments heading toward the besieged strip.
Israel's army chief also rejected Turkish charges that some of the victims had been shot "execution-style" at point-blank, saying that shots had been fired at close range as part of a life and death struggle.
Israel's army chief has defended Tel Aviv's deadly attack on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla in late May as 'proportionate and correct.'
Ashkenazi's claim that the flotilla activists initiated the attack comes as no guns were found aboard the ship.
Turkish post-mortem examinations have revealed that a total of 30 bullets were found in the bodies of the nine dead activists. One of the activists had been shot four times in the head.
Following new border conflict between Israel and Lebanon, an all-women aid ship will set sail for the Gaza Strip this weekend to deliver aid to the coastal region. The ship, named the "Mariam" in honor of the Virgin Mary, will carry a group of nuns from the US along with female doctors and lawyers. "They are nuns, doctors, lawyers, journalists, Christians and Muslims," Mona, one of the participants, told the British newspaper, the Guardian. The mission comes after Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, issued a warning that Tel Aviv would use "all necessary measures" to stop the vessel.
Plans are once again underway for another attempt to run the blockade of Gaza. Two ships are set to sail from Lebanon today or tomorrow, despite intimidation from Israel which worked to prevent the departure of a convoy scheduled to leave from Iran.
The Congressman who defeated Arlen Specter is under attack for signing the letter asking for an end to the Gaza blockade.
Pro-Israel groups in Germany have reacted sharply to a unanimous Bundestag motion criticising Israel's blockade of Gaza.
Israel has 'natural right' to inspect ships heading to Gaza, army chief says, stresses Strip must not turn into Iranian port; addressing lethal raid on Turkish ship, Ashkenazi says: I salute fighters, they operated exceptionally well.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement yesterday that promised to "liberalize the system by which civilian goods enter Gaza." The announcement from Israel's security cabinet came after widespread international pressure on Israel following a deadly Israeli naval raid on a humanitarian flotilla trying to break the three-year old blockade of Gaza.
GAZA -- Dozens of Palestinians demonstrated on Sunday in front of the closed Karni commercial crossing on the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, calling for Israel to completely lift the blockade and reopen all crossings.
Despite Israel’s Thursday decision to “ease restrictions on Gaza”, the Israeli Authorities closed all trade crossings leading to the coastal region. The closure, unless extended, will last until Sunday.
Women activists planning to sail to Gaza gathered on Thursday near a statue of the Virgin Mary in south Lebanon to pray she bless their flotilla, christened "Mariam" in her honour.
Boarding party troops in deadly flotilla raid confiscated cards and spent on them, claim campaigners who were on board.
Interview with Ken O'Keefe, the former US Marine who was aboard the Mavi Marmara that was murderously attacked by Israel on Memorial Day.
Smuggled raw footage of the Israeli commandos' assault on Gaza Freedom Flotilla, taken by an eyewitness, has been published online. Activist Iara Lee has kept the recordings despite the Israeli government's efforts to confiscate all footage of the attack.
RAMALLAH - Under intense international pressure, Israel declared last week it would ease its crippling blockade on Gaza by permitting an additional but limited number of daily items, including food, into the coastal enclave.
Footage smuggled out of Israel by Irish MV Rachel Corrie passenger and filmmaker Fiona Thompson. The four minutes of footage, shows the radio exchanges between the Rachel Corrie's first mate Irishman Derek Graham and the Israeli navy prior to the hijacking of the Rachel Corrie and ends with the approach of several warships
Former Cuban president slams Israeli raid on Gaza-bound flotilla, says Israel 'would not hesitate to send 1.5 million Palestinians to crematoriums'