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The permit maze

4 November 2003

There is only one thing straightforward about the maze of permit regulations for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Despite the Oslo accords and other interim agreements, all applications for documents end up being approved or rejected by some Israeli authority. 

The Geneva Accord: Beyond Time and Space

3 November 2003


Representing no official body, Palestinians close to the PA and members of the Israeli left have signed a detailed plan for a peace agreement. Switzerland financed the exercise, whose result is known as the Geneva Accord. The chief figure on the Israeli side is Yossi Beilin, formerly a central leader in the Labor Party and an architect of the Oslo Accords. His Palestinian counterpart is Yasser Abed Rabo, the PA’s former Minister of Information. The new accord places before the two peoples, for the first time, an idea of the approximate price that each would have to pay in order to gain a peace agreement that the other might perhaps someday be persuaded to live with. As to the Accord itself, we shall focus on two questions. How far exactly are the signers willing to go? How relevant is the document?  The following editorial is reprinted from the current edition of Challenge magazine. 

EU poll: "Israel poses biggest threat to world peace"

Arjan El Fassed 3 November 2003


Researchers have found that nearly 60 percent of European citizens believe Israel poses the biggest threat to world peace. Iran is considered the second biggest threat, North Korea the third and the United States the fourth. The European Commission survey asked the public in all 15 member states to look at a list of countries and say which they considered potential threats to peace. Israel was selected by a majority in almost all the EU member states. EI’s Arjan El Fassed takes a closer look. 

Building to destroy: The 'separation' wall and the future of Palestine

Anwar Darkazally 3 November 2003


The Road Map is in tatters, and not by accident. It is business as usual for the most right wing government in Israel’s history. Business is building, and building is booming.For many months now, before and after the launch of the Road Map, land has been confiscated and homes and agricultural land levelled for the construction of the “separation” wall along the north of the West Bank. People are being separated from their land and each other, greenhouses and crops have been destroyed and towns and villages are being encircled by the wall as it snakes through the West Bank annexing land to Israel. Anwar Darkazally contributed this piece to EI. 

Tens of thousands to mobilize for Nov 9th International Day Against the Wall

3 November 2003


The day declared by the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign in Palestine is gathering major momentum as cities across Europe, Canada, the US, Latin America, and Australia are joining in solidarity with the popular Palestinian mobilization that is to take place on November 9, the date of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The International Day Against the Wall is expected to be noticeable and large scale and to be a spark that further strengthens the Palestinian call to stop the Wall and the momentum in Palestine and abroad. 

Response to National Post editorial of 20 August 2003

Nigel Parry 2 September 2003

Regarding the editorial, “Another reason to build the fence: Separating Israel from the West Bank will help prevent attacks such as yesterday’s bus bombing” (20 Aug), The National Post has missed the point entirely. The Post argues that a description of Israel’s Wall on our website as “a colonial project that embodies within it the long-term policy of occupation, discrimination and expulsion” was “nonsensical” and that Israel is building the Wall “to protect its citizens from terrorists based in the West Bank”. EI’s Nigel Parry wrote this letter in response to an editorial in the National Post (Canada). 

Prominent Palestinian labor rights activist, prohibited from traveling

3 November 2003


Hasan Barghouthi is a trade unionist and a known activist for peace, democracy and social justice in Palestine. On 15 October 2003, he was prohibited by the Israeli authorities from leaving the occupied territories, and on 28 October he was informed by the Israeli intelligence services that he was prohibited from traveling abroad. His work as Director of the Democracy and Workers’ Rights Center in Palestine (DWRC) requires him to travel often, and the Israeli occupying power’s decision to deny him his right to freedom of movement in the future will seriously affect it. 

If this is justice, I'm a banana!

Nick Pretzlik East Jerusalem 2 November 2003

“The family last saw Asma Abd-elrazzaq Salih, a 25-year-old mother of two, at the beginning of February this year. It was 1:00 a.m. when the Israeli soldiers arrived at the house, and dawn was breaking as they took her away. She has not been charged with any crime, but is being held as a hostage by the Israeli Army and Government, which has now stooped so low as to kidnap young women.” Nick Pretzlik reports on a particularly disturbing Israeli violation of International Humanitarian Law from East Jerusalem.