Salon.com > west bank

McDonald’s refuses to open branch in the West Bank

Sat, 29 Jun 2013 13:30:00 +0000

JERUSALEM — Israel's settlers are threatening to boycott McDonald's in Israel, after the popular burger chain refused to open a branch at a mall in the West Bank settlement of Ariel.

"McDonald's decision not to be a part of the Ariel mall is a miserable decision discriminating against the city's residents," Ariel Mayor Eliyahu Shaviro said.

Former interior minister Eli Yishai said on his Facebook page that he would eat the first burger grilled by McDonald's local competitor Burger Ranch, and that is rumored to take the American chain's spot in Ariel.

From “Mad Women” to Stephen Colbert: 5 creative protests that got people talking

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:48:00 +0000

On Wednesday, a group of North Carolina women dressed up in 60s era "Mad Men" garb to protest a bill that would allow employers to refuse to cover contraception for "moral" or religious reasons.

The theatrical protest, organized by Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina, wasn't the first time activists have employed a bit of razzle dazzle to draw attention to an issue and get people talking.

Below, a roundup of five protests that show how, sometimes, a little flare can make a big difference.

Mad, Mad Women

As noted above, the North Carolina group made a splash on Tuesday, wearing dapper vintage outfits to make their point that access to birth control is basic health care. The Republican-controlled judicial committee went on to approve the measure, which now heads for a full vote in the General Assembly, but the Mad Women caused a social media stir and brought national attention to a bill that may have otherwise flown under the radar, as Laura Basset reported for the Huffington Post:

Palestinian killed in Israeli airstrike

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:55:00 +0000

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli aircraft attacked a motorcycle in Gaza on Tuesday, killing a man who the military said was a top militant in a shadowy al-Qaida-influenced group who had been involved in a recent rocket attack on southern Israel.

It was the first deadly airstrike in Gaza since a truce was reached with Palestinian militants last November, and is the most serious test yet of the Egyptian-brokered agreement.

The strike came alongside the fatal stabbing of an Israeli settler in the West Bank, the first killing by a Palestinian of an Israeli in the territory in over a year.

The aircraft hit the motorcycle as it was traveling northwest of Gaza City, killing the driver and wounding a passenger. A bystander was also wounded, according to Gaza medical officials.

The Israeli military said it had successfully killed Haitham Mishal, describing him as a jihadi militant involved in an April 17 rocket attack on the southern Israeli resort town of Eilat and other violence. Ashraf al-Kidra, Gaza's Health Ministry spokesman, said Mishal was a policeman.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned in recent days that Israel would not tolerate rocket fire from either the Gaza Strip or Egypt's Sinai Desert.

Obama is missing the real Israel

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:18:00 +0000

President Obama’s current three-day trip through the Holy Land has gotten much attention, but his visit is notable for what he won’t see, and apparently doesn’t want to. Consider a territory the size of Connecticut, that's been around for nearly 47 years, and holds nearly three million people. It's carved up by hundreds of blockades, barriers, “special security zones,” “closed military areas,” “killing zones,” and roads accessible only to the privileged minority. It features an adult male population where nearly two of every five have been arrested or imprisoned, many without ever being charged. And yet, it remains essentially invisible.

I'm talking about the Occupied West Bank, 60 percent of which remains under the full military control of Israel. You’d be forgiven for not knowing, as references in the U.S. to Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank have fallen out of favor. Dennis Ross, President Clinton’s architect of the Camp David failure, spent a full page in a New York Times op-ed, making “recommendations” for “both sides” in preparation for the president’s visit to the region, without once mentioning the word, or the concept. The Los Angeles Times managed the same feat, in side-by-side op-eds, both by Israelis, including one by a settler who argued for the legitimacy of the West Bank settlements.

Rockets strike southern Israel hours before Obama’s West Bank arrival

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:39:00 +0000

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- U.S. President Barack Obama is meeting Palestinian officials on the second day of his Mideast tour to emphasize the importance of reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, a message underscored Thursday when Palestinian militants in Gaza launched rockets into southern Israel.

After a visit to Israel's national museum - where he inspected the Dead Sea Scrolls, which highlight the Jewish people's ancient connection to the land that is now Israel - Obama headed to the West Bank to tell the Palestinians that the creation of a Palestinian state remains a priority for his administration.

He is not bringing a new plan to relaunch peace talks, but in meetings with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and a speech to Israeli students later in the day, he will appeal to both sides to halt unilateral actions that make negotiations more difficult.

Those troublesome actions include continued construction of Jewish housing settlements on land claimed by the Palestinians and repeated Palestinian efforts to achieve recognition at the United Nations in the absence of a peace agreement.

Israel introduces “Palestinian only” buses

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Haaretz reports that, following Jewish settlers' complaints about security risks, certain bus operators will be providing "Palestinian only" lines to segregate Jewish and Arab commuters traveling from the West Bank to work in central Israel.

Via Haaretz:

The Afikim bus company will begin operating Palestinian-only bus lines from the checkpoints to Gush Dan to prevent Palestinians from boarding buses with Jewish passengers. Palestinians are not allowed to enter settlements, and instead board buses from several bus stops on the Trans-Samaria highway.

... The buses will begin operating Monday morning at the Eyal crossing to take the Palestinians to work in Israel. Transportation Ministry officials are not officially calling them segregated buses, but rather bus lines intended to relieve the distress of the Palestinian workers. Ynet has reported that fliers are being distributed to Palestinian workers notifying them of the coming changes.

Israel establishes university in illegal West Bank settlement

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 16:23:00 +0000

Earlier this week, Israeli defense secretary Ehud Barak approved plans for the first university in a West Bank settlement by upgrading a college currently based there. Ariel University would be situation beyond the "green line," which designates it as an illegal Jewish settlement on Palestinian territory, according to international law. Criticism from Europe is falling on deaf ears as Israel pushes ahead with the settlement plans.

According to the Guardian, the British foreign office released a statement condemning the plans for Ariel. "This decision will deepen the presence of the settlements in the Palestinian territories and will create another obstacle to peace," the statement said. However, Israel brushed off Britain's pleas to end the building, calling the the British line, "disappointing."

After UN Palestine vote, Israel okays new settlements

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 16:42:00 +0000

JERUSALEM — An Israeli official says Israel has approved the construction of 3,000 new housing units in West Bank settlements.

Friday's announcement comes a day after the United Nations recognized "Palestine" as a non-member observer state.

The Palestinians say U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem will help resume moribund Middle East peace talks. Peace negotiations have been frozen for the past four years as the Palestinians have refused to negotiate while Israeli settlement construction continued.

Israel fiercely denounced the U.N. bid. It says peace can only come from direct negotiations and not unilateral moves.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the decision.

Gaza: How did it come to this?

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:45:00 +0000

JABALIYA and GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — For the residents of the war-battered Gaza Strip, this is not the war to end all wars.

There was the ferocious Israeli assault in 2008-2009 that left more than a thousand dead. Then there was Operation Summer Rains, just two years before that, where 400 Palestinians and 11 Israelis were killed.

A negotiated cease-fire to the current battle — a week long, heavy exchange of fire between Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas fighters — will offer only a temporary respite from the decades of violence, they said.

Israeli officials have painted the offensive, which kicked-off on Nov. 14, as a mission to deter the Hamas-run government and other armed groups from firing rockets at Israeli towns.

But short-term gains from any Egypt-brokered truce, which is rumored to include a halt in attacks on both sides and a potential end to Israel’s Gaza blockade, will eventually be overshadowed by the chronic, unaddressed ills of the long-running conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Israeli air strike kills Hamas military chief

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:56:00 +0000

SDEROT, Israel — Military sources have confirmed to GlobalPost that Israeli Defense Forces targeted and killed Ahmed Jabri, the head of Hamas' military wing, in the Gaza Strip.

"Jabri was a senior Hamas operative who served in the upper echelon of Hamas' command and was directly responsible for executing terror attacks against the State of Israel in the past number of years," military sources said.

The killing of Jabri came a day after Hamas launched a barrage of more than 100 missiles into southern Israel, most of which were intercepted by the country's Iron dome missile protection system. The attack also comes just two months before the scheduled national elections in Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now finds himself between a rock and a hard place, which is no place any candidate wishes to be.

On the one hand, the Syrian civil war continues to spill over into the Golan Heights, the rocky territory Israel won from Syria in the 1967 war — which remains disputed, but quietly so, ever since.

Jimmy Carter says Mideast peace is “vanishing”

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 22:30:00 +0000

JERUSALEM (AP) — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Monday during a visit to Jerusalem that the prospect of an Israel-Palestinian peace accord is "vanishing," blaming Israeli settlement of the West Bank.

Carter, a longtime critic of Israeli policies, called the current situation "catastrophic" and blamed Israel for the growing isolation of east Jerusalem from the West Bank. He said a Palestinian state has become "unviable."

"We've reached a crisis stage," said Carter, 88. "The two-state solution is the only realistic path to peace and security for Israel and the Palestinians."

Carter is currently on a two-day visit leading a delegation known as the "The Elders," which includes the former prime minister of Norway and the former president of Ireland. The group met with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

But they didn't meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Carter said that the delegation didn't request a meeting because they haven't been granted meetings on previous visits.

Netanyahu has pledged support for a Palestinian state but peace talks with the Palestinians have been frozen for most of his tenure. Carter criticized him for not doing enough.