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Weekly report on human rights violations

2 October 2003

This week, Israeli forces killed 9 Palestinians, including a child, and more than 30 others were wounded. This week, Israeli occupying forces have perpetrated more violations of human rights against Palestinian civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories, including extra-judicial and willful killings, indiscriminate shelling of residential areas, incursions into Palestinian areas, home demolitions, land leveling and arrests. 

Israeli activists seek global help to save Palestinian home

2 October 2003


The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions has issued an urgent appeal to every person concerned with justice, human rights and peace in the Middle East to help save the home of a Palestinian family that has been demolished four previous times. Global citizens are asked to urgently contact their political representatives to demand that the Israeli government rescind the order against the house immediately. The true reason for not granting permits and demolishing homes is to confine Palestinians to bantustans. 

A message from Gaza

Mona El-Farra Gaza 2 October 2003

I am not a politician or a political analyst to write an analysis about Palestinian people’s life under 36 years of Israeli occupation. I am an activist in social and health work, I am one who has experienced and witnessed many acts of aggression, violence and injustice by the Israeli army against my people. 

Rafah: Israeli forces demolish 18 Palestinian homes, leaving 44 families homeless

1 October 2003

This morning, Wednesday, October 1, 2003, Israeli occupying forces demolished 18 houses in Block L of the Rafah refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip. The demolition operation took place under intense shelling and indiscriminate shooting within the camp and was followed by further shelling as Israeli forces withdrew. 

What's law got to do with it?

5 October 2003


Al-Bassaleh’s Loreh Al-Malekeh has just scooped Israel’s pop music story of the year! Here she reports on Israel’s exciting new entry into next year’s EuroVision music competition. Following in the gender-bending footsteps of Israel’s award-winning pop diva, Dana International, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will don a full Tina Turner wig, a black suede miniskirt, and fishnet stockings to perform a new twist on a 1980s hit song at next year’s contest. In the intro to a new rock video featuring Sharon in drag, the hardline PM gushes with gratitude. 

UN Special Rapporteur: "occupation continues to result in widespread violations of human rights"

30 September 2003

The Special Rapporteur on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, John Dugard, has finalized his latest report. Although the road map promoted by the Quartet offers some prospect of peace in the region, it is important to record that the past six months have seen continued violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. 

Defending Palestinian homes: Tears amid the rubble

Kathleen Christison and Bill Christison 30 September 2003


As we watched helplessly, the two Caterpillars, with pneumatic drills on their long dinosaur arms, systematically punched holes in the front of the house, then in the roof. Billows of dust began to rise as pieces fell off the house, then more as the roof began to fall in. The water tank on the roof was first dented, then punctured, sending out a large spray of water that was visible even from our distant perch. It all took only a few minutes. In fact, only an hour passed between the arrival and the departure of the Caterpillars, probably only 20 minutes from start to finish of the actual demolition. Kathy and Bill Christison write about just one day spent defending Palestinian homes. 

Edward Said: Campus hysteria in the face of truth

Naeem Mohaiemen 30 September 2003

Through a simple campus lecture, Edward Said precipitated a rupture at Ohio’s Oberlin College. But like many things in his life, the debate did not touch the substance of Said’s theory or politics. Instead, his enemies were obsessed by what he stood for — a Palestinian nationalism that scared them because it was not easily stereotyped or dismissed. Through this vignette, I also learnt about the limitations and myopia of liberal campus politics. Naeem Mohaiemen remembers Edward Said.