We don’t have another country

Palestine Note, May 27, 2010 More than 6000 demonstrators gathered in the Tel Aviv Museum courtyard Tuesday night to protest the planned deportation of approximately 1200 children of illegal migrant laborers. The event came in the wake of the news that the governmental committee, convened to determine the children’s fate, had decided to recommend permanent …

Making the best of a bad situation

The Jerusalem Post, May 28, 2010 Like many of Israel’s migrant laborers, Usha, 26, lives with exploitation. Hired as a caregiver, she is used as a full-time servant instead. “I take care of seven people and a baby,” she says. “I clean the house. I take the kids to school.” Her employer’s demands are unreasonable, …

Amnesty International: “Much of Gaza was razed to the ground…”

The Huffington Post, May 29, 2010 Destroyed houses, tent camps, clouds of white phosphorous–these were just a few of the images of Gaza included in the video that accompanied Amnesty International’s annual human rights report, which was released yesterday. The report covers 2009, including Operation Cast Lead, which began in late December 2008 and ended …

Israeli activists call for ships to enter Gaza

Maan News Agency, May 31, 2010 (click here for Arabic) Two of a growing number of Israeli protesters at the port of Ashdod jumped into the sea Monday afternoon, calling for an end to Israel’s siege on Gaza and condemning the attack on the Freedom Flotilla. Reporting from Ashdod, Mya Guarnieri said police had stopped …

Departed

Tablet, May 7, 2010 Standing outside of his Galilee home, Fadi, once a high-ranking officer of the South Lebanese Army (SLA), remarks on how close he still lives to Lebanon. He gestures to the low-slung mountains as though he is trying to sweep them from the horizon. “If that hill wasn’t there, we could see …

The view from there

The Jerusalem Post, May 7, 2010 Not long after US Vice President Joe Biden touched down in Israel, Interior Minister Eli Yishai announced plans to build 1600 new homes in an East Jerusalem settlement. The move, publicly condemned by Biden, seemed like a slap in the face of the American administration. Biden criticized the “substance …

The Road to Nowhere

Maan News Agency, May 5, 2010 The Huffington Post, May 4, 2010 Zeek, May 4, 2010 Mahmoud, a Palestinian taxi driver, isn’t taking proximity talks seriously. “They just talk and talk and talk,” he says, as we wait at a red light in Jerusalem. “Nothing changes.” His cynicism is shared by both the Palestinian Authority …

Refugees: “Let us work to survive”

Al Jazeera English, May 1, 2010 Traffic came to a stop in the center of Tel Aviv on Friday as hundreds took to the streets for May Day. African refugees were amongst them. They carried hand-painted signs reading “Refugees’ rights now” and “Let us work to survive” in bold, red letters. Their words point to …

Urban sanctuaries

The Jerusalem Post, April 30, 2010 The National, May 17, 2010 Nearly half of Ruby Austria’s 150 congregants have disappeared since the Oz Unit, a strong arm of the immigration police, took to the streets in July. Thousands of foreign workers have left the country out of fear. Hundreds have been deported. In recent months, …