Crossing the Line

Audio: Crossing the Line focuses on Palestinian political prisoners


This week on Crossing the Line: There are more than 10,000 Palestinian prisoners currently being held in Israeli jails. Amongst them are 750 administrative detainees who have never been charged or tried for any crime. Israel was the only country in the world where torture was still lawful before it was made illegal by the Israeli high court in 1999. But since the start of the second intifada in 2000, it has been reported that torture is regularly practiced in Israeli detention centers. Host Christopher Brown examines the issue of torture and political prisoners in Israel. 

Audio: Crossing the Line focuses on the right of return


This week on Crossing The Line: Presently there are around seven million Palestinian refugees around the world. Host Christopher Brown speaks first with activist Adam Shapiro, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement. Next Brown speaks with Diana Buttu, legal adviser, and former spokesperson for the PLO about the most contentious issue with regards to peace between Palestinians and Israelis. 

Audio: Crossing the Line speaks with activist in Nahr al-Bared


This week on Crossing The Line: After months of conflict between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam, some of the residents of Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon are finally returning home. But with most of the camp’s infrastructure destroyed, unexploded ordnance remaining and Lebanese residents in the surrounding area blaming on the Palestinian refugees for the violence, their return to Nahr al-Bared has not been easy. Host Christopher Brown speaks with independent journalist and activist Caoimhe Butterly about the refugees’ return to Nahr al-Bared and what lies ahead. 

Audio: Crossing the Line speaks with Mearsheimer and Walt


This week on Crossing The Line: In the second half of an interview on Worldview on Chicago Public Radio, host Jerome McDonnell speaks with professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt about their controversial paper that is seen as very critical of the pro-Zionist lobby AIPAC. Since its publication in the London Review of Books, neo-conservative and Zionist supporters of Israel have labeled both men as anti-Semitic. Today we’ll hear part two of this two-part interview. 

Audio: Crossing the Line interviews Nadia Hijab


This week on Crossing The Line: With the looming November peace conference almost here, many see the event as nothing more than a mere photo-op for the leaders of those countries who have been invited to take part. The US government’s role in supporting the Israeli occupation is not a secret, as the US gives billions in unconditional aid to Israel each year. But has this always been the case? Host Christopher Brown speaks with Nadia Hijab, senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies about why, when and how the US stood up in the past to the Israeli juggernaut. 

Audio: Crossing the Line interviews Gaza journalist Rami Almeghari


This week on Crossing The Line: Host Christopher Brown speaks with Gaza-based Palestinian journalist and regular EI contributor, Rami Almeghari. Almeghari speaks about the current situation on the ground in Gaza after a week in which tens of Palestinians were wounded or killed by Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip. Brown asks Almeghari about reactions from Gazans after Israel’s designation of Gaza as a “hostile entity.” 

Audio: Crossing the Line interviews sportswriter Dave Zirin


This week on Crossing The Line: In the second part of a two part series, host Christopher Brown speaks with Joel Kovel, scholar, lecturer and author of the book Overcoming Zionism: Creating a Democratic State In Israel/Palestine. Kovel discusses the unattainable “pipe dream” of a two-state solution which many have been pushing as a solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Next, Brown speaks with award-winning sportswriter, Dave Zirin author of the book Welcome To The Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports

Audio: Crossing the Line interviews author Joel Kovel


This week on Crossing The Line: In part one of a two part series, host Christopher Brown speaks with Joel Kovel, scholar, lecturer and author of the book Overcoming Zionism: Creating a Democratic State In Israel/Palestine. Kovel discusses the misconception of Zionism as a socially just movement to create a Jewish utopia in Palestine, which in reality has proven itself as a racist construct designed so that one group of people can rule over another. Kovel adds that Zionism has polluted its own people and its allies, mainly the United States, into believing that the land of Palestine was pre-ordained for the Jews by God. 

Audio: Crossing the Line interviews Huwaida Arraf


This week on Crossing The Line: Host Christopher Brown speaks with attorney and activist Huwaida Arraf. Arraf, cofounder of the International Solidarity Movement, speaks about the victory for the residents of Bil’in village. The Israeli high court on 4 September ruled that the apartheid wall must be rerouted near the town. Every Friday for the past two years residents of Bil’in, as well as Israeli and international peace activists, have staged nonviolent protests against the wall. 

Audio: Crossing the Line interviews Kathleen and Bill Christison


This week on Crossing The Line: Host Christopher Brown speaks with Bill and Kathleen Christison both formerly of the CIA. Bill was a senior official of the CIA and served as a National Intelligence Officer and as Director of the CIA’s Office of Regional and Political Analysis. Kathleen is a former CIA political analyst and has worked on Middle East issues for 30 years. She is the author of Perceptions of Palestine and The Wound of Dispossession. Brown talks with two about the recent leak of an Israeli document which outlines a final status for a Palestinian state.