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Three hours at Kalandia checkpoint

Neta Golan Qalandiya checkpoint, Palestine 15 October 2004


Today I was dreading having to witness the humiliation of people. I was dreading the frightened children, the crying babies, the old and infirm forced to wait while being bossed around by armed men the age of their sons or their grandchildren. “Stand, wait, walk…” I was dreading having to witness people being threatened or beaten by the Israeli soldiers. I was dreading not being able to intervene physically because my baby daughter Shaden was coming with me. I was dreading the helplessness and the rage that comes with crossing Kalandia checkpoint. But, It was the first training of the olive harvest campaign and I wanted to be there. So I took my daughter Shaden and a very deep breath, and called a cab… 

The New York Times' coverage of Operation "Days of Penitence" in Gaza

Zachary Wales 15 October 2004


One need not look further than the present, Gaza’s “Red October”. To date, Israeli forces have killed over 140 Palestinians, while some ten-times that number are homeless and starving. For the most part, the Times has its snake oils out again. A few exceptions stand out, like the vaguely balanced and grimly titled feature by Steven Erlanger, “Intifada’s Legacy at Year 4: A Morass of Faded Hopes”; or the October 4 op-ed by Michael Tarazi, which, unlike other Times op-eds, was pulled from the Web site the following day. Zachary Wales reports. 

Letter from Tuwani

Joe Carr Tuwani, West Bank 15 October 2004


Tuwani is a Palestinian village of 150 people in the southern Hebron hills of the West Bank. There are a dozen or so other villages in the area, even smaller than Tuwani. These villages have been on this land for over five hundred years, and have largly maintained their ancient way of life. They build their homes out of stones, with domed stone roofs, or they live in caves. In the 1980s, Israel began building settlments (or colonies) in these hills. They have systematically expanded them, confiscating more and more of these villages’ farm and grazing land. Some of the smaller villages have been destroyed entirely by the Israeli military or rampaging settlers. This simple and loving village of Tuwani has demolition orders on every house and building, including the recently built school and a partially built clinic. Joe Carr reports. 

Gaza Daily Update, 7.00

13 October 2004


Since the wide-scale Israeli military assault on the northern part of the Gaza Strip, 129 Palestinians have been killed, including 31 children and 23 Palestinians in other parts of Gaza. At least 421 Palestinians, including 138 children were injured. Numerous homes and private property have also been destroyed as IOF utilize air force and heavy tanks in this military operation. In addition, as the incursion continues, the civilian population of the area suffer shortage in food and water supply. In the areas which IOF occupy civilians lack the most basic needs. Al Mezan is still receiving plights from people who have been in urgent need for medicine and water. 

UN agency faces $120 million shortfall for emergency aid to Palestinians

14 October 2004


The United Nations relief agency assisting Palestinians faces a $120 million shortfall for its emergency operations this year in Gaza and the West Bank, donor countries were told today. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said only $89.4 million has been pledged for its $209.4 million Emergency Appeal for Gaza and the West Bank. The Agency’s regular budget will also face a $7.3 million deficit by the end of 2004. The directors of UNRWA’s main programmes – which provide education, health, relief and social services, micro-credit and camp development to the refugees – also presented to the two-day meeting of 26 major donor countries plans for upgrading the Agency’s services over the next three to five years. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

13 October 2004


This week Israeli forces killed 33 Palestinians, including seven children and a mentally disabled man. The majority was killed during the Israeli offensive on the northern Gaza Strip. One of the victims was a schoolchild who was killed while sitting on her desk and another child who was willfully shot dead. Israeli troops conducted a series of incursions into Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli forces destroyed 23 homes and razed 156 donums of agricultural land in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces raided homes and arrested dozens of Palestinian civilians. Israeli forces continued shelling of residential areas and civilian facilities. Israel continued the construction of the Apartheid Wall in the West Bank. 

Documentary film review: "Checkpoint"

Maureen Clare Murphy 15 October 2004


“When the Palestinians come we put on our show,” says a youthful Israeli soldier manning a checkpoint at Nablus’ Jericho road. This “show,” as it is richly documented in the new Israeli film Checkpoint, serves a seemingly dual purpose. First and foremost, it is intended to remind Palestinians just who is in power; and secondly, it serves as a form of entertainment to the young Israelis whose compulsory military service finds them wasting their time and talents at these roadblocks in the occupied Palestinian territories. 

Making sense of our times: Excerpts from "Is There an Islamic Problem?"

M. Shahid Alam 14 October 2004


September 11 brings into the open, forcing into the daylight of consciousness, the legacies of history - of racial hubris, of disequilibria imposed by wars, of messianism, of reincarnated fossils, of tribalism sanctified by religion, of racial hubris, of social science in the service of power, of naked greed disguised in the rhetoric of the civilizing mission, of citizens fed on lies and sedated by amusements, of cruelty cultivated as a racial virtue, of injustices that cannot be allowed to stand. September 11 establishes beyond reasonable doubt that the United States is deeply, irrevocably connected to the Arab world, the Islamicate world, in ways it cannot ignore or deny. 

Danger: Olive harvest, settlers on the prowl

Atef Saad 14 October 2004


The olive harvest season is usually a happy occasion for farmers, but Fares Hanani looks ahead to this year’s harvest with trepidation. At the age of 70, he has seen plenty of harvests come and go on the mountainous terrain near Beit Fourik he and his brothers inherited from their father and grandfather, but the last couple of years have been especially difficult. Two years ago, the Israeli government financed the construction of “security zones” around Nablus area settlements, some as wide as 400 meters and all complete with electrified fences and security cameras. 

Gaza Daily Update, 7.00 PM

12 October 2004


Since the wide-scale Israeli military assault on the northern part of the Gaza Strip, 123 Palestinians have been killed, including 31 children and 20 Palestinians in other parts of Gaza. At least 407 Palestinians, including 135 children were injured. Numerous homes and private property have also been destroyed as IOF utilize air force and heavy tanks in this military operation. In addition, as the incursion continues, the civilian population of the area suffer shortage in food and water supply. In the areas which IOF occupy civilians lack the most basic needs. Al Mezan is still receiving plights from people who have been in urgent need for medicine and water.