November 2002

Palestinian Children in the Night

Sam Bahour Ramallah 29 November 2002

We found ourselves in the midst of a crowd of over 300 cheering Palestinians. Between us and another group of a few dozen Palestinian youth were two United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) representatives. The two representatives were clearly American, in looks and accents. A few of the Palestinians standing behind the UNDP representatives slowly walked up behind them and one pulled from a bag what looked like a one-meter wooden bat. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

Palestinian Center for Human Rights 28 November 2002

Israeli occupying forces have perpetrated more human rights violations against Palestinian civilians, including willful killings, shelling of, and incursion into Palestinian areas and agricultural land leveling.  This week, 21-27 November 2002, 7 civilians – 6 Palestinians and an UNRWA official – and a security man were killed by Israeli forces.  This number does not include Palestinians who were killed in military attacks. 

The message of the mortars

Nigel Parry 31 May 2001

Maintaining a website offering information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a pro-Palestinian perspective, my e-mail in-box is regularly filled with ‘advice’ about how the Palestinians should manage their Intifada. Some recent messages have bemoaned the decision by Palestinian military groups to fire mortars at Israeli settlements. EI’s Nigel Parry comments. 

"Jenin Jenin" features at International Documentary Filmfestival

Arjan El Fassed 27 November 2002

“Jenin Jenin”, a 54-minute documentary made by Palestinian filmmaker/actor Muhammad Bakri, features at the International Documentary Filmfestival (IDFA) in Amsterdam. This film is Bakri’s most cutting statement yet. Bakri says that the film is about “human suffering as such - about a wounded soul, a demolished home, a felled tree, a picked flower, a broken heart.” 

UN protests armed Israeli raid on international staff member's home

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East 26 November 2002

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has protested to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) the treatment of one of the Agency’s international staff members and her family, who were subject to degrading searches and unjustified detention. 

Mass amnesia hits the media concerning Israeli military incursions into Palestinian areas: Have we lost a clear sense of the scale of Israel repression during the 10-month-long Palestinian revolt against miltary occupation?

Nigel Parry and Ali Abunimah 16 August 2001

“Israel’s incursion into Jenin on Tuesday was the first time Israeli troops have entered a city under full Palestinian control since parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip were handed over to Palestinian rule under a peace deal in 1994,” said the BBC. But it wasn’t, and the error was reproduced widely. 

Encourage your local newspaper to state the obvious: Editorials must call for the basic minimum demanded by international law -- an end to Israel's military occupation

Nigel Parry 15 November 2001

The Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial of November 12th, 2001 called for an end to Israel’s occupation. More papers should take this common sense approach. 

The CanWest Chill: "We do not run in our newspaper Op Ed pieces that express criticism of Israel"

Laurie King and Nigel Parry 11 December 2001

The 7 December 2001 broadcast of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s As It Happens reported on a new editorial policy directive from CanWest Global, a leading Canadian media conglomerate, that impairs readers’ ability to make up their own minds about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, among other issues. 

Death and Lies in Palestine

Ali Abunimah 26 November 2002

No matter what the case, whether it is a 53-year-old British UNRWA official, or an 8-year old-boy standing next to his house, the lie is always the same. The victim was a “terrorist” or appeared to be a “terrorist,” who with a cell phone, a rock, his bare hands, or even a pepsi bottle full of solvent, threatened the lives of heavily armed occupation troops riding around in 65-ton Merkava tanks in the middle of a refugee camp. EI’s Ali Abunimah writes about Israel’s killing of a senior UN official in Jenin and what it tells us about violence throughout the Occupied Territories. 

As the spinning wheel turns

Nathan Guttman 25 November 2002

Suzannne Goldenberg, the British Guardian’s correspondent in Israel till recently, is the topic of this article, which explains some of the realities that foreign correspondents must deal with working in Israel and the occupied territories. Nathan Guttman writes in Ha’aretz. 

Combining Activism and Academia: A Moral Imperative

Laurie King 25 November 2002

“It seems that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Zionism as a nationalist ideology, and US support for Israel are still topics that many scholars prefer to keep at arm’s length, and given what I learned from some younger colleagues attempting to teach college classes about the Middle East in respected US institutions of higher learning, it is no wonder. ” A report from the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association by EI’s Laurie King-Irani. 

EI on CKUT Radio Montreal

Ali Abunimah and Nigel Parry 25 November 2002

Following the publication of EI’s investigative piece “Israel falsely claims ‘massacre’ of ‘worshippers’ in Hebron” (16 November 2002), EI’s Ali Abunimah and Nigel Parry spoke with Stefan Christoff on CKUT Radio Montreal about the events. Listen to or download an mp3 audio file of the program here. 

British citizen and Palestinian child killed in Jenin

LAW 23 November 2002

On Friday, November 22, Israeli forces attacked Jenin refugee camp, killed a Palestinian child and British engineer Ian Hook (50). An eyewitness stated that Hook exited the office, which overlooked snipers, raising the flag of the UN. He stood in front of the entrance of the office and asked the Israeli forces, including the sniper upon the roof of an eyewitness, to stop shooting. They did not heed his request, and opened fire upon him from a distance of around 20 meters. 

Death of a UN worker

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East 21 November 2002

The United Nations regret to confirm that the senior manager of UNRWA’s Jenin camp reconstruction project, Iain Hook, was shot and killed this afternoon in the UNRWA office compound in Jenin camp. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

Palestinian Center for Human Rights 20 November 2002

Israeli occupying forces have perpetrated more human rights violations against Palestinian civilians. This week 13 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 5 children, a woman and an old man, were killed by Israeli forces. This number does not include Palestinians who were killed while carrying out attacks against Israeli tartgets. 

IFJ accuses Israel after journalists are terrorised and cameraman is beaten up

International Federation of Journalists 20 November 2002

The International Federation of Journalists said today that Israeli border police who terrorized a group of journalists and assaulted a cameraman in West Bank city of Hebron reflected a “continuing mood of prejudice and intolerance” among Israeli security personnel in their dealings with media. 

Israel's killing of British citizen Iain Hook, UNRWA's Project Manager in Jenin

Caoimhe Butterly and Annie Higgins Jenin refugee camp 22 November 2002


“Iain Hook came out of the UN compound waving a blue UN flag, and the Israeli soldiers’ only response was to broadcast with their microphone in English, ‘We don’t care if you are the United Nations or who you are. Fuck off and go home!’ They were trying to go home. Iain said that things were not going well.” Caoimhe Butterly reports from Jenin. 

Report on the full-scale reinvasion of Jenin

Caoimhe Butterly Jenin refugee camp 16 November 2002

As we tried to wrench open the locked door we could hear the beating that lasted all night as his mother wept outside and a group of adults put a hood over the head of a skinny 12-year old and beat him savagely. The same “lesson”: to fear and comply or risk subjugation by force they tried to beat into the memory of ten other children between the ages of eight and thirteen on the same night in different occupied houses. Caoimhe Butterly writes from Jenin Refugee Camp. 

Peace Fire: "An explosive story unfolds"

Arjan El Fassed 20 November 2002


Peace Fire: Fragments from the Israel-Palestine Story, edited by Ethan Casey and Paul Hilder, joins public figures and analysts with vivid street-level diaries from the people in the conflict - Israeli soldiers, peace activists, settlers, Palestinian gunmen, NGO workers, and refugees. “As the individual narrators offer their accounts, an explosive story unfolds.” 

"USS Liberty: Dead in the Water" now available in VHS and DVD

Nigel Parry 20 November 2002


During the Six Day War between Israel and the Arab States, the American intelligence ship USS Liberty was attacked for 75 minutes in international waters by Israeli aircraft and motor torpedo boats. Thirty-four men died and 172 were wounded. The most recent documentary, a 2001 production from the British Broadcasting Corporation is USS Liberty: Dead in the Water, is now on sale in North America. EI’s Nigel Parry offers more information. 

NPR ignores killing of six Palestinians, two children

Ali Abunimah 20 November 2002

While NPR reported quickly and repeatedly false Israeli claims of an appalling ambush of “Jewish worshippers” in Hebron, and highly dubious accounts of an alleged 9/11-style “hijacking attempt” of an El Al jet, it has been completely silent this morning about the overnight killings of six Palestinians, two of them children, as an Israeli undercover death squad carried out the extrajudicial execution at his home of 25-year-old Mohammed Zaghal in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm. 

What is happening in Palestine?

Hasan Abu Nimah 20 November 2002

Ambassador Hasan Abu-Nimah surveys the Palestinian-Israeli situation five months after President Bush’s famous “vision” was announced, and on the eve of another Israeli election. He writes, “It is astonishing that there are still many around who would warn against the grave risk of losing Sharon because the alternative could be Netanyahu, or would hope that a Labour victory would instantly remove the barricades from the way of a just, comprehensive and lasting peace; they had pinned their hopes on Barak before, but do not seem to have learned the lesson. How many more precious years do we need to spend switching from a seeming “dove” to a seeming “hawk” in a futile process of trial and error, while our people’s suffering continues, before we realise that until and unless we take the initiative ourselves, we will continue to long for the mirage and count disasters.” 

Two States or One?

Ali Abunimah 21 November 2002

EI’s Ali Abunimah writes that a two-state solution is still possible, but only if Israel stops undermining it and immediately seizes the far-reaching offers of the Palestinians and the Arab states. Sadly, though, the political field in Israel looks unlikely produce anyone who will seize this golden opportunity. Therefore, Israel will likely miss the boat on the two-state solution, and Palestinians and Israelis will have to think about what it will be like to live together in one state, and more importantly how to get there peacefully because no road map exists. 

Chicago: Palestine-Ireland Art Exhibit Opens

Gallery 400 20 November 2002

This exhibition will bring together the work of eight artists from Palestine, Ireland and the United States. The exhibition will explore the impact and effects of military occupation, faltering attempts at settlement, and the importance of history and memory in both regions, drawing comparisons and parallels where necessary. At Gallery 400, 400 North Peoria Street, Chicago, November 19-30 

Field trip to Taybeh

Toine van Teeffelen Bethlehem 16 November 2002

On the occasion of Independence day, November 15, some 60 school and university students and teachers leave together for a fieldtrip to the village of Taybeh north-east of Ramallah. Toine van Teeffelen writes from Bethlehem. 

Update from Jenin

Annie Higgins Jenin 19 November 2002

The city and the Refugee Camp breathed more easily when the Israeli Army withdrew from its two-week invasion about a week ago, but everyone knew that the Army would maintain its presence, if slightly less visibly. Annie Higgins writes from Jenin. 

Every day is a major invasion in Gaza

Kristen Ess Gaza Strip 18 November 2002

Gaza City did not sleep last night. 35 Israeli tanks plowed into the Tal Al-Hawa area in the south of the city. Apache missiles were fired from the sky. The explosions lasted throughout the night. A man called out that the international community must wake up. He said, “They are killing our children but we are here to stay. The world must listen to the truth.” Another said quietly, “No one heard you.” Kristen Ess writes from Gaza, where the reality of international apathy is measured by the daily tank and helicopter attacks. 

OCHA presents humanitarian action plan 2003

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 19 November 2002


Today, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) presented its humanitarian action plan for the occupied Palestinian territories for the coming year. The plan starts by stating that te cause of the humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories is “fundamentally political”. According to OCHA this problem “cannot be solved with humanitarian aid alone.” 

CNN's "Sabbath Massacre" propaganda

Nigel Parry and Ali Abunimah 18 November 2002

In the wake of the November 15th Islamic Jihad attack against Israeli soldiers and members of a settler paramilitary force, many members of the media reproduced Israel’s quickly debunked claims of a “massacre” of “worshippers”. CNN was one of them. EI’s Nigel Parry and Ali Abunimah wrote to the network. 

Checkpoints

Giulia El Dardiry Ramallah 18 November 2002


No one writes about the checkpoints nowadays. They have become a permanent, almost “normal”, fixture of Palestine. So it is alright. It is no longer worthy of attention. It is no longer an affront to human dignity. Giulia El Dardiry writes from Ramallah, occupied Palestine. 

NPR still giving misleading reports about "hijack"

Ali Abunimah 18 November 2002


Since early this morning, there have been growing indications that the incident on an El Al airliner flying from Tel Aviv to Istanbul on Sunday was not an attempted hijacking with a knife as you have been reporting all morning. As of 8.30 AM ET, NPR news casts have been reporting almost every half hour that Israeli security “foiled an attempting hijacking” and that a young “Israeli Arab” man threatened a stewardess with a knife before attempting to kick in the cockpit door. NPR has not reported any of the latest information, which casts severe doubt on this version of events. 

Israel falsely claims "massacre" of "worshippers" in Hebron

Ali Abunimah and Nigel Parry 16 November 2002


News media and public officials reported that Jewish “worshippers” were killed in a Palestinian ambush in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron on November 15, 2002. In fact, all those who died were Israeli soldiers and armed paramilitary settlers, and the Israeli army admitted that the attackers had directed their attack against the soldiers, and not, as the Israeli government and most of the media reported against “Sabbath worshippers.” EI’s Ali Abunimah and Nigel Parry report. 

Chicago Mideast Librarian suffers retaliation for doing his job

David Williams 15 November 2002

David Williams was for many years Middle East history librarian for the Chicago Public Library. Williams was transferred from his job, he has learned, primarily in
retaliation for his activities to educate the city about Palestinian human rights and a lecture series he helped organize. He also believes that this retaliation was prompted by his informational leafletting of an appearance by Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and author and apologist for Israel, at the Chicago Public
Library. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

Palestinian Center for Human Rights 14 November 2002

Israeli forces have perpetrated more human rights violations against Palestinian civilians, including willful and extra-judicial killings, shelling of, and incursion into Palestinian areas and agricultural land leveling. This week, six Palestinian civilians, including three children from Rafah, two of whom were infants, were killed by Israeli forces. 

'The patient is dying,' UN Middle East envoy says

United Nations Special Coordinator Office for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) 12 November 2002


Warning of a dire humanitarian situation in the Middle East, the senior United Nations envoy to the region, Terje Roed-Larsen, today appealed to donors gathered in Jerusalem to extend support for a wide range of assistance efforts. “There have been inputs, but no impact. In short, the patient is dying.” 

More reports from Block O in Rafah

Kristen Ess Gaza Strip 13 November 2002


Israeli soldiers targeted a two year-old boy yesterday. Even they could not come up with an excuse for shooting him in the head. At his funeral today Fatah Youth flags flew in the breeze, the baby’s body covered in purple-pink flowers. He was carried on a stretcher along side another small boy, 9 years old, who died from two day old injuries. Kristen Ess writes from occupied Gaza. 

Columbia faculty demand university divests from Israel

Arjan El Fassed 13 November 2002


Last month a group of over seventy-five Columbia and Barnard faculty members launched a petition campaign demanding that Columbia University divest from all firms that produce or sell arms or military hardware to be used by the state of Israel. Tonight in an open hearing, the case will be presented to Columbia’s Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing. 

Fourth Committee: Disturbing humanitarian deterioration in Occupied Palestinian Territories focus

United Nations 10 November 2002


The hopelessness and anger of the witnesses before the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories had been directed not only against Israel, but also against the international community for its inability to provide relief, the Fourth Committee was told today. 

Follow up: NPR replies to concerns about cash payments to reporter, conflict of interest

Ali Abunimah and Nigel Parry 20 February 2002

Having become the recipient of large numbers of concerned e-mails resulting from The Electronic Intifada’s special report, “NPR’s Linda Gradstein Takes Cash Payments from Pro-Israeli Groups”, NPR has now confirmed that it will enforce its conflict of interest policy banning such payments. Ali Abunimah and Nigel Parry report. 

The UN's Iraq Resolution: What does it mean?

Hasan Abu Nimah 11 November 2002

A US war with Iraq may reshape the Middle East, and will certainly have an impact on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Hasan Abu Nimah, who frequently contributes to EI, turns his attention to Iraq and considers whether the new UN resolution brings war closer or pushes it away. What does this mean for the UN and how should Iraq and Arab states react to stave off the threat of a catastrophic conflict? 

Ramadan in Gaza

Kristen Ess Gaza Strip 11 November 2002


As I write this, now at home, I am watching the news on television. An Israeli tank is shooting at little boys who throw stones at it in Nablus. George Bush struts across a green grass lawn in a clean suit, talking about UN Resolutions. Kristen Ess writes from Gaza. 

From the square to the orchard

Adam Keller 9 November 2002


Veteran Israeli peace activist Adam Keller attended the Rabin Memorial Rally on November 2nd, and spent the following two days protesting the destruction of olive groves in Falami, a Palestinian village that will be drastically affected by the ongoing construction of Israel’s “Berlin Wall”. Meanwhile, news of the collapse of the Sharon government broke. 

Sharon's Appendix: The bankruptcy of Israel's "Peace Camp"

Ali Abunimah 7 November 2002


As Israel heads towards a new election, what prospect is there that Israel’s Labor party can offer a real alternative to Sharon? EI’s Ali Abunimah examines the positions of three leading lights of Israel’s “peace camp,” Shimon Peres, Yossi Beilin and Shlomo Ben Ami. Find out why he thinks they are calling for the resumption of a journey along a road that leads only to a dead end, with no new ideas and no incentives for Palestinians who want true reconciliation and coexistence to build a peace front with them. If this is the case, what possible solutions lie on the horizon? 

UNRWA faces historic crisis

United Nations 4 November 2002


As the agency responsible for the provision of humanitarian aid and basic services to nearly half the population of the occupied Palestinian territory, UNRWA today faced perhaps one of the most serious challenges in its history, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General, Peter Hansen, told the Fourth Committee this morning. 

Conflict in Palestine: a tale of two states

Hasan Abu Nimah 5 November 2002


Many important voices have come out to express fear that the “two-state solution” for the Palestinian-Israeli dispute is fast fading. The consequences, they warn, are horrifying, not only for the Palestinians, for whom statehood is a national aspiration, but also for Israelis. Hasan Abu Nimah examines this development and what its true consequences may be. 

Exiles within: Palestinian internal refugees get organized

Isabelle Humphries 6 November 2002

A recent human rights award given by an international cosmetics company, The Body Shop, has focused attention on the struggles of an oft-ignored group of Palestinian refugees: those who are living as exiles inside Israel, where they are officially classified as “Present Absentees.” Isabelle Humphries reports from Nazareth. 

A smaller space each day

Kristen Ess Rafah, Gaza Strip 5 November 2002


A pile of gray cement, once a family’s home, sits next to the street. Directly in front is a small white tent. This is where the family now lives. There is no furniture, no clothes, no family pictures. They are all somewhere under the rubble. Each day at least 6 Palestinian homes are demolished, except Saturday which is a holiday for Israelis. Kristen Ess writes from Rafah, Gaza. 

Deported!

Kathleen Kern 5 November 2002


Peace activist Kathy Kern was recently deported from Ben Gurion airport after arriving for her 11th term of service with the Hebron-based Christian Peacemaker Teams. In this article about the experience, Kathy asks why the Israeli government is afraid of people reporting what it is doing in the Occupied Territories? 

Settlers and Trash

Walid Hamad al-Bireh 5 November 2002


Just as the Israeli occupation to suppress the entire Palestinian population has taken on new shapes and forms in the absence of any international considerations, Israeli settlers are camouflaging this latest round of land confiscation with a facade of environmental issues, namely a solid waste landfill site on the eastern front of the Palestinian West Bank town of Al-Bireh. Walid Hamad, Mayor of Al-Bireh writes about the problem. 

The farmers of Qaffin

Rachel Engler-Stringer Tulkarem, Palestine 4 November 2002

Just after we came home for the evening we received a call informing us that the army was attacking the Tulkarem refugee camp. We also learned that people in the camp had been shot, and there were helicopters circling overhead. Rachel Engler-Stringer reports from Tulkarem. 

AI: Israeli Defence Forces' war crimes must be investigated

Amnesty International 4 November 2002


Israel committed war crimes, including unlawful killings, in Jenin and Nablus during a military offensive in those and other West Bank cities earlier this year, the human rights group Amnesty International said today. In its report, Amnesty said there is “clear evidence that some of the acts committed by the Israel Defense Forces during Operation Defense Shield were war crimes.” 

Israeli general linked to Jenin atrocities named defence chief

Justin Huggler 1 November 2002

A former Israeli army chief who presided over the controversial invasion of Jenin this year, and who is being investigated by Scotland Yard over allegations of war crimes, was named as Israel’s new Defence Minister yesterday, an aide to Ariel Sharon said. Lieutenant-General Shaul Mofaz, who has flown back to Israel after Scotland Yard started investigating him during a fund-raising tour of Britain, had been Chief of Staff for most of the current Palestinian intifada until he retired in July. Justin Huggler writes in The Independent,