News Highlights:
- Oxfam condemns the aid blockade of Gaza and criticizes the international community for using aid as a political weapon.
- Four way regional summit in Egypt produces little and is denounced by many Palestinians as too partisan and avoiding the important issues.
- Mustafa Bargouthi says Israel wants to weaken all Palestinian factions and create isolated cantons; he criticizes Israel’s statements at the regional summit in Egypt.
- Farouk Qaddoumi, head of the PLO political department and Fateh leader, says the Palestinian Authority is an “illegal and illusory” authority and states Mahmoud Abbas has misused his powers.
- Israel continues expansion of Alon Mureh settlement near Nablus, destroying Palestinian farmland and polluting nearby water sources.
Feature:
A live interview with Prof. Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies and Director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University, the first in our series of interviews with leading Palestinians to discuss the current situation. Prof. Khalidi discussed the failure of Oslo, the corruption in the PA and whats next for the Palestinian secular movement. He also talked about the feasibility of the one-state solution and his new book “Iron Cage: The story of the Palestinian struggle for Statehood”.
Focus on Zionism:
Excerpts of a report by Israeli peace group Machsom Watch on June 21st, 2007 about the arbitrary refusal to allow farmers to pass through an Israeli checkpoint at Beit Furiq.
Here is an audio file of this show: