Gaza's emergency services battered

Rebel Newsflash: Gaza's emergency services battered (plus 15 more items)

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• Gaza's emergency services battered
• Bourj el-Barajneh: Searching for Meaning in a Refugee Camp
• The "banality of evil" and Israel's destruction of al-Araqib
• Disemboweling the Right of Return
• US Arms 'Bonanza' in Middle East
• Auschwitz's uncertain future
• America's Gulf: A Toxic Crime Scene
• Net Neutrality Threatened
• The Charade Begins: Netanyahu's Flotilla Massacre Probe Testimony
• The soul of the 'Land of the Pure'
• Tony Judt: An intellectual hero
• Another insult to Christianity… meet the Methodist Friends of Israel
• Interview with "Salt of This Sea" star before nationwide premiere in NYC
• Poisoning of Gaza water puts population at risk
• The Occupation is Corrupt - Olmert and the Jackals
• Blame and resentment in Kyrgyzstan

Gaza's emergency services battered Posted: 12 Aug 2010 11:39 AM PDT Outside the battered Civil Defense station in northern Gaza's Jabaliya region, Mohammed Zidan, a seven-year veteran of fire-fighting and rescue services, stands on crutches in front of battered Civil Defense vehicles. Zidan, 31, lost his right leg during the 2008-2009 Israeli war on Gaza. He is one of more than 30 Civil Defense workers who were injured during the Israeli attacks. Another 13 were killed, eight of them in the first series of F-16 bombings on 27 December 2008.

Bourj el-Barajneh: Searching for Meaning in a Refugee Camp Posted: 12 Aug 2010 09:48 AM PDT Two young girls stood, as if frozen, starting below them at an ever vibrant Beirut. Their balcony, like the rest of their house and most of their refugee camp was of an indistinct color. It was dirty, as were their clothes. They, on the other hand, looked beautiful and bright, although their future didn't.

The "banality of evil" and Israel's destruction of al-Araqib Posted: 12 Aug 2010 07:40 AM PDT We arrived in the darkness. The horizon was blurred from the desert night sky and all that could be seen was ruin. Piles of concrete, steel reinforcing bars and wood in places where the village once sat. In this maze of construction material there were small makeshift living spaces, barely suitable for the harsh desert climate. Simple tent structures consisting of four wood shafts and a black tarp was the only remains of this village.

Disemboweling the Right of Return Posted: 12 Aug 2010 04:58 AM PDT For months, as Lebanon's historic debate over basic civil rights for Palestinian refugees has unfolded, the Obama administration has watched idly along the sidelines. As hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees cough and slow-bake while inhaling rancid camp air in Lebanon's sweltering breezeless heat, the White House has now sent Lebanon's Parliament a message. The United States will not support meaningful civil, social or economic rights for the world's largest and oldest refugee population and it wants them naturalized anywhere except anyplace in Palestine.

US Arms 'Bonanza' in Middle East Posted: 12 Aug 2010 04:39 AM PDT Two of the United States' closest allies in the Middle East, Israel and Saudi Arabia, are on the brink of signing large arms deals with the US in a move designed to ratchet up the pressure on Iran, according to defence analysts. America has agreed to sell Saudi Arabia 84 of the latest model of the F-15 jet and dozens of Black Hawk helicopters. The deal also includes refurbishing many of the kingdom's older F-15s, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Auschwitz's uncertain future Posted: 12 Aug 2010 02:19 AM PDT People come from all over the world to see the place where the largest mass murders in history were committed. As they file past huge glass cases containing piles of intimate possessions like shoes, suitcases, spectacles and even false limbs which were taken from people before they were killed by the Nazis, some become distressed and a few burst into tears.

America's Gulf: A Toxic Crime Scene Posted: 11 Aug 2010 10:03 PM PDT On August 4, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a Department of Commerce agency, reported that: "The vast majority of the oil from the BP oil spill has either evaporated or been burned, skimmed, recovered from the wellhead or dispersed, much of which is in the process of being degraded....this is the direct result of the robust federal response efforts."

Net Neutrality Threatened Posted: 11 Aug 2010 09:57 PM PDT Free Press.net is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working for media reform through education, organizing and advocacy - Net Neutrality its defining issue, keeping it free and open, letting users access all content without restrictions, limitations, or discrimination, an online level playing field for everyone, the essence of democratic free speech. Without it, consumer choice will be lost, stolen by corporate predators, making the Internet look like cable TV, letting them decide what web sites, content and applications are available at what cost.

The Charade Begins: Netanyahu's Flotilla Massacre Probe Testimony Posted: 11 Aug 2010 09:45 PM PDT On August 9, Israel's self-appointed Turkel Commission, its planned whitewash, began hearings into the Freedom Flotilla massacre, a humanitarian mission delivering essential aid to besieged Gazans, Israeli officials blaming the victims, not themselves. After the incident, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said organizers incited the attack. His deputy, Danny Ayalon, connected them to international terrorists, trying to smuggle in arms, bogusly claiming weapons were found on board the mother ship, the Mavi Marmara.

The soul of the 'Land of the Pure' Posted: 11 Aug 2010 08:11 PM PDT It is the sheer scale of the devastation that leaves one speechless. As one surveys the overhead photos of vast lowland plains inundated with swirling brown water or stares at the upland images of mighty torrents washing away roads, bridges, entire villages, it is the utter scope of the disaster which almost defies comprehension, which far outstrips the power of words to convey. Only the flint-hearted could be left unmoved by this. The heart aches for Pakistan.

Tony Judt: An intellectual hero Posted: 11 Aug 2010 07:19 PM PDT New York University (NYU) professor and internationally renowned historian Tony Judt died last week of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known in the US as Lou Gehrig's disease after the famous baseball player whose death from the disease first brought it to public consciousness in 1941. It is hard to fathom the scope of the loss, not just of the man, but of the type of scholarship, of the way Professor Judt taught those willing to learn about how to approach and utilise history.

Another insult to Christianity… meet the Methodist Friends of Israel Posted: 11 Aug 2010 11:56 AM PDT A few weeks ago the Methodist Church's annual conference did a very courageous and praiseworthy thing. It voted to boycott products from Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestine, regarded as illegal under international law, and to encourage Methodists across Britain to do the same.

Interview with "Salt of This Sea" star before nationwide premiere in NYC Posted: 11 Aug 2010 09:57 AM PDT Salt of This Sea (2008), Annemarie Jacir's groundbreaking feature film, premieres in the US this week after two years on the road and winning over 20 awards in countless international film festivals. An intimate portrayal of the complexity of Palestinian identity, from the exiled diaspora to the ghettos of the West Bank, Salt of This Sea continues to make waves across the world since its debut at Cannes in 2008 -- where it was featured as an Official Selection/Un Certain Regard. The challenges and dangers of making the film mirrored many of the realities it tried to portray -- settlers tried to run actors over, and the Israeli army drove in with real tanks as a scene with a prop tank was being filmed.

Poisoning of Gaza water puts population at risk Posted: 11 Aug 2010 09:14 AM PDT The signs which dot the beach along the Gaza City waterfront are clear: "THIS BEACH IS POLLUTED," they read, and yet they seem to serve only as obstacles for children running to the sea rather than warnings to be heeded of the serious health risks associated with swimming here. For those who care to doubt the sign's veracity, one need only to stroll north along the beach for a couple hundred meters to see raw sewage being pumped directly into the Mediterranean Sea from one of the 16 discharge sites along the coast. Yet thousands fill Gaza's beaches and waters in spite of the clear dangers.

The Occupation is Corrupt - Olmert and the Jackals Posted: 11 Aug 2010 07:32 AM PDT I cannot say that I ever liked Ehud Olmert. But now I almost feel sorry for him. It is not pleasant to see how they pounce on him, like jackals and hyenas fighting over a carcass. And that also raises some questions.

Blame and resentment in Kyrgyzstan Posted: 10 Aug 2010 09:05 PM PDT Human rights observers have been documenting dozens of cases of torture and arrests of ethnic Uzbeks by Kyrgyz security forces, whose ranks are mostly made up of ethnic Kyrgyz. While the police and military deny the allegations, trust between government and the minority Uzbek population has been broken. In a recent interview with the AFP news agency, Roza Otunbayeva, the president of Kyrgyzstan, admitted that security services in the south of the country were targeting minority Uzbeks.

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