Documentation of the fourth meeting in the series “Meetings from the Dark Perspective,” the headline of which was “1948 Refugees: Mizrahi Perspectives.” A panel discussion with Ilan Halevi, Kochavi Shemesh, Nizar Hassan and Shiko Behar*. The meeting was conducted in Tel Aviv, 8 December 2003.

 סקירת הפגנות סוף השבוע נגד הגדר והכיבוש

Recently, Hajo Meyer published a remarkable booklet to counteract the conscious abuse of the terms anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism by the State of Israel and its umbrella organizations. As a consequence, people are reluctant to criticize Israel's behaviour. Israel's violations of international law and the ongoing collective punishment of the people in Gaza should in Meyer's view be criticized, and he is appalled by the incapacity of the European Union to hold Israel to account.

Urgent Briefing Paper
Prepared By SOAS Palestine Society, February 2009.

"In the rough and tumble reality of the Middle East, Tel Aviv University is at the front line of the critical work to maintain Israel’s military and technological edge."
(Tel Aviv University Review, Winter 2008-9)

Caterpillar is a American group of construction machines for building sites, they say. But Caterpillar is earning much money with the destruction of buildings and even lifes,...for example in Palestina where the Palestinian people already many years suffer under the destructive power of Caterpillar machines who took also the life of the american peace activist Rachel Corrie.
It are most Caterpillar machines who are destroying the Rom (gipsy) quarter of Istanbul, Sulukule...the "work" is almost terminated..

The actual economic crisis is a reason for the Caterpillar managers to dismiss hundreds of workers and close down factories.
Now it are the workers who used to construct the Caterpillar machines, that are very angry: four managers of Caterpillar France remained retained one night in the Grenoble seat of the company. The workers used their "prisoners" to have a stronger position struggling against the destruction of their jobs in the spring of 2009.
In front of the elected delegates of the workers, the direction of Caterpillar did not hide that half of the jobs considered redundancies=dismissals are giustified as that in no way by the fall of volumes of production for 2009, but by the requirement to improve the profitability of the group and to guarantee dividends with the shareholders. The trade-unions asked the government to intervene to prevent that the dividends are versed thanks to the destruction of employment.

And so we see scenes near the Caterpillar factories who will be very familiare to the Palestinian people and the Rom of Sulukule...

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=558...

שלושים שנה אחרי הפלתו של משטר הדמים של החמר רוּז' בקמבודיה בהנהגתו של פול פוט בשנים 1979-1975 – הוכנס נושא השמדת-עם (ג'נוסייד) בתוכנית הלימודים הרשמית של בתי הספר התיכוניים בקמבודיה. בפעם הראשונה, תלמידי קמבודיה ילמדו על אותן "שלוש שנים, שמונה חודשים ועשרים ואחד ימים" בהם נטבחו 1.7 מיליון קמבודים. תוכנית הלימודים הוכנה במשותף על ידי מרכז התיעוד ומשרד החינוך בקמבודיה.


נכון שהנושא העגום הזה לא נעדר בעבר מכיתות בתי הספר בקמבודיה, אך הוא הובא עד כה בצורה תמציתית. לכל יותר הוא תפס חצי עמוד בספרי לימוד מסוימים או שעלה במסגרת שיעורים של מוסר ומדעי החברה. למשל, בספר הלימוד של כתות י' כל הנושא הסתכם בשורות הבאות: "בין ה-25 ל-27 באפריל 1975, מנהיגי החמר רוז' קיימו ועידה שלא מן המניין כדי לנסח חוקה חדשה ולקרוא לארץ 'קמפוצ'יאה הדמוקרטית'. בעקבות הוועידה, הוקמה ממשלה חדשה בראשותו של פול פוט ולאחריה נטבחו קמבודים רבים".

Last year, "Waltz With Bashir" opened in theaters. The movie concentrates on stories and experiences of Israeli soldiers who invaded Lebanon in 82'. Following Ari Folman's journey to retrieve his memory, the viewers are shown a glimpse of the atrocities and war crimes committed by the Israeli Army and its allies in Lebanon.

"Waltz with Bashir" speaks through the medium of animation and recollection. The memories of the soldiers are detailed as part interviews, part real depictions. The story starts with the nightmare of one soldier in which he is pursued by the dogs that he killed during the war. He explained that Israeli soldiers were instructed to shoot the dogs because they served to alert the Palestinians of the approach of Israeli troops.

The idea of memory is central to the movie—the loss of memory about the horrors of that invasion and the doubts about the reliability of the memories. One soldier describes fleeing a ship, carried away by a giant woman, another, describes rising out of the sea with fellow soldiers. The blurriness of the borderline between what is real and what is not, is stressed from the beginning of the movie and serves as a central motif throughout it.

These flights of unreality are intercut with the testimony of Israeli soldiers describing running into ambushes, and trying to capture resistant fighters. The movie, however, is centered on the memories of soldiers who witnessed the massacre at Sabra and Shatila , carried out by the Christian Phalangist under the protective wing of the Israeli army. One soldier, upon witnessing a whole family being executed by the Israeli allies, describes calling his superiors, only to receive the answer "we are aware of that, it's under control". Another soldier describes informing Ariel Sharon, then the defense ministry, of that massacre, to no avail. Read more

Indypendent: Back To Lebanon

Blogs: Epiphanies | laura on the left coast | Feeling Good About Feeling Bad

In an unprecedented outpouring of popular opposition to U.S. policy in support of the Israeli invasion of Gaza, a full month of nearly continuous protests brought tens of thousands into the streets. Arab American youths mobilized as never before. Even after Israel’s troop withdrawal, advocates for the human rights of Palestinians in Gaza vowed to continue the campaign until Israel lifts its blockade on the tiny territory.