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Gaza Disengagement: Future of the Gaza Strip

1 September 2005


Although the colonization of the Gaza Strip has now come to an end (with the evacuation of the settlers), Israel’s military occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) continues. Israel strictly controls all access in and out of the Occupied Gaza Strip thereby controlling the movement of both goods and people. And, while the Israeli Army may soon evacuate the Gaza Strip, the Army will continue to strictly control all Palestinian movement. Issues remain unsolved such as Rafah crossing, the customs envelope, the Palestinian airport and seaport, the movement of goods within the occupied Palestinian territories and between the occupied territories and Israel. 

Legality of Israeli Settlements Examined In UK Criminal Trial

4 September 2005


Seven Palestine solidarity protesters from London and Brighton were arrested on 11th November last year after they took part in a non-violent blockade outside the UK base of an Israeli agricultural export company Agrexco (UK) Ltd, Swallowfield Way, Hayes, Middlesex. Agrexco is Israel’s largest importer of agricultural produce into the European Union, and it is 50% Israeli state owned. It imports produce from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The protesters will argue as a defence that they were acting to prevent crimes against International law that are also illegal in the UK under the International Criminal Court Act. 

Apartheid and Agrexco in the Jordan Valley

Lena Green 4 September 2005


On June 25, an Israeli spokesperson announced a plan intended to increase the number of settlers in the Jordan Valley by 50 percent in one year. The cost of new housing units will be $13.5 million (U.S.) in the initial year, and will increase to $32.5 million in the following year. The plan focuses on the development of agriculture and tourism in the valley, with grants of up to $22 million available for agricultural development. Agrexco is 50 percent owned by the Israeli state and all of the produce exported from the valley is packed by and sold through them. Palestinian farmers no longer attempt to export because their dealings with the company have been so catastrophic. Nor are they able to take their produce to other markets in Palestine, because it is impossible to get it through the Jordan Valley checkpoints. 

Gaza Withdrawal and the Right of Return

Stefan Christoff 3 September 2005


Listen to an interview with Mohammad Jaradat, coordinator of political campaigns at BADIL, a Palestinian NGO based in the West Bank. BADIL’s work is primarily focused on the ongoing Palestinian struggle for the right of return and acts as a coordination point for the international struggle on this issue in the occupied West Bank. In the midst of the withdrawal of illegal Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and a handful in the West Bank, the issue of the right of return for Palestinian refugees has been seldom addressed by major media and political leaders throughout the world. 

More than 1 million Palestinian children return to school

2 September 2005


More than one-million children returned to school today after a summer break which saw many developments affecting children in both West Bank and Gaza Strip. This is a very important day for the children, for the parents, for the teaching staff and for the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE). All have done remarkable work keeping schools open and functioning during difficult times. Many students in the occupied Palestinian territories go to school under very challenging circumstances. To help address these issues UNICEF this year is supporting the Ministry of Education in a wide range of issues - from improving the quality of education to providing essential learning supplies, and supporting teacher training. 

High Court Petition against law denying Palestinians compensation

1 September 2005


This morning, nine human rights organizations petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice demanding that the Court declare void the amendment to the Civil Wrongs (Liability of the State) Law passed by the Knesset in July 2005. This amendment prevents Palestinians from filing compensation suits in Israeli courts for injury caused by Israeli forces. The new amendment almost completely blocks Palestinians filing compensation suits. The law will not even allow Palestinians to file for compensation for harm caused by illegal shooting, looting, negligence on training grounds, abuse and degrading treatment at checkpoints, or physical violence. The law is blatantly discriminatory in that it denies the right to sue for compensation based on the identity of the victim. 

Israel’s Gaza pullout must lead to West bank, East Jerusalem exit - UN committee

31 August 2005


The Chairman of the United Nations panel dealing with Palestinian rights today expressed hope that the positive momentum gained by Israel’s removal of settlements from the Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank would be followed by similar steps in the rest of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and “breathe new life into the political process.” The fresh impetus gained by the withdrawal would hopefully lead to a comprehensive, just and lasting solution of the question of Palestine, said Paul Badje (Senegal), Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, echoing a statement issued yesterday by the Bureau of the Committee on Palestinian Rights at United Nations Headquarters in New York. 

Podcast/Interview: Hariri - Reconstruction, Poverty and Unrest

Stefan Christoff 6 September 2005


Listen to an interview with Leila Hatoum, staff writer at Lebanon’s Daily Star newspaper, the largest English daily in the Middle East. This interview focuses on the economic policies of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated in downtown Beirut in February 2005. Hariri’s public image in Lebanon and throughout the world is directly associated with the Lebanese “opposition” movement, sparked by his assassination and defined by large-scale street demonstrations in downtown Beirut demanding Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. 

Interview with Samah Idriss: Lebanon: Assassinations, Elections and Palestine

Stefan Christoff 3 September 2005


An interview with Samah Idriss, co-founder of the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel and editor-in-chief of al-Adab, a Lebanese arts and culture magazine based in Beirut. This interview was conducted in August 2005 in Beirut Lebanon and addresses various issues relating to the present day politics of Lebanon, while providing regional context to the major political changes taking place in Lebanon…. “The late Rafik al-Hariri had excellent relations with some Syrian elites, both politically and financially. Hariri rarely uttered a word against their interference in Lebanese public life, and their political and economic corruption in the country.” 

Well-known UK graffiti artist Banksy hacks the Wall

Nigel Parry 2 September 2005


“How illegal is it to vandalize a wall,” asks Banksy in his website introduction to his Wall project, “if the wall itself has been deemed unlawful by the International Court of Justice? The Israeli government is building a wall surrounding the occupied Palestinian territories. It stands three times the height of the Berlin wall and will eventually run for over 700km - the distance from London to Zurich. The International Court of Justice last year ruled the wall and its associated regime is illegal. It essentially turns Palestine into the world’s largest open-air prison.”