News Highlights:

• Another Palestinian political detainee is in imminent danger of death after 63 days on hunger strike, as Israeli courts refuse his request for release.
• Israeli officials deliver demolition orders for the village of Susiya, near an illegal settlement in the Hebron district; this will be the sixth time that Israel has demolished the village which its residents insist on rebuilding.
• South African award-winning author Alice Walker refuses to allow an Israeli publisher to print The Colour Purple, due to “Israeli apartheid and persecution of the Palestinian people..”.

Feature:

A live interview with Charlotte Kates from Gaza, about the Vancouver delegation that is currently there visiting grassroots organizations and doing solidarity actions with Palestinian fishermen and prisoners. Charlotte explained how the delegation was formed and the objectives the Vancouver activists were trying to achieve. She updated listeners on who they had met with so far, which included health care workers, former political prisoners and union reps. The delegation will be making a full report on their return and Charlotte encouraged people to check out their website www.vancouver2gaza.org for more details.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of a June 18th, 2012 report in the Israeli YNet about an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank that offers tourists, especially Americans, the chance to pretend to shoot and kill “a terrorist”.

News Highlights:

• Palestinian prisoners plan a one-day hunger strike in solidarity with 3 administrative detainees on long-term hunger strike, one of them for over 80 days.
• FIFA president calls for action on Mahmoud Sarsak, the Palestinian detainee on hunger strike who is a member of the Palestinian national soccer team and is held by Israel without charge or trial.
• Israeli authorities plan to expand the illegal settlement of Gilo, built on Palestinian land from Beit Jala but now part of “Greater Jerusalem”, with another 2500 new housing units.

Feature:

A special broadcast of a new radio play adapted by Ed Mast from Seattle, entitled “Antigone’s Nation”. The play was dedicated to the Palestinian hunger strikers and also marked the 45 years of Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a June 11th, 2012 report carried in the Maan news agency about hate messages and death threats against Arabs spray painted on cars in a village west of Jerusalem set up to promote co-existence.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Palestinian detainee on hunger strike for 72 days, football player Mahmoud Sarsak, is in deteriorating health; meanwhile, Israeli officials continue to renew administrative detention orders for other Palestinian political prisoners, including MPs, despite the agreement reached last month.
• Palestinian grassroots activist Bassem Tamimi from Nabi Saleh is sentenced to 13 months imprisonment already served, as well as a suspended sentence to be activated if he engages in “actions against public order”.
• 2 Israeli police officers are convicted (but not yet sentenced) of negligent homicide after leaving a sick Palestinian man, still in hospital pyjamas, to die at the side of a deserted road.

Feature:

A live interview with Moira Jilani from Palestine about the murder of her husband Ziad two years ago at a checkpoint and the refusal of Israeli officials to bring charges against the Israeli border policeman responsible. Moira detailed how Ziad was shot at point blank range in the head while lying wounded and unarmed after a traffic accident, and the assistance she had received from Israeli progressives and journalist Amira Hass in trying to get justice for her family. She also told us how painful the situation was for all of them, especially her three daughters, and asked people to sign the online petition at the website www.killingwithoutconsequence.com

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a May 26, 2012 report from a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team about the daily effects in Hebron/AlKhalil of the apartheid separation that privileges the settlers in the city.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Israeli Assoc. for Civil Rights issues new report saying 84% of Palestinian children in occupied Jerusalem live below the poverty line.
• Reporters without Borders criticize the arrest by Israeli troops of the director of the Palestinian Prisoner Channel in Jenin, the third such attack on the Palestinian media by Israel this year.
• A conference on water and agricultural development in Palestine talks about how Palestinians are restricted in their access to water, due to Israeli control of 85% of such resources.

Feature:

A live interview with Ehab Lotayef from Montreal, an Egyptian Canadian activist and poet, about the new project entitled Gaza’s Ark, Building Hope. Ehab, who was one of the internationals on board the Tahrir when it was boarded and kidnapped by Israeli forces last November, explained how this new project will involve building a boat in Gaza and sailing it out with Palestinian products for export. He detailed how the project will help support industry and infrastructure in Gaza as well as challenge the illegal Israeli blockade, and encouraged listeners to donate at www.gazaark.org to support the Palestinian people.

News Highlights:

• 2000 Palestinian political prisoners end their hunger strike after reaching an agreement with the Israeli Prison Authorities.
• Prisoner rights group Addameer is concerned Israel may not respect the terms of the agreement, which included an end to the abusive use of solitary confinement and other punitive measures, as well as some changes in the terms of administrative detention which is incarceration without charge or trial.
• EU foreign ministers condemn Israeli settlement building and curbs on Palestinian economic development in the occupied West Bank.

Feature:

A special presentation to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, which included an analysis by a Palestinian journalist from occupied East Jerusalem about the continuing Nakba as well as several stories from Palestinian teens living in refugee camps in Lebanon.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a May 8th, 2012 report about a raid by Israeli forces on Stop The Wall’s offices in Ramallah, even though the group is based in “Area A”, supposedly under Palestinian control.

Here is an audio file of this show: