By Vittorio Arrigoni, Gaza City, Gaza

July 4, 2010

Ketchup, mayonnaise, thread and needles are the items that were included last week by Israel on the list of those few goods now allowed into Gaza. Farming tools, spare parts for cars, toys and make-up were added to the list on Tuesday, items we watched being carried into the Strip loaded onto 130 trucks.

Taking into account the decision of the Israeli government to “loosen” the siege of Gaza by allowing the entry of more goods, B’Tselem, the Israeli organisation for human rights commented: “This is a first, tiny step towards the right direction, the direction which’ll bring Israeli policy in line with its obligations.”

A veritable microscopic step, considering that before the start of the siege, more than ten thousand trucks a month would drive through the Karni pass alone, and even then, these deliveries were miles away from the 500 truckfuls of goods a day (15,000 trucks a month), the minimum decreed by the United Nations to cover the basic needs of one and a half million people.

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Socialist Project | The Bullet
E-Bulletin No. 379
June 30, 2010

An interview with Lidice Navas
Susan Spronk and Jeffery R. Webber

A long-time revolutionary activist, Lidice Navas is an important socialist-feminist leader within the PSUV and a candidate for the Latin American parliament, among her many other responsibilities. We met her at the Women’s Development Bank in Caracas on June 18, 2010 to talk about her vision of socialism, the accomplishments of the Bolivarian process so far, and what remains to be done.

[Read the interview]

By Inshah Malik

30 June, 2010
Countercurrents.org

Compiled pictures of the innocent civilians and children killed so far by the troopers in Kashmir . From Left to Right: Firdous Ahmed, Shakeel Ahmed, Tajamul bashir, Taukeer Ahmed, Rafiq Bangroo, Sajad Malla, Zahid farooq, Inayat Khan, Zubair Ahmed, Wamiq farooq, Tufail Ahmed and Bilal Ahmed.

The current state politics is moving in a deadly direction where the State of Jammu and Kashmir headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has almost declared a death sentence over the entire Kashmir valley.  While making statements about the present situation during a Press Conference held on 29 th June 2010, Abdullah along with the central government authorities gave a clean chit to CRPF, who supported by black laws like AFSPA have been violating the basic right to life of people in Kashmir. The State government asked people to desist from protesting against the deaths of the youth and has imposed a stringent curfew all over the valley.

[Read the report]

GENEVA, (PIC)— UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in occupied Palestine Richard Falk accused Israel of making serious violations in occupied Jerusalem classified by international law as war crimes.

In a report he issued on Tuesday, Falk underlined that Israel’s threats to withdraw residence permits from Palestinian families in east Jerusalem and to demolish Palestinian homes in the city is a clear violation of the international law which criminalizes such acts as war crimes.

[Read more]

Khalil Sakakini center refuses a stage for Doc Jazz: ‘too political’ !
30 June 2010

The respected Khalil Sakakini center in Ramallah has refused to give a stage to Doc Jazz, to perform there in July. The reason given was: “too political” !!

I strongly denounce this cowardly stance, and urge you to send them a short email to express your dissatisfaction with this strange and unpatriotic attitude. The link to the website is here: http://www.sakakini.org/

If the center does not change its attitude, they will have lost my respect and do not deserve to be mentioned as a Palestinian cultural center that promotes Palestinian culture and the quest for Palestinian liberation.

Thank you !
Doc Jazz