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Palestinian leaders confirm BBC correspondent is alive

25 April 2007


NEW YORK, 25 April 2007 - Despite encouraging statements from Palestinian leaders, the Committee to Protect Journalists remains deeply concerned about the safety of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, abducted in Gaza six weeks ago. Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Azzam al-Ahmad said in a statement that Johnston was alive and “in good health,” the BBC reported Tuesday. “The government is fully coordinating with the presidency and all security services to pursue the extensive efforts to release Johnston and bring him back safely to his home, family, and his work.” 

Families of missing detainees in Syrian prisons demand action

26 April 2007


BEIRUT, 24 April 2007 (IRIN) - Lebanese activists are calling on the United Nations and the Lebanese government to increase pressure on Damascus to release final details of the whereabouts and fate of more than 600 Lebanese missing in Syrian jails since the 1970s. As a sit-in protest in front of UN House in Beirut by the families of the missing detainees enters its third year, activists are calling on the UN to consider the missing prisoner cases as part of the implementation of a series of Security Council resolutions. 

Weekly Report on Human Rights Violations

26 April 2007


During the reporting period nine Palestinians, including two children, were killed by the IOF in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Four of the victims were extrajudicially executed by the IOF. Eighteen civilians were wounded by IOF gunfire in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Thirteen of these civilians, including a journalist, four women and four international human rights defenders, were wounded when IOF used force to disperse a peaceful demonstration against the Annexation Wall in Bal’ein. 

Book Review: The Scar of David

Sanna Nimtz Towns and Joseph F. Towns 27 April 2007


Susan Abulhawa’s first novel, The Scar of David, is an intricately woven tapestry of historical fiction chronicling the Palestinian Abulheja family over four generations. The novel begins in Ein Hod, the village where patriarch Yehya Abulheja, a peasant olive farmer, and his family, wife Basima and sons Hasan and Darweesh, live. This land of olive trees has been nurtured by Yehya’s relatives and ancestors for over forty generations. We witness the simple and charming life of these peasants when son Hasan, on errands for his father to the Old City in Jerusalem, meets with his best friend Ari Perlstein; both boys share their lives, families and dreams with each other. 

Audio: Interview with "Angry Arab" As'ad AbuKhalil

26 April 2007


Last week, As’ad AbuKhalil, creater of the Angry Arab News Service blog, was in Chicago to speak at the Sixth Annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival. The Electronic Intifada’s Maureen Clare Murphy and Ali Abunimah sat down to talk with him about the film festival selection Summer 2006, Palestine, as well as the role Palestinian culture has had in the Palestinian national movement and its influence in the wider Arab world. AbuKhalil also touched upon current events unfolding in the Middle East, including his home country of Lebanon. Also, he recommends where one can find a good felafel sandwich in the Windy City. 

Looking for alternatives to failure: An answer to Uri Avnery

Ilan Pappe 25 April 2007


Uri Avnery accuses the supporters of the one-state solution of forcefully imposing the facts onto the “Bed of Sodom”. He seems to regard these people at best as daydreamers who do not understand the political reality around them and are stuck in a perpetual state of wishful thinking. We are all veteran comrades in the Israeli Left and therefore it is quite possible that in our moments of despair we fall into the trap of hallucinating and even fantasizing while ignoring the unpleasant reality around us. 

This Protest Won't Go Away

Dahr Jamail 25 April 2007


BEIRUT, Apr 25 (IPS) - Lebanon is caught in political gridlock in the face of sustained opposition to the U.S.-backed government. The government is refusing to give in to opposition demands for more representation. The government says it is there to stay; so do the protestors. Their opposition is very visible. Scores of tents, many with solar powered television sets, wooden walls and doors, and cooking facilities fill several huge parking lots at the foot of the heavily barricaded headquarters of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s government. 

The Unearthing of Secrets: Palestinian Art, 6+ and a Series of Transgressions

Maymanah Farhat 25 April 2007


As contemporary Palestinian artists continue to exhibit internationally with the same determined and prolific impetus that has characterized their work for decades, their impact on international art will further underscore the fact that the Palestinian struggle coincides with larger international political issues that the global community cannot continue to ignore. Amidst the creative and sociopolitical contexts that configure contemporary Palestinian art, the 6+ artists collective chose to embark upon a journey that would take them not only across time zones, military check points and red tape, but through the experiences of 14 artists working to negotiate social, historical and political realities. 

Israel's choice: "Jewish only" or democratic?

Sonja Karkar 25 April 2007


The time will have to come for Israel to declare its hand: is it “a state of the Jewish people throughout the world” as it defines itself, or a state of all its citizens, both Jewish and non-Jewish? So far Israel has managed to convince the Western world that it is the only democracy in the region, but neglects to add that this democracy works only for its Jewish citizens. This is the conundrum: Israel has been unable to reconcile what it says it is, with want it wants to be — democratic and exclusively Jewish. 

Iraqi militants force Palestinians to leave Anbar

24 April 2007


RAMADI, 24 April 2007 (IRIN) - Palestinians living in Iraq’s Anbar province have come under increasing pressure from militants to leave or be killed, NGOs and Palestinians say. Palestinians in the capital, Baghdad, have long been threatened by armed groups and harassed by authorities but threats to them in other provinces are a new development, aid workers say. Sunni-dominated Anbar used to protect Palestinians, who are predominantly Sunni too, but times have changed. “Palestinians had been looking for safety and had found it in Anbar province but now they are being targeted [there also]. They have nowhere to go and might be killed if they try to go to another place,” Mahmoud Aydan said.