Salem-News.com Justice articles

Oregon to Mark Juneteenth, US`s `Other Independence Day`

Juneteenth will become a paid state holiday in Oregon starting in 2022.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Oregon lawmakers have passed a bill recognizing Juneteenth as a state holiday.

Celebrated June 19, the holiday marks the day in 1865 when Union troops landed in Galveston, Texas and informed people enslaved in the state that they were free, two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

On the Anniversary of George Floyd`s Death

Today, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt released the following statement:

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - "One year ago, we witnessed an unconscionable act of police violence. The murder of George Floyd compelled a worldwide reckoning over race and social injustice.

"It conclusively demonstrated... that Black people, in particular Black men, are disproportionately the victims of police brutality..."

After the Cease-fire: Peace or War?

A summary of the realities of the aftermath of the attacks in the Middle East, how it will likely affect the US, Israel, and Palestine.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - U.N. Secretary General António Guterres urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to go “beyond the restoration of calm to start a serious dialogue to address the root causes of the conflict.” Noble idea, but don’t expect anything of the sort.

Both sides claimed victory, and both sides are far more likely to pick up where they left off than forge a new path to a just peace.

The Image of Victory

This war made both Netanyahu and Hamas stronger.

(LONDON) - If winning a military battle is defined by the accomplishment of one’s military objectives, then Hamas won the current round of violence with its very first ballistic barrage on Jerusalem ten days ago.

Israel, on the other hand, won’t win, can’t win and doesn’t even dream of winning. Like in recent ‘rounds’, all Israel hopes to achieve is an ‘image of victory.’

Will the Israel-Hamas Cease-Fire hold?

Will the cease-fire hold? Maybe.

(SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.) - The latest conflict between Israel and Hamas started on May 10 and ended with a cease-fire eleven days later.

The pundits say “maybe” pointing to the 2014 conflict between the two where it took nine truces before that conflict finally ended after 51 days. Signs are that this cease-fire may hold.

Israel`s Ongoing Crimes Against Humanity

Seven simple talking points:

(OCCUPIED PALESTINE) - Here is some "need to know" information so you may better understand how the Israel-Palestine situation has evolved to the human rights disaster that it is today, and why it is so difficult make change occur.

Palestine was colonized and replaced by a colonial settler state called “Israel”. The ideas was simply to take a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious country and transform it to a "Jewish state".

Tormented Dance of the Colonizer

As was true in South Africa under apartheid, so is true in Palestine under European Jewish colonization - things may get worse before they get better.

(OCCUPIED PALESTINE) - I was interviewed by many media outlets in the past 48 hours about the events here.

My message beyond telling them what is really going on on the ground here is simple: This is not a “conflict” or a border dispute nor a tribal or religious issue. It is simple: [these are] the last tantrums of the unsettled settler colonial system.

Hundreds of Palestinians Injured in Israeli Invasion of Al-Aqsa Mosque

The Israeli army forced the removal of Palestinians to allow groups of colonialist settlers to tour the holy site.

(JERUSALEM) - Monday morning, Israeli soldiers invaded the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied Jerusalem, and attacked hundreds of Palestinian worshipers, injuring more than 305.

The injured include medics, children, and women.

Likely U.S.-Israel Relations Under Biden

Israel will establish Trump Heights, a new community located in occupied Golan Heights.

(SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.) - Under President Donald Trump our relationship with Israel became an "extra special relationship."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not ungrateful about Israel's relationship with the U.S. under Trump, when early 2020 he said that Trump has been “the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.”

I Am Old Enough.

Reflections are still important. Is it alright for 7.5 million Palestinians to remain refugees?

(OCCUPIED PALESTINE) - I am old enough to have been able to see Palestine slowly strangulated over the past few decades, with us natives who trace ancestry thousands of years here kicked out or squeezed into cantons/open air prisons like Gaza and Bethlehem.

Old enough to have researched events even before I was born and wrote books about them (like Sykes-Picot, Balfour-Cambon, Gawler, Hertzl and more).