The Guardian

Palestinian goes on hunger strike

Audrey Gillan 20 January 2003

A Palestinian who had been tortured before his arrival in Britain has gone on hunger strike after having been held for 13 months without charge. Mahmoud Abu Rideh is detained under anti-terrorism provisions. He was transferred from Belmarsh high security prison to Broadmoor high security mental hospital last August under the orders of a judge, because he was seriously mentally ill. Audrey Gillan outlines his situation in The Guardian. 

Sharon derides EU peace efforts

Chris McGreal 20 January 2003

Ariel Sharon yesterday dismissed European peace efforts as anti-Israeli and said only the US matters in deciding the fate of the Palestinians. The prime minister’s comments followed an interview with Newsweek magazine released yesterday in which he was asked about the efforts of the Quartet - the US, UN, EU and Russia - to map out a road to peace. “Oh, the quartet is nothing! Don’t take it seriously! There is [another] plan that will work,” he said. Chris McGreal reports in the Guardian. 

Belgium may revive Sharon war crimes case

Andrew Osborn 17 January 2003

Belgium gave itself the right in 1993 to try cases of war crimes committed by anyone, anywhere at any time. However, legal setbacks to the “universal competence” law have blunted Belgium’s zeal to act as an international war crimes court. Last June a Belgian court appeared to kill off the case against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon when it declared that he could not be tried because he wasn’t physically present in Belgium. That obstacle now appears likely to be dismantled. Andrew Osborn reports from Brussels in The Guardian. 

UK media warned over terrorism reporting

Ciar Byrne 17 January 2003

John Wadham, director of the human rights watchdog Liberty, has warned of a “substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice” arising from the reporting of the recent terrorist arrests in Manchester and London. Mr Wadham said the addition of “government, MI5 and media spin” to the reporting of the arrests could unduly influence juries when the terrorist suspects’ cases come to court. Ciar Byrne reports in The Guardian. 

False witnesses: A shot across the bow of mainstream media

Tim Llewellyn 15 January 2003

“Since the creation of Israel in 1948, its supporters have been highly successful in ensuring that Israel’s version of its and its neighbours’ histories has been accepted as received truth. Dents have been made, notably by Israel’s own historians as they have had greater access to official documents, in the Zionist myths. But they have usually been hammered out with alacrity, both by Israel and our domestic broadcasters.”
Tim Llewellyn, welcoming the ITC’s acquittal of John Pilger’s film “Palestine is still the issue” from false charges of undue bias, raises unsettling questions about mainstream media compliance with offical Israeli spin. 

'When we started shooting, so did they'

Xan Brooks 13 January 2003



When Elia Suleiman brought his film Divine Intervention to Ramallah he found the Israeli soldiers had got there first. The entrance to the cinema had been bombed, the cash till rifled, the Dolby stereo stolen. It was never going to be easy for a Palestinian to film in the West Bank. Elia Suleiman tells The Guardian’s Xan Brooks how he became a hit-and-run director . 

Email from Saffuriyya: "Where are you from?"

Jonathan Cook Nazareth, the Galilee 12 January 2003

“It is a reflex question for Palestinians, always posed early in the Arab greeting ritual, to ask a stranger, even another Palestinian, ‘Where are you from?’ before enquiring: ‘Where do you live?’ Few Palestinians live where they feel they belong. ” Jonathan Cook introduces us to a new generation of Saffuriyeen who are keeping their ties to the destroyed town of Saffuriyya strong and vibrant. 

Bethlehem, the "capital of Christmas," is dying

Chris McGreal Bethlehem 24 December 2002

“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.