News Highlights:

• Israeli authorities forbid a young Palestinian boy from Gaza who lost his mother to join his father in the West Bank.
• Israel plans to allocate $250 million U.S. for settlement expansion over the next two years, according to Peace Now, which adds this is probably just the tip of the iceberg.
• Palestinian MP and House Speakers Aziz Dweik is finally released from Israeli jails, although many Palestinian legislators are still political prisoners.
• Free Gaza movement is planning to send another ship to Gaza in its 8th mission so far to break the siege and collective punishment on the Palestinians there.

Feature:

A special presentation by a member of Jews for a Just Peace, Vancouver about the Israeli refusenik movement. The special included two interviews, one with Rafi Spivak, the editor of the film Raised to Be Heroes and the other with a recent refusenik now living in Canada. Both interviews highlighted the difficult process refuseniks go through and the isolation they face in the broader Israeli society, as well as the attitude of “entitlement” that permeates the actions of the Israeli military.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a June 21st, 2009 report about a lawsuit filed by Israeli human rights groups in the Israeli High Court exposing official government support for Israeli settlement expansion in the West bank.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Two years into the siege on Gaza, many necessities are still blocked from getting in and exports are totally frozen; unemployment is high and many people live in poverty.
• Jimmy Carter says Israeli PM Netanyahu’s conditions are an obstacle to peace; however, the White House calls Netanyahu’s speech “an important step forward”.
• Israeli settlers are happy with Netanyahu’s statements, which did not call for any freeze on settlement expansion or evacuations.
• Israeli bulldozers start destroying parts of Abu Dis and Sawahreh in occupied East Jerusalem, to build infrastructure for a new settlement.

Feature:

The live interview with Palestinian academic and activist Omar Barghouti from Ramallah was unable to go ahead, due to problems with the phone connections. Omar is a leader with the Palestinian Boycott Israel Campaign and several of the recent statements and interviews he has made were discussed, especially regarding the victory with the French company Veolia. Our in studio panel then discussed the recent speech of Benjamin Netanyahu and how it did not present anything new for the Palestinians, and in fact fell woefully short of most important issues, especially settlements, the right of return and Jerusalem.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a June 15th, 2009 report from Relief Web, the U.N. news service detailing how 300,000 Palestinians are under threat of losing their homes due to blanket demolition orders from Israeli authorities.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Israeli forces prevent the funeral procession for Yosef Srur from reaching the burial grounds in Nilin; Srur was killed by Israeli soldiers during an anti-wall protest.
• Al Masara villagers near Bethlehem march in their weekly demo against the apartheid wall, and also mark the 42nd anniversary of the Israeli occupation.
• Israeli officers testify that troops have beaten Palestinians as young as 14 that were bound and blindfolded in the village of Hares in the occupied West Bank.
• Israeli settlers increase the number of settlement outposts, calling one “Obama Hut”.
• Israeli press says that more than 3200 settler housing units have been built since the beginning of 2008 and more construction is expected.

Feature:

A special presentation of stories and poetry marking the 42nd anniversary of the illegal Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Stories of two Palestinian villages were highlighted, one called Marda in the northern West Bank that now sits between the settlement of Ariel and barbed wire and is completely isolated from surrounding villages and even its own farming land. The second report was from Amnesty International and detailed the suffering of villagers in Hadidiya in the Jordan Valley who face immediate eviction from their homes. The poetry of Yusuf Hamdan was also presented, and his poem To Jerusalem was read in both Arabic and English.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of the June 8th, 2009 statement by Palestinian activist Omar Barghouti, dealing with the victory of the Boycott Israel movement in pressuring French company Veolia to abandon the Jerusalem light rail project.

News Highlights:

• The Palestinians in Bilin held their weekly anti-wall protest on May 29th, and remembered Bassem Abu Rahme killed 40 days ago by Israeli soldiers.
• Israeli settlers attack Palestinians, in a day of settler violence aimed to counter the Israeli government’s dismantling of any settler outposts.
• Hamas leaders are ready to cooperate with the UN inquiry panel which arrived in Gaza, as Israeli officials refuse such cooperation.
• UN agencies say that Israel’s “buffer zone” on the border with Gaza swallows 30% of Gaza’s arable land.
• Several Palestinian factions call for national unity after 6 Palestinians are killed in Qalqilya, after an attempted arrest raid by Palestinian Authority security forces.

Feature:

A live interview from Montreal with Emily Schaeffer, an Israeli lawyer representing the village of Bilin, who is currently on a cross-Canada tour. Emily explained about the lawsuit against two Canadian companies being heard in Montreal at the end of June, for their part in helping build illegal Israeli settlements on Bilin village land. She is touring Canada all this month to help inform people about the lawsuit and the situation of the Palestinian families who have lost their land and is speaking in Vancouver on June 7th and 8th as well as in Victoria.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a May 30th, 2009 “Open Letter from Gaza” calling on the Spanish people and government to not restrict universal jurisdiction in Spain, with regards to breaches of international humanitarian law.

News Highlights:

• May 22nd – Israeli forces shoot a young Palestinian in the head with a tear gas projectile during an anti-wall protest in Nilin; he is the 4th Palestinian to be killed by Israeli soldiers in Nilin during the last year.
• Egyptian government limits the number of people from the European Hope for Gaza convoy that are allowed to enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing.
• Israeli ministerial committee approves a draft law banning the commemoration of the AlNakba and making it punishable with up to 3 years in Israeli jail.
• Israeli settlers plan their response to any evacuation of the illegal outposts, including immediately rebuilding them.

Feature:

A live presentation of the play Seven Jewish Children – a Play for Gaza by Caryl Churchill. The radio-play was performed and directed by members of Jews for a Just Peace and Independent Jewish Voices in BC. The playwright gave her play to the world and asked only that people send humanitarian donations to Medical Aid for Palestinians UK, 33a Islington Park St., London N1 1QB. The play, which has been the target of sustained attacks by the Israeli lobby, features the voices of adults, parents or guardians speaking to their children as they explain seven different moments in history. The presentation was followed by a brief discussion about the significance of the play and why it has raised so much debate.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a May 22nd, 2009 Haaretz report about how the Israeli settler movement establishes new settlements, and the complicity of both the Israeli government and military in this process.

Here is an audio file of this show: