Author Archives: Joe Catron

About Joe Catron

Joe Catron is a US activist in Gaza, Palestine, where he works with Palestinian groups and international solidarity networks, particularly in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) and prisoners' movements. He co-edited The Prisoners' Diaries: Palestinian Voices from the Israeli Gulag, an anthology of accounts by detainees freed in the 2011 prisoner exchange, blogs at joecatron.wordpress.com and tweets at @jncatron.

In photos: Gaza marches and rallies mark 65 years of the Nakba

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Joe Catron

A photo essay of a rally in Gaza to mark the 65th anniversary of the Nakba.

Posted in Activism, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Nakba | 2 Comments

The Newseum’s ‘further investigation’ must be public, credible, and thorough – and what we should do if it isn’t

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Joe Catron

An impartial investigation by the Newseum into the deaths of Mahmoud al-Kumi and Hussam Salama should be welcomed, but if the investigation is secretive, partisan, or perfunctory, or if the same conclusions already reached by every other responsible body fail to produce equivalent tribute to al-Kumi and Salama – some response will be demanded.

Posted in Activism, Israel/Palestine, Media, US Politics | 9 Comments

In photos: Palestinian Christians welcome Easter’s ‘Holy Fire’ to Gaza

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Joe Catron
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Greek Orthodox Christians marked the beginning of Easter Sunday with a four-hour midnight service in Gaza’s 1,606-year-old Church of Saint Porphyrius.

Posted in Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation | 2 Comments

In photos: Greek Orthodox Christians celebrate Palm Sunday in Gaza

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Joe Catron

Greek Orthodox Christians at Gaza’s Church of Saint Porphyrius, which recently commemorated its 1,606th anniversary, celebrated Palm Sunday yesterday according to the Eastern church calendar.

Posted in Gaza, Israel/Palestine | 20 Comments

In photos: Palestinian Prisoners’ Day in Gaza

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Joe Catron
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Thousands demonstrated in Gaza this morning, marching and rallying to mark the fortieth Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.

Posted in Activism, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Occupation | 1 Comment

Breakthrough: Mennonites divest from ‘companies that support Israel’s occupation’

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Joe Catron

Yesterday the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) United States announced that its board of directors had voted unanimously on March 16 to divest the organization’s direct holdings in “companies that support Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.”

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 16 Comments

Freed but not free: Gaza welcomes detainee and former hunger striker Ayman Sharawna

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Joe Catron

The open air prison is being used by Israel as a prison: thus its freeing of Ayman Sharawna on condition that he be held in Gaza for ten years

Posted in Activism, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Nakba, Occupation | 2 Comments

In photos: On eve of Obama visit, Rafah children remember Rachel Corrie and protest US aid to Israel

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Joe Catron

On Saturday, Palestinian children held a vigil in Rafah to commemorate the death of American activist Rachel Corrie in the Gaza Strip border town a decade ago. Twelve-year old Heba Saqir read a letter to US President Barack Obama, due in Tel Aviv, asking that the president “sincerely speak out against military occupation, demand an end to the siege, don’t send more guns to Israel, and don’t oppose our unity. Please don’t empower those who have tormented my family and me for so long.”

Posted in Activism, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Occupation, On the ground reports, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics | Tagged | 8 Comments

In photos: Gaza International Women’s Day rally for Palestinian detainees

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Joe Catron

After a weekly sit-in by families of Palestinian detainees in the courtyard of the International Committee of the Red Cross’ Gaza Strip headquarters Monday morning, demonstrators rallied on the street outside to mark International Women’s Day and Mother’s Day.

Posted in Activism, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation | 7 Comments

In photos: Gaza fishermen undertake protest flotilla to tell Israel — ‘Return the stolen boats!’

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Joe Catron

Several hundred Palestinian fishermen rallied on the Mediterranean Sea Sunday, March 3rd, sailing a flotilla of more than 50 boats from the Gaza seaport to the northern town of Beit Lahia and back to demand the return of 36 fishing boats seized by Israel.

Posted in Flotilla, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation | 9 Comments

In photos: Every Monday, families of Palestinian detainees gather in Gaza’s Red Cross

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Joe Catron

Every Monday morning families of Palestinians detained by Israel gather in the courtyard of the International Committee of the Red Cross’s Gaza Strip headquarters. In 2011, an organizer said that the event, which began after the redeployment of Israeli forces following the Oslo accords in 1994, “could enter the Guinness book of records for the longest running weekly sit-ins in the world.”

Posted in Activism, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation | Comments Off

In pictures: Thousands in Gaza protest the prison death of Arafat Jaradat

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Joe Catron

Following the death of a young Palestinian father in an Israeli prison, four days after he was arrested, there have been widespread Palestinian protests, including one in Gaza, demanding that “the international community pressure the occupation to release all of our detainees in Israeli prisons’

Posted in Activism, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Nakba, Occupation | Tagged | 3 Comments

In pictures: Farmers rally for Israeli agriculture boycott in Gaza ‘buffer zone’

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Joe Catron
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Hundreds of Palestinian farmers marched to the Gaza Strip’s Israel-imposed “buffer zone” this morning, where they rallied and planted olive trees. The demonstration, organized by theUnion of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), was part of a global day of action for boycotts of Israeli agricultural companies organized by UAWC, other Palestinian agricultural organizations, and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee.

Posted in Activism, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Occupation, On the ground reports | 2 Comments

Whether legal or political, the Holy Land Five struggle will continue

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Joe Catron

Today the Supreme Court will announce its decision to hear whether to hear the last remaining legal appeal of the Holy Land Five. The crusade against the Holy Land Foundation has been a political prosecution that targeted five Palestinian-Americans, with the close collaboration of Israeli intelligence sources and an anonymous witness.

Posted in Activism, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, US Politics | 8 Comments

On eve of historic anniversary, boycotts, hunger strikes, and repression continue

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Joe Catron

As Palestinians commemorated the one-year anniversary of last year’s prisoner exchange and the end of a mass hunger strike, both on October 18, the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association confirmed in a statement yesterday that Palestinian detainee Samer al-Barq had resumed his open hunger strike against an administrative detention order, after ending a previous 123-day strike on September 21.

Posted in Activism, BDS, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, On the ground reports | 3 Comments

Two hunger strikers in administrative detention face ‘imminent danger to lives’ as Gazans rally

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Joe Catron

Palestinian in Gaza protest the administrative detention of Samer al-Barq, now on his 105th day of a continuous hunger strike, and Hassan Safadi, on his 75th.

Posted in Activism, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Occupation | 3 Comments

New report documents ‘war crime of pillage’ by BDS target Ahava

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Joe Catron

A new report by Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq accuses Israel of “encouraging and facilitating the exploitation of Palestinian natural resources and actively assisting their pillaging by private actors” in the Dead Sea region of the occupied West Bank.

Posted in Activism, BDS, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation | 22 Comments

US envoy has ‘good relationship’ with pro-’annihilation’ Israeli rabbi

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Joe Catron

US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro has met with Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel and current head of Shas’s Council of Torah Sages.

Posted in Israel/Palestine, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics | 28 Comments

Israel’s secret Iran meeting between security officials and Rabbi who wants to ‘annihilate’ Arabs

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Joe Catron

Senior Israeli officials including National Security Advisor Ya’akov Amidror and Interior Minister Eli Yishai held a “secret meeting” with Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, who is known for his desire to “annihilate” Arabs.

Posted in Iran, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Middle East | 141 Comments

Gaza rally backs boycott of Israeli goods

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Joe Catron

In pictures, dozens of Palestinians braved a searing afternoon sun to rally in Gaza’s Saha market district against the sale of Israeli products during Ramadan.

Posted in Activism, BDS, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation | 18 Comments

Funding the occupation is taking a side

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Joe Catron

Pro-Israel organizers against the Presbyterian Church’s divestment of Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola b are mobilizing online, couching their position in the language of balance and parity.

Posted in Activism, BDS, Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation, US Politics | 9 Comments

Mass hunger strike lingers, another looms as Rikhawi family asks help

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Joe Catron

As several Palestinians detainees continue the Karameh (“Dignity”) hunger strike, which began April 17 and officially ended with a May 14 agreement, the family of one hunger-striking prisoner, Akram Rikhawi, has appealed for public support, while thousands more plan to launch another mass action inside Israel’s prisons and detention centers.

Posted in Activism, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Occupation | Comments Off

Rafah march for deteriorating hunger strikers as family appeals for support

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Joe Catron

Hundreds of Palestinians, led by Scouts from throughout the besieged Gaza Strip, marched in Rafah today to demand that Israel release Mahmoud Sarsak and Akram Rikhawi, two detainees still on hunger strike.

Posted in Activism, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation | Comments Off

Rafah’s nicest tunnel: Siege meets surf in Gaza

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Joe Catron

Joe Catron photographs Gaza’s clay sea huts in a coastal resort in Rafah, one kilometer from the Egyptian border.

Posted in Gaza, Israel/Palestine, On the ground reports | 7 Comments

As prisoners’ hunger strike grows, solidarity expands in Gaza

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Joe Catron

As the number of Palestinian detainees on hunger strike in Israeli prisons reaches 2,500, Joe Catron photographs Palestinians in Gaza protesting in a solidarity tent in the Unknown Soldier’s Square (al-Jundi).

Posted in Activism, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation | 3 Comments