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Life stops at coastal road block

Sami Abu Salem Gaza City 16 December 2004


WAFA — Thousands of Palestinian students, merchants, patients and drivers were forced to take cover behind trucks, vehicles and carts on the blocked Gaza coastal road when Israeli soldiers stationed at the watchtowers of Nitzarim colony opened fired on them as they were passing. I took cover behind a truck along with two university students. “Hey, hey, you are behind a fuel truck, leave now!” a cameraman shouted at us. We were shocked and fled from our spot behind the truck. The cameraman was warned by a hawker to hide his camera, as Israeli soldiers in the watchtowers target journalists. Taking his camera, he hid behind a truck carrying panels of wood. 

Where does Bush get his (bad) information?

Susan Hussein 16 December 2004


Ron Kampeas, writing on JTA, “The Global News Source of the Jewish People,” on December 14, 2004, reports that President Bush’s views of the Middle East have been formed by Israeli Minister Natan Sharansky’s book, “The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror.” If true, this story is just one more example of the poor sources of information used by the current US administration. Susan Hussein reports for EI. 

"Message received": Hatem Abdel Qader on Barghouti's presidential election withdrawal

16 December 2004


“I think Marwan wanted to make a point about democracy in Fateh, that it’s not only Abu Mazen, that the door should be open to more people to run in Fateh. I think he feels that inside Fateh we should hold a conference and at this conference people should nominate themselves, in a kind of primary, before we agree on one [candidate]. He was making the point that such a process did not happen, and he wanted to send the message that Fateh needs to reform after Arafat, because this is not a simple time. Only institutions, democracy and elections can replace Arafat.” Palestine Report interviews Fateh Member of the Legislative Council from Jerusalem Hatem Abdel Qadar. 

Glasgow University students elect Vanunu new rector

15 December 2004


Mordechai Vanunu won with 1033 votes, with John Ross Beattie declared the runner up having gained 793 votes. The University Rector is elected by matriculated students of the University to act as their spokesperson. University students claimed that they wanted Vanunu as Rector to show that they support basic human rights, and that they oppose weapons of mass destruction. Principal of the University, Sir Muir Russell, said: “The election of Mr Vanunu demonstrates the diverse and international concerns of Glasgow students. It is our hope that he will be able to support the student body in the way that they desire.” 

Serious suspicion that Israeli forces executed unarmed and Injured Palestinian

6 December 2004


On Friday morning, December 3, Israeli soldiers killed Mahmud Abd a-Rahman Hamdan Kmel (A-Dab’i), in the village of Raba, southeast of Jenin. The IDF spokesperson issued a statement saying that Kmel was killed by soldiers as he was fled from a house in which he had hidden. Yet, B’Tselem’s investigation at the site of the incident raises grave suspicion that IDF soldiers executed Kmel as he was lying injured on the ground and after his weapon had already been taken away from him. B’Tselem’s investigation also indicates that soldiers threatened two Palestinians at gunpoint and forced them to carry the wounded man and search his body, in blatant contradiction of a High Court injunction. 

With the ISM in Balata refugee camp

Tom Feakins Balata refugee camp, Palestine 15 December 2004


The Huwwara checkpoint is closed to internationals. The entire Nablus region is completely off-limits. Our destination is the Balata refugee camp on the outskirts of the city, where Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation is said to be the strongest in the West Bank. One British journalist told me that Israeli military strategy is to keep foreigners from entering, flood the area with troops, then “turn the lights out”. We are met by a van and driver who takes us around the checkpoint then leaves us at the side of a nearby mountain road. He tells us to hurry up the trail, then drives off quickly in order to avoid being seen by Israeli forces. 

Palestinians Call for Boycott of Israeli Academia

Victor Kattan 15 December 2004


The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel has called upon their colleagues in the international community to “comprehensively and consistently boycott all Israeli academic and cultural institutions” as exemplified in the struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa through diverse forms of boycott. The call was made at an international conference on “Resisting Israeli Apartheid Strategies and Principles” at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London on Sunday 5 December. Victor Kattan reports. 

"It Was Like Abu Ghraib": Israeli Abuse of Birzeit University's Gazan Students

Charles Stratford 15 December 2004


The Israeli army issued a statement yesterday (Tuesday 14th December 2004) that a decision would be made in the next 48 hrs concerning four Birzeit University students who were illegally ‘deported’ back to Gaza last month. An international letter writing campaign involving hundreds of academics from around the world has been launched demanding they are returned to the university to complete their degrees. All were due to graduate this year. Bashar Abu Salim is one of the four. Charles Stratford tells the story about what happened on the night of his arrest. 

Pointing forward, moving backwards

Hasan Abu Nimah 15 December 2004


The leaders of the global war on terror keep promising us a future of democracy, peace, justice, respect for human rights and dignity even as they make war, and chaos seems to be erupting everywhere. In their sights is a world free of the prevailing evil — where bad people, and their misguided beliefs, ignorance, fanaticism, hatred, “anti-Semitism” and, worst of all, “terrorism” are no longer allowed to impede our peaceful existence. Such a world would, no doubt, be a wonderful place. The world has never enjoyed total peace in the past, but the new kind of conflict, in which traditional nation states fight against invisible and shadowy groups, seems to hold a new kind of horror. Hasan Abu Nimah comments.