The Hannoun family are one of 27 families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem facing eviction from their homes as part of a plan to implant a new Jewish settlement in the area. The family are refugees from 1948, after being displaced from their home in Haifa during the Nakba, and currently consist of 18 people, 6 of whom are children. They have lived in Sheikh Jarrah since 1956 when the Jordanian Government and UNRWA gave them their houses as part of a project to house Palestinians forced to flee their homes.

Since 1972, when Jewish settler organizations were successful in falsely registering the land with the Israeli Land registrar, the family have suffered the stress and anxiety caused by the constant legal battles involved in fighting for the right to stay in the homes in which many of them were born.

The Hannouns' were forcibly evicted from their homes in 2002, but returned in 2006, under the advice of their lawyer, after the land registration department agreed to revoke the settlers registration of the land in 1972.

However, the Israeli courts refused to admit to these new developments and the family are once again facing eviction and displacement. They received a first eviction order on 15th March 2009 and since then have had a group of Israeli and International activists staying with them in anticipation of the police arriving. A further two evictions orders have been handed to the family since then, the latest of which arrived on the 28th June and will last 30 days.

The court has also ruled that on the 19th July, Maher Hannoun, father of the family, will be taken to jail as a 'hostage' if the family refuse to hand in their keys, and will remain imprisoned until they leave voluntarily or are forcibly evicted.

Israel's measures against the Hannoun family, along with all the others in Sheikh Jarrah, constitute blatant violations of international law, notably the 4th Geneva Convention that obligated the occupying authorities, Israel, to maintain the geographic and demographic characteristic of occupied East Jerusalem.

Now that all legal avenues have been exhausted, the families last hope is that International pressure can help them stay in their homes. The International community must act now to force the Israeli government to stop their continued policy of ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem and save the Hannouns, and other Palestinian families, from forceful eviction from their houses.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/standupforjerusalem/

A British advertising watchdog says a tourism poster cannot be displayed because it suggests the West Bank and Gaza Strip are part of Israel.

The Advertising Standards Authority on Wednesday upheld complaints about the ad produced by the Israeli Government Tourist Office and displayed in London subway stations.

It featured a map of the country that included the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza, as well as the Golan Heights, seized by Israel in 1967.

The watchdog says the ad was misleading because it "implied that those territories were part of the state of Israel".

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/uk-watchdog-slams-misleading-tourism-ad-20090716-dm1e.html

Nazareth: An Arab couple whose one-year-old daughter was expelled from an Israeli day-care centre on her first day are suing a Jewish mother for damages, accusing her of racist incitement against their child.

Maysa and Shua'a Zuabi, from the village of Sulam in northern Israel, launched the court action last week saying they had been "shocked and humiliated" when the centre's owner told them that six Jewish parents had demanded their daughter's removal because she is an Arab.

In the first legal action of its kind in Israel, the Zuabis are claiming $80,000 from Neta Kadshai, whom they accuse of being the ringleader.

The girl, Dana, is reported to be the first Arab child ever to attend the day-care centre in the rural Jewish community of Merhavia, less than 1km from Sulam.

Dana was admitted to the day-care centre last December, according to the case, after its owner, Ivon Grinwald, told the couple she had a vacant place. However, on Dana's first day six parents threatened to withdraw their own children if she was not removed.

Ms Kadshai, in particular, is said to have waged a campaign of "slurs and efforts aimed at having [Dana] removed from the day-care centre, making it clear that [her] children would not be in the same centre as an Arab girl". Mrs Zuabi was summoned to a meeting the same evening at which Ms Grinwald said she could not afford to lose the six children. She returned the contract Mrs Zuabi had signed and repaid her advance fees.

http://www.countercurrents.org/cook100809.htm

meanwhile .....

Last Sunday morning just before sunrise, Israeli forces evicted seventy more Palestinians from their homes in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, which is being taken over by the Nahalat Shimon settlers.

"The events in Sheikh Jarrah garnered international censure from the European Union, the United Nations (UN) and from Britain, which said it was 'appalled' at the move. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday night called the Israeli evictions "deeply regrettable" and she urged "the government of Israel and municipal officials to refrain from such provocative actions." [1]

Israeli forces also demolished the Al-Kurd family protest tent for the sixth time. The Al-Kurd family was evicted from their home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood last November, just prior to my first visit and I returned again on June 10, 2009.

Less than a five minute walk from my room at the Ambassador Hotel and less than ten from the Old City of Jerusalem is the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Around the corner from my hotel and up the hill from the Al-Kurd Tent is a newly erected community center with a plaque "Dedicated to the Children of Shimon Hazadik Neighborhood" from a Dr. Rubin Brecher and family of Lawrence, New York.

http://www.countercurrents.org/fleming100809.htm

from Crikey .....

Rudd helps the Middle East story remain one sided

Antony Loewenstein writes:

Last weekend the Australian's foreign editor Greg Sheridan interviewed former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and provided a platform for him to defend the 2006 Lebanon war, 2008/09 Gaza war and reveal the "most extensive concessions any Israeli leader has ever brought to the table in the search for a settlement". The Arab victims of these offensives were ignored.

There was no mention of the fact that Olmert was unlikely to visit certain European countries due to the risk of him being arrested for alleged war crimes or the fact that the Australian Parliament welcomed the man a few weeks before American students had challenged Olmert's speeches on multiple university campuses. Dozens were arrested for protesting Olmert's presence as they attempted to make a citizen's arrest against a figure facing serious corruption charges back in Israel.

For the Australian political elite, Israel is the sacred cow. There is no other country in the world, except the United States, that receives such uncritical and uninformed adulation. Virtually no politician wants to even acknowledge the reality of the brutal, military occupation on Palestinian lands. Or the fact that this week it was revealed in Haaretz that, "last year set an all-time record for the number of Arab residents of East Jerusalem who were stripped of residency rights by the Interior Ministry". Ethnic cleansing by stealth.

Yesterday in Sydney the Australia Israel Leadership Forum held an invitation-only lunch at the exclusive Westin Hotel for the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Israeli Vice-Premier Silvan Shalom, recently appointed Opposition leader Tony Abbott and various Israeli politicians.

The Australian Jewish News reports that Shalom, "is in Australia this week for a series of meetings with government officials aimed at building relations between the two countries".

The lack of transparency about the meetings -- which politicians and journalists are attending, how many free trips to Israel they receive and what is expected in return for such hospitable Zionist service -- is revealing and shameful. Most corporate journalists are happy to play the game. Crikey recently reported on the latest mainstream journalist to visit Israel.

Abbott led the cheer squad: "I'd like to think that nowhere in the world (does Israel) have more stauncher friends than us." The 500-strong crowd lapped it up, equally happy to hear Shalom call for global action against Iran and Rudd talk about his government's unshakeable commitment to "democratic" Israel.

SBS TV World News Australia last night reported on the lunch and noted the Prime Minister's failure to acknowledge the Palestinians altogether. But the reporter framed the event around the hundreds of protesters outside who demanded the Israelis being feted inside face trials for alleged war crimes. The Jerusalem Post wrote that "hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters" welcomed Shalom to Australia (in Sydney, not Canberra as the article alleged):

"According to Army Radio, the protesters chanted slogans such as 'Israel is a war criminal' and 'Silvan Shalom should not be allowed into Australia'."

Crikey spoke to one of the key speakers at the rally, Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine's Jennifer Killen, who said, "...as an Australian, I am deeply ashamed that our government is welcoming Shalom". She went on to argue that Australia's refusal to back the UN Goldstone report on Gaza was symptomatic of the hold Israeli state violence has on Australia.

A notable source of dissent was the powerful statement released on December 2 by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union that demanded Australia refuse to welcome Israeli leaders with blood on their hands:

"Shalom and Likud's opposition to the (Goldstone) Report is no surprise given their strong support for the Israeli attack on Gaza in January this year and the ongoing blockade of Gaza by the Israeli Government. This blockade is preventing 100,000 Palestinians with homes destroyed by Israel from rebuilding, through stopping the importation of the necessary building materials from Israel.

"In his other role as Minister for Regional Development, Shalom has overseen the continued expansion of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land (watch his press conference urging Israeli's to continue this process at: Shalom even opposes the limited freeze on new West Bank settlements recently announced by his Government."

Another Israeli visitor to Australia is Avi Dichter, accused by the distinguished US-based Centre for Constitutional Rights of "extrajudicial killing and war crimes" after the murder of Palestinians in Gaza in 2002.

In June Australia's deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard was heavily lobbied not to visit Israel with the Australia Israel Leadership Forum. It was only six months after the Gaza war and a widely circulated petition (that I signed) read in part: "We consider this trip a dreadful affront to the many Palestinians left maimed, wounded, traumatised and homeless by Israel's devastating assault on the Gaza Strip in late 08/early 09."

In a democracy we should demand to know the real purpose of the Australia Israel Leadership Forum, led by influential Zionist and Rudd confidante Albert Dadon.

Crikey wanted to attend the gala lunch yesterday. After being rejected, then accepted, then rejected again (only "accredited" journalists were allowed, I was finally told), it seems such forums are content to ignore stark facts such as Israel's recent reduction of essential cooking gas being allowed into the Gaza Strip.

Shalom told the Australian's Greg Sheridan today that, "I really believe there is a friendship between the peoples of Israel and Australia, based on common values of democracy, freedom, human rights, the rule of law (and) Western culture".

But increasingly, it seems that the Australian public doesn't buy the spin.

Antony Loewenstein is a Sydney-based journalist and author of My Israel Question and The Blogging Revolution.