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Palestinian National Initiative

Ramallah, 10-06-08: PNI leader, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, today welcomed steps towards restoring national unity currently being taken by President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leaders, and stressed that this new initiative cannot be missed. He underlined that the democratic process ? free and fair elections, respect for the separation of powers and the rule of law, and the equality of all Palestinians before the law - was the key to restoring national unity.

By Genevieve Cora Fraser


He was my taxi driver

In East Jerusalem

So proud of his wife and children

His home

“Everyone knows me

Write to me

From America

Al-SnowBar is a Palestinian Garden Pool Restaurant & Bar resort located in Ramallah city in the central West Bank adjacent to al-Bireh.

Its approximately 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of Jerusalem. The resort is a haven surrounded by pine trees, offering a peaceful and quiet environment.
Landscaping and layout of the land is the work of Master landscaper Ameen Marouf.

During the day families can relax and enjoy both good food and swimming. Al-SnowBar offers a full restaurant with its own personal chef, full bar service, and argyleh (hooka) service. Al-SnowBar is soon to be offering a basketball court.

A wide range of parties from Jazz nights, weddings, exclusive parties, and DJ nights are common features and attractions at Al-SnowBar. Visitors enjoy the relaxing night life in comfortable seating or stay warm by the bonfire.

May 15, 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, when Palestinians were forced from their homes and ethnically cleansed en masse in a premeditated and organized campaign carried out by armed Zionist militia. Historical accounts indicate that the forced migration of Palestinians from their homeland had been planned well in advance. The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was built on the violations of the rights of the Palestinian people. After widespread massacres and killings, more than 700,000 Palestinian civilians were brutally uprooted from their homes, villages and towns, and forced to become refugees in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and surrounding Arab countries. In addition, thousands of other Palestinians were internally displaced within the land subsequently occupied by Israel.

Palestinian National Initiative

Ramallah, 28-04-08: "A sickening tragedy" was how Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, Secretary General of the PNI described the killing of a mother and her 4 children in an Israeli military attack on the Gaza Strip this morning. The deaths have brought the number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli military since Annapolis to 418, including 59 children.

Ramallah, 24/04/08: "Thousands of lives are at stake in Gaza. Israel's siege is pushing a whole society towards collapse." This was how Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, today described the situation in the Gaza Strip, which has reached dramatic levels following the latest Israeli fuel cuts. Food assistance for 650,000 Palestinians is about to stop, 50,000 vaccines for babies are at risk of being spoiled, and sanitation services for half a million inhabitants have been halted.

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, 19 April 2008

Sixty years after the Naqba, the catastrophe, Palestinians are still without a state. They are living under occupation, many are in refugee camps, others are scattered around the world, and a part of the Palestinian people are no more than second class citizens in Israel itself.

The Palestinian struggle to achieve freedom and independence is therefore firstly a struggle to exist as a people. In this endeavour, resistance is essential. Resistance through memory, resistance through unwavering demands for their rights, resistance against open or covert attempts to displace them and take their land from them.

Jeff Halper
Friday, April 11, 2008

It was another of those routine tragedies that are never publicized. At eight in the morning we at ICAHD (the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions) received a call that the Border Police, Israeli police and Jerusalem Municipality bulldozers were massing below the Palestinian village of Anata, poised to begin another day of home demolitions. We never know of demolitions ahead of time. The Israeli authorities responsible for demolishing Palestinian homes – the municipality and the Ministry of Interior in Jerusalem, the “Civil” Administration in the West Bank and the army – do not provide advanced warning to us or, indeed, to the families themselves. Tens of thousands of Palestinian families live with demolition orders on their homes, some 22,000 in East Jerusalem alone, where fully a third of Palestinian homes face demolition at any time. When we received word of preparations for a demolition that morning, however, we knew precisely which home would be targeted first: that of the Hamdan family, the elderly parents their married son and daughter-in-law with their five children, and an unmarried son. It was a home we had rebuilt for the second time in last summer’s ICAHD work camp, when Israeli and international peace activists joined with local Palestinians to rebuild as an act of political resistance to the Occupation.

Uri Avnery

NEXT MONTH, Israel will celebrate its 60th anniversary. The government is working feverishly to make this day into an occasion of joy and jubilation. While serious problems are crying out for funds, some 40 million dollars have been allocated to this aim.

Ramallah, 12-04-08: The killing of 8 Palestinians - including 4
children - and 3 Israelis in separate attacks yesterday has brought
the number of Palestinians and Israelis killed since Annapolis to 350
and 18 respectively. Among the victims are 44 Palestinian children.