“Make January 17th a day to express solidarity with the women of Iraq, Palestine/Israel, Colombia, and other war-torn areas of the world, and call for a shift of national priorities away from war and militarism and toward a national agenda that affirms life. ” A new initiative is announced by members of the International Solidarity Movement. Read more about Women Rising for Peace and Justice announce campaign and activities
The Israeli Army reported that two soldiers were injured as they attacked Palestinian members of the resistance in Gaza (BBC, 2 January 2003). The reality could be far more severe than they admit. Annie Higgins reports from Jenin. Read more about Six Soldiers
“I was searching for the humane side of people’s dreams, people’s hunger and people’s disappointments. I was not looking for numbers, who is right, or why this happened,” Bakri said. “For me, it’s a prayer to stop this hell we are living in.” Joshua Mitnick of the New Jersey Star Ledger reports on a censorship move that calls Israeli democracy into question. Read more about Israeli film board bans "Jenin, Jenin"
On 19 December 2002, Israeli activists held an event at Tzavta Hall in Tel Aviv to protest the indefinitely extended prison sentences currently being handed to the young men refusing conscription. The event was sponsored by conscientious objector organisations Yesh Gvul and Shministim, the latter a group of high school seniors who have declared their refusal to serve in the Israeli army. The following is the text of a speech made at this event by Anat Matar, a veteran anti-occupation activist and the mother of Haggai Matar, one of the men in prison for refusing to serve. Read more about The war to annihilate Palestinian civil society
“What language beside Arabic do you see in shop windows in Jenin?” A few boys answered, “Hebrew.” “Yes,” the teacher/ustadh went on, “when there were good relations between Israelis and us, people came from Israel to shop in Jenin. How can they know where to buy something unless they can understand the sign?” Annie Higgins writes about language lessons in Jenin. Read more about Language lessons in Jenin
The Legal Advisor to the government has asked the Central Elections Committee to bar the Balad list and MK Azmi Bashara from standing in the forthcoming elections. Aeyal Gross, lecturer in Constitutional and International Law at Tel Aviv University, wonders, however, what is really the major threat to Israeli democracy? Read more about Where is the democracy here?
“The day after Christmas, the Israeli Army has killed six men, one of them from the next village over, Qabatiya. He is Hamza Abu Rubb who was active in Islamic Jihad. The Army’s obvious presence, comprised of tanks and armored personnel carriers, have been less in evidence. However, they are very much here, using Special Forces soldiers disguised as Arabs to track down and arrest or kill men.” Annie Higgins writes from Jenin. Read more about Jenin: the day after Christmas
At the last minute, at the end of the day before Christmas Eve, the Israeli government announced it would lift its curfew of Bethlehem. This was another move in the endless game of Israeli propaganda, and one that was expected. Thousands of eyes were on Bethlehem, the West Bank city that has been under curfew and reinvasion for the past month. Kristen Ess reports. Read more about Christmas in Bethlehem
“Rather than celebrating birth, Father Sabbara plans to reflect on death — particularly the sickening reality that, just as in Jesus’s time, children are being killed by forces indifferent to their age or innocence. The latest victim is an 11-year-old girl leaning out of a window to watch the funeral procession of another child.” The Guardian’s Chris MacGreal files a somber report from occupied Bethlehem. Read more about Bethlehem, the "capital of Christmas," is dying
