Posted on May 29th, 2010 by Marian Houk
“Now, it’s a mess”, one Cypriot diplomat in the region said Saturday afternoon. One of the two U.S.-flagged ships (it seems to be Challenger One) has entered Famagusta port northern Cyprus today, saying they must pick up European parliamentarians who were planning to sail with the Freedom Flotilla on the Spirit, the boat that the [...]
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Filed under: Cyprus, Gaza, Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid, International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, Sanctions
Posted on May 29th, 2010 by Marian Houk
The Freedom Flotilla to Gaza appears to be having difficulties as it nears it goal – arrival on the shores of Gaza with a reported 10,000 tons of donations (prefabricated housing to pencils, they say). The Turkish organization for humanitarian relief, IHH – “We are taking the largest fleet of aid to Palestine to date”, [...]
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Filed under: Blogging, Boundaries & Borders, Cyprus, Gaza, Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid, International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, Sanctions
Posted on May 28th, 2010 by Marian Houk
For those who understand Turkish, there is what is labelled a live video stream (with archived video as well, in a sophisticated programming mix) from the IHH website, broadcasting what appears to be the large Turkish passenger ship Mavi Marmara, here. Even Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson of colorful phrasing, Yigal Palmori, is dubbed into Turkish, [...]
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Filed under: Blogging, Boundaries & Borders, Gaza, Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid, International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Israel, Law of the Sea Convention, Palestine & Palestinians, Sanctions
Posted on May 27th, 2010 by Marian Houk
Cypriot authorities have barred one boat from leaving its port today — it was the Spirit, the Free Gaza boat that was seized and boarded by Israel’s Navy late last June while attempting to reach Gaza. Those on board were detained — some for up to ten days — and deported. Once the Spirit was [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Gaza, Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid, International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Israel, Law of the Sea Convention, Palestine & Palestinians, Sanctions
Posted on May 26th, 2010 by Marian Houk
The Freedom Flotilla says its rendez-vous in international waters offshore Gaza will be on Saturday, there are reports of Turkish-Israeli contacts, and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls this big operation a “publicity stunt”. (Do you use military force against a publicity stunt?) Israel is lining up its options to deal with the situation.
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Gaza, Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Israel, Law of the Sea Convention, Palestine & Palestinians, Sanctions
Posted on May 25th, 2010 by Marian Houk
Will court-ordered changes bring any relief to misery of Palestinian vill agers living who have been excluded for years from Israeli Road 443, a large part of which is built on their West Bank land — and which the Israeli military argued in court was built for their benefit? The Association for Civil Rights in [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on May 24th, 2010 by Marian Houk
Just as Israel’s Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu apparently promised George Mitchell last week, it has now happened: Israel announced on Sunday night a number of steps to be taken “in the near future” that the IDF is describing as “easing” and “goodwill” measures. The announcement was actually made first to Israeli media. It was only [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Negotiators and negotiations, Palestine & Palestinians, USA
Posted on May 23rd, 2010 by Marian Houk
Since Mordechai Vanunu’s release from jail in April 2004 after 18 years imprisonment in Israel for his role in confirming the scope of his country’s nuclear program — over 11 of those years in solidarity confinement — he has not been allowed to leave the country, and has lived under various continuing restrictions which have [...]
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Filed under: Human Rights, Israel
Posted on May 23rd, 2010 by Marian Houk
News of what is described as an imminent Hamas-Fatah football match in Nablus came via Twitter, and Tweets from journalists working for major TV organizations. It does sound like a great story. Im Zainab did a bit of intrepid field reporting on Saturday, and learned that the match will probably be played in early June, [...]
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Filed under: Journalism and Journalists, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on May 22nd, 2010 by Marian Houk
A Haaretz opinion article written by two Israeli academics argues that “Israel will enter negotiations with profound gaps between its goals for the diplomatic process and those of the Obama administration. Rather than a final-status solution, the Israelis prefer to manage the conflict and perpetuate the existing territorial reality. At the basis of this position [...]
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Filed under: Academic studies and research, Boundaries & Borders, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Negotiators and negotiations, Palestine & Palestinians, USA
