End the Occupation!

Against Colonialism   !    Against Repression   !    Against Fundamentalism   !    Against Genocide

Much of this page was put together by myself back in 2002 for Solidarity Publishing, a local Montreal group that exists no more. As time goes on it will be occasionally updated and modified.

What follows is the introductory paragraph from the Solidarity site - it still sums up how i feel:
 
Following the recent Israeli offensive against the Palestinian people, we felt it necessary to provide what information we could on Israeli colonialism and its antithesis, the Palestinian national liberation struggle. We are the first to admit that we are in no way experts on the history of the Middle East, and are in fact largely ignorant of the different factions within the Israeli and Palestinian societies. But while a lack of detailed knowledge certainly does limit the contribution we can make, one does not need to know the ins and outs of the situation to know that colonialism and its bedmate genocide (always deniable but always around) are never acceptable, that the oppressed will resist and that it is in standing in solidarity with this resistance that we too can work towards our own liberation, while at he same time remembering that support need not be uncritical in order to be valid or worthwhile.
 


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This page is largely comprised of links to other sites, organized as follows:


BOOKS,. PAMPHLETS AND VIDEOS ABOUT PALESTINE, ISRAEL, ZIONISM AND ANTI-ZIONISM, FROM AK PRESS



peace

Other Related Kersplebedeb Pages
Curious about what this is all about?
For an idea of the politics behind the politics on this site, take a gander at my political perspectives .



Palestine Solidarity Review
an anti-authoritarian journal
about Palestine, Zionism and israel



  It's All Lies
It's All Lies
Leaflets, Underground Press and Posters
the Fusion of Resistance and Creativity in Israel


The Links

Information

Intifada
journalists flee israeli troops
The following is the number of Israelis and Palestinians killed between January 1st and December 29th, 2001. (The numbers in brackets represent the total number of fatalities since the beginning of the intifada on September 29, 2000 - compiled by B'Tselem )

In the Occupied Territories:
  • 345 (582) Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli security forces. Of these, 79 (161) were minors under the age of 18, including 38 (69) were children under 15 years-old.
  • 7 (13) Palestinian civilians, among them a two month old baby, were killed by Israeli civilians.
  • 103 (138) members of the Palestinian security forces were killed by Israeli security forces.
  • 65 (83) Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinians. Of these, 9 were minors under the age of 18, including 6 children under 15 years-old.
  • 21 (40) members of the Israeli security forces were killed by Palestinians. 3 foreign citizens were killed by Palestinians.
In Israel:
  • 79 (83) Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinian civilians. Of these, 27 were minors under the age of 18, including 9 children under 15 years-old. 6 Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinian security forces.
  • 16 members of the Israeli security forces were killed by Palestinian civilians.
  • 6 (7) Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli security forces.
  • 4 members of the Palestinian security forces were killed by Israeli security forces.
  • 4 foreign citizens, including one minor, were killed by Palestinians.



Palestinian Organizations

Prisoners



resist!

lp     free the detainees!



Sabra and Shatila

Solidarity Groups
From September 15-18th 1982, after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Phalangist puppets of the Israelis massacred over 3000 Palestinian men, women and children under the watchful eyes of the Israeli army. A body count by the International Committee of the Red Cross revealed 2750 dead, the real figure is thought to be much higher and may never be known. Ariel Sharon - today Prime Minister of Israel - was Minister of Defense at the time, and is now facing a lawsuit for this war crime in Belgium.



Sabra and Shatila    shatila
solidarity



Texts

Women in Palestine


writing for freedom
General Union of Palestinian Women
Other links of interest:

Books & Pamphlets About Palestine From AK Press

AK Press is a workers’ co-operative wholly owned by its members. All decision-making, including which titles they distribute and publish, is made collectively. AK's goal is to make available radical books and other materials, titles that are published by independent presses, not the corporate giants, titles with which you can make a positive change in the world. The sorts of books AK Press stocks are less and less available from the corporate publishers, booksellers & websites.

An Issue Of Justice: Origins Of The Israel/Palestine Conflict

by Norman Finkelstein
AK Press 2005
In this audio CD released in 2005, Finkelstein lays out the history of the Israel/Palestine conflict with clarity and passion, arguing that any other similar conflict would be perfectly understood, yet this one exists beneath a blanket of ideological fog. Finkelstein cuts through the fog with indisputable historical facts, optimistic that the struggle is winnable, and that it is simply an issue of justice.

Beyond Chutzpah: On The Misuse Of Anti-Semitism And The Abuse Of History

by Norman Finkelstein
Univerrsity of California Press 2005
In this long-awaited sequel to his international bestseller The Holocaust Industry, Norman G. Finkelstein moves from an iconoclastic interrogation of the new anti-Semitism to a meticulously researched exposé of the corruption of scholarship on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Blaming The Victims: Spurious Scholarship And The Palestinian Question


by Christopher Hitchens (Editor), Edward Said (Editor), Contributors inclide Norman Finkelstein, and Noam Chomsky , Peretz Kidron, G. W. Bowerstock, Ibrahim and Janet L. Abu-Lughod, Mumammad Hallaj, Elia Zureik, and Rashid Khalidi.
Verso 2001
Demonstrates with cold precision how the consistent denial of truth about the Palestinians by governments and the media in the West has led to the current impasse in Middle East politics. Controversial, forceful, and—above all—honest, it attempts to redress a sustained crime against historical truth in order to make a more rational political future in Palestine possible.

By Theft And Murder: A Beginners Guide To The Occupation Of Palestine


by Ted Curtis
Spare Change 2003
In December 2001, Ted Curtis traveled to Beit Sahour, a small town near Bethlehem in the West Bank, to participate in non-violent direct action against the Israeli occupation of Palestine, then in its 35th year. From there, he traveled all over the West Bank with the International Solidarity Movement in little more than a week; joining in demonstrations, helping to dismantle illegal IDF roadblocks, and listening to stories of terror from the occupation. Initially a history buff, he was moved to read around the subject following this experience, and he returned to Bethlehem just in time for the mendaciously named "Operation Defensive Shield." This is some of his story—a gripping mixture of eyewitness reportage and analysis.

The Case Against Israel

by Michael Neumann
AK Press 2006
The Case Against Israel is a measured but relentless assessment of the long struggle between Israelis and Palestinians. It argues that Zionism was responsible for the conflict, and that Israel is responsible for its perpetuation. The argument rests on widely accepted factual claims and impeccable sources.

Children Of Shatila


Documentary video (VHS) by Mai Masri
Arab Film Distribution 2003
Documentary filmmaker Masri focuses on the lives of two Palestinian children: Farah—age 11 and Issa—age 12. Given video cameras, they tell us of their pasts and the realities of their daily lives as refugees in a camp which has survived massacre, siege, and starvation. Out of these personal narratives evolve the story of the Shatila camp. A staggering project, produced in 1998. In Arabic with English subtitles.

Comrades And Enemies: Arab And Jewish Workers In Palestine, 1906-1948

by Zachary Lockman
University of California Press 2004
Emphasizing the socioeconomic and cultural rather than the political, diplomatic, or military dimensions of the history of Palestine, Lockman draws on extensive archival research, in both Arabic and Hebrew, and interviews with activists to explore how Arab and Jewish societies in Palestine shaped each other in crucial ways.

Dishonest Broker: The US Role In Israel And Palestine

by Naseer Aruri
South End Press 2003
In this fully revised and updated version of his highly acclaimed book The Obstruction Of Peace: The United States, Israel, And The Palestinians, Aruri dismantles the many myths about the failed Middle East "peace process." As a result of America's massive military, economic, and political support for Israel, Palestinians continue to be denied their fundamental right to self-determination and justice.

Dispatches From Palestine: The Rise And Fall Of The Oslo Peace Process

by Graham Usher
Pluto Press 2000
In addition to presenting the views of ordinary individuals on the street, the book includes interviews with many of the leading commentators and figures from Palestinian Hamas and Fatah, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Shas (the Sephardic Jews within Israel). The collection also contains longer, analytical pieces that describe the rise of Hamas in the occupied territories; the growing authoritarianism of Arafat's Palestinian Authority; the politics of Hezbollah in Lebanon; and the causes behind the nihilistic violence of the Gamaa Islamiyya in Egypt.

Eastern Cauldron: Islam, Afghanistan, Palestine And Iraq In A Marxist Mirror

by Gilbert Achcar
Monthly Review 2005
The route to any coherent understanding of our time runs through the issues addressed in this collection of essays: the political meaning of Islam, the relation of the West to the Islamic world, the new form of imperialism signaled first by the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and now by the US occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the intractable conflict over Palestine.

From Brooklyn To Balata: First Hand Reports And Thoughts From Palestinian Solidarity Activists

by Sean Sullivan
2003
First hand accounts of life in occupied Palestine from four solidarity activists. All of their reports are incisive, well-written, eloquent, and illuminating. The second half includes two responses from New York State prisoners—very much bringing the war, and racism, back home to America—as well as a lengthy afterward/essay, discussing the role of (largely) white activists in the Middle East, the structure, tactics, and effectiveness of the International Solidarity Movement, why solidarity work (both in Palestine and here, at home) is vital, and how such work might be most effective.

Image And Reality Of The Israel-Palestine Conflict

by Norman Finkelstein
Verso 2001
First published in 1995, this polemical study challenges generally accepted truths of the Israel-Palestine conflict as well as much of the revisionist literature. This new and enlarged edition critically re-examines dominant popular and scholarly images in the light of the current debacle of a "peace" process. "The most revealing study of the historical background of the conflict." —Noam Chomsky

In Search Of Fatima: A Palestinian Story

by Ghada Karmi
Verso 2004
"Karmi's stunning memoir is remarkable. Extraordinarily well written, it is the amazingly honest story of a Palestinian woman of exceptional self-awareness. Hers is a story of exile and displacement...rich in detail and human experience. Karmi is excellent on the quality of family and even communal life in Mandatory Palestine...she also has a wonderfully subtle way of showing how in thousands of different ways the political and the personal intermesh, and this she does with a skill and insight that could be a novelist's envy." —Edward Said

Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising Against Israeli Occupation

by Joel Beinin, Zachary Lockman, Noam Chomsky (Contributor), and Edward Said (Contributor)
South End Press 2001
A classic collection, published in 1989, of eyewitness accounts and analysis of the original Intifada. If you want to know why there is still occupation and resistance in Palestine making the headlines today, this is a crucial piece of (recent) history and background. Noam Chomsky and Edward Said are amongst those providing the necessary context for this ongoing struggle.



Israel/Palestine:How To End The War Of 1948

by Tanya Reinhart
Seven Stories 2006
The noted Israeli journalist—who views the 1994 Oslo agreement as a painful deception of the Palestinian people—provides a primer on the current crisis. Drawing from maps and declassified Israeli sources, this provides a particularly prescient view of the charred history of past negotiations, expectations, shortcomings, misrepresentations, and deceptions.



Israel/Palestine: The Black Book

REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
Pluto Press 2003
An authoritative account of human rights violations that have taken place on both sides of the conflict since the second Intifada began in September 2000. The reports—taken from groups including Amnesty International, The Palestinian Center For Human Rights, The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, Human Rights Watch, The Public Committee Against Torture In Israel, B'Tselem, and Reporters Sans Frontieres—have almost all remained unknown to the wider world and detail objective accounts of the degradation suffered by both Israelis and Palestinians.

Jewish History, Jewish Religion- The Weight of Three Thousand Years

by Israel Shahak
Pluto Press 1998
A controversial account of Jewish history, which argues that the theological justifications for the State of Israel are bogus. Introduction by the irrepressible Gore Vidal. Shahak was a remarkable man. Born in the Warsaw ghetto and a survivor of Belsen, he arrived in Palestine in 1945. He lived in Jerusalem for 40 years, here he argued that the roots of Jewish chauvinism and religious fanaticism must be understood before it is too late.

Live From Palestine: International And Palestinian Direct Action Against The Israeli Occupation

Editors: Laurieann Aladin and Nancy Stohlman; Contributors include Ali Abunimah, Ghassan Andoni, Rachel Corrie, Noam Chomsky, Huwaida Arraf, Hanan Ashrawi, Starhawk, Kathy Kelly, Islah Jad, Mustafa Barghouthi, John Petrovato, Renad Qubbaj, and many more.
South end Press 2003
The story of the Palestinians who, tired of waiting for UN peacekeepers, have called upon the world's activists for protection, and the people who are putting their lives on the line answering that call. Together these Americans, Palestinians, Israelis, and Europeans are making a non-violent, grassroots attempt to challenge the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The core of this collection lies in the riveting eyewitness accounts of life under the occupation. Giving context to these stories is an interview with the founder of the Palestinian-led International Solidarity Movement and essays by other human rights activists.

Open Secrets: Israeli Nuclear And Foreign Policies

by Israel Shahak
Pluto Press 2003
Drawing solely on the Hebrew press, and working very much as an insider in the country, Shahak reveals that what Israeli Jews are told about their country's foreign policy through the national media is entirely inconsistent with what the Israeli government is telling the rest of the world. He demonstrates that Israel is conducting a covert policy of expansionism and aims to gain political control, not just of Palestine, but of virtually the entire Middle East.

Palestine

by Joe Sacco with an introduction byEdward Said
Fantagraphics 2002
In late 1991 and early 1992, Joe Sacco spent two months with Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, traveling and taking notes. Upon returning to the States, he started writing and drawing Palestine, which combined the techniques of eyewitness reportage with the medium of comic-book storytelling to explore this complex, emotionally weighty situation. It won lots of awards, and quite right too. It is a brilliant, amazing book, now compiled into one massive volume.

Palestine Lives!: Songs From The Struggle Of The People Of Palestine

Smithsonian/Folkways CD
A dozen revolutionary songs, recorded in Amman, Jordan, during the 1960s by Arab fighters for the liberation of Palestine. Included, too, are several interviews, taken from the soundtrack from the old film We Are The Palestinian People, made in the late 60s.

Peace Under Fire: Israel/Palestine And The International Solidarity Movement

Editor: INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT Introduction by Edward Said\
Verso 2004
This collection of accounts, drawn from the web-logs and diaries of ISM volunteers, news articles, press releases, writings from the Corrie and Hurndall families, Rachel Corries last e-mail home, and cover photograph by Tom Hurndall, reveals the real horror of life under occupation and describes the first signs of a new wave of international solidarity.

People And The Land

Documentary Film (VHS) by Tom Hayes
Arab Film Distribution 2003
Made in 1997, this documentary airdrops viewers into the universe of an occupied people, unreeling images of a new form of apartheid based on ethnicity. Challenging US foreign policy and the conventions of the documentary form itself, People And The Land examines the concrete realities of Israel's conduct in the West Bank and Gaza, the level of US support for that conduct through foreign aid, and the human cost of that aid in Palestine and the US In English and Arabic with English subtitles.

Portraits Of Israelis And Palestinians: For My Parents

by Seth Tobocman
Soft Skull Press 2003
During the summer of 2002, Tobocman taught art to children in a village outside of Ramallah, Palestine. To explain his purpose to his parents, lifelong Zionists, he sent them 20 pages from his sketchbook of the trip. These charcoal drawings strip away the historical, religious, and political complexities to reveal the stark humanity of both sides, paring the dialogue to its essence: How to recognize and respect each other's humanity? Includes an introduction by Eric Drooker, an author's note, as well as extensive notes and contexts to the portraits and series of sketches presented herein.

Rachel's Letters

by Rachel Corrie
If Americans Knew 2003
On the March 16, 2003, 23-year-old American human rights worker Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer. She was trying to prevent the Israeli army from destroying the home of a physician and his family in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. In a remarkable series of emails to her family, she shares her impressions and understandings of life under occupation, while offering her loved ones explainations for why she was risking her life.

Rock, Paper, Missiles VHS

PAPER TIGER TV 2003
Produced in 2001 with Media Accuracy Project Middle East, Rock, Paper, Missiles examines US media reportage of the conflicts between Palestinians and Israelis, which confound many Americans as much as they seem to raise the emotions of those involved. 28 minutes.

Standing With Palestine VHS

PAPER TIGER TV  2004
Made in 2003, Standing With Palestine looks at the growing grassroots movement in the United States in support of the Palestinian people and against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Through interviews with activists, the video shows how many Americans are no longer accepting the traditional views and official policies that have contributed to, if not caused, the worsening situation in the Middle East. 28 minutes.

The Origin Of The Palestine-Israel Conflict

JEWS FOR JUSTICE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
If Americans Knew 2003
Perhaps the best short, accessible introduction to the history, and prehistory, of the region, and the current war. From the Canaanites to the British Mandate, UN Partition, Statehood and expulsion, from 1967 and Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza to the 2000 Intifada. Mandatory reading for anyone remotely interested in what is actually going on.


The Pen And The Sword: Conversations With David Barsamian

Edward Said, edited by David Barsamian (Editor), with an introduction by Eqbal Ahmad