30 March 2003
The US appears to be the only country in the world that fails to realize the centrality of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for Middle East peace. It appears that the road map this administration is navigating by will take it to Baghdad, Damascus, Tehran and Riyadh before it realizes that all roads lead to Jerusalem. That’s a long route to take. Read more about Meanwhile, in Palestine...
30 March 2003
Jeff Halper
Jeff Halper is an Israeli anthropologist, until his retirement a year ago a professor at Ben Gurion University, a transplant 30 years ago from Minnesota, a harsh critic of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and, as founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), perhaps the leading peace and anti-occupation activist in Israel. Kathleen and Bill Christison interview the Israeli activist. Read more about Israel's contradiction: victimhood with power
28 March 2003
“For months, Israeli officials have been furiously shuttling between Jerusalem and the White House lobbying to have the peace ‘road-map’ torn up. A memo from Sharon’s office, published in the Israeli daily Haaretz two weeks ago, revealed that, along with more than 100 other alterations, Israel was urging the Americans to change the road map’s goal from creating an ‘independent’ Palestinian state to one with ‘certain attributes of sovereignty’.” Jonathan Cook reports on Ariel Sharon’s late conversion to the utility of a growing dividing wall that is changing facts on the ground for Palestinians. Read more about Sharon's real fence plan
28 March 2003
For almost three years Arabs have been subjected to daily images of Palestinians being killed by Israeli occupation forces in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They see the United States not only doing nothing to stop this, but continuing to supply Israel with high-tech weapons, particularly Apache attack helicopters. Now they see those same Apache helicopters bringing war to Iraq. The spectacle of an American occupation of Iraq may dovetail in the minds of many with the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, and be seen as an American extension in Iraq of what Israel is doing to the Palestinians. EI’s Ali Abunimah and ADC Communications Director Hussein Ibish ask what it will take to mitigate the damage. Read more about War in Iraq and Israeli occupation: A devastating resonance
25 March 2003
This is the first time in which I could sit behind the computer and write about the tragic murder of Rachel. Since that happened many of us at the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) have lived through really hard times. What added to my sadness and grief is being the one who received and went through almost all of what was written about Rachel’s tragedy. Ghassan Andoni writes from Beit Sahour. Read more about Rachel
Rafah, Gaza Strip 21 March 2003
“I am deeply saddened at the loss of a good friend and a brilliant activist. I am outraged that these soldiers have murdered my friend, as they have murdered thousands of Palestinian civilians. I am terrified at what they will do to internationals and other dissenting voices in the future. I now feel how every Palestinian family must feel. I am determined to continue to resist this brutal occupation, and have learned from the courage and dedication that Rachel displayed.” Joe Smith, an ISM volunteer in Rafah who was with Rachel Corrie when she was murdered, honors her spirit, details the events leading up to her killing, and worries that Israeli impunity may triumph again. Read more about Rachel Corrie: Detailed eyewitness account, remembrance, and thoughts about the future
21 March 2003
Those of us in the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), and involved in Palestine solidarity work more generally, are deeply shocked and horrified by the recent murder of Rachel Corrie. Paul Burrows from ISM Montréal reflects on the events. Read more about Reflections on the murder of Rachel Corrie in Palestine
19 March 2003
“As the storm clouds build over Baghdad, the Palestinians will have wait out the war, and its aftermath, without food or gas masks.” Jonathan Cook of Al-Ahram Weekly surveys the dire straits in which Palestinians under Israeli occupation now find themselves and concludes that the situation will worsen before it improves. Read more about Gas masks: Who's responsible for the Palestinians?
19 March 2003
“Rachel Corrie died for the sins of all High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions who have neglected to discharge their legally binding obligations to protect human rights and prevent impunity for confirmed rights violators. It should not fall on the shoulders of college seniors from Olympia, Washington to rectify the tragedies that nation states helped to create and are obligated to prevent.” EI co-founder Laurie King-Irani traces the sources of Rachel Corrie’s courage to the principles of International Humanitarian Law while noting that her murder highlights the urgency of halting Israeli impunity. Read more about Of broken bodies and unbreakable laws
16 March 2003
Rachel Corrie was an incredibly good person. I mourn and am very saddened by her murder earlier today, 16 March 2003. She was killed by a bulldozer as the Israeli military ran over her as she was protesting the destruction of Palestinian homes in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Rachel grew up in Olympia, Wa. I originally met her when she was a student in the options program at Lincoln school around 1989. She was a friend of my son and played on the same YMCA basketball team as my daughter. Rachel and I talked a lot the last two years and marched together at various demos. Rachel was a totally caring and gentle person who was outraged by oppression wherever it took place and had become very active working for social justice and peace. Peter Bohmer, a friend of Rachel Corrie’s from Olympia, writes about Rachel’s life. Read more about Remembering Rachel Corrie