Portside

Now we know: In the Jewish state, there is pity and humane feelings only for Jews, rights only for the Chosen People. The Jewish state is only for Jews.

First-hand account of deadly strike on Gaza port by Peter Beaumont, in Gaza. There is a deafening explosion, then a second. Four children are dead. Adam Keller writes from Tel Aviv: "It is forbidden to shoot at civilian populations. It is forbidden and still it happens. Both sides do it. Hamas shoots on the population of Israel. The IDF shoots at the population of Gaza." Lawyer Marjorie Cohn reviews legal standing of collective punishment.

The Zionist strategy of branding its brutal policies as an ad hoc response to this or that Palestinian action is as old as the Zionist presence in Palestine itself. It was used repeatedly as a justification for implementing the Zionist vision of a future Palestine that has in it very few, if any, native Palestinians. And nowadays the vision is of an Israel stretching over almost the whole of historic Palestine where millions of Palestinians still live.

Kidnap, crackdown, mutual missteps and a hail of rockets

Plea for peace from Julia Chaitin, a kibbutzim who teaches in Israel, and lives near Gaza. She and some Israelis are challenging the endless hatred and violence practiced by both sides. She is joined by some Palestinians. Together they care for each other, that there is a way forward around the violence. J.J. Goldberg, writing in the Jewish Daily Forward charges that the Israeli Gaza onslaught is built on lies, and the heavier responsibility lies on Netanyahu government.

Plea for peace from Julia Chaitin, a kibbutzim who teaches in Israel, and lives near Gaza. She and some Israelis are challenging the endless hatred and violence practiced by both sides. She is joined by some Palestinians. Together they care for each other, that there is a way forward around the violence. J.J. Goldberg, writing in the Jewish Daily Forward charges that the Israeli Gaza onslaught is built on lies, and the heavier responsibility lies on Netanyahu government.

Western activists and diplomats are focusing on Israel's settlements in the Palestinian territories, and if peace talks fail, the rain of boycotts and sanctions could turn into a flood. This past week a second American academic organization overwhelmingly endorsed the economic and academic boycott of Israel.

Max Blumenthal's "Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel" one of the most fearless and honest books ever written about Israel. Blumenthal burrows deep into the dark heart of Israel. The American journalist binds himself to the beleaguered and shunned activists, radical journalists and human rights campaigners who are the conscience of the nation, as well as Palestinian families in the West Bank struggling in vain to hold back Israel's ceaseless theft of their land.

Good luck predicting how the new set of Israel-Palestine peace talks will unfold.

With Israel entering into another round of diplomatic inaction, the call for an economic boycott has become a patriotic requirement. Haaretz editorial board member Gideon Levy adds his voice to world-wide call for boycott of Israel.