Ronnie Fraser, Barnet college lecturer and founder-director of Academic Friends of Israel, is suing his union, the UCU, for ‘victimising’ him through voting that the draft EUMC definition of antisemitism conflates antisemitism with criticism of Israel. 1,JfJfP supports the UCU against this ‘dictatorial’ action of Mr. Fraser 2, JC report from tribunal, 3, about AFI.

Dr. Mohsen Salah sets out a 5-point critique of the PLO, including its lack of function and purpose and its exclusive membership. Only overcoming its sectarianism will give it new life. Posted below, a diatribe against the PA and PLO by Khalid Amayreh who, within the hate-speech, makes the same point: Islamic politics must be recognised and represented.

Netanyahu has decided to join up with Lieberman to form a Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu list for the next election, destroying his mask as a steady man of the centre. Michael Koplow, 1, and Mitchell Plitnick, 2, examine what the effects of this hasty marriage might be on Israel’s voters, split many times by ethnic, religious and political affiliations.

The visit by the emir of Qatar to Gaza last week had great significance. By ignoring the West’s mantra of ‘support the PA, isolate Hamas’ Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (founder-owner of Al Jazeera) both forced a re-examination of the siege policy and showed himself to be a serious new player in the region. Reports from Washington Post and Guardian.

An editorial in Ha’aretz, based on a new analysis, highlighted the high unemployment amongst Arabs in Israel, especially among women, consolidating ethnic segregation. Comments on the original raised the issue of women’s employment in the very different Arab economies so we include some facts (2, 3). The birth rate in the oPt is the highest in the region.

There is no doubting the increase in applications for Israeli citizenship by Arabs living in Jerusalem. The question is why. Here Yehudit Oppenheimer (1st) of Ir Amim argues that it is a survival strategy while Khaled Abu Toameh, 2nd, suggests Israeli citizenship confers more rights than the impotent PA is able to provide.

22 NGOs, Christian and secular, have taken up what EU institutions have flunked: a campaign to press the EC and EU members to practise their policies on the illegality of Israel’s settlements and what they produce. CAABU media release plus excerpt from the report Trading Away Peace.

Thanks to Richard Burden MP and CAABU for bringing to public attention the consistent efforts of Foreign Office ministers to hold the Israeli government to account for its consistent mistreatment of Palestinian youth and adult detainees. There are no reports of the response from Israeli officials.

Stung by jibes about his Tel Aviv cafe lifestyle, Yuval Ben-Ami goes to a spot overlooking Gaza during the recent exchange of fire. There’s not a lot to see but fellow Israelis living nearby spot him instantly for a leftie, one who wrongly believes the IDF fires into Gaza and blindly fails to recognise the effects of living under Gazan rocket fire,

If you read only the swath of news and commentary on Richard Falk’s report to the UN last week on human rights in the oPt you might think he was being arraigned as a moral pariah. Read the speech of this brave and knowledgeable man for yourself and decide why the fuss was about him as the messenger rather than the situation he analyses and documents.

At the annual conference of Arab-US policy makers, former ambassador Charles Freeman Jr. delivers a withering critique of the US’s policies in the Middle East. He focusses on Iraq, the misuse of military power and the US support for Israel’s ‘psychotic’ fears of annihilation and the ‘half truths with fantasy sauce’ about the non-existent peace process.

In an address to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, Special Rapporteur Richard Falk spoke of the many companies now making use of the favourable (for them) conditions of production in the settlements. He called for these companies to be boycotted. None of the many bodies attacking him noted the laws and agreements which, Mr.Falk pointed out, the companies were violating.

Richard Silverstein, writing for Tikkun, examines the political prospects in the coming general election in Israel and concludes that there is no hope of any party coalition unseating Likud and its partners. As the right is not going to negotiate a Palestinian state into existence, this strengthens the argument for one-state he says.

The ship Estelle was carrying a cargo of people and humanitarian aid to the people of the besieged Gaza strip when it was seized by the IDF and taken to Ashdod where people and cargo were impounded. Contrary to claims by IDF spokesmen violence was used. There is no legal reason why unarmed people should not be free to visit independent Gaza.

The latest exchange of fire between the IDF and several armed groups in Gaza has led to Defence Minister Ehud Barak threatening collective punishment for Hamas unless all violence from Gaza ends. An Israeli defence official insists there will be no overt talks with Hamas, a task which Egyptian mediators have taken on. Reports from Ma’an and Al Jazeera.

A poll commissioned by Ha’aretz makes grim reading for anyone favouring a one-state solution. The hostility of the growing proportion of religious and right-wing Jews to acknowledging any rights for Palestinians in land controlled by Israel leaves only the secular Jews consistently standing out against apartheid practices.

‘The term “Bedouin” means, “those in bādiyah” or “those in the desert”. Which is exactly where Israeli authorities have decided they shall not live, fearing that the Bedouin would constitute a solid Arab belt. Ben White describes the relentless drive to force Arabs out of the Negev.

The Jewish National Fund (JNF) was founded in 1901 to buy land for Jews in Palestine. It still owns over 1/8 of Israeli land. It remained customary for Jews to contribute money to the JNF after the creation of Israel but its UK income has plummeted. When the Jewish Chronicle published this news it was attacked by establishment Jews and quickly removed its own story. Tony Greenstein picks up the tale.

This Washington Post article, the first of three, is not strictly to do with Jews, justice and Palestinians. It describes the development of Pres. Obama’s anti-terrorism strategy – a ‘disposition matrix’ in which the danger of a named terrorist is aligned with the resources deployed against him. It is being used for suspects in the Middle East and has similarities with Israel’s policy of targeted killings hence its posting here.

Local elections in the West Bank last Saturday produced a majority for Fatah candidates but little mood of political self-expression. The conflict between Fatah and Hamas, the dominance of military groups in Gaza and the limited powers of Palestinian governments discourage popular political engagement. Reports from Bloomberg and BBC.