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Photostory: Gate Bethlehem

M. El Fassed-Vermeer 11 June 2005


Surrounded by Israel’s Wall on two sides and with many restricted roads and roadblocks, Bethlehem has become a prison. The illegal barrier cuts through several kilometers of Bethlehem. The Wall has already disrupted the lives of thousands of Palestinians who have been cut off from their lands and have been prevented from reaching other villages and population centers. To a visitor the Wall erected at the entrance of the city is the most visible manifestation of its physical separation from other towns and villages. For Palestinian residents of Bethlehem, the Wall is the latest of a series of restrictions that have been implemented over the past decade and which cut the historical road that connects Jerusalem to Bethlehem and Hebron in the south. 

You have to imagine what it feels like

David Shulman Silwan 11 June 2005


We are in the city of David, literally—the oldest part of Jerusalem, below the Temple Mount, not far from the Siloam Tunnel carved in the living rock, almost three millennia ago, by King Hezekiah. Today they call it Silwan: some 50,000 Palestinian Jerusalemites live here, nearly all with blue Jerusalem identity-cards. A few days ago the municipality stuck demolition notices on 88 houses in this neighborhood; some 1000 innocent people are about to lose everything. The ostensible rationale is the creation of an archaeological park in the heart of this Arab quarter. 

The three monkeys of the Israeli media

Eve Sabbagh 9 June 2005


For nearly 40 years, Israelis have known Haim Yavin’s face. Now they also know his opinions. Whether that is leading to any deeper understanding of his message about the functioning of the Israeli media is less certain. “Since 1967, we have been brutal conquerors, occupiers suppressing another people.” It is in such terms Yavin has been expressing his disgust for the Israeli occupation in the five-week series of reports “A Land of Settlers” currently being broadcast on Israeli Channel Two. When Yavin “came out of the closet” and affirmed publicly his political views on the occupation it sent shock waves through his audience. 

The Sound of Music

Toine van Teeffelen Bethlehem, Palestine 8 June 2005


The main Jerusalem-Bethlehem checkpoint to the Wall concerns a rather desolate area with few people walking and perhaps some cars waiting in front of the checkpoint. It is nowadays so difficult to enter Jerusalem that you do not need to wait long in the queue. Even the soldiers are less stressed and unfriendly than elsewhere, just lazy and indifferent behind their table in the shadow of the hot sun. I’ve got used to walking along those two or three hundred meters between the checkpoint and the Wall. You see little boys who try to sell their chewing gum, always in vain. In the past you could take a taxi after passing the checkpoint from Jerusalem, but now the area is empty of taxis. 

Hany Abu-Assad key guest at International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

7 June 2005


The Dutch-Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad (1961, Nazareth) will be the key guest at the 18th IDFA. In this year’s Top 10, Hany Abu-Assad will present his favourite documentaries, and the festival will screen his own films as well. Hany Abu-Assad achieved international renown with films such as Nazareth 2000 (2000), Rana’s Wedding (2002) and the much talked-about documentary Ford Transit (2002). In 1991, he came to IDFA for the first time as a debuting director’s assistant on Rashid Masharawi’s Dar o Dur (1991, Palestine), which was screened that year in the Palestine-Israel Retrospective. His most recent film, Paradise Now (2005), won several prizes at the Berlin Film Festival this past February. 

Israel resumes assassination of Palestinians

7 June 2005


This morning, 7 June 2005, Israeli forces extra-judicially killed Muraweh Khaled Ekmayel, 30, from Qabatya village southeast of Jenin.  The victim was hit by several live bullets throughout the body after which the IOF bulldozed the house where he hid over him.  Israeli forces also killed an innocent bystander while they were shelling the house. According to eyewitnesses, he was killed while he was painting walls of a house near the Abu al-Rub’s home that had been surrounded by the Israeli army. Israeli forces wounded three civilians, including a child. They were all hit by live ammunition. Extra-judicial killings constitute a war crime. 

Rights group blasts delay parliamentary elections

7 June 2005


The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights stated today that the postponement of the parliamentary elections without the announcement of a new date causes damage to the democratic process in Palestine. According to a presidential decree issued on 8 January 2005, one day before the Palestinian presidential elections, by then interim President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Rawhi Fattouh, the elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) would be held on 17 July 2005.  However, holding the PLC elections was postponed after a new decree was issued by the elected Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on 3 June 2005. 

FAST T-shirt contest deadline on June 10th

6 June 2005


On Friday, June 17, 2005 the National ‘Back to Israel’ Day will take place in Israel. The National ‘Back to Israel’ day: Saving Israel’s Democracy by Fighting the Occupation will create a central stage for all of Israel’s civic organizations delivering the key message to the broad public: Israel’s democracy is at risk due to the occupation. The coalition of pro-peace and human rights organizations in Israel got together to celebrate the value of democracy and its contribution to the Israeli public at-large. F.A.S.T. (the Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory) has decided to help the coalition of -peace and human rights organizations in Israel and to promote the T-shirt contest of the National ‘Back to Israel’ Day. 

Dublin protests mark Ireland-Israel World Cup qualifying match

Nigel Parry 6 June 2005


On 4th June, the day of the Ireland-Israel qualifying match for the 2006 World Cup, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) and Movement against Israeli Apartheid organized protests against the Israeli occupation, which began its 39th year this week. The demonstration started with speakers outside the Central Bank on Dame Street, including Caoimhe Butterly, an Irish human rights activist shot in the thigh by Israeli troops in Jenin on 22 November 2002, the same day as they killed UNRWA’s Jenin project manager, British citizen Iain Hook. 

Israeli road signs get activist makeover

Laila El-Haddad 5 June 2005


Israelis driving along Highway 505 in the West Bank have been greeted with an unexpected sight. Signs that usually guide them to settlements instead on Saturday reminded them of the illegality of the construction on confiscated West Bank land. A sign pointing to Ariel, the largest settlement in the northern West Bank, built on land belonging to the Palestinian villagers of Salfit, now marks the way in Hebrew, Arabic and English to “stolen land”. Another sign that indicates the distance to Ariel from an Israeli checkpoint 12km away reminds drivers of the ongoing occupation and of the separation wall being built around Palestinian towns.