News Highlights:
- Palestinian teenager, Mohamed al-Sinawi, suffering from cancer has been held in administrative detention in Etsion prison since Sept. 4.
- A disabled Palestinian teen, Saadi Mansur, died from wounds inflicted last December from Israeli troops in Nablus.
- U.S. vetoes UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s decision to “remove” Yasser Arafat; UN General Assembly then passes almost identical resolution.
- Thousands of progressive Israelis demonstrated on Sept. 20 against the policies of Ariel Sharon and called for Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories.
- Hamas and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine will not join new Palestinian government of Ahmed Qorei.
- Israel forms new “Immigrant Legion”, composed of snipers who are mainly Russian immigrants that fought in Chechnya.
Feature:
Mable Elmore, a representative of Stopwar.ca and the Canadian Autoworkers Union, was in the studio to talk about Stopwar’s upcoming activities and anti-war organizing within the trade union movement in general. Mable, who is the chair of Stopwar’s Labor Committee, spoke about the march and rally organized to oppose the occupations in Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan, as part of the international day of action on September 28 that marks the third anniversary of the Palestinian Intifada. She also talked about the forum being organized on Oct. 18th with the theme of Making Links with Middle East Workers. Mable explained how the peace and labor movements were under pressure from local Zionist organizations that were unhappy with their opposition to Israeli occupation.
Focus on Zionism:
Excerpts of a press release from the International Womens Peace Service were read, about the upcoming olive harvest in Palestine. Salfit in the West Bank is particularly hard hit, especially with the construction of the apartheid wall cutting farmers off from their land. Last year, over 200 civilians from around the world helped with the harvest and volunteers are needed this year as well.