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Kate Baillie - a life lived to the hilt

Raja Khalidi and Peter Polish 28 March 2005


Kate Baillie, writer and travel-guide author, democratic-left activist and much-loved friend of all who knew her, passed away peacefully in France on 12 March after a debilitating fight with an untreatable cancer. She would have celebrated her 48th birthday on March 28. In her last days, she exuded the humour, tough realism and combative free spirit that she wore proudly throughout her brief life. Katy was thoroughly her own woman until the very end, when only her spirit remained unbeaten by disease. 

Manhattan's Friends of the Israel Defense Forces

Bob Feldman 28 March 2005


With annual revenues of $15,112,321 and assets of $10,936,961 in 2002, the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces group assists members of the North American public in providing financial support for certain designated programs of the Association for Welfare of Soldiers in Israel. At its $1,000-a-plate 2005 New York Gala Dinner on March 15, for instance, the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces New York chapter “will once again honor the soldiers” in “the largest single fundraising event” for the U.S.-based IDF support group, according to its website at www.israelsoldiers.org. 

Doom in Hebron

Lydia Gall Hebron, Palestine 28 March 2005


Free postcards at a pub in West Jerusalem. One of the postcards shows a labyrinth. My Danish colleague Maria laughs and claims that the postcard is a map of the West Bank. To make her statement evident she takes out a pen and writes the words “checkpoint”, “road block” and “occupation” all over the postcard. The crowd laughs at this cynical interpretation of the free postcard. The laughter however dies when I find myself in the Old City of Hebron. Suddenly, I find myself in Maria’s enlarged version of the free postcard depicting the labyrinth. 

Gaza disengagement means West Bank settlement expansion

26 March 2005


This week Palestine Report Online interviews Orient House Mapping and survey director Khalil Tufakji on the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank: “The expansion of Maaleh Adumim is part of this plan, which is to create facts on the ground, to annex the settlement blocs to Israel and finally to alter the demographic reality to Israel’s advantage in terms of Jerusalem and basically impose a twofold reality on the Palestinians: the first is the geographical aspect and the second, the demographic aspect.” 

Arab League says rule of law is important in finding solutions for Palestinian refugees

23 March 2005


The Palestinian refugee question must be resolved by the parties based on the rule of law. Arab states meeting in Algiers this week reaffirmed that durable solutions for Palestinian refugees must be consistent with UN General Assembly Resolution 194 and international law. The final communique of the Arab League meeting is consistent with international law and practice, which recognize the right of refugees and displaced persons to voluntarily return, repossess their properties and receive compensation for losses. The international agenda of reform includes the promotion of the rule of law. States should therefore apply international law in the search for durable solutions for Palestinian refugees. 

4th annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival 2005, April 15-May 3

24 March 2005


The Chicago Palestine Film Festival begins April 15 at the Gene Siskel Film Center and continues from April 29 to May 3 at St. Xavier University in Chicago. The 23 film selections for this year include films from Palestine, Israel, Europe, and North America. This truly reflects the diversity of perspectives of Palestinians in exile and diaspora as well as non-Palestinian filmmakers who have made excellent films about the country and its people. In contrast to previous years, we have an large number of feature/narrative films as well as personal and hard-hitting documentaries and even an animation. 

Commission on Human Rights starts debate on violations in occupied Arab territories

21 March 2005


The Commission on Human Rights this afternoon started its general debate on the question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine, after it concluded its general debate on the right to development. John Dugard, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967, told the Commission that the level of violence had dropped substantially since Mahmoud Abbas and Ariel Sharon had met in Sharm el-Sheikh on 8 February, but said that developments had failed to address the main violations of human rights in the occupied territories — the settlements, the wall, checkpoints, roadblocks, imprisonment of Gaza, and the continued incarceration of more than 7,000 Palestinians. 

Commission on Human Rights continues debate on violations in occupied Arab territories (2/2)

23 March 2005


The Commission on Human Rights this morning continued its general debate on the question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine. The Representative of Palestine said he extended a hand to the Israeli neighbour in order to live side-by-side in peace, harmony and cooperation. The Representative of Israel said dramatic changes were taking place in the real world, perhaps nowhere more so than in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Israeli and Palestinian undertakings, agreed at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, as well as the renewed commitment to the Road Map, had created a new reality of shared responsibility. 

Commission on Human Rights continues debate on violations in occupied Arab territories (1/2)

23 March 2005


The Commission on Human Rights this morning continued its general debate on the question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine. The Representative of Palestine said he extended a hand to the Israeli neighbour in order to live side-by-side in peace, harmony and cooperation. The Representative of Israel said dramatic changes were taking place in the real world, perhaps nowhere more so than in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Israeli and Palestinian undertakings, agreed at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, as well as the renewed commitment to the Road Map, had created a new reality of shared responsibility. 

UN official's monthly briefing expresses concern over Israel's failure to freeze expansion of settlements

24 March 2005


Stressing the concern of the United Nations over Israel’s failure thus far to dismantle settlement outposts and freeze settlement expansion, Kieran Prendergast, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, told the Security Council this morning that Israeli settlement policy could not be separated from the issue of the barrier under construction in the West Bank. Delivering his monthly briefing on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, he said that the approved route of the barrier still incorporated a significant percentage of Palestinian land. While Israel had stated that the barrier was a temporary structure to meet security needs, no one could observe its scope and route without being concerned over possible implications for the contiguity of the future Palestinian State.