News Highlights:
- Oxfam says Israel is denying the access of humanitarian aid to Gaza, as its director notes that emergency fundraising alone will not solve the ongoing crisis in Gaza.
- Israel announces 3500 more settling housing units in the occupied West Bank.
- Spanish courts are hearing war crimes charges for 7 Israeli officials.
- Belgium’s government will ban the export of weapons to Israel that will “strengthen its military capacity”; Israel is the 4th largest importer of Belgium arms in the Middle East.
Feature:
An interview with Harry Berbrayer, a Jewish Canadian activist from Vancouver Island, who recently returned from a trip to Palestine. Harry explained that he was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family, how he had previously supported the Israeli point of view, and only changed after making a trip to the region in late 1998 and seeing for himself what was actually happening to the Palestinian people. On this last trip, he visited the occupied West Bank and said that the people there were becoming increasingly frustrated with the Mahmoud Abbas regime, especially as the Gaza massacres unfolded. Harry encouraged listeners to get active, to write the media and to support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.
Focus on Zionism:
Highlights of a February 3rd, 2009 press release from the South African trade union central about the decision by South African dock workers to not offload a ship from Israel.