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Israel pounds Gaza into dust

Kristen Ess Gaza Strip 25 January 2003

At 9 o’clock yesterday morning the Israeli military destroyed all of the bridges the lead in and out of Beit Hanoun in the north of the Gaza Strip. Israeli tanks and helicopters then shelled the town for 18 hours. And this was just one part of Gaza. Kristen Ess reports. 

Fraud fit for a King: Israel, Zionism, and the misuse of MLK

Tim Wise 25 January 2003

Even with my cynic’s credentials established, the one thing I never expected anyone to do would be to just make up a quote from King; a quote that he simply never said, and claim that it came from a letter that he never wrote, and was published in a collection of his essays that never existed. Frankly, this level of deception is something special. The hoax of which I speak is one currently making the rounds on the Internet, which claims to prove King’s steadfast support for Zionism. Tim Wise investigates in Zmag. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

Palestinian Center for Human Rights 25 January 2003

This week, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, including one child. Israeli forces conducted a series of incursions into Palestinian areas, accompanied by indiscriminate shelling. This week, Israeli forces razed large areas of Palestinian agricultural land in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s campaign of collective punishment continued. The strict siege of the OPT has continued and a number of Palestinians were arrested at Israeli military checkpoints. 

Where the streets had a name

Hanan Elmasu Ramallah 24 January 2003


Walking the streets of Ramallah these days has become an act of reflection, uncertainty and force of will. Having just returned from a break from Cairo, where I was reminded what it was like to walk the streets of an Arab country without apprehension, with its bustle and life, its smells, shouts, laughter and systematized chaos, I could not help but mourn the loss of those walks in Ramallah. I walk the streets now, wondering what will happen during each journey. Hanan Elmasu writes from Ramallah. 

Natural resources in occupied Palestinian territories under constant pressures

United Nations Environment Programme 23 January 2003

Already stretched thin by the demands of a dense population coping with decades of conflict, natural resources in the Palestinian Occupied Territories are under constant pressure from water pollution, climate change, desertification and land degradation, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) says in a new study. 

Re: At the theatre

Annie Higgins Jenin 23 January 2003

The young men have gathered in Lulu’s room, piling onto the spare bed and offering me a chair with their instantaneous politeness. Munir’s placid face looks out from his poster across his younger brother’s bed and beyond. Lulu’s nickname means “pearls,” recalling the Quran’s celestial simile of serving-boys like protected pearls. Lulu was protected in this world. Although the tank sniper damaged his legs severely, he is still amongst the living to keep his brother Munir in his heart. Annie Higgins writes from occupied Jenin.