One o’clock. In the noon news magazine on the radio, the commentator speaks in a rather bored way of the ongoing army raid into Nablus, words nearly identical to the reports of yesterday and of last week: “The Palestinians claim that the boy shot in central Nablus was unarmed… The soldiers assert that they had shot only at armed militants, as per orders…” Suddenly: “We interrupt this report. A large explosion just occurred at the Old Central Bus Station in Tel-Aviv. Dozens of casualties. Stand by for further details.” Read more about As always, the dilemma...
It had been planned meticulously. The initiative came from the Al-Ram municipality — a huge demonstration including as many Israelis as could be convinced to come on the weekend before the Supreme Court’s decision over the fate of Al-Ram. But, from how it went it seems that somebody up there decided that it was not in their interest to have today an orderly demonstration of Palestinians together with Israelis. That, so short before the Supreme Court was to give its decision, it was much better to transform it into something in which “anything could happen.” Read more about Report of the June 26 Al-Ram demo against the Wall
For the first time, Israeli refuseniks who reject service in a army of occupation will today attend a hearing in the European Parliament at Strasbourg, France - as will the parents of imprisoned refuseniks. The hearing will take place in the European Parliament Building at Strasbourg. The delegation includes Daniel Tsal, Alma Itshaky, Miri Maor, the mother of Adam Maor, one of the five refuseniks court martialed, and Doron Matar, the father of Haggai, another of the court-martialed refuseniks. Read more about Refusniks appear at the European Parliament
A few days ago, an Israeli peace activist monitoring the situation on the West Bank noticed two large billboards placed at the entrance to the West Bank settlement of Ariel, with a conspicuous British Airways logo. The ads bear mock London road signs with such place names as “Buckingham Palace”, “Hyde Park” etc. and underneath them an ad offering cheap flights to London. Gush Shalom’s Adam Keller wrote the following letter to the management of British Airways. Read more about Gush Shalom protests British Airways advertising at Ariel settlement
The courtroom at the Jaffa Military Court had never been so overcrowded. Special benches had been dragged in, filling the aisle and leaving hardly any room for passage. Activists, family members and journalists crowded into every available corner (there were four TV crews, who were chased out after the judges came in) and still as many as were in had to wait outside. At long last, the verdict in the trial of Noam Bahat, Matan Kaminer, Adam Maor, Haggai Matar and Shimri Tsameret was going to be delivered. Read more about Doing things the hard way - the verdict of five "refuseniks"
It’s nearing the end - this routine of coming again and again to the Jaffa Military Court, to which we have grown accustomed in the past half year. The testimonies and cross-examinations are past. Today the prosecutor - Captain Yaron Kostelitz, will make his final summation, trying his utmost to make the most heavy case and use the most specious arguments against the five young guys in the dock. Read more about The prosecutor and the judge
Today, the cross-examination of Shimri Tzameret, Adam Maor, and Noam Bahat was scheduled, the other two - Chaggai Matar and Matan Kaminer had theirs already in September. The prosecutor, Captain Yaron Costelitz, had managed to prepare himself by obtaining a considerable number of leaflets and press releases by the various refuser movements, as well as the full text of Shimri’s “prison blog”. Read more about Court martial of five occupation refuseniks
Veteran Israeli peace activist Adam Keller attended the Rabin Memorial Rally on November 2nd, and spent the following two days protesting the destruction of olive groves in Falami, a Palestinian village that will be drastically affected by the ongoing construction of Israel’s “Berlin Wall”. Meanwhile, news of the collapse of the Sharon government broke. Read more about From the square to the orchard
