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New book on Israeli occupation draws angry response, harassment

28 September 2003


The editors and publishers of a recently released anthology about international nonviolent action supporting Palestinian sovereignty have experienced harassment by phone and email. Harassment surrounding this publication is nothing new. Months earlier when the book was first advertised on the internet, one of the authors started receiving continuous hate calls and emails at her office, acts that completely disrupted the workplace. 

Edward Said and the Contours of Palestinian Identity

A.Y. May 27 September 2003

For Palestinians born in the Diaspora, Said’s writings stand at the centre of their attempts at making sense of the world and of their place in it as a dispossessed people. I am one such Palestinian. I discovered Said’s work as an undergraduate student at McGill University in the mid-nineties. Majoring in Political Science and Women’s Studies, my intellectual growth as a human being, a Palestinian, a Canadian, a writer, a committed peace activist, and a staunchly secular feminist, were all deeply impacted by his work. This summer I had a chance to attend a 4-hour-long unedited documentary interview with Edward Said at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. A.Y. May reports. 

JCSER: Israeli Department of Antiquities hides outcome of archaeological excavations

21 September 2003

The Jerusalem Center for Social & Economic Rights (JCSER) calls on the Israeli Department of Antiquities to reveal the outcome of archaeological excavations currently taking place under its supervision. These excavations are being carried out in Jerusalem’s old City; inside the Palestinian Museum, also known as the Rockefeller Museum in Occupied Jerusalem; and in Shu’fat, along the main Jerusalem-Ramallah road. 

Israeli Conciliation Court decides to temporarily freeze construction separation barrier

24 September 2003

The Jerusalem Center for Social & Economic Rights (JCSER) has obtained a court decision from the Israeli Conciliation Court in Tel Aviv forcing the Israeli army to freeze construction work on the so-called Israeli ‘security fence’ in the Sawahreh Ash-Sharqiya neighborhood, south of Occupied Jerusalem, for thirty days. 

More Palestinian homes demolished in occupied Jerusalem

23 September 2003

During the month of August, there was an unprecedented escalation in the demolition of Palestinian houses, with twenty-two houses demolished during this single month. During September, to date a total of seven buildings, with twelve apartments, have been demolished, in addition to a cement wall surrounding a piece of land with an area of two dunums, belonging to Azzam Maraqa. 

Israel expelled Palestinian father of five from Jerusalem

27 September 2003

Israel deported Ali Shqeirat, a father of five, from Jerusalem. Israeli authorities cited “illegal residency”. The deportation of Ali Shqeirat is a dangerous precedent that may affect thousands of Palestinians married to female Jerusalemites and who live in Jerusalem without Israeli authorization, while awaiting the Israeli Interior Ministry’s approval of their family reunification applications.  

Remembering Deir Yassin

Daniel McGowan 26 September 2003


September 24, 2003 — Today, an extraordinary event will take place in Geneva, New York: the dedication of the first US memorial to the victims of the Deir Yassin massacre. This event was organized by Deir Yassin Remembered, an international human rights organization, half of whose current board includes Jews. On April 9, 1948, members of the Irgun and the Stern Gang massacred over 100 Palestinian men, women and children in the village of Deir Yassin, near Jerusalem. The Deir Yassin massacre marked the beginning of the depopulation of over 400 towns and villages, and the exodus of 750,000 Arabs; it also marked the beginning of the Palestinian Nakba, or catastrophe, and the creation of a Palestinian diaspora in refugee camps and in neighboring Arab countries. Deir Yassin Remembered executive director Dan McGowan comments. 

Edward Said: Controversial literary critic and bold advocate of the Palestinian cause in America

Malise Ruthven 26 September 2003

Edward Said, who has died aged 67, was one of the leading literary critics of the last quarter of the 20th century. As professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University, New York, he was widely regarded as the outstanding representative of the post-structuralist left in America. Above all, he was the most articulate and visible advocate of the Palestinian cause in the United States, where it earned him many enemies. Malise Ruthven remembers Said in The Guardian. 

A tribute to Edward Said

Tanweer Akram 26 September 2003

This morning, I learnt that Professor Edward Said is no more. Said was not only a scholar but an activist who worked tirelessly for peace and justice. His devastating critique of Western scholarship about Islam, Middle East, and the “Orient,” exposed the ingrained bias of intellectuals in service of power interest, economic and political imperialism, and cultural domination. His work was inspired by his life-long commitment to truth, justice, and peace.