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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. 

Curfew in Ramallah

6 September 2002


On 6 September 2002, EI’s Arjan El Fassed drove with Dr. Dima Amin through the empty streets of Ramallah. Israeli occupying forces had imposed a curfew on the city and residents were forced to stay inside their homes. The only other moving vehicle was an ambulance. Graffity on the walls spell the words “apartheid” and “no peace, no justice”. 

Nablus: Shubi family - demolished and killed

6 May 2002


Since the outbreak of the second Intifada posters of Palestinian martyrs are common on the walls of Palestinian towns. In Nablus, there is one poster that people stop to stare at. On 6 May 2002, EI’s Arjan El Fassed visited Nablus and filmed the devastation left behind after Israeli forces ended their brutal invasion of April 2002. This particular footage includes the martyrs’ poster of the al-Shubi family. 

On the right of return

Raja Halwani 23 June 2003


The right of return of Palestinian refugees is a legal and a political right. But it is also a moral one, explains Raja Halwani, associate professor of philosophy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in this essay for The Electronic Intifada. 

Walls of separation

Daleep Mukarji 18 June 2003

Christian Aid director, Dr Daleep Mukarji, has recently returned from Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. While in the West Bank town of Qalqilya he witnessed the construction of the Israeli security fence which will eventually surround the West Bank. 

Iraq: Hundreds of Palestinian refugees evicted by landlords

19 June 2003


Haifa Sports Club used to be a Palestinian cultural centre in Baladiyat in northeastern Baghdad. The Palestinian flag flies high with a sign next to it saying “No to settlements and yes to the right of return”. But since the fall of Saddam Hussein, some Palestinians have found themselves discriminated against and homeless. Now the club has been turned into an informal refugee camp to accommodate about 250 families.