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UN records 605 closure barriers in the West Bank

4 May 2005


The West Bank closure system comprises over 600 physical barriers placed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on roads to control and restrict Palestinian vehicular traffic, which the Israeli Government states is designed to protect Israeli citizens from Palestinian attacks. As of 12 April 2005, 605 closure barriers were recorded in the West Bank compared to 680 in November 2004. The closures are the primary cause of poverty and the humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and Gaza and have restricted Palestinian access to health and education services, employment, markets and social and religious networks. Most of the closure barriers removed were earth mounds. 

Palestinians join human rights lawsuit against Caterpillar, Inc.

2 May 2005


The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and partnering law firms today added members of four Palestinian families as plaintiffs to their federal lawsuit against Illinois-based Caterpillar, Inc., charging the company with responsibility for human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The new plaintiffs are joining the case brought by the parents of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American peace activist and student who was crushed to death by a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer on March 16, 2003. 

Knesset member demands criminal investigation into conduct Israeli forces against protesters of the Wall

28 April 2005


On 28 April 2005, Adalah wrote to the Attorney General (AG), the Director of the Ministry of Justice’s Police Investigations Unit (Mahash), and the Military Prosecutor General, in the name of Member of Knesset (MK) Muhammad Barakeh. Adalah demanded the immediate opening of an investigation into an incident in which members of the Israeli security forces assaulted demonstrators, including MK Barakeh, and the prosecution of those responsible. 

Protesters hospitalized after anti-Wall demo in Bil'in

2 May 2005


Ramallah, 1 May 2005 — 12-year old Ahmed has a metal fragment lodged in his skull. A Norwegian protester who was standing next to Ahmed was also hit by a ricocheting fragment of what he says were live rounds fired in their direction by Israeli soldiers two hundred meters away. 23-year old Hamze is suffering from an injury to the back of his head from a gas canister that was shot at him directly from short range. 

Success for Imagine Life ads in Boston

Tom Wallace 2 May 2005


It’s been a long time coming but two weeks ago several ads created by Imagine Life began airing in Boston. Many Boston area groups coordinated raising the money and arranging the airing. As in other markets — 80 cities around the country — it was very exciting to see honest portrayals on American television of the grotesque and oppressive circumstances under which Palestinian people live. These ads ran on CNN and MSNBC. Bostonians were jubilant. There was hope. 

ADC Praises Representation of Arabs, Muslims in "Kingdom of Heaven"

29 April 2005


The American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee (ADC) today praised the portrayal of Arabs and Muslims in the Kingdom of Heaven, a film about the Crusades, which will be opening nationwide on May 6. Last night, ADC staff attended a private advance screening of this new film by Sir Ridley Scott and offers the following comments. Kingdom of Heaven is an epic-scale historical drama inspired by the events of the third Crusade of the 12th century and is based on real characters, including Balian of Ibelin, a Crusader knight, and Salah El Din (Saladin), the renowned Muslim leader. 

Palestinian workers under "moral terror"

Sami Abu Salem Gaza, Palestine 30 April 2005


In the heart of Jabalia Refugee Camp, there was no more room in the two-room 50 square meters house of Mahmoud Al-Dhabous 42. He is an unemployed father of 7 children, lost his work because he refused to “betray his people.” The washbasin in the kitchen is broken. The door of the bathroom is full of holes while the two rooms packed with sleeping children, clothes and books. Al-Dhabous is a sample of thousands of Palestinian workers the Israeli intelligence have been trying to recruit them as traitors for a permission of work inside Israel. For nine consecutive years, Al-Dhabous has worked for a factor of greenhouses in the industrial zone of “Eretz”. He has been jobless for more than a year. The Israeli intelligence prevented him from working as he refused to “collaborate”. 

Al Aqaba: Another village under threat

Flo Razowsky 30 April 2005


The mountains of Palestine form a sharp edge that plunges into the Jordan Valley as if cut by a knife. Almost to the rim of this drastic landscape lies the village of Al Aqaba, located in the farthest Palestinian lands of the Jenin region. It is almost a no-man’s land, nestled in the soft rolling foothills of the towering mountains, stirred by the strong breeze cooling the hot spring day. We went to Al Aqaba to speak with Haj Sammy, the mayor. The military uses the land around Al Aqaba for their training practices, having killed 8 and wounded 50 since 1971. Haj Sammy’s wound is one such example. He has been paralyzed since. 

Film review: "Rainbow"

Jenny Gheith 30 April 2005


“Hearing is not like seeing and seeing is different from living the experience,” reflects Shehada’s mother about life in Rafah. And for a week in May 2004, that experience worsened as Israeli forces pushed forward with “Operation Rainbow,” killing 45 Palestinians, 38 of them civilians including nine children. “The only thing we can do is pray to God.” This overwhelmingly distraught sentiment runs throughout Shehada’s newest documentary Rainbow (2004), which examines first hand the devastating effects of the events of May 13-May 20th. However, this film is not a documentary in the traditional sense — from the perspective of an outsider looking in. 

On Orthodox Great Saturday, Israel closes Jerusalem's Christian Quarter

Jerusalem 30 April 2005


Today, the Great Saturday celebration for Christian Orthodox people ahead of Easter Sunday tomorrow, was ruined in Jerusalem by the Israeli police and the Greek Patriarch. The Christian Quarter of the Old City was blocked off in four places by heavily armed Israeli police, which meant that Christian Orthodox Palestinians as well as members of the church who had flown in from Greece, could not enter their church for the service.