News Highlights:
- Sep. 6th – Israeli cabinet minister says the Gazan redeployment is a “window of opportunity” to build up the West Bank settlement blocs, as further construction is approved in the Ariel settlement.
- Sep. 6th – Israeli Defense Minister instructs West Bank commanders to “show no pity for anyone” at roadblocks.
- Sep. 6th – Israeli soldiers in Gaza kill a young Palestinian in the first clash with Palestinian demonstrators since redeployment.
- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says the issue of the Gaza-Egypt border crossing has not been resolved with Israel.
- The international community is reportedly pressuring Israel to allow freedom of movement between Gaza and Egypt, although Ariel Sharon’s office denies this.
- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will visit Israel in November; Israeli FM Shalom says this is part of the “fruits of disengagement”, and is only one of increased contacts with the Arab and Moslem world.
Feature:
This week marked the 18th anniversary of Voice of Palestine being on the air at Coop radio, and to mark the occasion, we examined the state of mainstream Canadian media today and how it has changed in the last two decades. The panel discussed the increasing monopoly of CanWest Global and their overt pro-Israel bias, as well as the diminishing role of the CRTC in ensuring any sort of balance. The specific example of a complaint against the CanWest show entitled “Jenin: Massacring Truth” was detailed, as well as the shocking official response that “point of view” documentaries are not subject to fairness and balance requirements. There were also several guest callers who talked about other instances of bias, and even outright anti-Arab anti-Moslem racism in the Canadian media.
Focus on Zionism:
Highlights of a Sept. 6th, 2005 article in the British Guardian about testimony by dozens of Israeli soldiers that they carried out shoot-to-kill orders against unarmed Palestinian civilians, even young children.
Here is an audio file of this show: