News Highlights:
- On Feb. 8th, an 11 year old Palestinian schoolboy was one of six people killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, during extra-judicial executions.
- Israeli forces declare Budrus in the West Bank a closed military zone, to facilitate construction of the apartheid wall and bar international observers and media from entering the village.
- Armed Israeli settlers take over 16 Palestinian homes in Silwan, near east Jerusalem, evicting the families living there, under the eye of Israeli police.
- 3000 protesters rally against the 25 foot apartheid wall in Abu Dis.
- Israeli police raid homes and arrest leaders of Abnaa ElBalad, a legal political organization of Palestinians in Israel, and hold them without due process on “secret evidence”.
- Palestinian PM is in Europe trying to shore up opposition to the apartheid wall, as Palestinian leaders are discouraged by the EU position over the upcoming hearing at the International Court.
- Kofi Annan speaks with Ariel Sharon about his plan to evacuate settlements in Gaza, as Sharon calls for approval to expand large West Bank settlements.
- Israeli tourism minister tells Christian leaders it is unacceptable to try to convert Jews and suggests they turn their attention to Muslim activists
Feature:
The third is a series of Eyewitness Palestine reports on the apartheid wall, this one about the one family Bantustan the apartheid wall has created near Mas’ha village. Hani and Munira Amer live surrounded by the wall and three fences, in a settler enclave. They are completely isolated from their family and neighbours in Mas’ha and are at the mercy of attacks by the nearby settlers. Hani is about to lose his job because of the difficulty in getting there on time through the fences and the wall and the gates. However, the family refuses to give up and will go on fighting this injustice.
Focus on Zionism:
Excerpts of a special interview with three Israeli refuseniks from an elite commando unit in the Israeli army. They explained that they came to their conscientious objector status through a long and painful process, and that their decision would not be reversed. One of them said he had found himself doing things he thought no Israeli soldier would ever do, and that there is an acceleration downwards in the standards of Israeli society.