The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question: How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question: How do we make democracy work for the poor?
Na'eem Jeenah and Heidi-Jane Esakov -
On November 29, 2012 the international community overwhelmingly voted the ‘State of Palestine’ as a ‘non-member observer state’ of the United Nations (UN), yet the façade of statehood is already beginning to show. The successful passage of the resolution through the UN General Assembly is not the victory for Palestinians it has been made out to be. Rather, it might actually undermine their rights.
While the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) –...
Heidi-Jane Esakov and Na'eem Jeenah -
A ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, which was to come into effect on Tuesday night, was delayed at the last minute due to ‘Israeli requests’. Despite the imminence of a ceasefire, Israel intensified its assault on the tiny, battered coastal strip as part of its ‘Operation Pillar of Cloud’. In response, rockets continued to fly, somewhat ineffectually, from Gaza into Israel. The Palestinian death toll, currently at over 130, will undoubtedly climb as...
Israel plans to increase its assault on the besieged gaza strip after the high profile assassination of Ahmed Jabari, the head of Hamas' military wing. His 14-year-old son was also killed in the attack. The latest assault on Gaza has been likened to the 2008/09 Gaza war where over 1,500 Palestinians were killed -- 300 of them children. Gaza has been under non-stop aerial bombardment in the past two days, as Israel vows to expand its attacks. The assault has been dubbed "Operation Pillar...
Noam Chomsky -
Even a single night in jail is enough to give a taste of what it means to be under the total control of some external force.
And it hardly takes more than a day in Gaza to appreciate what it must be like to try to survive in the world’s largest open-air prison, where some 1.5 million people on a roughly 140-square-mile strip of land are subject to random terror and arbitrary punishment, with no purpose other than to humiliate and degrade.
Such cruelty is to ensure that Palestinian...
On Tuesday, 3 April 2012, after three years of deliberations, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced it has finally reached a decision to reject the the Palestinian request to join. If it were accepted it would not only give the Palestinian Authority (PA) the possibility of inviting the ICC to prosecute Israelis or Palestinians accused of war crimes, Genocide, or crimes against humanity, but would have also forced the ICC to establish whether the Palestinian territories...
Five years ago Palestinian fighters launched a daring raid that ended in the capture of an Israeli Soldier, Gilad Shalit. The goal was to exchange him for the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
That swap took place on Tuesday this week with 470 Palestinians and the Isreali soldier released in the first stage of a deal mediated by Egypt.
Eventually a total of 1000 palestinians will go free. Despite this over 5000 prisoners will remain in Israeli jails.
The deal...
