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"Transfer" is nothing more than ethnic cleansing

Jews Against the Occupation 1 February 2003

“As a group that has faced ethnic cleansing in the recent past, we, as Jews and as members of Jews Against the Occupation, feel the need to speak out in order to prevent similar inhumane acts from being perpetrated on another people in our name.” An important statement from Jews against the Occupation suggests actions to prevent the transfer of Palestinians under cover of a war in Iraq. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

Palestinian Center for Human Rights 30 January 2003

This week, Israeli forces killed 25 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 3 children and a woman. Thirteen were killed during an Israeli incursion into al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza. This week, Israeli forces conducted a series of incursions into Palestinian areas, accompanied by indiscriminate shelling. Large areas of Palestinian agricultural land in the Gaza Strip were razed. The strict siege has continued and hundreds of Palestinian pilgrims were prevented from traveling to Saudi Arabia. 

The Palestinian Dialogue in Cairo

Hasan Abu Nimah 29 January 2003

Twelve Palestinian factions, including the Palestinian Authority, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas are meeting in Cairo. Egypt wants the talks to produce a unilateral Palestinian ceasefire in the conflict with Israel. Regular EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah assesses what, if anything, these talks may produce. 

UN Report on Iraq: a call to war or a door to peace?

Hasan Abu Nimah and Ali Abunimah 27 January 2003

UN chief weapons inspectors for Iraq gave a much anticipated report to the UN Security Council on 27 January. Did the statements by Hans Blix and Muhammad ElBaradei move the Middle East closer or further from war? EI regular contributer Hasan Abu Nimah and EI founder Ali Abunimah analyze the statements, point out inconsistencies, and explain where things stand. 

The human cost - 'Does Tony have any idea what the flies are like that feed off the dead?'

Robert Fisk 26 January 2003

On the road to Basra, ITV was filming wild dogs as they tore at the corpses of the Iraqi dead. Every few seconds a ravenous beast would rip off a decaying arm and make off with it over the desert in front of us, dead fingers trailing through the sand, the remains of the burned military sleeve flapping in the wind. “Just for the record,” the cameraman said to me. Of course. Because ITV would never show such footage. The things we see — the filth and obscenity of corpses — cannot be shown. First because it is not “appropriate” to depict such reality on breakfast-time TV. Second because, if what we saw was shown on television, no one would ever again agree to support a war. Robert Fisk writes in The Independent. 

Review: "Real DJs do Real Things" by DJ K-Salaam

Ismail Khalidi 27 January 2003


Above: Real DJs do Real Things cover. Although over 20 years old, hip-hop culture does not seem to have fulfilled the potential it once showed to become a serious political force in the U.S. Is there any hope for rappers to speak up and have their voices heard in a political climate much in need of constructive and intelligent dissent, debate and resistance? Ismail Khalidi reviews DJ K-Salaam’s album, Real DJs do Real Things and discovers that DJ tackles the taboo of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — largely untouched in the music industry as well as in showbiz in general. Much like the inventive, hard-hitting beats and musical collages on his album, Salaam is similarly courageous in his liner notes as he makes a plea for justice for the Palestinian people.