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Tag: Palestine

In 2016, Israel Demolished Over 200 West Bank Homes In Illegal Settlement Expansion
A new illegal settlement under construction in the West Bank. July 5, 2009. (Flickr / Neal Ungerleider)
November 8, 2016
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In 2016, Israel Demolished Over 200 West Bank Homes In Illegal Settlement Expansion

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank of Gaza have expanded rapidly over the past year, seriously threatening many Palestinian communities and their farmlands.

“This practice doesn’t just mean expanding into Palestinian land,” journalist Abby Martin explained in an Oct. 31 episode of “The Empire Files.”

When Martin traveled to the region for several weeks in August and September to report on the effects of Israel’s apartheid policies on the indigenous Palestinian population, her movement around Gaza was heavily restricted by Israeli forces.

Martin continued:

Read moreIn 2016, Israel Demolished Over 200 West Bank Homes In Illegal Settlement Expansion
WikiLeaks’ Podesta Emails Reveal Hillary Clinton’s Anti-BDS Strategy
A protest for Palestine in Baltimore on July 30, 2014. (Flickr / Social Justice - Bruce Emmerling)
October 14, 2016
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WikiLeaks’ Podesta Emails Reveal Hillary Clinton’s Anti-BDS Strategy

Posted in Archive, Journalism, and MintPress News

Contained within some of WikiLeaks’ latest dumps of John Podesta’s emails are details on Hillary Clinton’s efforts to oppose the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement amid mounting U.S. opposition to Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

Clinton is well known for her opposition to the BDS movement, which seeks to put financial pressure on Israel to end its apartheid policies toward the indigenous Palestinian population. WikiLeaks’ growing archive of emails taken from the Gmail account of Clinton’s campaign chairman show the candidate carrying out a difficult balancing act in order to placate both her pro-Israeli backers and liberal Americans.

“I was talking to HRC today about the idea of having her meet with some Jewish leaders later this week about BDS/delegitimization efforts,” wrote Jake Sullivan, the top foreign policy advisor to the Clinton campaign, in a June 21, 2015 email sent to Stuart Eizenstat, a former U.S. diplomat and a lawyer at the powerful Washington-based law firm Covington & Burling.

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US Condemns Latest Israeli Land Grab, Still Offers $38B In Military Aid
Israeli soldiers guard settlers at a checkpoint in Palestine. September 24, 2011. (Flickr / Andrew E. Larsen)
October 12, 2016
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US Condemns Latest Israeli Land Grab, Still Offers $38B In Military Aid

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Just months after agreeing to a record-breaking U.S. military aid package, Israel announced a major new expansion of its illegal settlements in the West Bank of Gaza.

In July, the United States agreed to give Israel $38 billion in military aid over the next 10 years, a dramatic increase from current aid levels. On Sept. 28, the Israeli foreign ministry announced plans to create 98 new housing units in the West Bank of Gaza, drawing condemnation from both the United Nations and the U.S. State Department.

“We strongly condemn the Israeli government’s recent decision to advance a plan that would create a significant new settlement deep in the West Bank,” Mark Toner, deputy State Department spokesperson, said in a statement published online on Oct. 5.

Read moreUS Condemns Latest Israeli Land Grab, Still Offers $38B In Military Aid
Kashmir & Palestine: Both Occupied, Both Victims Of The Military-Industrial Complex
A Kashmiri woman walks past graffiti demanding freedom for Kashmir. (Flickr / Kashmir Global)
October 5, 2016
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Kashmir & Palestine: Both Occupied, Both Victims Of The Military-Industrial Complex

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Although their homelands are separated by almost 2,500 miles, Palestinians and Kashmiris share a struggle for liberation and the right to self-determination against occupying forces backed by the might of the American military-industrial complex.

While the shrinking Palestinian homeland dwindles in size among Israel’s ever-expanding illegal settlements, Kashmir is caught on the border between India and Pakistan, both of which would lay claim to the land despite members of the Kashmiri ethnic group supporting independence.

The Kashmiri have been in the middle of three wars between India and Pakistan since the British partition of the region in 1947. In one of the biggest parallels between their mutual struggles against colonialism, Palestinians have spent the last 68 years resisting the displacement caused by the British-mandated creation of Israel. Like Palestinians,Kashmiris are treated as second-class citizens in their own land, which has become one of the most intensely militarized borders in the world.

In an Aug. 24 opinion piece for Al-Jazeera, geopolitical analyst Goldie Osuri explained:

Read moreKashmir & Palestine: Both Occupied, Both Victims Of The Military-Industrial Complex
Israel’s Ongoing Blockade Of Gaza Could Force Palestinians To Drink Sewage
Sewage and rainwater flood a neighborhood in Gaza after a thunderstorm. December 13, 2013. (Flickr / Oxfam International)
September 9, 2016
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Israel’s Ongoing Blockade Of Gaza Could Force Palestinians To Drink Sewage

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Unreliable electricity, an ongoing blockade on building supplies, and a failing waste treatment plant have spawned a sewage crisis in Gaza that experts warn could permanently damage Palestinians’ access to clean water.

The crisis is now spilling over into Israel and threatening its water supply. According to an Aug. 25 report from Middle East Eye, floods of sewage flowing into the Mediterranean Sea have caused Israel’s Ashkelon desalination plant, the source of 20 percent of the country’s drinking water, to shut down at least four times in recent months.

In the report, Kieran Cooke wrote: “[E]ach day an estimated 90m litres of untreated or partially treated sewage flows into the sea in Gaza — only a few kilometres south of Ashkelon.”

Read moreIsrael’s Ongoing Blockade Of Gaza Could Force Palestinians To Drink Sewage
Boycott, But Then What? CodePink Wants You To Build A New, Local Peace Economy
At a CodePink rally in Washington, D.C., activists hold a "Don't Bomb Iran" banner. September 15, 2007. (Flickr / CodePink Women For Peace / Jes Richardson)
September 5, 2016
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Boycott, But Then What? CodePink Wants You To Build A New, Local Peace Economy

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Boycotts are a powerful tool in the arsenals of those seeking justice and a better world.

And while financial divestment from corporations can successfully pressure them to change their most harmful practices, divestment represents just the beginning of the long, difficult work of building a new, alternate economy that puts people and sustainability first.

“What we’re trying to do is encourage people to be more aware of and reflect on how we’re all invested in a war-like, violent, capitalist economy,” Mendoza Castillo, director of Economic Activism at CodePink, told MintPress News in an interview about her Local Peace Economy initiative.

Read moreBoycott, But Then What? CodePink Wants You To Build A New, Local Peace Economy