News Highlights:
- Gaza Strip’s only power plant is forced to shut down due to the Israeli blockade on fuel and other basic supplies; doctors fear for the lives of hospital patients, including premature babies.
- Israeli human rights groups deplore the Israeli blockade, and say this collective punishment is a “crime against humanity”.
- Jan. 19th – Israeli military kill 9 Palestinians, including four civilians, three of them women, during air strikes and injure another 57 people.
- Mahmoud Abbas insists negotiations with Israel should continue, despite growing opposition from Palestinians; he and appointed PM Fayyad also offer to take over the Gaza crossings without Hamas.
- Palestinian protesters manage to take over the Gaza Rafah crossing with Egypt, pushing their way past Egyptian police, and rushing to get food supplies.
Feature:
A live interview with Cindy and Craig Corrie, the parents of Rachel Corrie, the American student murdered by an Israeli bulldozer while protesting home demolitions in Rafah, Gaza. Cindy and Craig talked about the Vancouver premiere of the play My Name is Rachel Corrie, running at the Havana Theatre until Feb. 9th, 2008 (www.neworldtheatre.com) and also updated us on what other cities and countries the play has been performed in as well as efforts by pro-Israeli forces to censor it, especially in North America. The play is even scheduled to open in Haifa on March 16 of this year, the 5th anniversary of Rachel’s death. The Corries then talked about the work of their foundation as well as the progress of their lawsuit against Caterpillar, which supplies the Israeli government with the bulldozers to demolish Palestinian homes.
Focus on Zionism:
Due to the length and importance of the interview, Focus was postponed for this one show.
Here is an audio file of this show: