News Highlights:
- Palestinian Central Election Commission confirmed the election of Mahmoud Abbas, with 62% of the vote in the Jan. 9th presidential elections, and with Mustafa Bargouthi receiving almost 20%; only 46.9% of eligible voters in the occupied territories cast a ballot.
- Israel says Abbas must show his “seriousness” and they have already prepared steps they will demand he take against resistance groups.
- Stopwar.ca, Vancouver’s anti-war coalition, plans to protest the Jan. 11th visit of new Israeli ambassador to Canada Alan Baker.
- The number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Gaza increased by 6% in 2004, with an 11% increase in Gaza alone; largest part of increase in Gaza occurred after “disengagement plan” announced.
Feature:
A live interview with Ali Abunimah from Chicago, the cofounder of Electronic Intifada about the Palestinian elections and what the results mean. Ali challenged the concept of elections under occupation and also discussed how these elections would not change any of the core issues in the Palestinian struggle.
Focus on Zionism:
Part of a Jan. 9th report from Znet about how Israeli officials blocked
Palestinian voters in East Jerusalem.
Here is an audio file of this show: