News Highlights:
- Israeli forces besiege the Arab American University near Jenin, arresting and threatening students and reporters.
- Palestinian negotiator Saab Erekat says failure to reach a settlement this year could lead to collapse of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
- Israel threatens to sever negotiations with Mahmoud Abbas if any unity agreement is reached with Hamas in talks in Yemen.
- Palestinian official Ahmed Qureia said Fateh representatives signed a unity proposal in Yemen by mistake, due to a “mixup”.
- U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney says the U.S. would never pressure Israel and then later, when meeting with Palestinian leaders, calls for “painful concessions”.
Feature:
A conversation with America activist Blake Murphy, who recently was deported by Israeli authorities after a week in detention. Blake had been volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine for 8 months and was arrested at a non-violent protest at Bilin village. He told us about the activities of ISM and there was discussion of what message Israeli authorities are sending by violently suppressing peaceful demonstrations, and by targeting international volunteers.
Focus on Zionism:
Excerpts of a statement by the Seriously Free Speech Committee www.seriouslyfreespeech.ca about the lawsuit against Mordecai Briemberg by media giant Canwest.
Here is an audio file of this show: