On Sunday, Pope Francis traveled across town to visit Rome’s synagogue that stands within the old Jewish ghetto, but he missed an opportunity to move the Jewish-Catholic friendship to a new level of honesty. As the Pope correctly apologized for the Church’s role in the ghettoization of Jews, he remained silent about the ongoing ghettoization of Palestinians in Israel-Palestine.
On December 3rd 2015 a statue was unveiled in honor of Richard “Dick” Cheney at the United States Capitol. Coincidentally, the previous day witnessed the British parliament, specifically the House of Commons, inadvertently honor Cheney in the debate on whether to extend the military intervention aimed at ISIS in Iraq into ISIS’s supposed heartland in Syria.
For the second time in a year, Israeli vandals targeted a Christian church in Jerusalem Sunday with extremist anti-Christian graffiti. Assailants tagged the religious site with messages in Hebrew: “Death to the heathen Christians, “the enemies of Israel”, “Let his [Jesus’] name and memory be obliterated” and “Christians to Hell.”
Wisam Marwan Qasrawi, 21, was shot at Huwwara checkpoint in the northern West Bank Sunday after allegedly trying to stab a soldier. He is the 159th Palestinian killed by Israeli soldiers in the last 3-1/2 months.
Craig Corrie writes about the actor Alan Rickman, who died last week at the age of 69 and had edited his daughter Rachel’s writing into the play ‘My Name is Rachel Corrie.’ Corrie writes, “The care Alan took for our family, his courage to take on this particular project, and most of all, the respect he showed for Rachel and her writing, impress me still as truly extraordinary.”
Israeli forces continue to use excessive force in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reports that nine Palestinian civilians, including two children, were killed, and one armed resistance fighter was killed by Israeli troops in the past week. During the same time, 21 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children, were wounded in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli forces conducted 72 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and a limited one in the southern Gaza Strip. 64 Palestinian civilians, including 8 children, were abducted.
Israeli forces opened fire at different fronts on the Gaza boundary fence today, killing two young Palestinians during today’s clashes. Ashraf al-Qidra, the spokesman of Gaza’s Ministry of Health said that Mohammed Qeita, a 26-year old protester, was shot in his abdomen by Israeli live bullets. Less than two hours later, medics confirmed that Mohammed Abu-Zayed, 19, was also killed, shot in his head and neck. According to witness testimonies, Israeli snipers picked off the two protesters without prior warning.
US media outlets, including the powerful New York Times, refuse to report basic elements of Palestinians’ experiences, including the perspectives of Palestinians living in Israel. Reporter Diaa Hadid’s January 3 article in The New York Times on Palestinian citizens of Israel living in Haifa provides a recent case in point.
Alice Rothchild finds resistance to speaking openly about the Israeli occupation at a retirement community in Seattle.
The brutal killing of Habtom Zarhum in October has sowed seeds of fear in the African asylum seeker and refugee community in Israel. With the recent escalation in violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories individuals now fear, more than ever, that they will become the target of an increasingly angry and militarized Israeli society.