Tag Archives: Palestine

‘Never Again for Anyone’: Jewish Protesters Demanding Gaza Cease-Fire Arrested in Grand Central Station

“While Shabbat is typically a day of rest, we cannot afford to rest while genocide is unfolding in our names,” said one rabbi.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 10-27-2023 by Common Dreams

*Jewish-led peace protesters take over the Grand Concourse in New York City’s Grand Central Station on October 27, 2023 to demand an immediate Gaza cease-fire. (Photo: Jewish Voice for Peace/X)*

As Israel intensified a war that’s already killed more than 7,300 Palestinians and displaced a majority of Gaza’s residents, hundreds of Jewish American protesters and allies were arrested after taking over New York’s Grand Central Station Friday evening for a sit-in demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Chanting slogans including “no more weapons, no more war, cease-fire’s what we’re fighting for” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” human rights defenders took over the station’s Grand Concourse, while others hung banners reading “Never Again for Anyone” and “Palestinians Should Be Free” from the stairway to the East Balcony.

Continue reading →

Hundreds of Thousands March in London Demanding ‘End to War on Gaza’

Leave a reply

The large-scale demonstration in the U.K. occurred as paltry levels of humanitarian aide were finally allowed through the southern border of Gaza, but nowhere near enough given the scale of death and destruction.

By Jon Queally. Published 10-21-2023 by Common Dreams

*People take part in a ‘March For Palestine,’ in London on October 21, 2023, to “demand an end to the war on Gaza.”* *Photo:* *Hope Worsdale*/X

Organizers and participants said hundreds of thousands of people were in the streets of central London on Saturday to demand an immediate cease-fire in Gaza as the Israeli military continued its bombardment of the besieged enclave a full two weeks after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

Organized by a coalition that includes the Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Stop the War Coalition, Muslim Association of Britain, Palestinian Forum in Britain, and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the march also called for Israel to “end its occupation of Palestinian land and apartheid rule over the Palestinian people.”

Continue reading →

If this is Israel’s 9/11, we should remember what happened next

Leave a reply

The US achieved nothing in the Middle East, but millions of civilians paid the price – the same will be true now

By Paul Rogers. Published 10-9-2023 by openDemocracy

After the devastating failure of the Israeli intelligence to foresee the sudden Hamas assault at the weekend, many Israelis are describing the huge loss of lives as ‘Israel’s 9/11’.

Although the two events cannot be fairly compared, given the attack on Israel came from a country it has occupied and inflicted a deadly and brutal regime of apartheid on for many decades, the assault by Hamas has had a similarly visceral impact.

Continue reading →

US State Dept. Officials Told Not to Use Terms ‘De-Escalation/Cease-Fire’ About Gaza

Leave a reply

“This is unconscionable and will leave an indelible stain,” said one critic, who urged “resignations and collective action” to protest the reported policy.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 10-13-2023 by Common Dreams

*U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken*. Photo: GPA Photo Archive/flickr/CC

As Israel on Friday bombarded civilians in Gaza and prepared for a ground invasion in response to Hamas’ recent attack, U.S. State Department leadership reportedly instructed officials not to publicly use some terms that would advocate for less violence.

According to HuffPost, which reviewed official emails, “State Department staff wrote that high-level officials do not want press materials to include three specific phrases: ‘de-escalation/cease-fire,’ ‘end to violence/bloodshed,’ and ‘restoring calm.'”

Continue reading →

War Profiteers’ Stocks Soar as Israel Bombs Gaza

Leave a reply

“As countries need to replenish their weapons, we do think defense companies will do very well,” said one expert.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 10-9-2023 by Common Dreams

“War is good for business.”

That’s what one defense executive said at a London arms conference last month, and what the stock market reflected on Monday, as Israel blockaded and bombarded the Gaza Strip—bombing the occupied Palestinian territory’s main university, residential buildings, a refugee camp, and a major hospital—in response to Hamas’ weekend attack that killed hundreds of Israelis.

The United States, which already gives Israel $3.8 billion in annual military assistance, is now preparing to send additional weaponry and other support. Meanwhile, the stocks of U.S. and European firms that make money off of war soared on Monday.

Continue reading →

Rights Groups Blast UK Bill to Ban Public Bodies From Boycotting Israel

Leave a reply

Civil society critics argue the proposal threatens “freedom of expression, and the ability of public bodies and democratic institutions to spend, invest, and trade ethically in line with international law and human rights.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 6-19-2023 by Common Dreams

A Palestine Solidarity Campaign rally outside Downing Street in 2016. Photo: Alisdare Hickson/flickr/CC

Advocacy organizations raised the alarm on Monday as a bill to ban local councils and universities in the United Kingdom from boycotting Israel over human rights abuses was introduced in the U.K. Parliament.

The Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill—tabled by Michael Gove, the Conservative secretary of state for leveling up, housing, and communities—aims to “prevent public bodies from being influenced by political or moral disapproval of foreign states when taking certain economic decisions, subject to certain exceptions.”

Continue reading →

‘Heinous Crime’: Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill at Least 13 Palestinians, Including Children

Leave a reply

While one United Nations official slammed the Israeli bombings as “unacceptable,” an Israel Defense Forces colonel called the deaths of four children “irrelevant.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 5-9-2023 by Common Dreams

At least 13 Palestinians have been killed and 50 others injured in a series of brutal Israeli airstrikes which targeted several houses, locations, and residential buildings in the besieged Gaza Strip. Photo: Aya Isleem/Twitter

Human rights defenders on Tuesday condemned an intense Israeli aerial bombardment of densely populated areas of Gaza that killed at least 13 Palestinians—including at least 10 civilians and three leaders of a militant resistance group—while wounding more than 20 others.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF)—which is calling the airstrikes Operation Shield and Arrow—said it “targeted three senior Islamic Jihad commanders responsible for launching rockets toward Israel over the last month and planning further terror attacks,” as well as “weapons manufacturing sites and military compounds.”

Continue reading →

‘What Color Shirts’? Far-Right Ben-Gvir to Get Control Over Israeli National Guard

Leave a reply

The former head of Israel’s police accused the national security minister of “dismantling Israeli democracy” and “turning Israel into a dictatorship.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 3-27-2023 by Common Dreams

Itamar Ben Gvir. Photo: @OldPrague/Twitter

Democracy defenders on Monday sharply criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s agreement to place the country’s National Guard under the control of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right extremist who has advocated the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Netanyahu’s move is in exchange for a promise from Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party to remain in the prime minister’s governing coalition despite an earlier threat to exit if Netanyahu delayed a highly controversial judicial overhaul. Facing massive street protests and a general strike by the nation’s largest trade union, Netanyahu agreed on Monday to postpone the legislation until April or early May. Continue reading →

Israel ‘Legalizes’ 9 Apartheid Settler Colonies in Occupied Palestine

Leave a reply

“Make no mistake; this isn’t about retaliation for the recent terror attacks,” said one critic. “This is nothing else than colonialism, and the U.S. and E.U. won’t do anything about it; instead, they say that they are ‘deeply concerned.'”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 2-12-2023 by Common Dreams

Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, an occupied territory in which international law bans nations from settling civilians. (Credit: Montecruz Foto / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0 /

Israel’s far-right Security Cabinet on Sunday approved the immediate “legalization” of nine Jewish-only settler outposts in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem over what critics called the empty objection of benefactor the United States and in violation of international law—under which all Israeli settler colonies are illegal.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich both claimed responsibility for the action, in which they sought government recognition of 77 illegal settler outposts. The ministers and other Israeli officials said the move was in response to recent deadly attacks against Jews by Palestinian resistance fighters, including a vehicular assault that killed three people—two of them young children—near East Jerusalem’s Ramot neighborhood on Friday. Continue reading →

‘2022 Was Deadly’: Killings of Journalists Jumped by Nearly 50%

Leave a reply

The deadliest year for media workers since 2018 was driven in large part by the war in Ukraine and a rise in killings in Latin America.

By Julia Conley. Published 1-25-2023 by Common Dreams

The funeral of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Ramallah. Photo: YouTube/Wikimedia Commons/CC

Driven in large part by Russia’s war in Ukraine and a rise in violence in Latin America, 2022 was the deadliest year for journalists in four years and saw nearly a 50% increase in murders, killings in crossfire, and deaths as the result of dangerous assignments, according to a report released Tuesday.

In its annual report on the killings of members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) confirmed that at least 41 journalists and media workers were killed in direct connection to their work, including nearly two dozen who were murdered in retaliation for their work. The group is still investigating the motives for the killings to 26 other journalists, bringing the total number of media workers killed last year to 67. Continue reading →

Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Tag Archives: Palestine

War Profiteers’ Stocks Soar as Israel Bombs Gaza

“As countries need to replenish their weapons, we do think defense companies will do very well,” said one expert.

‘What Color Shirts’? Far-Right Ben-Gvir to Get Control Over Israeli National Guard

The former head of Israel’s police accused the national security minister of “dismantling Israeli democracy” and “turning Israel into a dictatorship.”