6 January 2003
Early in the morning on Monday 6 January 2003, a unit of the Palestinian General Intelligence arrested the Gaza based correspondent for the Qatari TV news channel, al-Jazeera. Seif al-Din Shahin, 34, from Rafah was arrested as a result of a report that was broadcast last night on al-Jazeera. Read more about Palestinian Authority arrests Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza
4 January 2003
“Make January 17th a day to express solidarity with the women of Iraq, Palestine/Israel, Colombia, and other war-torn areas of the world, and call for a shift of national priorities away from war and militarism and toward a national agenda that affirms life. ” A new initiative is announced by members of the International Solidarity Movement. Read more about Women Rising for Peace and Justice announce campaign and activities
4 January 2003
Tomorrow, January 5, Adalah files an appeal to the Supreme Court of Israel against the CEC’s decision to disqualify the National Democratic Alliance. The CEC’s decision to disqualify MKs Azmi Bishara and Ahmad Tibi as individual candidates requires the Supreme Court’s approval in order to be implemented. Read more about Adalah files an appeal to the Supreme Court against the decision to disqualify Palestinian MK's
Jenin, Palestine 3 January 2003
The Israeli Army reported that two soldiers were injured as they attacked Palestinian members of the resistance in Gaza (BBC, 2 January 2003). The reality could be far more severe than they admit. Annie Higgins reports from Jenin. Read more about Six Soldiers
3 January 2003
This week, Israeli forces killed fifteen Palestinian civilians, including five children. Four Palestinians were killed in extra-judicial executions. Israeli forces conducted a series of incursions into Palestinian areas, accompanied by indiscriminate shelling. The Israeli retaliatory campaign against Palestinian families of wanted Palestinians and those who carried out armed attacks against Israeli targets continued. Israeli forces continued to use Palestinian civilians as human shields during military operations and a number of Palestinians were arrested. Read more about Weekly report on human rights violations
1 January 2003
For the first time since the previous intifada, more than 1000 Palestinians are being held in administrative detention, reports B’Tselem. Read more about IDF holds 1,007 Palestinians in administrative detention
1 January 2003
“I was searching for the humane side of people’s dreams, people’s hunger and people’s disappointments. I was not looking for numbers, who is right, or why this happened,” Bakri said. “For me, it’s a prayer to stop this hell we are living in.” Joshua Mitnick of the New Jersey Star Ledger reports on a censorship move that calls Israeli democracy into question. Read more about Israeli film board bans "Jenin, Jenin"
30 December 2002
B’Tselem released a new case study exposing a severe incident in which IDF soldiers in Hebron abused Palestinians and used them as human shields. On December 3, four Israeli soldiers entered a barbershop in Hebron. For more than an hour they abused five Palestinian residents of the city. Read more about B'Tselem: Soldiers' Abuse of Palestinians in Hebron, 3 December 2002
30 December 2002
On 24 December 2002, Reporters sans Frontières criticised the interior minister’s decision to close the radical Islamic weekly “Sawt al-Haq wa Al-Hurriya” (“Voice of Truth and Freedom”) for two years, on grounds that it threatens national security, as very excessive. Read more about Israeli government orders Arab weekly's closure
2 January 2003
“It is amazing that the U.S. invests effort and political capital in establishing an objective — an end to the occupation so that two states, Israel and Palestine, can live side by side — and then invests extra efforts into diluting, undermining and avoiding anything that could bring this closer.” Occasional EI commentator Hasan Abu Nimah writes about the diplomacy of buying time. Read more about The futile diplomacy of buying time