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CNN producer kidnapped in Gaza City

26 September 2004


The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned about the kidnapping this evening of a CNN producer in Gaza City by unknown gunmen. CNN reported that Riyadh Ali, a veteran producer for the station, was seized at gunpoint from a car in which he was a passenger with CNN colleagues, including correspondent Ben Wedeman. In an interview on CNN, Wedeman said a gunman emerged from a white Peugeot, came toward the CNN team, and demanded to know which of them was Ali. After the CNN producer was identified, he was taken from the car by the gunman, Wedeman said. Several other armed men were with him. 

CNN producer released in Gaza City

28 September 2004


CNN producer Riad Ali was freed and in the custody of Palestinian police today, a day after being abducted by gunmen on a main street in Gaza City, CNN reported. CNN President Jim Walton said the station was “enormously relieved” that Ali had been released. “His ordeal serves to highlight the dangers faced by journalists around the world and we at CNN are grateful that this incident ended the way it did.” CNN said a tape surfaced shortly before Ali’s release in which the producer said he was being held by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade that earlier denied involvement in the kidnapping, and had joined other groups in condemning it. 

Four Years of Intifada: Statistical Overview

29 September 2004


Monday, September 27, 2004 — Dr Mustafa Barghouthi began today’s press conference with a summary of recent trends and statistics. The Second Intifada, now entering its 5th year, has seen the world distracted by events in Iraq, enabling Israel to continue violating Palestinians’ Human Rights with complete immunity. The international media remains more accessible to the Israeli side and thus allows Israel to push forward their preferred narrative. Furthermore, these past years have witnessed a significant deterioration in international support and involvement with the peace process, many becoming disheartened and reluctant having supported the now dead Oslo Peace Process. 

Free Tali Fahima

24 September 2004


On Tuesday, Sep. 28, Israel’s high court will hear Tali Fahima’s appeal against her administrative (read: without a trial) detention. She is now held in solitary confinement, with no access to books, newspapers, cigarettes, and basic amenities. The 28 years old independent solidarity activist from Kiryat-Gat has committed the worst crime an Israeli can, she crossed the barriers to work with Palestinians in Jenin refugee camp, and befriended a militant. The Israeli high court will hear Tali Fahima’s appeal against her administrative detention on Tuesday, Sep. 28, at 6 pm. Supporters are encouraged to attend the court session. 

One Year Later: Remembering Edward Said

Ilan Pappe 27 September 2004


Today (25 September 2004) is the first anniversary of Edward Said’s death. Time passes by so quickly and hence it seems as if only yesterday we were all reading those touching and insightful obituaries of the man and his philosophy. From brilliant long expositions to short but genuine eulogies, it seems that everything that could be said was candidly presented to those who knew him and the millions who have only heard of him. Such a litany of words should have enabled us to resign to his death, but his absence seems to me still incomprehensible. What would have happened if we still had Edward with us in this last year? Ilan Pappe ponders the question. 

The future of Palestine's children and society at risk

Genevieve Cora Fraser 26 September 2004


Israel portrays the children of Palestine as terrorists, faceless stone throwers, but due to Israeli policies, it’s highly complex matrix of control, the health, education and overall well-being of the 1.8 million children of Palestine are at severe risk, Adah Kay, Professor at City University, London stated at the UN Conference on Palestine held in New York City in mid-September. Kay co-authored the book Stolen Youth, with Catherine Cook and Adam Hanieh, former staff and volunteers with Defense for Children International. Published in 2004 and subtitled, “The Politics of Israel’s Detention of Palestinian Children,” Stolen Youth is the first book to explore Israel’s incarceration of Palestinian children based on first-hand information from international human rights groups and NGO workers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. 

Israel blocks entry to Nablus of the Peace Cycle Team

23 September 2004


The Peace Cycle has arrived in Palestine on Tuesday, September 22, but have been blocked from passing through the Beit Eba checkpoint at the entrance to the West Bank city of Nablus. Arriving at the checkpoint at noon, the cyclists waited over two hours awaiting permission to pass. Although the cyclists have been carrying the message of Peace during their entire trip on bikes from London to Jerusalem, the Israeli army does not allow them to move freely within the West Bank. The Team has been rerouted at least 15 miles around Nablus to the village of Howwarah. The cyclists all traveled from Jordan into Palestine last Tuesday. 

Girl's life ended by Israeli bullets

Sami Abu Salem Khan Younis 25 September 2004


On September 7, Raghda al-Assar was at school in the Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis. After less than hour, she was receiving medical treatment in emergency room of Nasser Hospital after having been struck by Israeli bullets in her head while she was in her classroom listening to her English teacher. Raghda died Wednesday of the critical wounds she sustained two weeks ago. On September 7, Raghda was one of hundreds of Palestinian schoolgirls, dressed in crisp striped school uniforms, crowding the streets of Khan Yunis refugee camp on their way to school. Sami Abu Salem reports from Khan Younis. 

Child rights group notes sharp increase violations of children's rights

24 September 2004


Defense for Children International released a report on violations of children’s rights in the occupied Palestinian territories over the period of the first six months of 2004. The report shows that since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising against occupation in September 2000, the frequency and severity of violations of Palestinian children’s rights has progressively increased. This trend has continued in 2004, with a steady decline in the economic and social conditions in the occupied PAlestinian territories. Israeli forces have killed 81 Palestinian children during the first six months of 2004, bringing the death toll to 595 since 29 September 2000. Over 10,000 additional children have been wounded since the beginning of the Intifada. 

ACRI demands return of documents and letters confiscated from Vanunu

22 September 2004


The Association for Civil Rights in Israel submitted a petition this morning on behalf of Mordechai Vanunu against the prison warden of the Shikma Prison in Ashkelon and the Defense Ministry’s chief of security, to demand the return of documents and letters that were confiscated from Mordechai Vanunu, Israel’s nuclear whistle blower, before he was released from jail. The petition was submitted by ACRI’s chief legal counsel, Attorney Dan Yakir, referring to legal material and copies of letters from Vanunu wrote during his seventeen and a half years of imprisonment.