contributions

Preaching that abortion is as evil as Islam, Nazism and homosexuality, dozens of activists have descended on Jackson, determined to shut down the state’s last abortion clinic.
By Michelle Goldberg
Aug. 01, 2006 | Flip Benham was going to burn a Koran at Mississippi’s state Capitol on July 18 but he couldn’t get a fire permit. The blaze was to be the culmination of an antiabortion rally that Benham, director of Operation Save America, billed as an "ecclesiastical court." His attack on (…)

By EDUARDO GALEANO
One country bombed two countries. Such impunity might astound were it not business as usual. In response to the few timid protests from the international community, Israel said mistakes were made.
How much longer will horrors be called mistakes?
This slaughter of civilians began with the kidnapping of a soldier.
How much longer will the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier be allowed to justify the kidnapping of Palestinian sovereignty?
How much longer will the (…)

by Humberto Márquez *
CARACAS, Jul 27 (Tierramérica) - Venezuela has launched a five-year reforestation project for Orinoco headwaters and tributary rivers in which more than 900 conservation committees and students from more than 100 schools will help plant 100 million trees in a 150,000-hectare area.
"Campesinos who used to clear land for crops or cow pasture are now turning to agroforestry, which is more profitable and better for the local environment," Miguel Rodríguez, vice minister (…)

BY JESSE JACKSON
To this day, Joe Lieberman still doesn’t get it. The 18-year incumbent Democratic senator from Connecticut is in the battle for his political life in the Democratic primary. He dismisses his challenger — Ned Lamont, a Connecticut businessman whose campaign is grounded on opposition to the war in Iraq, as a single-issue candidate.
But Iraq is not a single issue, it is a central issue — both for the country and for the Democratic Party. It is a catastrophic foreign policy (…)

By Ze’ev Sternhell
No situation can continue to exist for long without an ideological reason. That’s how when once it was clear that it was not achieving its aims, an unsuccessful military campaign was upgraded with the wave of a magic wand to the level of a war of survival. When everyone understood that a moral reason had to be found both for the dimensions of the destruction sowed in Lebanon and the killing of the civilian population there, and for the Israeli dead and wounded (nobody is (…)

By Aluf Benn
Borrowing from the world of soccer beloved to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the Israel Defense Forces operation in Lebanon went into overtime yesterday.
Olmert wants to take another stab at a decisive conclusion before the UN Security Council blows the final whistle. That’s why he convened the cabinet yesterday to approve a wide-scale ground operation targeting villages used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Olmert is fighting the battle over public opinion, both at home and (…)

ISRAEL/LEBANON: ISRAEL AND HIZBULLAH MUST SPARE CIVILIANS
Obligations under international humanitarian law of the parties to the conflict in Israel and Lebanon
Introduction
The armed conflict between Israel and Hizbullah continues to be characterized by killing of civilians, mass forced displacement and attacks on civilian infrastructure. The evidence so far, including the pattern of attacks, the extent of civilian casualties and statements by the parties indicates that serious (…)

by Robert Fisk
Every foreign army - including the Israelis - comes to grief in Lebanon.
So, how come George Bush and Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara - after their inevitable disasters in Afghanistan and Iraq - believe that a Nato-led force is going to survive on the south Lebanese border? The Israelis would obviously enjoy watching its deployment - it will be time for the West to take the casualties - but Hizbollah is likely to view its arrival as a proxy Israeli army. It is, after all, (…)

By Lucy Williamson
The Israeli army has been accused of using Palestinian civilians as human shields in an operation in northern Gaza.
According to the Israeli human rights group, B’tselem, six civilians including two minors were subjected to the illegal tactic during an incursion into the town of Beit Hanoun last week.
There are piles of rubble leading up to the hole in Hazem Ali’s house.
It’s a week since Israel came into Beit Hanoun, but the gash in the side of his house is still (…)

By Matthias Gebauer
Propaganda is part of every war, just like bombs and soldiers. Still, it’s remarkable how professionally Israel deals with foreign journalists, catering conscientiously to all their needs. Lunch included.
The phone rings at 9 a.m. — right on time. "Hello, this is the Government Press Office," pipes a woman’s voice. "What are you planning to do today? Do you need an idea?" And then the suggestions just keep coming — interview partners; a tour to the houses in Haifa (…)