Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas came to his White House meeting with President George W. Bush carrying several messages, the most important being that the Palestinians have fulfilled the vast majority of their phase one road map obligation and that Israel was blocking further progress. Speaking at a 31 July 2003 Palestine Center briefing, Diana Buttu, a legal advisor to the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Negotiations Affairs Department, said Abbas emphasized to Bush three issues that were impeding progress on the road map: Israel’s construction of an apartheid wall, Israel’s continued settlement expansion, and the incarceration of several thousand Palestinian political prisoners. Read more about Abbas to Bush: "Israel is Blocking the Implementation of Road Map"
Three villages Deir al-Hatab, Azmut and Salem are located on the eastern outskirts of Nablus. Since the last quarter of 2002 two deep trenches were dug by the Israeli army around the three villages totally preventing access. A joint expedition of the WHO, UN agencies, and human rights organisations points to severe impact of closures on health, sanitary conditions and environment. Read more about Imprisoned until further notice
Over 4,000 Palestinian political prisoners have just begun a hunger strike in Israeli jails including Shutah, Askalan, Majido, Ofer, and Nefah. A man being held without charge called yesterday from Nefah saying, “The Israeli Administration is treating us very badly.” He details human rights abuses, and adds quietly, “And sometimes they aren’t letting us go to the bathroom.” Kristen Ess and Nada Khair report from the West Bank and Gaza. Read more about 4,200 Palestinians on Hunger Strike
Every day that we visited the Qalqilia checkpoint, we watched the “progress” of the Israeli Occupying Forces’ Apartheid Wall which is holding 40,000 Palestinians captive in their own city, on their own land. Each day the fenced section of the Apartheid Wall on either side of the checkpoint looms closer to completion. In two days, trenches six feet wide and and equally as deep were dug on either side of the central fence. The next day, the Israeli Occupying Forces erected triangular coils of barbed wired eight feet high running the entire length of each trench. The concrete base for the central fence has been laid, and any day the 12-foot-tall fence will be erected, and possibly electrified. Brooke Atherton reports. Read more about Two Kinds of Prison: Reflections on Leaving Palestine
“For more than a year now, since April 2002, the cries of Nablus have been muted by the roar of jet bombers flying overhead and the blasts from tanks encircling and effectively laying siege to the city. At all times of the day and night, and often without warning, Israeli soldiers shell and shoot at the civilians of Nablus, who never know when or where to take cover. Children, women and men have been hunted, injured and killed.” Cultural Connexion founder Fawzia A. Reda makes an appeal for Nablus. Read more about An appeal for Nablus
ICG’s work in Israel, the occupied territories and Israel’s Arab neighbours is focused on new and more comprehensive political and diplomatic strategies to address the sources of conflict, and deal with the main factors within Israel and Arab societies hindering the achievement of sustainable peace. In its latest report, ICG addressed the question: “What a settlement freeze means and why it matters?” Read more about What a settlement freeze means and why it matters
Former Dutch Prime Minister Dries van Agt expressed regret of his defense of the Israeli army in front of the Dutch parliament after the massacre of Palestinian civilians in Sabra and Shatila. “At that time I couldn’t believe that under the eyes of the Israeli army such atrocities could have taken place as later was revealed,” Van Agt told a Dutch daily newspaper on Saturday. Read more about Former Dutch Prime Minister regrets his defense of Israel
This is not the first time Palestinians have found themselves in a refugee camp. But for Louay, a 21-year-old Palestinian born in Iraq, it’s a new experience. Read more about Twice displaced: Palestinians in Iraq
The University of Victoria and the School of Social Work should be places where we openly challenge, discuss and debate a wide range of ideas and perspectives. Moreover, the call to pay attention to issues of human rights and the imperative to voice demands for peace and social justice cannot be practices that are merely “reserved” for particular places or occasions. The responsibility to speak out against injustice, both locally and globally, is a responsibility incumbent upon all individuals, groups and institutions, at all moments, and in every domain of life — there are no “inappropriate” places or times for this sort of endeavour.” Fairn Herising, a Ph.D. candidate at the Univeristy of Victoria and a member of the University’s Anti-Racist Action Coalition, reflects on a recent act of censorship and the dangers of shutting out dissenting voices. Read more about Should a university silence voices calling for peace and justice?
