Mel Frykberg

Mel Frykberg writes for Inter Press Service.

Israel Censors News on Deadly Flotilla Raid

TEL AVIV — Attempts by media to interview some of the hundreds of Free Gaza (FG) members, who were being deported from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport, Wednesday, were thwarted by Israeli authorities. "No you will not be able to talk to them or interview them," Shahar Ariel, a deputy-spokesman from Israel’s ministry of … Continue reading “Israel Censors News on Deadly Flotilla Raid”

Censure Follows Raid on Gaza Aid Flotilla

RAMALLAH – The Israeli government’s spin machine has launched into full-throttle as the country faces yet another diplomatic crisis and harsh international criticism for Monday’s raid on the Free Gaza (FG) humanitarian aid flotilla that left 19 people dead and about 50 injured. However, whether Israel’s slick and well-oiled publicity machine, and the various lobby … Continue reading “Censure Follows Raid on Gaza Aid Flotilla”

Hamas Demolishes Palestinian Homes

RAMALLAH – On Sunday approximately 150 Palestinians from 20 families were driven out of their homes in Rafah, in the southern Gaza strip, by heavily armed police and soldiers who menaced them with clubs. The difference this time was that it was not the Israeli Defense Forces carrying out evictions and demolitions but Hamas security … Continue reading “Hamas Demolishes Palestinian Homes”

US Funds Apartheid Roads on West Bank

RAMALLAH – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is helping Israel to construct an apartheid road infrastructure in the occupied Palestinian West Bank by financing nearly a quarter of the segregated road system primarily for the benefit of Israeli settlers. USAID’s figures state that the agency has financed 235 km of roads in … Continue reading “US Funds Apartheid Roads on West Bank”

Chomsky the Latest Jewish Thinker Targeted by Israel

RAMALLAH – When internationally renowned linguist, philosopher, and political analyst Noam Chomsky was barred from entering the West Bank, he joined a chorus of Jewish intellectuals savaged by the Israeli government for outspoken criticism. Chomsky, a strong proponent of Palestinian rights, tried to cross into the occupied Palestinian West Bank from Jordan on Sunday to … Continue reading “Chomsky the Latest Jewish Thinker Targeted by Israel”

Is Israel Sliding Towards a Police State?

RAMALLAH — Israeli nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu has been sentenced to another three months imprisonment for allegedly refusing to perform community service in West Jerusalem. Vanunu, a former employee at Israel’s secret Dimona nuclear facility in the Negev desert, spent 18 years in jail after he revealed information about the facility to the international media.  … Continue reading “Is Israel Sliding Towards a Police State?”

Israeli Settlers Step Up Attacks on Palestinian Mosques

LUBBAN ASH SHARQIYA, West Bank – “There is immense anger as well as a feeling of vulnerability and fear when a place of sanctuary and holiness is subject to indiscriminate violence,” says Issa Hussein. “Despite living under a brutal military occupation and being subjected to regular attacks by Israeli settlers for decades, normally places of … Continue reading “Israeli Settlers Step Up Attacks on Palestinian Mosques”

West Bankers Made Refugees in Their Own Country

RAMALLAH — Several Palestinians have set up a protest tent in no-man’s land in the northern Gaza Strip, near the Erez border crossing into Israel, as they protest their deportation from the Israeli occupied West Bank into Gaza where Hamas authorities have refused them entry. Tens of thousands of other Palestinians face a possibly similar … Continue reading “West Bankers Made Refugees in Their Own Country”

Hope Amidst Grim Prospects for Mideast Peace

RAMALLAH – Proximity peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, due to begin shortly after months of delay due to Israel’s continued settlement building on occupied Palestinian land, appear to have little chance of making a breakthrough. However, there appear to have been some positive developments which have altered the equation somewhat and which could provide … Continue reading “Hope Amidst Grim Prospects for Mideast Peace”

Egypt, Hamas Complicit in Israel’s Gaza Blockade

RAMALLAH — A convoy of boats laden with humanitarian goods and accompanied by hundreds of journalists, human rights activists and European parliamentarians, is due to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza at the end of May. The Free Gaza movement’s "Freedom Flotilla" will see three cargo ships and five passenger boats with about 600 people … Continue reading “Egypt, Hamas Complicit in Israel’s Gaza Blockade”