News Highlights:
- Apr 4th – Ariel Sharon pledges to expand settlement construction that will link Maale Adumim to Jerusalem, a move that will completely cut East Jerusalem off from the West Bank and to Palestinians.
- Leading Palestinian militant groups do not agree with Mahmoud Abbas’ call for disarmament; Abbas shuffles security services and appoints new security director.
- Apr 4th – Israel holding talks about the possible release of 400 more
Palestinian prisoners, as promised in February. - Apr 4th – Israel extends temporary law preventing Palestinian spouses of Israelis from becoming citizens; government is clear that law is not for
security reasons, but demographic considerations. - New poll shows majority of Jewish Israelis want Israeli Palestinians to emigrate, and do not support a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.
Feature:
A live interview with famed Palestinian actor and director, Mohammed Bakri.
Bakri was the driving force behind Jenin Jenin, the documentary that allowed
some of the Palestinian survivors of the 2002 Israeli attack on the Jenin
camp to tell their story. The documentary was banned for a long time in
Israel and Bakri also explained how pressure was put on European TV stations
to not show it. Bakri was visiting Ontario and Quebec and also said that a
new film about Palestine will be coming to the Vancouver Film Festival this
fall.
Focus on Zionism:
Highlights of an AP dispatch carried April 5th by the Israeli Haaretz
newspaper, that detailed how Israeli troops beat five unarmed Palestinian
traffic police in Hebron.