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Dreaming of Palestine

James J. Zogby Washington D.C. 25 June 2003

“It was more than 30 years ago that I fell in love with Palestine. It was 1971 and I was in Lebanon doing research for my doctoral dissertation. Ghassan Kanafani, the brilliant Palestinian novelist, advised me that ‘to learn about us, you must go to the camps and immerse yourself in the people.’ The stories these refugees told were so achingly vivid in detail, so raw in the emotion they conveyed, and so right in the simple justice they demanded. It was this, I came to believe, that had kept Palestine alive.” James Zogby writes about hope and dreams of Palestine. 

The long journey from Nablus to Tel Aviv

Neta Golan Nablus, Palestine 25 June 2003


“My father passed away last week. I took Nawal, my two month old daughter, and attempted to go to Tel Aviv to attend the funeral and grieve with my family. Nablus, the city I live in, was besieged and completely sealed off. This has been the case for most of the last two years. Israeli soldiers threatened to shoot anyone approaching the checkpoint.” Neta Golan writes from Nablus. 

On learning lessons: Belgium's universal jurisdiction law under threat

Laurie King 24 June 2003

“In an unprecedented act of interference in a sovereign state’s judicial and political processes, the US government yesterday forced the Belgian government to gut Belgium’s admirable and progressive universal jurisdiction legislation (anti- atrocity law), which had already undergone careful reconfiguration in Belgium’s parliament two months ago. The US feared that this law, which incorporates international law into Belgian national law, might lead to the prosecution of US military or governmental officials, or their possible arrest in Belgium. Numerous legal impediments to these possibilities exist. Belgium outlined all of them in an attempt to deflect US pressure, but to no avail in the face of US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s strong-arm techniques of persuasion.” Laurie King-Irani explains. 

Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post duel over democracy

Jacob Laksin 5 June 2003

It wasn’t a border dispute so much as a margin dispute. More to the point, it was the highly-flammable material between the margins that fueled last week’s clash over press freedoms and democracy between two of Israel’s most influential newspapers. Compared with the leading Israeli daily Yediot Aharanot (published only in Hebrew and with a weekday circulation of 350,000), the dailies Haaretz (50,000 per weekday) and The Jerusalem Post, (a mere 15,000 per weekday) are not the biggest players on the Israeli media market. But both Haaretz and The Post command an influence beyond their numbers in Israel. Must-reading among visiting diplomats and journalists, the weekly international edition of The Post, and the two papers’ English Web sites draw large numbers of American Jews, thereby informing the Middle East debate within the world’s largest, most powerful Jewish Diaspora community. So when Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken floated the charge that Israeli press freedoms where in jeopardy, word washed up on American shores.” Jacob Laksin writes in 

End the fake evacuations

Gideon Levy 24 June 2003

“The operation to evacuate the West Bank outposts undertaken by Ariel Sharon’s government is a farce that is bad for the peace process. It would be better to stop this charade as soon as possible, because its damage is immeasurably greater than any good it might be doing. The only ones gaining from this absurd eviction performance is the prime minister, the right wing and the settlers. The losers are the Palestinians and mainly, the peace process. The Americans, who are full partners to this deceit, should also pull themselves together and realize that this absurdity is no good for peace.” Gideon Levy writes in Ha’aretz. 

Escaping what entraps us: reflections from Jerusalem

Laurie King Victoria 22 June 2003

“Not only Palestinians are desperately trapped now in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Jews are, too. Fear and anxiety are unshakeable daily companions. The outward manifestation of this mental landscape is the many infrastructural projects erupting everywhere along the seam between East and West Jerusalem. These public works projects are not about the ‘public’; they will not improve or enhance common spaces, but rather, will only further constrict shared spaces by diverting traffic, housing, commerce, and socializing according to racial distinctions. Walls and barricades are omnipresent, marring Jerusalem’s beauty and cutting into its soul, wounding all who see it, Palestinians and Israelis, Arabs and Jews, locals and foreigners.” EI co-founder Laurie King-Irani reports on a recent visit to Jerusalem. 

New survey shows that ordinary Israelis and Palestinians are keen to move forward with the Road Map and are in favour of starting economic cooperation

World Economic Forum 21 June 2003

A specially commissioned poll to coincide with the World Economic Forum’s Global Summit of Peace and Reconciliation in Jordan shows huge agreement between the majority of Palestinians and Israelis concerning the peace process.