News Highlights:
- Palestinian leader Ahmad Saadat and other prisoners temporarily suspend their hunger strike to see if Israeli officials will keep their promises of ending solitary confinement; Saadat has already lost over 10 kilos and is in the prison hospital.
- Egypt and Israel agree to a prisoner swap, which will see 25 Egyptian prisoners, including 3 children, exchanged for one Israeli-American accused of spying by Egyptian authorities.
- Israel is continuing with its policy of demolishing Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem, as one Palestinian man is forced to demolish his own home or face a heavy fine.
- Israeli authorities issue confiscation orders for 37,000 sq metres of Palestinian land in Beit Jala for construction of the separation barrier.
Feature:
The feature was an instudio discussion about Palestinian political prisoners as well as the role of alternative media, and was part of Coop Radio’s fall fundraising marathon. The discussion highlighted limitations with the recent Israel-Hamas prisoner swap and detailed how the exchange was handled by the Western mainstream media. There was also analysis of the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike and whether the demands would actually be implemented as agreed upon. Further discussion centred on the reasons the Israeli government was agreeing to these recent prisoner exchanges, especially after the Arab Spring and how the democracy movements in the region would impact regime changes and election results.
Focus on Zionism:
Excerpts of an October 25th, 2011 IMEMC news agency report about how one Palestinian father was being refused permission by Israeli authorities to visit his son, one of the released but deported Palestinian prisoners.
Here is an audio file of this show: