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Thursday, March 11, 2010 11:14

Commentary

Andrew Gilligan, Dispatches and "Islamic terrorism"

Gilligan’s Island" was a sixties sitcom with an eponymous hero who was "bumbling, dim-witted [and] accident-prone". Andrew Gilligan had nothing to do with that programme, but one can’t help thinking about him as he seems to be everywhere at the moment; the London Evening Standard, the Daily Telegraph and, this week, Channel 4’s Dispatches.

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News Flash

The Goldstone recommendations on Israel/Palestine have been adopted by the European Parliament today on March 10 2009. The resolution was adopted with 335 votes in favour, 287 against and 43 abstentions and the following recommendations were agreed on:

1. All parties should respect human rights
2. Independent and impartial investigations within the next five months should take place within the next five months
3. The Goldstone recommendations should be implemented and monitored
4. There should be no restriction of NGO activities and the authorities should stop refraining their activities

In Pictures

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (MIDDLE EAST)

Indirect Israel talks 'called off'
Arab League chief conveys Palestinian decision after Israel unveils plan for 1,600 new settler homes.
US family seeks Israeli damages
Case concerns Rachel Corrie's death during protest against Palestinian home demolitions.
Al-Azhar head dies in Saudi Arabia
Tantawi, Sunni Islam's most senior religious figure, stirred controversy with ban on niqab.

Open Letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown | Israel "blackmails Gaza’s patients to turn them into collaborators" | Official calls for Egyptian gas to run Gaza’s power plant instead of Israeli diesel More peaceful demonstrations in the Gaza Strip

Members of the Knesset say the Tomb of the Patriarchs must be part of Jewish heritage site

Monday, 08 February 2010 18:05

Archaeological sites across the West Bank should be included in the Israeli government's plan to rehabilitate "Israeli heritage sites" according to two members of the Israel parliament. MKs Zeev Elkin and Arieh Eldad (Likud Party and National Union Party respectively) have written to Benjamin Netanyahu on behalf of the "For the land of Israel" lobby group.

Netanyahu was told, "A large number of significant heritage sites are in the West Bank, and it is appropriate to include these heritage sites in your plan." The letter went on to urge the Israeli Prime Minister to annex such sites including the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, Joseph's Tomb in Nablus and the tomb of prophet Samuel.

The MKs added, "These sites are the basis of our survival as a people." They emphasized the importance and need to strengthen Israeli links with the sites in question, to ensure the future of the people "returned home" after two thousand years of exile.

"For the land of Israel" lobby group is made up of 39 MKs from the right-wing bloc and Orthodox Jewish bloc. They are working together with non-parliamentary parties of settlers, including the Settlements Council, the Human Rights Organization in the settlements, the Forum of Likud Members in the West Bank settlements and the Settlers Committee.

Source: Sama