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Helping Forward move forward

Zachary Wales 23 July 2005


On July 22, E. J. Kessler, deputy managing editor of the oldest and most revered American Jewish weekly, Forward, reported that “a far-left pro-Palestinian group” sought to pass a divestment resolution at the AFL-CIO quadrennial convention, which takes place in Chicago next week. As a co-founder of this “far-left group,” Labor for Palestine — which is not a “group” but a campaign as its Web site’s watermark indicates on every page — I find it worth noting some errors and points of conjecture that my colleague’s article contains. LFP represents one of many organized movements that are dissatisfied with the AFL-CIO’s well-documented complicity with US foreign policy. 

Rice in talks with Palestinian leaders

Khalid Amayreh 23 July 2005


In talks scheduled with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas will seek to obtain assurances that Israel will stick to the peace plan. Rice met Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, together with several Palestinian cabinet ministers on Saturday, at the start of a day-long series of talks. Later she was to meet President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Yousef, who is responsible for the Palestinian security forces, amid signs the Palestinians were buckling under heavy Israeli and US pressure to clamp down on resistance groups such as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. 

Photostory: The face of occupation

Tom Kay 22 July 2005


When I got home from Bili’in, I dumped some pictures onto the computer. Going through them, I was surprised to find just how many showed the same man. I remembered him, but had not been aware that I was singling him out for portraits. Of course there were times when the demonstrators were shouting and angry, particularly when the Israeli occupation forces were manhandling people. But until the truncheons were wielded, there was no violence in the olive groves. When this soldier was in sight, my lens, as if it was independently motorised, must have swivelled towards him. If things were quiet, he would quickly ensure that they did not remain so. One could virtually taste his hate, aggression and viciousness. 

Another day of protest against the Wall

Marcy Newman Salfit, Palestine 22 July 2005


Time is so short and my experiences are so intense I fear that I cannot fully convey the gravity of daily life and what I am witnessing here. It especially worries me that the world’s eyes are myopically focused on the pullout in Ghaza, the anti-disengagement protesters, most of whom are illegal Israeli settlers from the West Bank. Yesterday I took part in a non-violent demonstration in three villages of the Salfit area outside of Nablus. Salfit villages have been experiencing increased violence by the IDF throughout the region. Demonstrations in Marda and Immatin have been met with army incursions, tear gas, and rubber bullets. In Salfit, a 16-year-old boy was killed for throwing stones at a jeep. 

Israeli-Palestinian relations bedevilled by lack of framework – UN envoy (3/3)

21 July 2005


While it is essential for both Israel and the Palestinians not to lose sight of the immediate goal – Israel’s disengagement from Gaza – relations between the two sides are being marred because no agreed framework exists for that pull-out, or for what will happen next, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Alvaro de Soto told the Security Council today. “The unease, suspicion and cynicism that bedevil Israeli-Palestinian relations can be attributed in large part to the fact that the disengagement is not taking place within an unequivocally agreed framework for the next steps toward the overall solution to which both sides claim adherence, i.e., two states living alongside each other in peace,” he said in the monthly briefing – his first – on the situation. 

Israeli-Palestinian relations bedevilled by lack of framework – UN envoy (2/3)

21 July 2005


While it is essential for both Israel and the Palestinians not to lose sight of the immediate goal – Israel’s disengagement from Gaza – relations between the two sides are being marred because no agreed framework exists for that pull-out, or for what will happen next, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Alvaro de Soto told the Security Council today. “The unease, suspicion and cynicism that bedevil Israeli-Palestinian relations can be attributed in large part to the fact that the disengagement is not taking place within an unequivocally agreed framework for the next steps toward the overall solution to which both sides claim adherence, i.e., two states living alongside each other in peace,” he said in the monthly briefing – his first – on the situation. 

Israeli-Palestinian relations bedevilled by lack of framework – UN envoy (1/3)

21 July 2005


While it is essential for both Israel and the Palestinians not to lose sight of the immediate goal – Israel’s disengagement from Gaza – relations between the two sides are being marred because no agreed framework exists for that pull-out, or for what will happen next, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Alvaro de Soto told the Security Council today. “The unease, suspicion and cynicism that bedevil Israeli-Palestinian relations can be attributed in large part to the fact that the disengagement is not taking place within an unequivocally agreed framework for the next steps toward the overall solution to which both sides claim adherence, i.e., two states living alongside each other in peace,” he said in the monthly briefing – his first – on the situation. 

Film review: "The Syrian Bride" makes for a difficult marriage

Jonathan Cook 21 July 2005


“Maybe I should learn to be less sensitive but when director Eran Riklis arrived in Nazareth last month for the screening of his much-garlanded film ‘The Syrian Bride’, he got off on the wrong footing the moment he walked through the door,” writes EI contributor Jonathan Cook. The film, produced with Israeli, Palestinian and Syrian actors is set in a tiny Druze community in the Golan Heights, part of Syria occupied by Israel since 1967. The only contact the Israeli and Syrian authorities allow is the occasional passage of brides across the ceasefire line. While the film tries to break boundaries, Cook says, it also reveals others that the director failed to see. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

20 July 2005


This week Israeli forces killed 14 Palestinians, including two children. Eight Palestinians were killed in extra-judicial executions. Israeli forces invaded various Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli forces raided homes and arrested 78 Palestinian civilians. Israeli forces used two Palestinian civilians as human shields during these raids. Israeli forces turned 21 homes into military sites. Israel continues to impose a total siege on the occupied Palestinian territories. Israeli forces divided the Gaza Strip in three separate zones. Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian child near a checkpoint in the Gaza Strip. 

Gaza clashes continue

20 July 2005


Unknown armed individuals fired at houses and offices of prominent Fatah Leaders and members of the Security Forces. According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, members of the Preventive Security opened fire on a vehicle driven by a member of the Eiz al Din al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. The driver remains unidentified at this stage. Later, unknown militants opened fire on several homes and offices belonging to PA officials, Fatah leaders and commanders of the security forces. Militants carried out their attacks using civilian cars and fired from rooftops of nearby homes. Security forces returned fire and clashes were witnessed in various areas of Gaza City.