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Rights group blasts delay parliamentary elections

7 June 2005


The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights stated today that the postponement of the parliamentary elections without the announcement of a new date causes damage to the democratic process in Palestine. According to a presidential decree issued on 8 January 2005, one day before the Palestinian presidential elections, by then interim President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Rawhi Fattouh, the elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) would be held on 17 July 2005.  However, holding the PLC elections was postponed after a new decree was issued by the elected Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on 3 June 2005. 

FAST T-shirt contest deadline on June 10th

6 June 2005


On Friday, June 17, 2005 the National ‘Back to Israel’ Day will take place in Israel. The National ‘Back to Israel’ day: Saving Israel’s Democracy by Fighting the Occupation will create a central stage for all of Israel’s civic organizations delivering the key message to the broad public: Israel’s democracy is at risk due to the occupation. The coalition of pro-peace and human rights organizations in Israel got together to celebrate the value of democracy and its contribution to the Israeli public at-large. F.A.S.T. (the Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory) has decided to help the coalition of -peace and human rights organizations in Israel and to promote the T-shirt contest of the National ‘Back to Israel’ Day. 

Dublin protests mark Ireland-Israel World Cup qualifying match

Nigel Parry 6 June 2005


On 4th June, the day of the Ireland-Israel qualifying match for the 2006 World Cup, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) and Movement against Israeli Apartheid organized protests against the Israeli occupation, which began its 39th year this week. The demonstration started with speakers outside the Central Bank on Dame Street, including Caoimhe Butterly, an Irish human rights activist shot in the thigh by Israeli troops in Jenin on 22 November 2002, the same day as they killed UNRWA’s Jenin project manager, British citizen Iain Hook. 

Israeli road signs get activist makeover

Laila El-Haddad 5 June 2005


Israelis driving along Highway 505 in the West Bank have been greeted with an unexpected sight. Signs that usually guide them to settlements instead on Saturday reminded them of the illegality of the construction on confiscated West Bank land. A sign pointing to Ariel, the largest settlement in the northern West Bank, built on land belonging to the Palestinian villagers of Salfit, now marks the way in Hebrew, Arabic and English to “stolen land”. Another sign that indicates the distance to Ariel from an Israeli checkpoint 12km away reminds drivers of the ongoing occupation and of the separation wall being built around Palestinian towns. 

Portraits of Dheisheh

Nora Barrows-Friedman Dheisheh refugee camp 4 June 2005


Shadi sucks on two cigarettes at a time, the twin smoke curling up the side of his right arm like conjoined snakes. The Bethlehem air is crisp and wet; the main street hums with traffic. “Life has a beginning and an end, just like these cigarettes,” he says, pinching them between his calloused fingers. Shadi arches his eyebrow at me, squinting in the muted sunlight streaked across his face. He offers me his L&M pack. I take the last one, and we sit on the curb, silently smoking, watching the three bluish-gray plumes wind themselves up over our heads, dissipating across the concrete rooftops of Dheisheh camp, joining with the hazy fog cover, and settling, invisibly, into the atmosphere, to mingle with the ghosts. 

Targeting the university

Joseph Massad 4 June 2005


Targeting the university is the latest mission of right-wing forces who have hijacked not only political power and political discourse in the United States but also the very vocabulary that can be used against them. The campaign of the last three years or so to attack US universities as the last bastion where a measure of freedom of thought is still protected is engineered to cancel out such freedom and ensure that scholars will not subvert the received political wisdom of the day. 

LIVING WAR: Reporting on Struggles for Social Justice in Lebanon

8 June 2005


Stefan Christoff will be the Electronic Intifada’s Special Correspondent in Lebanon throughout the summer of 2005. Between June & September 2005, Christoff, an independent journalist and community organizer in Montreal, will travel to Lebanon to produce written, audio, and visual reports on present-day struggles for social justice in Lebanon. Christoff will also be producing regular radio reports for Free Speech Radio News and recording material for a radio documentary series to be produced at CKUT Radio in Montreal and distributed to community radio stations throughout the world in the fall of 2005. 

Israeli government proposes blocking Palestinian compensation suits

1 June 2005


The Israeli government has proposed an amendment to the Civil Wrongs Law intended to exempt Israel from paying compensation to Palestinians injured by the security forces. The amendment applies to ” residents of a conflict area” and “subjects of enemy states.” Israel has clearly stated its intention to apply the new law to Palestinians. Today, Palestinians are not able to sue the state for damages caused by combatant activity, broadly defined as, “…any action of combating terror, hostile actions, or insurrection, and action intended to prevent terror and hostile acts and insurrection committed in circumstances of danger to life or limb.” If the Knesset passes the new amendment, it will almost completely block the ability of Palestinians to file for compensation, even for damage caused by illegal shooting, looting, abuse and degrading treatment at checkpoints, or physical violence. 

They are afraid: Israeli Jews and Palestinian refugees

Eitan Bronstein 3 June 2005


On May 31, Eitan Bronstein gave a presentation at the Tel Aviv University conference on “Zionism: Ideology versus Reality”. The Zochrot organization is devoted to introducing the Palestinian Nakba into the discourse of Jews in Israel, in order to achieve accountability for the tragedy of 1948. This accountability is a necessary condition of reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Through its activities, Zochrot is trying to create contact, a meeting, between Palestinian internal refugees from a particular village and the Jews who live on the land of the same village. The Palestinian refugee is a threatening figure for the Israeli Jews, since he awakens the demon of the original sin through which the Jewish state was established. 

The process of transfer continues: The Jerusalem Municipality plans to demolish 88 houses in Silwan, East Jerusalem

Jeff Halper 3 June 2005


The Municipality of Jerusalem intends to demolish an entire East Jerusalem neighborhood. Eighty eight homes housing 1000 residents in the el Bustan area of Silwan village in East Jerusalem close to the walls of the Old City. The reason, (according to the city engineer Uri Shitreet, who issued the orders) is that this area is an important cultural and historical site for the Jewish nation because it stands on the site where King David established his kingdom. The aim, says Shitreet, is to return this “densely populated Palestinian part of the city” to its landscape.