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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. 

UK Journalist Union: Support boycott of Israeli goods

24 April 2007


The National Union of Journalists’ Centenary Annual Conference last week debated more than 200 motions on topics ranging from opposition to plans to neuter the UK Freedom of Information Act, to launching a Stand Up for Journalism campaign against low pay and job cuts throughout the media industry. The conference condemned press freedom violations in China, Russia, Pakistan and Zimbabwe, and a special session was held on the kidnapping of Alan Johnston in Gaza and the safety of journalists. 

The Legend of the Removed Checkpoints

Ran HaCohen 24 April 2007


Let’s refresh our memory. It all started last December, when Olmert met Abbas. Olmert promised to remove checkpoints in the West Bank: “I intend to personally supervise it,” he told Abbas, “so that the Palestinian society would feel the relief” (Ha’aretz, Dec. 24, 2006). The same day, Ha’aretz reported that Defense Minister Amir Peretz and his deputy Ephraim Sneh were actually working on a plan to facilitate Palestinian movement in the West Bank. The two must have spent the whole night in their office, devising a plan for dismantling not less than “45 out of approximately 400 checkpoints.”