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Weekly Report on Human Rights Violations

10 May 2007


During the reporting period, three Palestinians were extra-judicially executed by IOF in the West Bank. Thirteen civilians, including six children and a girl, were wounded by IOF gunfire in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. IOF conducted 37 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and arrested four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT and at various checkpoints and border crossings in the West Bank arrested six Palestinian civilians. 

Suppressing critics of Israel: The campaign against Norman Finkelstein

Bitta Mostofi 10 May 2007


In recent weeks a considerable amount has been written and said about Norman Finkelstein’s bid for tenure at DePaul University. As most academics are aware, it is unique for a tenure decision, something that is an inherently internal process, to be subject to external discussion. Unfortunately, Finkelstein’s case is important because of the way in which is not unique. Forces outside DePaul have attempted to interfere with the University’s process in an effort to sway its decision towards denial of Finkelstein’s tenure. 

Iraqi Journalists Issue new Appeal for Release of BBC Journalist

10 May 2007


Journalists’ leaders and media chiefs meeting in Iraq today issued a new appeal for the release of kidnapped BBC journalist who has been missing for eight weeks in Palestine. The Iraqi journalism community was meeting in Irbil in the north of the country to put together a national safety and security strategy to combat the threats to media and reporters in a conflict that has already claimed the lives of more than 200 media staff since the United States invasion in 2003. 

In Gaza, chaos versus democracy and democracy versus chaos

Rami Almeghari Gaza Strip, Palestine 9 May 2007


“Perhaps some youth are trying to imitate what’s going in the outside world; we don’t have solid information on the existence of such groups,” said Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Helal in response to the recent attack on a UN-operated school in Rafah City. Early this week, a group of militants opened fire on a celebration at a UN-operated elementary school in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, having warned ahead of time that the event was “indecent.” 

Review: Palestinian Revolution Cinema

Maureen Clare Murphy 9 May 2007


Hamid Dabashi, founder of the Dreams of a Nation: A Palestinian Film Project, has said that one of the distinguishing qualities of Palestinian national cinema is that it has and continues to be produced during the throes of trauma. This stands apart from other national cinema (German, Italian, and Iranian, to name a few) which came to maturity through dealing with past national trauma. However, there has never been a Palestinian-produced feature film focusing on the Nakba. Yet, the Nakba is at the core of Palestinian cinema, as exemplified by the Palestinian Revolution Cinema series curated by Palestinian artist Emily Jacir. 

Ali Abunimah discusses the persecution of Azmi Bishara on Flashpoints

9 May 2007


EI co-founder Ali Abunimah was interviewed on Flashpoints Radio on Monday, 7 May 2007. He joined host Nora Barrows-Friedman to discuss the persecution of Azmi Bishara, who recently resigned from the Israeli Kenesset and is now effectively living in exile, unable to return to his country. Abunimah told Barrows-Friedman, “The reason Israel announced the investigation when Bishara was outside the country, and then … announced that he could face the death penalty if he returned, was that Israel wants him out of the country because they do not want the Palestinian community in Israel to be galvanized around the message of democracy…” 

Michigan school closes its doors to Palestinian voices

Elissa Mugianis 9 May 2007


In mid February of 2007 two Palestinian, nonviolent human-rights activists, Mohammad Khatib and Feryal Abu Haikal, were in the Detroit area as part of a national tour. The Roeper School, located in the Detroit suburbs of Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham, with a body of 630 gifted students from preschool to 12th grade, was contacted to host the speakers. The school seemed to be an ideal place for Khatib and Abu Haikal to give their presentations as its philosophy has an “optimistic and humanistic view of life,” with a commitment to justice, non-violence, and “accepting one’s obligation to make the world a better place for everyone.” 

West Bank health services deteriorate as Palestinian medical sector strikes

8 May 2007


JERUSALEM, 8 May 2007 (IRIN) - A recently renewed strike by Palestinian public health workers is severely affecting services by government hospitals and primary healthcare centres throughout the West Bank, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday. “The longer the strike continues, the greater the likelihood of long-term health effects,” said Eileen Daly, the ICRC’s health coordinator for the West Bank. 

Boston Palestine Film Festival Call for Entries

8 May 2007


The Boston Palestine Film Festival (BPFF) is now accepting entries for its first annual festival to be held in September-October 2007. BPFF seeks to present the extraordinary narrative of a dispossessed people living in exile or under Occupation. Palestinian cinema represents a powerful means for visually interpreting the collective identity, historic struggle and emotional expression of Palestinians today. BPFF will showcase the diverse and creative work of all filmmakers (any nationality) exploring both historic and contemporary themes related to Palestinian culture, experience, and narrative. 

Palestinian killed and seven wounded in Rafah fighting

8 May 2007


PCHR strongly condemns the bloody incidents that took place on Sunday noon in Tal al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah, which took the life of a bodyguard of Majed Abu Shammala, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), and wounded seven others, including three children. PCHR calls upon the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to effectively investigate these incidents, which are part of the state of security chaos plaguing the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), and bring the perpetrators to justice.