This week …

News Highlights:

  • Two Palestinians killed in southern Gaza strip, a 60 year old man and a 29 year old in two separate incidents; four other elderly Palestinians wounded.
  • New nine-member Palestinian cabinet is sworn in, with Ahmed Qorei as PM, while Palestinian government also declares state of emergency.
  • Syria asks the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israel’s recent airstrike on Syrian soil, but Council adjourns with no vote.
  • Palestinian leadership condemns suicide bombing in Haifa, which was carried out by Palestinian female law student whose brother and cousin were killed in Jenin by Israeli death squads.
  • The Israeli army is easing its “rules of engagement” near the dividing wall in the West Bank, and troops maybe allowed to shoot anyone without warning within a 50 metre zone.
  • 100 San Francisco Jews renounced their right to automatic Israeli citizenship, in protest over Israel’s refusal to recognize the Palestinian right of return.
  • The new Palestinian Community Center in Vancouver saw several hundred people come through its doors on Oct. 4 for its opening activities.

Media Literacy:

An examination of a speech by Leonard Asper, of CanWest Global, and a brief look at the impact the late Izzy Asper had on Canadian media, especially vis-à-vis the Middle East issue.

Feature:

An interview with Lynn, a B.C. volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement, who is currently in the West Bank. She spoke about an action being planned later that same day in Jayyous against the apartheid wall, to help Palestinian farmers. She also talked about her experiences at Israeli checkpoints.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a report about the dividing wall from The Independent, entitled “Fenced in Locked Out: a people in the shadow of fortress Israel”. The report talks about one Palestinian man who leaves home at 3:30 am to try and go to work. In addition to the Israeli checkpoints, he now has to deal with the 10 ft. high wall running through the middle of Abu Dis.