Israel Determining Gaza's "Minimum" Level of Nutritional Subsistence?

On October 28 2009 Israeli Human Rights organization Gisha filed a case at an Israeli District Court calling for Israel to explain its policy on its siege on Gaza.

Gisha required an answer for the sporadic way that Israel runs the siege on Gaza. They demanded what criteria exist for the definition of "humanitarian" goods and how the list is determined on what is and is not permitted into Gaza.

In court again on January 21 the presiding judge was not pleased with the Israeli state spokesman's response who had claimed that a document on "red lines" that defines "minimum" nutritional subsistence levels for Gazans did not exist.

Guy Inbar, the spokesman of the Israeli Coordinator of Activities in the Territories wrote, "the office of the Coordinator of Activities examines the requirements of the Gaza population all the time"- like a prison warden.

The judge gave the occupying state 30 days to provide an explanation on how they are "putting Palestinians on a diet."

Light to Shine out of Darkness

US-made rifles inscribed with Bible codes are being used by US forces and Afghans to fight the Taliban.

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"They've always tried to paint the US efforts in Afghanistan as a Christian campaign."

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The Trijicon Reflex sight is stamped with 2COR4:6, a reference to part of the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," the King James version reads.

Tom Munson, Trijicon's sales director, said: "We don't publicise this. It's not something we make a big deal out of."

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Jared

One more case of example of the Israeli propaganda machine at work.

Expelling Jared, who for years has been doing good work as a journalist for the Bethlehem-based Ma'an News Agency.

Israel Plays God: Floods Gaza Strip

The Gaza Valley (Wadi Ghaza) used to host a river with lush banks from Hebron to the Mediterranean. For the past many years it has been transferred into a trickle of sewage after Israeli authorities built a dam and cut the water flow.

Yesterday, the Israelis decided to open the dam, causing the banks of the trickling river to flood the homes of Gaza residents.

The BBC, silencing the perpetrator, turned the incident into an act of nature.

"On Monday seven people were killed in the region when heavy rains caused the worst flash floods seen in a decade."

Human Rights Group Al-Mezan described it differently,

"For the second time in less than ten years the Israeli occupation forces have flooded Palestinian homes, fields and possessions of tens of families in the Gaza Strip."

No deaths means the English-speaking media is uninterested.

This is another case of the Gaza Strip's state of exception. One day Israel has use of water, so damn the Palestinians fields. Two days ago the Israelis had too much water, so damn the Palestinian homes.

A few words on the State of Exception..

Political Theorists Carl Schmitt’s conceptualization of the state of exception mirrors theologian Soren Kierkegaard’s formulation of the suspension of the ethical, whereby any ethical standardization is suspended during an incident of ‘divine intervention’ as that faced by Abraham’s intention of sacrificing his son. It is such logic of exception that Israel utilizes in the ongoing siege on Gaza- breaking all standards of international law- and in the flooding of a few homes in the Gaza valley.

The Palestinians are on the recipient end of this tableau of ethical suspension and in full approval of an on-looking international community, which applies its own “divine” exceptions when deemed fit.

Its fun to play god.

War-Comic-Journalism: Joe Sacco

"[W]hen I was in high school what I saw on TV news and what I read in the newspapers gave me the impression that Palestinians were terrorists.

And later on I began to understand why. Every time the word 'Palestinian' came up on the news it was in relationship to a bombing or a hijacking or something else like that. And that is objective journalism: just reporting what's going on. 'This is a fact' and leave it there. What it meant was that I had no education from the American mainstream media about what was going on there.

I knew nothing about the Palestinians. I didn't know why they were fighting at all or what they were striving for."

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Interview: Elia Suleiman

Ramez... of the Multitude

Last night, during a visit to the Nile delta, I met Ramez. As soon as he saw me- overcome with joy- he threw his arms around me. I was not quite sure why.

This picture explains it a bit.

Many months ago- though he had never met me- Ramez protested for my release. He is a student of law. Ramez has a speech and hearing impairment, so he struggles with his studies. 

This is the multitude, that still brings a ray of hope. 

My Friend Fares... One Year On

In January 2009 Fares Akram's diary described the ordeal of life in Gaza during the Israeli military assault. A year on, he describes how he still mourns his lost father, but keeps going for the sake of a baby born in war.

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This State of Exception

According to a UN official Israel will be paying the UN "around $10.5 million" in compensation for the "damage"- caused during Israel's war last winter against Gaza:

1. of U.N. property (two U.N. schools and a World Food Program warehouse in Gaza City- nevermind the over 40 refugees sheltering there after being told to do so by leaflets dropped by Israeli fighter jets in order to "safety")

2. for the life of the driver of a U.N. truck 

nevermind the over 1,300 other lives, 

nevermind the over 20,000 injured, 

nevermind the over 22,000 buildings destroyed, 

nevermind the ongoing destruction lived by people like you and me in the Gaza Strip today,

and I wonder, how does the people behind this entity called Israel get away with it.

Down With the Wall

Philip Rizk, a blogger and filmmaker, was kidnapped and detained by security forces last February after he organized a march from Cairo to Gaza with local and international activists. “Throughout the interrogation, my biggest crime seemed to be one simple thing: I cared too much for Palestinians and was willing to turn this solidarity into action.”

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