By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent

Professor Richard Falk, a United Nations envoy who once sparked controversy by comparing Israelis to Nazis, has been barred entry to Israel and was put on a plane bound out of the country early on Monday.

In March, the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council appointed Falk, a Jewish American and professor emeritus at Princeton University, to a six-year term monitoring the human rights situation as UN Special Rapporteur in the Palestinian territories.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in September that it would not allow Falk to enter the country, after the BBC quoted Falk as defending statements he made last year equating Israel’s treatment of Palestinians with Nazi treatment of Jews during the Holocaust. Falk told BBC that Israel … Continue reading

from Maan News Agency

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Richard Falk, issued the following statement:

In recent days the desperate plight of the civilian population of Gaza has been acknowledged by such respected international figures as the Secretary General of the United Nations, the President of the General Assembly, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Last week, Karen AbyZayd, who heads the UN relief effort in Gaza, offered first-hand confirmation of the desperate urgency and unacceptable conditions facing the civilian population of Gaza. Although many leaders have commented on the cruelty and unlawfulness of the Gaza blockade imposed by Israel, such a flurry of denunciations by normally cautious UN … Continue reading

This Friday, as demonstrations were held yet again in Bil’in, Ni’lin and Jayyous the newly-formed Betlehem Solidarity Committee, which brings together people from villages throughout the Betlehem District and of which PSP is a founding member, brought a group from Beit Jala and Husan villages to join the weekly struggle in Bil’in. Demonstrators, accompanied by the ever-present Israeli and international solidarity activists, marched down a path to the Annexation Barrier. Israeli soldiers quickly began shooting tear gas and sound grenades at the demonstrators who dispersed and re-gathered several times before the members of the committee in Bil’in declared the demonstration over and met with members of the Betlehem … Continue reading

Internal Israeli politics are always complicated, but rarely as bizarre as incidents such as the blocking of the “‘Eid Boat” from going to Gaza with food, toys, and medical supplies, which was organized in part by Palestinian-Israeli members of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament. A boat filled with aid and toys was set to launch from the Jaffa port outside of Tel Aviv. It was named the “‘Eid Boat” because of ‘Eid al-Adha, the Muslim holiday Monday. The contents of the boat were confiscated and 3 crewmen were arrested by Israeli police. All of Gaza’s crossings have been closed to aid for over a month and the UN reported Sunday that food supplies would begin … Continue reading

This week’s Friday demonstration in Al-Ma’asara was dedicated in solidarity with the residents of Hebron, who were in the midst of a violent Israeli settler pogrom. Residents of Al-Ma’asara were joined by Israeli activists from Anarchists Against the Wall and members of Palestine Solidarity Project as they marched towards a group of Israeli soldiers who had once again set up a razor-wire fence across the road, preventing the march from approaching Palestinian land which is being confiscated for the construction of the Annexation Barrier. Children of local farmers began pulling on the razor wire, in defiance of the intimidating soldiers who repeatedly pointed their guns at them, and … Continue reading

On Thursday, December 4, the Israeli police, supported by the Israeli military, carried out the largest evacuation of illegal settlers in Hebron city in recent times. Up to 250 settlers, most bussed in from outside, had reinforced a building in central Hebron which had been taken over 2 years ago, but which the Israeli High Court had ordered evacuated weeks ago. They were dragged out of the so-called “House of Contention”, with approximately 20 arrested.
Settlers then rioted throughout Hebron, attacking Palestinians, setting Palestinian homes, shops and cars on fire, and in one incident caught on tape through the Btselem camera distribution project, shot 40 year-old Hosni … Continue reading

Husan is a village of just under 5,000 people situated in the western Betlehem District. It’s existence is precarious; it is crammed between two rapidly expanding settlements, Batar Illit and Har Gilo. If the Annexation Barrier is completed on its intended path Husan, along with 4 other villages, will be on the Israeli side of the barrier. Due to the desirability of the land, Husan’s land has been consistently encroached upon by settlers in a variety of ways. 10 years ago, a section of agricultural land was cut off from the village by an Israeli military checkpoint. Access was prohibited and though residents have documentation … Continue reading

Israeli forces closed down the northern section of Hebron on Saturday, declaring the entire half of the city a “closed military zone” as soldiers occupied five houses and forced shop owners, at gunpoint, to close early.

“No sooner had Israeli soldiers handed me a warrant saying that military forces planned to occupy my home did 20 soldiers storm the house,” said 42-year-old Bassam Al-Ja’abary, whose home was one of the five taken over by Israeli soldiers.

“Then they climbed up to the roof and prevented my family from leaving,” he added.

His and the other four houses are located in the Wadi An-Nasara neighborhood, close to the home of the Rajabi family home, which Jewish settlers occupied in March 2007.

Other homes belong to … Continue reading

from the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign. For the original report, click here

A massive demonstration was held in Jayyous Friday to protest the rerouting of the Wall and the permanent isolation of 5,582 dunums of village land for the expansion of Zufim settlement. Villagers destroyed sections of the Wall, sparking confrontations with the Occupation military and the invasion of the village.

Following the Friday prayer, more than 500 protesters advanced on the Wall’s gate in the south of the village. The army was not present, and villagers proceeded to destroy the gate and the surrounding Wall.

Occupation forces arrived on the scene after the Wall was destroyed, firing on the crowd with tear gas and sound bombs as well as rubber bullets. … Continue reading

Jayyous, a small village in the Qalqilya district, was the first village to incorporate international and Israeli volunteers and organize a planned, non-violent resistance to the construction of the Annexation Barrier on their land, back in 2002. Now, years after their original resistance, which did not succeed in preventing the construction of the Fence and destruction of hundreds of olive trees, residents are still committed to resisting any further destruction of their land.

When the Barrier was finished in their area, residents of Jayyous were cut off from almost 90% of their agricultural land, with access only via a gate and a set of convoluted permit restrictions imposed by the Israeli Occupation Forces. … Continue reading