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Weekly report on human rights violations

30 March 2006


This week Israeli occupying forces killed five Palestinians, including a child. Israeli forces carried out an extra-judicial execution. Israeli gunfire wounded at least 18 Palestinians. Israeli forces continued to shell Palestinian areas in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces conducted 27 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. At least 44 Palestinians, including four children, have been arrested by Israel. Israeli forces have turned six Palestinian homes into military sites. Israel continued to impose a total siege on the occupied Palestinian territories. Kalandia checkpoint has been turned into a border corssing. Israel continued to construct the Separation Wall in the West Bank. 

A just peace or no peace

Ismail Haniyeh 31 March 2006


Do policymakers in Washington and Europe ever feel ashamed of their scandalous double standards? Before and since the Palestinian elections in January, they have continually insisted that Hamas comply with certain demands. They want us to recognise Israel, call off our resistance, and commit ourselves to whatever deals Israel and the Palestinian leadership reached in the past. But we have not heard a single demand of the Israeli parties that took part in this week’s elections, though some advocate the complete removal of the Palestinians from their lands, writes Ismail Haniyeh, the new Palestinian prime minister. 

"Don't worry - it's just another Palestinian child's death"

Leigh Brady Yamun, Palestine 31 March 2006


On 18 March 2006, Leigh Brady visited a grieving family in Al Yamun, a town in the northern West Bank. Their 7-year old daughter had been murdered the night previously by Israeli Border Police, who had entered the town to arrest “wanted” Palestinian militants in a raid led by Israeli Defence Forces. Her name was Akaber Adbelrahman Zaid and she was on her way to a doctor’s clinic to have stitches removed from her chin. Instead she received a barrage of bullets to the head, when an undercover Border Police unit opened fire on the car in which she was travelling with her uncle. 

EI speaks about the Palestinian elections on KPFT

31 January 2006


The recent Palestinian elections and the victory of Hamas. What does that mean to the “peace process” and the Palestinian people, and how will that impact the Middle East and the relations with the US, European Union and other countries. KPFT speaks with EI’s Ali Abunimah about the significance of the Hamas upset. Palestinians went to the polls to elect 132 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Hamas with its list of Change and Reform obtained 74 seats, the Fatah Movement obtained 45 seats. 

Press For The Rest: Reshaping a loaded term for the media

Jesse Rosenfeld 2 February 2006


Possibly the best source for finding news and information on the daily effects of Israeli occupation, interpretation of major events happening in the Middle East, and establishment of context for the conflict is alternative media source Electronic Intifada (EI). The term “intifada” is Arabic for “popular uprising,” and the intent of EI is to provide a Palestinian voice of the experience under occupation. When I spoke with EI founder Ali Abunimah, he explained that the name EI came out of the 1990s when Palestinian people from around the world started to use the internet as a tool of self-expression and a response to the mainstream press’s distortion of the conflict. 

EI on CKUT's "Under the Olive Tree"

1 February 2006


EI’s Ali Abunimah spoke at McGill this week as part of Social Justice Days, a series of student-organized events that encourage activism. Abunimah is the co-founder of Electronic Intifada, a Web site devoted to covering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The writer and commentator discussed media coverage and the future of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict at a tea on Friday at 3 p.m. at First Peoples’ House, 3505 Peel. Under the Olive Tree is a weekly Palestinian affairs radio program on CKUT 90.3fm providing an alternative focus on events, issues, arts and current affairs in the Palestinian communities in Montreal, Canada and beyond. 

UPA: Direct humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people

30 March 2006


Palestine is reeling from high unemployment and a poverty rate of 48%, with half its people surviving on food aid. With an increasingly deteriorating situation on the ground, severe food shortages in Gaza, and talk of suspending aid to the Palestinian people, the Electronic Intifada asked Makboula Yasin, Executive Director of the United Palestinian Appeal, Inc., in Washington, D.C., what people can do in terms of getting direct humanitarian assistance to the people who need it most. 

Intransigence of Hamas Government will affect aid: Quartet

30 March 2006


The refusal of the Hamas-led Palestinian Government to commit to non-violence, recognition of Israel and other principles will inevitably have an effect on direct assistance to it, the Middle East diplomatic Quartet made up of the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia said today. “The Quartet welcomed President Abbas’ call for the new Palestinian Government to commit to a platform of peace and, having carefully assessed the program of the new government approved on March 28, noted with grave concern that the new Government has not committed to the principles” spelled out by the Quartet in a pronouncement made soon after the January elections, the group said in a formal statement. 

Gaza Strip Situation Report

29 March 2006


Karni and Kerem Shalom crossings have been open for nearly one week (21 - 27 March), although not at full capacity, allowing much needed basic food supplies to enter the Gaza Strip. Karni closed on 28 March because of heightened Israeli security concerns over the Knesset elections. Over the course of the last week, over 1,650 truckloads of food and commercial supplies entered the Gaza Strip through Karni crossing from Israel. Exported goods from the Gaza Strip were permitted on 26 March for the first time since 12 March. On 28 March, two Israeli Bedouins were killed in the nearby village of Nahal Oz when they reportedly handled an unexploded qassam rocket previously fired by Palestinian militants. 

The New York Times Covers Up Discrimination against Palestinian Citizens of Israel

Patrick O'Connor 30 March 2006


March 28th’s Israeli elections saw the sudden rise of Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party to become the fourth largest Israeli party, advocating transferring some Palestinian towns in Israel to PA control, thus revoking the Israeli citizenship of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.  The results of a poll released last week showed that 68% of Israeli Jews would refuse to live in the same apartment building as a Palestinian citizen of Israel, and 40% of Israeli Jews believe the state needs to support the emigration of Palestinian citizens. However, because of the way Israel is portrayed in the mainstream US media, such blatant discrimination would likely surprise the US public.