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Police raid Palestinian cultural summer camp after accusations of incitement

1 August 2003

Israeli police stormed a summer camp for Palestinian youth yesterday, and arrested fourteen of the organizers, after the camp had been accused of incitement against Israel in a TV report on Wednesday. The camp was organized by the Al Balad Cultural Association in the Arab village of Kabul in northern Israel, and was due to end this Sunday. At a court hearing today, the police could present no evidence of incitement. The presiding judge declared that four of the arrested should remain in court until Monday, to allow police to find evidence for the case. 

4,200 Palestinians on Hunger Strike

Kristen Ess and Nada Khair 1 August 2003

Over 4,000 Palestinian political prisoners have just begun a hunger strike in Israeli jails including Shutah, Askalan, Majido, Ofer, and Nefah. A man being held without charge called yesterday from Nefah saying, “The Israeli Administration is treating us very badly.” He details human rights abuses, and adds quietly, “And sometimes they aren’t letting us go to the bathroom.” Kristen Ess and Nada Khair report from the West Bank and Gaza. 

Is it a Fence? Is it a Wall? No, it's a Separation Barrier

Nigel Parry 1 August 2003


Israel’s Separation Barrier, dubbed the “Apartheid Wall” or “Berlin Wall” by Palestinians, has increasingly attracted international media attention, largely due to the hard-to-ignore scale of the project. The most obvious historical parallel to the barrier is the Berlin Wall. Israel’s barrier, still under construction, is expected to reach at least 403 miles in length.Yet discussion of the structure and route have proved problematic for both diplomats and the media. EI’s Nigel Parry reports. Ali Abunimah, Michael Brown, and Arjan El Fassed also contributed to this report. 

The last photograph

Gideon Levy 26 July 2002

Gideon Levy describes the “before-death” image of the photojournalist Imad Abu Zahra, who was killed two weeks ago in Jenin. His mother said: “Imad was not someone who put the soldiers in the tank in danger. Why did they kill him? Only because he is a Palestinian? 

Two Kinds of Prison: Reflections on Leaving Palestine

Brooke Atherton Qalqiliya, Palestine 29 July 2003

Every day that we visited the Qalqilia checkpoint, we watched the “progress” of the Israeli Occupying Forces’ Apartheid Wall which is holding 40,000 Palestinians captive in their own city, on their own land. Each day the fenced section of the Apartheid Wall on either side of the checkpoint looms closer to completion. In two days, trenches six feet wide and and equally as deep were dug on either side of the central fence. The next day, the Israeli Occupying Forces erected triangular coils of barbed wired eight feet high running the entire length of each trench. The concrete base for the central fence has been laid, and any day the 12-foot-tall fence will be erected, and possibly electrified. Brooke Atherton reports.