News Highlights:
- Gaza human rights organization warns of imminent collapse of Gaza economy and says 80% of population is living below the poverty line; calls on international community to force Israel to lift the siege.
- Israeli forces kill four Palestinians in Gaza in two days.
- Appointed Palestinian PM, Salam Fayyad, orders the closure of 103 Palestinian institutions and NGOs, in a move analysts say is aimed at Hamas.
- Hamas says it will enforce Palestinian press law introduced in 1995 that bans publication of certain information amid protests from journalists.
- Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meet again, but without any concrete achievements and no easing of Israeli restrictions on Palestinians.
- Hamas leader Khalid Meshal says upcoming U.S.-sponsored conference is doomed to fail because it will only serve Israel’s interests.
Feature:
The feature was another in the series of Palestinian voices on the future of the Palestinian progressive secular movement. Dr. Ismail Zayid, a Palestinian Canadian author and activist from Halifax, was interviewed about the failure of the Oslo accords, and why they could never have met the minimum demands of the Palestinians. He also talked about what he thought was possible future options for the Palestinian nation. He concluded by discussing his long-time campaign with Revenue Canada demanding they rescind the tax-deductible status for the Jewish National Fund JNF. The JNF has built “Canada Park” on the ruins of the village where Dr. Zayid was born and raised as a boy.
Focus on Zionism:
Highlights of an August 28th, 2007 AFP dispatch about a Palestinian baby that dies in the heat waiting at a border crossing between Gaza and Israel.
Here is an audio file of this show: