News

Middle East unrest hits grocery store

Jenny Strasburg 4 December 2002

The tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have spilled into the aisles of a San Francisco supermarket, where certain departments of the co-op Rainbow Grocery have removed Israeli-made products from their shelves. Although Israeli products remain on the shelves of other Rainbow departments, which are run independently, some workers are pushing for a storewide boycott, an employee of the Mission District store said Tuesday. Jenny Strasburg reports in The San Francisco Chronicle. 

Curfew tensions in Bethlehem

Toine van Teeffelen Bethlehem 30 November 2002


While walking up into the main Madbasseh street, Mary saw a toshe (quarrel) at a falafel place; about nothing she later heard, but the atmosphere and people’s faces were so threatening that she decided not to do shopping and return home. The tension is also palpable in the refugee camps which are crowded and bear a large share of the arrests. Toine van Teeffelen writes from Bethlehem. 

Palestinian Children in the Night

Sam Bahour Ramallah 29 November 2002

We found ourselves in the midst of a crowd of over 300 cheering Palestinians. Between us and another group of a few dozen Palestinian youth were two United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) representatives. The two representatives were clearly American, in looks and accents. A few of the Palestinians standing behind the UNDP representatives slowly walked up behind them and one pulled from a bag what looked like a one-meter wooden bat. 

"Jenin Jenin" features at International Documentary Filmfestival

Arjan El Fassed 27 November 2002

“Jenin Jenin”, a 54-minute documentary made by Palestinian filmmaker/actor Muhammad Bakri, features at the International Documentary Filmfestival (IDFA) in Amsterdam. This film is Bakri’s most cutting statement yet. Bakri says that the film is about “human suffering as such - about a wounded soul, a demolished home, a felled tree, a picked flower, a broken heart.” 

Israel's killing of British citizen Iain Hook, UNRWA's Project Manager in Jenin

Caoimhe Butterly and Annie Higgins Jenin refugee camp 22 November 2002


“Iain Hook came out of the UN compound waving a blue UN flag, and the Israeli soldiers’ only response was to broadcast with their microphone in English, ‘We don’t care if you are the United Nations or who you are. Fuck off and go home!’ They were trying to go home. Iain said that things were not going well.” Caoimhe Butterly reports from Jenin. 

Report on the full-scale reinvasion of Jenin

Caoimhe Butterly Jenin refugee camp 16 November 2002

As we tried to wrench open the locked door we could hear the beating that lasted all night as his mother wept outside and a group of adults put a hood over the head of a skinny 12-year old and beat him savagely. The same “lesson”: to fear and comply or risk subjugation by force they tried to beat into the memory of ten other children between the ages of eight and thirteen on the same night in different occupied houses. Caoimhe Butterly writes from Jenin Refugee Camp. 

Field trip to Taybeh

Toine van Teeffelen Bethlehem 16 November 2002

On the occasion of Independence day, November 15, some 60 school and university students and teachers leave together for a fieldtrip to the village of Taybeh north-east of Ramallah. Toine van Teeffelen writes from Bethlehem. 

Update from Jenin

Annie Higgins Jenin 19 November 2002

The city and the Refugee Camp breathed more easily when the Israeli Army withdrew from its two-week invasion about a week ago, but everyone knew that the Army would maintain its presence, if slightly less visibly. Annie Higgins writes from Jenin. 

Every day is a major invasion in Gaza

Kristen Ess Gaza Strip 18 November 2002

Gaza City did not sleep last night. 35 Israeli tanks plowed into the Tal Al-Hawa area in the south of the city. Apache missiles were fired from the sky. The explosions lasted throughout the night. A man called out that the international community must wake up. He said, “They are killing our children but we are here to stay. The world must listen to the truth.” Another said quietly, “No one heard you.” Kristen Ess writes from Gaza, where the reality of international apathy is measured by the daily tank and helicopter attacks.