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Setting up Abbas

Jeff Halper 25 October 2005


From Sharon’s point of view it’s a done deal. Israel has won its century-old conflict with the Palestinians. Surveying the landscape - physical and political alike - the Israeli Prime Minister has finally fulfilled the task with which he was charged 38 years ago by Menachem Begin: ensure permanent Israel control over the entire Land of Israel while foreclosing the emergence of a viable Palestinian state. Still, Israel needs a Palestinian state. Although the annexation of the settlement blocs gives Israel complete control over the entire country between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, it needs to “get rid of” the almost four million Palestinian residents to which it can neither give citizenship nor keep in a state of permanent bondage. 

Israel assassinates two Palestinians in Tulkarem

24 October 2005


Israeli forces committed another extra-judicial execution. Israeli forces invaded Tulkarem and two refugee camps east of the city. After they imposed a curfew on residents, Israeli soldiers tooks positions in the Marba’at Hannoun area. They stopped a car and forced the driver out, opened fire and killed him instantly. Israeli forces saw an armed Palestinian from an alley and opened fire, hitting him with two bullets in his leg and hand. He fired a few bullets at the soldiers and took refuge in a nearby house. Israeli forces fired a rocket at the building. A man was climbing the stairs. Israeli forces shot at him from close range. He was killed instantly. The two Palestinians were identified as Majed al-Ashqar and Lo’ay El-Sa’di. 

The Wall and the psychological impact on children

Adri Nieuwhof 24 October 2005


On 26 September 2005, the Palestinian Counseling Centre (the PCC) announced the results of a survey on the psychological implications of the construction of the wall on people from five villages in the Qalqilya district. In 2003, the PCC conducted a pilot study, which was followed by the survey from early 2004 to August 2005. The study showed a proportional relationship between exposure to the wall and the occurrence of nightmares and aggressive behaviour in adolescents and children. The PCC’s study makes it clear that the wall has an impact on the mental health of adults and children. According to the PCC, the wall can be seen as a construction meant to confine and isolate people, which are the key characteristics of a prison. 

An affordable translation service from the Arabic language press

Najla Said 23 October 2005


Until recently, there has been no affordable and timely translation source for non-Arabic-speaking diaspora Arabs or Westerners to read the Arabic press. Mideastwire.com was launched on June 15th, 2005. The service (currently free to subscribers) provides a daily email newsletter with the days headlines (translated and summarized) from all the top Arabic and Persian newspapers. Since the service is operated and dispatched from Beirut, Lebanon, the correspondents (who are scattered worldwide)� and editors have the entire workday to get the newletter finished and into the inboxes of American subscribers by midday/late morning in the United States. 

Nationalism and its Discontents

Am Johal 23 October 2005


There is a dangerous political vacuum emerging that could fuel further extremism within both the Israeli and Palestinian sides. The Palestinians want movement on their demands and the Israelis do not want to make any further concessions. Sharon, in one of the ironies of the age, is barely fighting off the right wing. In a conflicted state, there is something called the ‘politics of time’ that is always present. There is nothing more dangerous than being static. 

Withdrawal from Reality?

Eugene Bird 23 October 2005


President Bush rolled out the red carpet for his Palestinian protege, Mahmoud Abbas. The meeting in the Rose Garden, in terms of staging, equaled anything that President Clinton had done with his friend, Yasser Arafat, in the heyday of the Oslo agreements. Pessimists, on the one hand, believe that nothing will happen until after the Israeli elections, probably set for November 2006. And that means continued rolling violence between now and then. 

The invisibility of Palestinian Nonviolent Resistance in the New York Times

Patrick O'Connor 23 October 2005


The fact that thousands of Palestinians and hundreds of Israelis are together employing nonviolent tactics similar to those of the U.S. civil rights movement and the South African anti-Apartheid movement would come as surprising and welcome news to most Americans. Americans are largely unaware of the struggling but vibrant grassroots nonviolent movement in Palestine, because the U.S. corporate media prefers a simple, flawed story of Palestinian terrorist attacks and Israeli retaliation. 

More Academy Resistance to Films From or About Palestine?

23 October 2005


Despite international acclaim and recognition, the California-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has disqualified the Italian submission for the 2005 Oscars due to complications that challenge the Academy’s foreign language regulations. The film, Private, was written and directed by Italian Saverio Costanzo, and produced by an Italian crew, in association with Italian-based Rai Cinema, Instituto de Luce, Offside and Cydonia. The drama, which has been hailed as a courageous and optimistic look at the Middle East situation and features a groundbreaking cooperative Palestinian and Israeli cast, was shot primarily in Arabic and Hebrew. 

Human rights lawyers: "The Gaza Strip Is Still Occupied"

21 October 2005


On 5-8 October the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network sent a delegation to visit the Gaza Strip to document the human rights situation in relation to the Israeli “Disengagement Plan”. The mission team concluded that following evacuation of the illegal Israeli settlements Gazans are now able to move within the Gaza Strip and have access the 40 percent land previously occupied by Israel. However the mission team also concludes that: the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip remains, and Palestinians’ right to freedom of movement is under Israeli control. The restrictions on freedom of movement hamper Palestinians’ possibilities to work for an improvement of the economy. The work of civil society is made more difficult as organisations and individuals cannot move freely to do their work. 

After Arab League criticism, Annan voices full confidence in Middle East envoy

19 October 2005


Voicing surprise at Arab League criticism of his Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today reaffirmed his full confidence in the official, Alvaro de Soto, and said he expected all parties to work with him in the common search for peace. Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa issued a statement yesterday criticizing Mr. de Soto for his briefing to the Security Council on 23 September. “There was nothing in that briefing that could be construed as supporting the construction by Israel of the barrier on occupied Palestinian land,” Mr. Annan said in a statement issued by his spokesman. “The position taken by Mr. de Soto was entirely consistent with decisions taken in the General Assembly and the Security Council on this issue,” the statement added.