27 January 2003
By the way the media portrayed it, you would have thought that Illinois Gov. George Ryan walked into their living rooms wearing a belt full of dynamite when he pardoned four convicted murderers and commuted all sentences on Illinois’ death row to life imprisonment. Charity Crouse writes about disturbing parallels with the Israeli judicial system. Read more about No one wins the blame the victim game
27 January 2003
With regard to the Middle East, what does he mean by the question “what went wrong?” Does he mean to ask about economic underdevelopment? About lack of democracy? About a failure to contribute to scientific and technological advances? About ethnocentrism? All of these themes are mentioned in passing, but none is formulated as a research design. Michigan history proffesor Juan Cole reviews Bernard Lewis’ book. Read more about Review of Bernard Lewis' "What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response"
Birzeit, Palestine 27 January 2003
Last week, I went to visit a girlfriend who studies at Birzeit University. I reached there by taking a shared cab sneaking on settler roads, which put the fear of God into me. Ramallah was closed, so I couldn’t take the usual route to Birzeit. Diaa Haddad writes from the village. Read more about Birzeit Blues
25 January 2003
“Ironically, the neo-conservatives and Likudniks of George W. Bush’s regime who want to bring “democracy” to the Arab-Islamic world — by force if necessary — can realize their plans only by first dismantling democracy in the United States of America. They can’t pull off their neo-con artist sleight-of-hand unless they successfully shut down public debate and strangle participatory grassroots politics at home and abroad.” EI’s Laurie King-Irani examines the historical links between US and Israeli plans for regime change in the Middle East. Read more about Democracy's role in preventing the neo-con artists' dangerous sleight-of-hand
25 January 2003
‘Abla Sa’adat who was on her way to the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, was arrested and placed under four months administrative detention. Two other Palestinian women, who are held at Beit El military detention center were also placed under administrative detention. Read more about Addameer's WSF representative given four months of administrative detention
25 January 2003
“The controversy started in 2001, when the survivors of the 1982 massacres at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut by pro-Israeli Christian Lebanese militia filed a criminal complaint in Belgium against Israel’s prime minister, Ariel Sharon, who was minister of defense in the early 1980’s. Soon, the law that had won widespread praise was being attacked by lawyers, business leaders and foreign governments — in particular, the United States and Israel.” Daphne Eviatar, writing in The New York Times, gives a full and fair overview of recent developments in Belgium’s Universal Jurisdiction law and the ongoing battle against impunity for war crimes. Read more about Debating Universal Jurisdiction in Belgium
Hebron 25 January 2003
In the summer of 2001, a small group of five to ten Israeli settlers confiscated a hill belonging to Palestinian farmers at the north end of the Beqa’a Valley, near the Harsina Settlement, east of Hebron. The settlers erected a few primitive structures and began a new “illegal” (according to current Israeli law) outpost. Art Gish writes from Hebron. Read more about Can anyone do something to stop this?
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. Read more about Israel pounds Gaza into dust
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. Read more about Fraud fit for a King: Israel, Zionism, and the misuse of MLK
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. Read more about Weekly report on human rights violations