News Highlights:

• Israel approves more settlement construction in occupied East Jerusalem.
• The weekly anti-wall protest in Al Masara near Bethlehem also called for national unity and an end to futile negotiations.
• National Council of Churches Australia calls for boycotting goods from Israeli settlements.
• Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanese movement Hezbollah, said they will not stand by if Israel attacks the Lebanese army again; his speech came hours after a clash between the Israeli and Lebanese armies that left 4 Lebanese and one Israeli officer dead, and also marked 4 years since the end of Israel’s 2006 aggression on Lebanon.

Feature:

A special Eyewitness Palestine highlighting what has been termed the slow-motion ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians by the Israeli state. The feature included excerpts of two reports, the first from Human Rights Watch about recent Israeli demolitions of Palestinian Bedouin homes in the Negev, which resulted in the destruction of the whole village of Al Araqib. The second report was from British writer Ben White about his return visit to the Nassar family near Bethlehem, who are living under the threat of demolition orders issued by the Israeli occupation authorities, whilst illegal Israeli outposts expand around them.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of an August 2nd, 2010 report about the video footage being shown around the world of a 4-year-old Palestinian boy pleading with Israeli forces to release his dad who was being detained for protecting his farmland.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Palestinian leader Dr. Mustafa Bargouthi says Israel recently began construction on 100 new settler housing units near Bethlehem, despite its announced “freeze”.
• Human rights groups in Gaza say Israeli soldiers killed 5 Palestinians in the month of June and intensified work on the “buffer zone” destroying Palestinian farmland.
• A Palestinian mother of five is killed by Israeli artillery fire in Gaza, as Palestinian ambulances were prevented from reaching the woman and her family for several hours.
• UN agencies say Israeli control of water supplies in the occupied West Bank have led to severe shortages for Palestinians.

Feature:

A live interview with Sid Shniad, a member of Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), about the group’s recent delegation that went to Israel/Palestine. Sid began by explaining about how IJV was formed and its objectives and activities. He then talked about the recent trip to Israel/Palestine, of which he was a part; he detailed their conversations with both Israeli and Palestinian human rights activists and the places they had visited, including the village of Bilin where the weekly protests against the apartheid wall take place. The interview concluded with a discussion about the pending anti-boycott legislation in Israel and the importance of supporting the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions BDS movement.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a July 19th, 2010 press release from the Olympia BDS group about how the Olympia Food Coop had voted to remove Israeli products from its shelves, the first U.S. grocery store to take such an action.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• On July 9th, Nilin was one of many Palestinian villages to mark the 6th anniversary of the ruling of Int’l Court of justice against the Israeli separation wall.
• Israel’s parliament is considering legislation that will make it illegal for any Israeli citizen to support the Palestinian BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement.
• More Palestinian homes are demolished by Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem.
• Israeli military is intercepting a Libyan ship trying to bring aid to Gaza, which will most likely be forced to dock at an Egyptian port.

Feature:

A live interview with Prof. Lawrence Davidson, a history professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania, U.S., to talk about his books and many articles on U.S. policy in the Middle East and mainstream media bias in favour of Israel. Prof. Davidson, who did post graduate studies in Alberta, explained how he became interested in Palestinian affairs and what influences had affected his analysis. He emphasized the importance of the boycott Israel movement and talked about the recent decisions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. in that regard.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of a July 13th, 2010 article by Jonathan Cook about Israel’s new remote-controlled machine gun towers, called Spot and Shoot.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Israeli settlements are set for expansion push in September at the end of the temporary and partial “construction freeze”; Israeli media estimates 2700 new settler housing units are in the works.
• July 2nd, Israeli forces arrest activists during the weekly anti-wall protest in Wadi Rahal, near Bethlehem; July 9th will mark the sixth anniversary of the ruling of the Int’l Court of Justice that condemned the construction of Israel’s apartheid wall.
• Adeeb Abu Rahma, active in the non-violent weekly protests in Bilin, is sentenced to two years in an Israeli prison after being held for 11 months with no trial.
• Israeli human rights groups accuse the Israeli military of using Palestinians, including kids, as human shields during its invasion last January.

Feature:

Our feature was an instudio discussion about the Israeli blockade on Gaza and the diplomatic fallout from the deadly Israeli naval raid on the Gaza aid flotilla at the end of May. There was analysis of Israel’s new system for “easing” the blockade, which many analysts say is insufficient for needed reconstruction efforts, and also does not address the restrictions on movement of people and exports from Gaza. The discussion then moved to the strain in Israel-Turkey relations since the flotilla attack, how the militaries of the two countries were still maintaining close ties despite major shifts in Turkey’s diplomatic approach, and how all of this could impact relations in the region as a whole. Part of a statement by Rachel Corrie’s family, which stated that Israel could not be trusted to investigate the flotilla raid, was presented, and the feature then concluded by emphasizing the importance of the global Boycott Israel movement.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a July 5th, 2010 U.N. report about how Palestinian children in Gaza are missing out on a proper education due to the Israeli blockade.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• 10 Jordan Valley Palestinian families are given 24 hours by Israeli
  authorities to leave their homes.
• The Israeli government, under international pressure, agrees to broaden the
  scope of its internal inquiry into the deadly flotilla raid.
• Israeli forces nab 5 Palestinians, including a 12-year-old boy, during an
  early morning raid in Silwan, occupied East Jerusalem; clashes in the
  Silwan district have been ongoing, resulting in Palestinian injuries and even
  miscarriages due to tear gas inhalation.

Feature:

An interview with Gaza flotilla survivor, Farooq Burney, who is currently
planning a speaking tour of Ontario. Farooq, a Palestinian Canadian,
was on the Mavi Marmara when it was attacked by Israeli naval
commandos. He detailed his experiences both on the ship and during
Israeli incarceration. He also talked about his project to defend the right to
education for Palestinian students called Fakhoora.org

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of a June 29th, 2010 article in The Independent entitled, “Barred from
Jerusalem for Crime of Being Palestinian”, about Israeli authorities’ moves
to revoke the East Jerusalem residency of many Palestinian Jerusalemites.

Here is an audio file of this show: