Gadi Algazi writes: What are the Bedouin accused of? How did their very existence become a “real threat”? The Negev, says Netanyahu, might become a “region without a Jewish majority.” This is truly a good one: you can move from region to the next throughout the country and discover that in a particular area within Israel, there isn’t a Jewish majority, for example between Kafr Qara’ and Umm al-Fahem, or between Sakhnin and ‘Arabe. Well, then don’t we have to do something against this threat? Yes, of course, and so we do! [...]

The demolition of more than 40 houses in the unrecognized Bedouin village of Araqib in the Negev desert on Tuesday has triggered fears for the future of other Bedouin communities, who see Araqib as a test case in the long-standing struggle against Israeli government attempts to ‘judaise’ the Negev…

The Coalition government last week threw the Israel lobby a coveted prize: a promise to change the law on universal jurisdiction. But Cameron is making it clear that he is no easy pushover for the lobby. On his visit to Turkey he condemned Israel’s Gaza policy in very strong terms. The Board of Deputies is very unhappy, as shown by its one sentence response…

We are inundated with human-interest stories about the life of individuals and communities under the Israeli occupation. What they generally have in common is the pointless humiliation and destruction that has become part of daily life for so many Palestinians, and the inability of the Israeli soldiers and military administration to see them as fully human. Sometimes they are lighter and more optimistic.

We will carry a regular stories of ‘Life under Occupation’. This, the first of the series, is by David Shulman and provides an evocative account of life in the South Hebron hills.

ACRI lists the most troubling initiatives of the Knesset’s summer session 2010 and warns of an alarming trend taking shape in the current Knesset, which flourished during the last session: the use of democratic processes by the majority, specifically legislation, to hinder freedom of expression, to harm Israel’s system of checks and balances, and to violate the rights of minority groups in Israel…

From Indian Express website, (text below); another report from Jerusalem Post, here.
An Indian vessel is set to join a new international campaign named ‘The Audacity of Hope’ to press for an end to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, months after nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed in [...]

The Bil’in struggle continues and every Friday the weekly demonstration against the wall and the confiscation of Bil’in lands takes place. It is documented and a video is made available on YouTube. It usually meets with Israeli tear gas, rubber bullets and arbitrary arrests. Here is the latest…

No terrible events this week, at least not ones that have come to our attention, but a range of interesting news items and reflections on issues of importance: Why is it so difficult to criticise Israel in the US? Does Chris Patten’s call for a bolder EU approach herald a shift in government policy? Why are sections of the Israeli right calling for a one-state solution? Is Avrum Burg’s call for a new party dedicated to radical equality between Palestinian and Israeli citizens of Israel a goer? Is it time to apply the words apartheid or fascism? Plus: the Jewish boat to Gaza, Tom Segev reviewing Benny Morris on 1948, and more. For a guide to this week’s postings click on the heading above.

Janan Abdu writes about the persecution of her husband Ameer Makhoul, chair of the Public Committee for the Protection of Political Freedoms and director of Ittijah, the Union of Arab-Based Community Associations, a coalition bringing together 84 nongovernmental organizations. He was arrested, held incommunicado, tortured and is now to be tried for spying. Abdu accuses the Israeli government of trying to break his spirit and refusing him a fair trial…

According to Chris Patten “Israel’s policy of blockading Gaza had been a ‘terrible failure – immoral, illegal and ineffective’, he said, which had ‘deliberately triggered an economic and social crisis which has many humanitarian consequences’.” He calls for a new approach…