News Highlights:
- Feb. 23 marked the beginning of the hearings on the apartheid wall at the International Court of Justice in the Hague; Zionist Christian groups allowed to hold high profile demo while pro-Palestinians limited to just 25 protestors.
- International Red Cross calls on Israel to halt building separation wall because it breaches international law
Oxford legal group also says apartheid wall violates international human rights law. - Armed Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem attack Palestinian homes and cars.
- U.N. is concerned at the growing despair amongst Palestinian refugees and says the wall just increases peoples’ feelings of hopelessness.
- Mordecai Vanunu, Israeli anti-nuclear activist, soon to leave Israeli jail after 18 years imprisonment but Israeli officials may slap restrictions on him after release.
Special Feature:
A discussion on the hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding the apartheid wall Israel is building in the West Bank. Legal opinions provided by various international authorities had clearly stated that Israel was flaunting international law, and there was discussion about how the panel might rule and what message their ruling would send to the Palestinian and all oppressed peoples. There was also analysis about the media “spin” outside the ICJ on the first day of the hearings and the role the Dutch government and Zionist organizations played in controlling who and what was highlighted as international cameras were converging on the Hague.
Focus on Zionism:
Excerpts of an article carried in the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, entitled “When Soldiers become Bullies”. The article details one incident when three Israeli soldiers in black ski masks harassed a taxi owner and took his vehicle, apparently a very common experience. The article concludes that a “regime of bullying has emerged…in the territories”.