News Highlights:
- Israeli human rights group Btselem releases year-end report, saying 373 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in 2007, 53 of them minors; although this number is lower than 2006, human rights conditions continue to deteriorate in the occupied territories.
- According to Btselem, Palestinians held in administrative detention increased to an average number of 830; house demolitions in East Jerusalem increased; checkpoints and roadblocks continue to restrict freedom of movement for Palestinians.
- Israeli forces freed the youngest Palestinian detainee, Majed Jaradat, just 13 years old.
- Egypt’s foreign minister warns Israel not to try to undermine Egypt’s ties with the U.S., as Egyptian-Israeli relations continue to be strained.
Feature:
The Voice of Palestine collective did its annual year-in-review for events in 2007 and looked ahead to 2008. The panel felt that a leading story in 2007 were the developments in Gaza, the horrific embargo and siege, and the Fateh-Hamas conflict, which has killed almost as many Palestinians as direct Israeli attacks. We looked back at our review the year before and panelists had predicted then that the U.S. strategy of fomenting civil war would be prominent in the whole region. For 2007, the issue of decreasing Jewish immigration to Israel was also discussed, as well as many positive developments, especially in the global boycott and divestment movement. The panel concluded by saying that 2008 would most likely bring dramatic changes in the Palestinian political scene, which continues to see Mahmoud Abbas’ regime implementing the U.S.-Israel agenda with very little to show for it and discontent continuing to grow in the occupied territories.
Focus on Zionism:
Highlights of a Jan 1st, 2008 story from the Christian Peacemakers Team in Hebron (alKhalil) talking about the “seam lines” that exist all over the region.
Here is an audio file of this show: