Since 1967 countless artifacts have been unearthed and removed from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Many are displayed in Israeli museums and private collections, while others are sold to tourists. Al Jazeera searches through the evidence, unearthing the facts and exposing a power struggle in which every stone has meaning.
Month: October 2010
More Afghan Casualties of War in Laghman Province
On September 25 the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) claimed that they had killed at least 30 “insurgents” in Afghanistan’s eastern Laghman province with an air and ground assault. After widespread reports from villagers that the “insurgents” were actually civilians, consequent investigations are expected to reveal that the villagers were telling the truth.
Jewish activists confront the JNF
The JNF according to historian Ilan Pappe is Israel’s main agency of ethnic cleansing. For nearly a decade the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign has been waging a lonesome fight against this pernicious outfit which, outrageously, enjoys tax-exempt charitable status in many Western countries. Now it is being confronted by some great Jewish activists both in the UK and the US. This latest protest took place in Atlanta where some activists were physically abused after trying to disrupt the JNF event. They deserve our support and encouragement. (via Mondoweiss)
For more on the JNF see the SPSC’s invaluable e-book.
FDA Prepares to Unleash Genetically Engineered Salmon on World
by Ken Kelley
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now reviewing a proposal by a Massachusetts company, AquaBounty Technologies, to sell genetically engineered salmon, which grow twice as fast as wild fish. If approved, it would be the first transgenic animal to be allowed into the human food supply.
The fish, called AquAdvantage Salmon, were developed at AquaBounty’s hatchery in Prince Edward Island, Canada. They are Atlantic salmon with an added growth hormone from the faster growing Chinook salmon. Engineers additionally inserted a gene from an eel-like fish called the ocean pout into the salmon, which activates the growth hormone and keeps the fish growing all year long.
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Guinea pig nation: Pharmas use people as drug test fodder in India?
Remember The Constant Gardener? John le Carre’s superb novel, later filmed by Fernando Meirelles, was about Western pharmaceutical giants using Africans as guinea pigs for testing drugs before they are introduced into markets. Here it is in reality:
The world’s pharmaceutical giants stand accused of using people in India as guinea pigs for their new medical products – sometimes even without their consent. And Human rights groups say those who do know what’s happening, often don’t get a full explanation of the dangers they face.
23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism
We may like or dislike capitalism, but surely we all know how it works. Right? Wrong. Today, most arguments about capitalism are dominated by free-market ideology and unfounded assumptions that parade as ‘facts’. This lecture in which Ha-Joon Chang will talk about his new book 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism| tells the story of capitalism as it is and shows how capitalism as we know it can be, and should be, made better.
Ha-Joon Chang is a professor in the faculty of politics and economics at Cambridge University where he has taught since 1990. In addition to numerous articles in journals and edited volumes, he has published seven authored books (three of them co-authored) and eight edited books (six of them co-edited). His most recent books include Bad Samaritans: Rich Nations, Poor Policies and the Threat to the Developing World (2007), Kicking Away the Ladder – Development Strategy in Historical Perspective (2002), which won the 2003 Myrdal Prize, Restructuring Korea Inc. (with Jang-Sup Shin, 2003), Globalization, Economic Development and The Role of the State (2003), and Reclaiming Development – An Alternative Economic Policy Manual (with Ilene Grabel, 2004). His writings have been translated into 13 languages.
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Israel Broadcasting Authority: “A Large-Scale Security Exercise has Concluded”
The following is a translation of a report by the Israel Broadcasting Authority (radio). These exercises were held three days before the Knesset approved a loyalty oath (to “the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state”) for non-Jews, wishing to become citizens of Israel.
A Large-Scale Security Exercise has Concluded
Carmela Menashe | 08.10.10 – 09:43
The exercise simulated facing Hamas terror attacks and Israeli Arab riots, following an agreement with the PA.
Yesterday (Thursday), Security forces completed a large-scale security exercise that simulates dealing with Hamas terror attacks and Israeli Arab riots following the signing of an agreement with the Palestinian Authority. Our correspondent reports that, among other things, the forces trained in extreme scenarios of violent demonstrations in the Arab sector, due to population exchange agreements with the PA.
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The Other Debt Crisis: Climate Debt
With the Cancun UN climate conference only weeks away now, the brilliant Avi Lewis travels to Bolivia to explore the country’s climate crusade from the inside on this edition of Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines.
The climate crisis in Bolivia is not a headline or an abstraction – it is playing out in people’s lives in real time. Melting glaciers are threatening the water supply of the country’s two biggest cities. Increasing droughts and floods are playing havoc with agriculture. So it is no surprise that in climate negotiations, Bolivia is emerging as a leader in the global south – advancing both radical solutions and analysis that make rich countries distinctly nervous.
Two Schools in Nablus
“Most of the students from age fourteen have had a prison experience.” A great short film from 2008 on secondary schools in Nablus. Parts 2 to 4 over the fold. I challenge anybody to watch the girls’ terror in part three and remain unaffected. We must redouble our efforts to strengthen the Palestinians and to weaken their enemies.
Prisoners
During the journey from Ramallah to Nablus I got talking to the middle-aged man sitting beside me. It turned out he’d been in prison for five years, cramped in a cockroach-run tent with tens of other men. At the kiosk at the end of my street I got talking to a white-haired young man. A few nights earlier the two owners of the kiosk had been taken away in an Israeli jeep. The white-haired man’s brother had been killed in 2007. He himself had done eleven years inside. I got talking to a writing student whose brother was constantly detained. A Palestinian friend of mine who now lives outside did ten years in Israeli jails. Two and a half of them were underground. Almost every male I met in Nablus had been imprisoned at some point. There are at least 8500 prisoners currently inside. But my friend tells me he felt more free inside the small prison than he did inside the larger. So here’s the statistic that counts: in all the territories controlled by the apartheid state of Israel there are 5,300,000 Palestinian prisoners. The other half of the Palestinian people is locked outside in exile. Here’s Saed Abu-Hijleh describing temporary detention.
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