News Highlights:
- 13 Palestinians killed in 48 hours over the weekend by Israeli forces, including a 10 year old boy in Gaza and a 14 year old near Jenin.
- Four activists from the International Solidarity Movement were shot and injured by Israeli soldiers in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus.
- 3 Palestinians died on Nov. 9 from previous wounds, one of them 7 year old Ahmad Marai from Jenin refugee camp.
- Israeli military resumed its destruction in Rafah, flattening 20 houses partially destroyed in their previous Oct. 10 raid, and wounding several civilians.
- U.N. report says Israel’s “dividing wall” will have severe humanitarian consequences for 680,000 Palestinians, 1/3 of the West Bank population – to date, $3.4 billion has been spent to build 3/4 of the wall, about 100 miles.
- Thousands of Palestinians, joined by Israeli and international activists, protested against the apartheid wall on Nov. 9, from Zabuba to Tulkarem to Jubara to Qalqilya.
- Jubara, a small village of 300, has been completely cut off by the wall and is dying a slow death – the village children must pass through the wall to go to school, with long waits and delays – they are the only ones given permits, so they also must bring supplies for the whole village.
- Nov. 9 was a global day of action, with demos around the world, 30,000 in Rome and an information picket at Robson Square in Vancouver.
- The U.S. administration withheld comment on the new Palestinian government, saying it will be tested on “performance”; earlier, Israeli spokesman Raanan Gissin made extremely similar statement saying, “Any (Palestinian)government … will be judged by its performance”.
Feature:
An interview with Jef Keighley, the co-chair of Stopwar.ca, and representative of the Canadian Autoworkers Union. Jef spoke about the involvement of Canada in the Middle East and Afghanistan and how current Canadian foreign and military policy does not serve Canadian interests. He also talked about the role of the peace movement, including Stopwar.ca, its activities, and how it is serving the interests of all Canadians by trying to keep Canada out of U.S. imperial adventures.
Focus on Zionism:
A story from news dispatches about armed young Israeli settlers who are terrorizing Palestinian villagers and destroying ancient olive trees with chainsaws and machetes. The village of Sawiya has been particularly targeted and one villager said – “The settlers are gradually getting what they want … that the Palestinians pack up and leave and let the settlements expand”.