21 Palestinians in Gaza Die in Israeli Air Strikes
Israeli air strikes on Gaza have entered their fourth day. The strikes have killed at least 21 Palestinians and injured 73 others. Three Palestinians died overnight, including a 15-year-old boy. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the strikes for “as long as necessary.” Militants in Gaza have fired 180 rockets into Israel in response to the air strikes. Four Israelis have been injured. Schools have been shut down in the region for two days. Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouti accused the Israelis of trying to create the tension of war in the region.
Mustafa Barghouti: “Israel was trying to break the calm. While Palestinians were committed to the truce, (Israel was trying) to find a way out for its crisis and to create the tension of war in the area.”
Palestinian militants began firing rockets after an Israeli jet killed Zuhair al-Qaisi on Friday in a targeted killing. He was the head of the Popular Resistance Committees militant group.
–Democracy Now!, 12 March, 2012
Abunimah: Finkelstein, BDS and the destruction of Israel
Chicago,IL- In a recent and highly controversial interview, Norman Finkelstein, long a scourge ofIsrael, turned his guns on Palestinians and their supporters. He accused the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement of being a “cult”, and claimed that its achievements were mostly exaggerated.
But what exercised Finkelstein most was his conclusion that if implemented, the demands of the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for BDS, would amount to “the destruction ofIsrael”.
Finkelstein lay into the three “tiers” of the BDS call: that Israel end its occupation of Arab lands conquered in 1967; that it end all forms of discrimination and guarantee equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel; and that it respect and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees, including the right of return.
“They don’t wantIsrael,” Finkelstein declared, “They think they’re being very clever. They call it their three tiers… We want the end of the occupation, we want the right of return, and we want equal rights for Arabs inIsrael. And they think they are very clever, because they know the result of implementing all three is what? What’s the result? You know and I know what’s the result: there’s noIsrael”…
–Ali Abunimah, Al Jazeera, 28 February, 2012
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/02/2012227111759385177.html
USC Students for Justice in Palestine 