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Mystery surrounds killing of two Palestinians in Occupied Gaza

Ali Abunimah 16 January 2003


The duty of reporters is to alert readers to the inadequacies of the information available, to emphasize that Israeli army reports, which
are often false and self-serving, are unverified, and avoid reporting
such claims as uncontested fact. Reporting an incident in Gaza on January 13th, several media organisations once again failed to
maintain clarity about the quality of their information source. Ali
Abunimah reports. 

UK TV documentary cleared of charges of anti-Israel bias

Louise Jury 13 January 2003

UK television regulators have cleared John Pilger of breaking broadcasting rules in his documentary, “Palestine is still the issue,” which attracted more than 100 complaints from viewers. The regulator ruled that the TV network, Carlton, had provided “persuasive evidence of the care and thoroughness with which it was researched.” Louise Jury reports in The Independent. 

'Divine Intervention' opens in NYC on January 17th

Keith Icove 14 January 2003

Avatar Films’ latest release, the critically acclaimed Divine Intervention, opens on Friday January 17, 2003, at the Angelika Film Center in Manhattan. The film is the first Palestinian work to receive a full American release. In this article, Keith Icove, VP of Business Affairs at Avatar Films, offers information about the initial screening and subsequent showings in NY, NJ, DC, and CA. 

This conference won't help the Palestinians

Adrian Hamilton 14 January 2003

“Like schoolboys in an unruly fifth form, the Palestinians have been told that they have to prove that they can be properly behaved before they can expect to get any privileges,” writes The Independent’s Adrian Hamilton. Casting a critical eye on the London conference on Palestinian reform, Hamilton argues that, “It is simply wrong to lead them to believe that the reason Washington doesn’t sympathise with their case and the Israelis reject it is because their leadership is poor or their administration corrupt, however true that may be.” 

"Israel won't let us reform"

Yasser Abed Rabbo 13 January 2003

“Yes, Palestinians are expected to reform, but no, we are not supposed to succeed at it. The truth is that Israel’s purported interest in reform is merely an attempt to divert the world’s attention from the crux of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel’s 35-year occupation of Palestinian territory and the denial of Palestinian freedom.” Yasser Abed Rabbo, the Palestinian Authority’s minister of culture and information, explains why Israel’s “catch-22” policies prevented him from attending an important conference in London. 

'When we started shooting, so did they'

Xan Brooks 13 January 2003


When Elia Suleiman brought his film Divine Intervention to Ramallah he found the Israeli soldiers had got there first. The entrance to the cinema had been bombed, the cash till rifled, the Dolby stereo stolen. It was never going to be easy for a Palestinian to film in the West Bank. Elia Suleiman tells The Guardian’s Xan Brooks how he became a hit-and-run director . 

Israeli forces invade Khan Yunis and Beit Hanoun

Palestinian Center for Human Rights 12 January 2003

In a further escalation of Israeli illegal military actions against Palestinian civilians and property, Israeli occupying forces invaded Khan Yunis and Beit Hanoun last night and this morning and destroyed a Palestinian house and 8 civilian facilities. They indiscriminately shelled these areas killing two Palestinians and wounding 13 others, two of whom were left in a serious condition. Some other houses and civilian facilities were severely damaged. 

Crossing Kalandia

Anne Gwynne Nablus 12 January 2003


Kalandia is not a checkpoint in any recognized sense of the word ‘checkpoint’, which is commonly understood to be a place where documents and goods are checked, and through which people and goods are inspected in order to facilitate passage. Everything at ground level in the whole landscape is torn-up, demolished, cleared into piles of rubble, worn out, collapsing, never repaired — I cannot find adequate words. Anne Gwynne writes about Kalandia, with an introduction by EI’s Nigel Parry.