Beirut is a city that vibrates with political culture and is defined by a history of social justice struggles. Currently, Lebanon is undergoing massive political changes, sparked by street protests following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February and the subsequent withdrawal of approximately 15,000 Syrian troops and intelligence officials last April. The future for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in refugee camps throughout Lebanon is also central to current political discussions in the region, as refugees continue to demand their right to return to occupied Palestine. Read more about Growing Grassroots in Beirut
Wavel is a Palestinian refugee camp located in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, on the outskirts of Baalbek. Originally a French military base during the colonial era, Palestinian refugees inhabited 12 military barracks shortly after the Palestinian el-Nakba (the Catastrophe) in 1948, as hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees were forced from Palestine through the creation of the state of Israel. Today Wavel is home to approximately 8000 refugees, a significant segment of which continue to reside in the now dilapidated French barracks. Read more about Photostory: Wavel Refugee Camp
Thousands of transport trucks line the winding highways of Akkar, an impoverished region in northern Lebanon which borders Syria. Currently all land border crossings into Syria are shutdown to economic traffic, dealing a serious blow to Lebanon’s already unstable economy. The Syrian government has publicly justified this border lockdown in the name of regional “security”, as Syria is under intense international political pressure mainly from the U.S. to introduce tighter border controls. In Lebanon, the newly formed government and various unions representing impacted sectors, have painted the border crisis as an attempt to hit the country economically after the forced withdrawal of upwards of 15 000 Syrian soldiers from Lebanon in April 2005 and the recent election results. Read more about Lebanon / Syria: Border Lock Down....
In November 2003 Ahmed Abdel Majeed, a stateless Palestinian born and raised in Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon, was deported from Canada. The distance between Montreal and Lebanon stretches thousands of kilometers over oceans and continents, but is only a short distance in Ahmed’s eyes and living memory of an existence shaped by the daily struggle of statelessness. Today Ahmed resides in Ein el-Hilweh, with an estimated 80 000 other stateless Palestinians in the country’s largest refugee camp located on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese city of Saida. Read more about From Montreal to Ein el-Hilweh: Deportation, Destitution & Dignity
Listen to an interview with Al-Jazeera’s English Gaza correspondent Laila El-Haddad, who has been reporting from Jabaliya refugee camp throughout the recent Israeli incursions. The interview provides a first hand account on the current crisis in Jabaliya, while also focusing on the growing movement throughout the world to introduce an economic boycott toward Israel. Interviewer: Stefan Christoff. Format: MP3, 16:27 minutes. Read more about CKUT Radio: War Crimes in Jabaliya Refugee Camp
Listen to an interview with Mahmoud Ziadi, spokes person of the Committee for the Families of Political Prisoners and Detainees in the West Bank. The interview focuses on the current hunger strike of more than 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners throughout Occupied Palestine, while also drawing the links between the current hunger strike and the ongoing Palestinian struggle for liberation from the deadly and illegal Israeli occupation. Interviewer: Stefan Christoff. Format: MP3, 12:15 minutes. Read more about CKUT Radio: Palestinian Prisoner Hunger Strike
Listen to an interview with Mohamed Omar, an independent Palestinian journalist from Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Mohamed is the creator of the independent news website Rafah Today, which documents life and death in the Gaza Strip. Mohamed, who’s home was recently demolished by the Israeli military, speaks about the importance of an independent media movement in Palestine to document and uncover the often hidden realities of the Israeli occupation. The interview outlines the current situation in Rafah, focusing on the constant Israeli Occupation Forces incursions into Rafah refugee camp, while also exploring the aftermath of the massive Israeli military incursion dubbed “Operation Rainbow” in late May 2004. Read more about Interview: "Operation Rainbow" Follow-up with Creator of 'Rafah Today' website, direct from Rafah
“Peace Under Fire” is a recently published collection of written accounts, drawn from the web-logs and diaries of International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activists, news articles, press releases and reflections of ISM members engaged in confronting the Israeli occupation on the ground in Palestine. During the past 2 years ago the ISM has brought hundreds of international activists to work in the occupied territories in campaigns of non-violent direct action targeting the daily workings of the Israeli occupation. Listen to an interview with Radhika Sainath ISM organizer and an editor of the recently published book. Read more about Interview: ISM's Radhika Sainath, editor of "Peace Under Fire"
Listen to an interview with Mohamed, an independent journalist from Rafah Palestine, who posts daily reports and photos about Rafah at the website - http://rafahtoday.org. This interview is a powerful and direct testimony, as to the acts of collective punishment, which have been unleashed on the Palestinian population of Rafah refugee camp. The interview was recorded on Tuesday May 28th, as Israeli troops continued to raid homes in Rafah, confining its 90,000 residents without electricity, water or phones. Read more about Interview: Creator of 'Rafah Today' website, direct from Rafah
An MP3 interview with S’ra DeSantis, a social justice activist and organic farmer in Burlington Vermont. S’ra is currently in Budrus, Palestine, a rural village in the West Bank fighting for its existence against the Israeli military and the planned construction path of the Apartheid Wall. The wall, deemed a “security measure” by the Israeli state, is clearly an effort to steal more Palestinian land. The Palestinian Environmental NGO Network has estimated that upwards of 50 per cent of the West Bank land will be plundered by the completion of the wall, which is not being built on or near the 1967 Green Line and at points reaches 16km deep into the heart of the West Bank. Read more about Interview: S’ra DeSantis on the Apartheid Wall in Budrus
