Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez, Democracy Now!. July 26, 2011.
Israel has passed a law outlawing citizens from advocating for boycotts against any Israeli person or entity. The law is drawing criticism as an attack on freedom of speech.
On July 8, hundreds of internationals will fly into Ben Gurion Airport and openly declare that we are here to visit Palestinians and travel in the Occupied Territories.
For flotilla activists, the struggle is as much about forcing a local debate on alternatives to Mideast policy as confronting Israel’s continued oppression of Palestinians.
The IDF said it was authorized to use rubber bullets against Palestinian protesters last month, but X-rays showed a conventional bullet lodged in the skull of one of the victims.
Most Palestinian children are held for stone-throwing, which can bring a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment, five years less than the average murder sentence in Israel.
The decision to build the houses in Adam, north of Jerusalem, came despite repeated U.S. calls for Israel to halt all settlement activity in order to relaunch peace talks with the Palestinians.
