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Dehumanizing the Palestinians

Ali Abunimah 21 September 2007


The Israeli cabinet has voted to declare the occupied Gaza Strip a “hostile entity,” thus in its own eyes permitting itself to cut off the already meagre supplies of food, water, electricity and fuel that it allows the Strip’s inmates to receive. The decision was quickly given backing by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Israel is the occupying power in the Gaza Strip, despite having removed its settlers in 2005 and transforming the area, home to 1.5 million mostly refugee Palestinians, into the world’s largest open-air prison which it besieges and fires into from the perimeter. Ali Abunimah comments. 

Hamas supporters tortured by West Bank security forces

19 September 2007


The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights is deeply concerned by the continuation of detentions by Palestinian security forces in the West Bank against Hamas activists and supporters, and interrogating them on their relationship with Hamas and the Interior Ministry Executive Force. In addition, they are coerced into signing commitments to cut off their ties with Hamas. The Centre is also concerned by the continuation of torture and abuse against the detainees and their families, as well as the physical and psychological pressure exerted on them to maintain silence. 

Audio: Crossing the Line interviews Huwaida Arraf

19 September 2007


This week on Crossing The Line: Host Christopher Brown speaks with attorney and activist Huwaida Arraf. Arraf, cofounder of the International Solidarity Movement, speaks about the victory for the residents of Bil’in village. The Israeli high court on 4 September ruled that the apartheid wall must be rerouted near the town. Every Friday for the past two years residents of Bil’in, as well as Israeli and international peace activists, have staged nonviolent protests against the wall. 

Montreal activists call on Mulroney to denounce Israeli Apartheid

19 September 2007


MONTREAL, CANADA, 18 September — The Montreal network of the Coalition against Israeli Apartheid welcomed former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney during a launch of his autobiography at Indigo bookstore by unfurling a banner denouncing the apartheid situation under which Palestinians are living. Marcel Sevigny, a member of the network, wanted to call on Mulroney to speak out against the apartheid system now being used against the Palestinian people, given the role Mulroney is said to have played in bringing down the apartheid system in South Africa. However, Sevigny was removed by security before he could do so. 

A victory for the joint, popular struggle

Basel Mansour 19 September 2007


In a 7 September speech delivered to Israelis who participated in the demonstration in the village of Bil’in after the decision by the Israeli High Court to alter the route of the wall in the village, representative of the Popular Committee of Bil’in, Basel Mansour stated: “Lovers of peace, friends of freedom and justice … our partners in the struggle and in the creation of this partial victory — I bless you in the name of our Palestinian people, in the name of the residents of Bil’in, who you came to know, and who came to know you, and whose sides you stood by ever since they began their opposition to the fence and the settlement that squats on a large part of their land.” 

Audio: Crossing the Line interviews Kathleen and Bill Christison

18 September 2007


This week on Crossing The Line: Host Christopher Brown speaks with Bill and Kathleen Christison both formerly of the CIA. Bill was a senior official of the CIA and served as a National Intelligence Officer and as Director of the CIA’s Office of Regional and Political Analysis. Kathleen is a former CIA political analyst and has worked on Middle East issues for 30 years. She is the author of Perceptions of Palestine and The Wound of Dispossession. Brown talks with two about the recent leak of an Israeli document which outlines a final status for a Palestinian state. 

A bankrupt Ramadan in Gaza

Rami Almeghari Gaza Strip 18 September 2007


The situation is desperate here in Gaza, the coastal strip that is abundant with nothing except human beings. Just a couple of hours before Iftaar, the time of day after sunset when Muslims break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims around the globe shop to prepare. Gaza’s crowded Khan Younis is no exception. However, though they may be thronged with people, Gaza’s markets are lacking any holiday festivity or commerce. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza. 

A double standard on academic freedom

George Bisharat 17 September 2007


Two hundred thousand Palestinian children began school in the Gaza Strip this month without a full complement of textbooks. Why? Because Israel, which maintains a stranglehold over this small strip of land along the Mediterranean even after withdrawing its settlers from there in 2005, considers paper, ink and binding materials not to be “fundamental humanitarian needs.” George Bisharat comments. 

The forgotten faithful

Timothy Seidel 27 September 2007


On a pleasant Sunday afternoon in July 2000, members and pastors belonging to local Palestinian Evangelical congregations from the Palestinian territories gathered at the Bethlehem Hotel to celebrate the formation of their council. An American woman who was present at the meeting approached one of the pastors and asked him if she could say a few words to the assembly … When the lady took the microphone, I couldn’t believe the words that came out of her mouth. Timothy Seidel comments from Bethlehem. 

Turning our tongues: Journals from Dheisheh

Dina Awad 16 September 2007


“Palestinian girls have a lot of power,” said 17-year-old Haneen Owdeh on a hot summer day in the Dheisheh refugee camp near the West Bank city of Bethlehem. She then added, “but they don’t know how to use it. They need someone to point them to ways on how to use it, to show them what to do.” Haneen Owdeh and her friends, 18 young Palestinian women in total aged 16-19, form a grassroots girls’ art collective in the Dheisheh camp, where over 10,000 refugees live on one-and-a-half square kilometers of land. Dina Awad writes from Dheisheh.