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The Wall in Palestine: Security as Pretense for Dispossession

Jamal Juma' 18 August 2003


Here in Palestine we have been watching with great despair the visits of Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Sharon to Washington. Amidst the rhetoric of negotiations, over 100 bulldozers are working non-stop, every day, to continue construction of the Wall, which highlights the actual path that the Road Map is paving. While President Bush was correct in calling the Wall “a problem” and referring to it as “a wall snaking through the West Bank,” on the ground there is no sign of an end to what has been called the largest “project” ever undertaken by Israel. PENGON coordinator Jamal Juma’ comments. 

At the end of a ceasefire that never was

Lora Gordon Rafah, Gaza Strip 18 August 2003

There is shooting along the border and shooting at weddings and for an untrained ear it’s hard to tell the difference except by location. A Kalashnikov is low and hollow and echoes. An M-16 is a bit shriller, a bit louder. Machine gun fire comes from the border only. Tank shells come from the border only. Laura Gordon reports from Rafah. 

Etzion

Toine van Teeffelen Bethlehem, Palestine 18 August 2003

“Don’t remind me,” says Mary. “I’ll go if I have the courage.” I asked her about visiting Etzion, the office near the Gush Etzion settlement between Bethlehem and Hebron where the Israeli ‘Civil Administration’ is located and where Bethlehemites have to ask for their tasreeyeh (“permit”). We are preparing ourselves for a holiday to Cyprus together with the kids and Imm Hannah and Janet, Mary’s mother and sister. Jara and Tamer have Dutch passports, Mary and her family however not and they therefore need a permit to enter Tel Aviv airport. 

The Israeli Supreme Court approves order denying Palestinian detainee access to legal representation

18 August 2003

The Israeli Supreme Court rejected a request submitted by PCHR to cancel an order that has denied a Palestinian detainee access to his lawyer.  PCHR is concerned that the detainee, Mohammed Rajab Mohammed Timraz, 33, from Deir al-Balah, may have been subjected to torture by the GSS interrogators.  

US policy towards journalists in Iraq: Shoot first and ask questions later

18 August 2003


IPI is deeply concerned by the killing of Dana because it bears the hallmarks of an engagement policy which invites the allied military to shoot first and ask questions later. An engagement rule that, if continued, will only serve to increase the number of journalists killed in Iraq. At a time when President Bush has declared the war in Iraq to be over, IPI fears that the current engagement rules have not evolved to reflect this change and that the death of Dana reinforces this viewpoint. 

Mazen Dana: In his own words

18 August 2003


Yesterday, Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana was shot and killed by US occupation forces in Iraq. In 2001, Dana was honored by the Committee to Protect Journalists ago for his years of courageous reporting on the conflict in his hometown of Hebron in the West Bank. He worked for the Reuters news agency covering one of the most dangerous beats in the world, the West Bank city of Hebron, where journalists are routinely targets of violence. Dana has been wounded repeatedly during the seven years he has documented the clashes in his hometown for Reuters. 

IFJ calls for Iraq probe after Palestinian journalist shot dead by US troops

18 August 2003


The International Federation of Journalists has called for an independent and open inquiry into the killing yesterday afternoon of a Palestinian cameraman in Iraq by US troops, only days after the Federation accused the Pentagon of a “cynical whitewash” over a previous attack on media in which two journalists were killed. The shooting of Mazen Dana, an award-winning journalist working for the Reuters news agency, is “more tragic evidence of what appears to be casual disregard of journalists’ safety by military commanders,” said IFJ’s Aidan White. 

Palestinian cameraman Mazen Dana killed in Baghdad

17 August 2003


Mazen Dana, a veteran television cameraman for Reuters, was killed in Baghdad on Sunday while filming outside the city’s Abu Ghraib prison. According to wire service reports, Dana was shot by U.S.soldiers riding on a tank in the Iraqi capital. The 43-year-old Palestinian was honored by CPJ two years ago for his years of courageous reporting on the conflict in his hometown of Hebron in the West Bank. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for a full investigation into the shooting, and a public accounting of the circumstances. 

UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination calls on Israel to revoke Nationality and Entry into Israel law

14 August 2003

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination adopted a decision in which it called on Israel to revoke the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) in order to facilitate family unification on a non-discriminatory basis. 

Curriculum reform should start in the U.S. and Israel

Joseph Massad 18 August 2003

One of the bitter ironies of the last few years is the continuous calls issued from the United States, that school curricula across the Arab (and Muslim) worlds should be changed in order to reflect the American (and Israeli) view of the world. Yet, writes Joseph Massad, it is the school curricula and textbooks which the United States and Israel both use are in need of equally, if not more, major overhauling, to come close to objective, or at least more inclusive, representations of reality.