News Highlights:

• Another Palestinian child dies in Gaza due to lack of medical treatment caused by the Israeli siege.
• UN watchdog on torture criticizes Israel for refusing to allow inspections at a secret prison.
• Barak Obama says Israel should stop construction of West Bank settlements, after meeting Israeli PM Netanyahu; news had leaked out just hours before the meeting that Israel is establishing a new West Bank settlement for the first time in 26 years.
• Mahmoud Abbas appoints new caretaker government, over the protests of even his own party’s parliamentary bloc.
• 2 Israeli peace groups say the Israeli government is extending its control over occupied East Jerusalem in alliance with extremist settlers.

Feature:

The feature was an Eyewitness Palestine – Al Nakba Continues, and featured two reports on the occasion of the 61st anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba. The first report was from the Palestinian NGO Al Haq, which has special consultative status with the U.N., and dealt with the continuing colonization of Palestinian land. The report was actually the summary of an intensive study by a team of scholars from 5 countries that were examining former UN rapporteur John Dugard’s comments that elements of the Israeli occupation constitute colonialism. The second segment was excerpts of a story from the Brisbane Times about the daily living conditions in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a May 15th, 2009 report released by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, dealing with the 313 Palestinian children under 18 killed by Israeli forces during their assault on Gaza earlier this year.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Families of Palestinian prisoners call on the Pope to visit them, as he did with the family of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit; the relatives wanted the Pope to not ignore the over 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners held by Israel.
• Israeli PM Netanyahu will tell Barack Obama that Israel will keep building in existing settlements.
• Israeli peace groups say the Israeli government is extending its control over occupied East Jerusalem in collaboration with extremist settler groups.
• Palestinian advisor on Jerusalem says his office will take legal action to stop Israel from expanding the West Bank settlement Maale Adumim.

Feature:

A live interview with Fatemah Meghji, the new national Chapters Coordinator for Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, SPHR, the leading pro-Palestinian student group in Canada. Fatemah, who is also past president of SPHR-UBC, talked about the goals of the group in trying to educate the student population about the Palestinian people’s suffering. She further explained about the aggressive Israel lobby on campuses and how it has harassed their members and tried unsuccessfully to censor their work.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a May 12th, 2009 IPS report about the lack of any rebuilding in Gaza and the continuing psychological effects of the Israeli occupation on the Palestinian civilian population, especially the children.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• A United Nations inquiry accuses the Israeli military of “negligence or recklessness” in its recent attacks on Gaza and calls for compensation for Palestinians; the full report was not released as the UN Secretary General rejected its call for a more complete investigation, as this inquiry was limited only to attacks on UN facilities.
• Israeli Interior Minister tells extremist settler groups that the government will approve all their expansion plans on Palestinian land.
• Physicians for Human Rights-Israel says Palestinian patients are being interrogated and forced to give information if they want to leave Gaza for medical treatment.
• Spanish judge will go ahead with probe into alleged crimes against humanity by Israeli military leaders for a 2002 bombing in Gaza.

Feature:

A live interview with Sid Shniad of Independent Jewish Voice – Canada, about his recent trip to the Durban conference in Geneva. Sid gave us some background on his group and why they felt it was important to be at the Durban Conference, especially with the boycott of the governments of Canada, Israel, the U.S. and others. He also explained how despite the boycott, there were 1000 pro-Israel lobbyists there, who were extremely aggressive in disrupting workshops and other events. Sid concluded by calling on listeners to get involved with the support work and if interested, to learn more about IJV at www.ijvcanada.org

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a May 4th, 2009 press release from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights about Israeli plans to confiscate 12000 dunums of Palestinian land for settlement expansion and to further dispossess Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Israeli group Peace Now says the Israeli interior ministry has plans to expand the Maale Adumim settlement, adding another 6000 settler units.
• 17-year-old Palestinian teen shot by Jewish settler while working with his family in the fields; the bullet entered his back and exited through his chest.
• 37 Palestinians injured by Israeli forces during anti-wall protests that were also commemorating Basem Abu Rahme, killed recently by the Israeli military in Bilin.
• Some Palestinian officials, including the son of Mahmoud Abbas, profit from shares in the Palestine Electric Co. in Gaza, despite 1.5 million Gazans facing huge electricity shortages; this is because of a previous agreement with the Palestinian Authority that guarantees profits no matter the circumstances.

Feature:

An interview direct from Gaza City with Dr. Haidar Ed, a university professor and one of the founders of the One Democratic State Group. Dr. Eid updated us on the daily living conditions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and explained how conditions were still horrific. He also emphasized that aid is not getting through due to the Israeli and Egyptian blockade and that reconstruction is being hampered. Dr. Eid, who is also a member of the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (www.pacbi.org), talked about the increasing effectiveness of the global boycott Israel movement and the impact it is having.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of the April 23rd, 2009 press release from the National Lawyers Guild in the U.S., calling on the U.S. government to support the U.N. investigation into Israel’s recent offensive on Gaza.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Israeli peace activists protest the Israeli military’s killing of a non-violent Palestinian protestor in Bilin.
• Hundreds of Palestinians face the demolition of their homes and livelihood in Hebron/Alkhalil, to allow for settlement expansion and infrastructure.
• Palestinian NGOs say Arab and Palestinian diplomats buckled to U.S. pressure to keep Palestine off the agenda at the Durban conference.

Feature:

A live interview from Palestine with Abdullah Abu Rahma from the village of Bilin in the occupied West Bank. Bilin has been in the forefront of Palestinian protests against the apartheid wall and stages weekly non-violent rallies to call attention to the theft of Palestinian land. Abu Rahme talked about the rallies and explained how one of the organizers had been killed on April 17th by the Israeli military, the 18th person to be killed by Israeli forces during anti-wall protests. He also updated us on the 4th Bilin conference, which was starting that very day. Abu Rahme concluded with a call to support the global boycott Israel movement and to further educational work about the Palestinian people.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of an April 15th, 2009 report by IPS about how international aid is not reaching the people of Gaza due to the Israeli and Egyptian blockade and the closing of the Rafah crossing.

Here is an audio file of this show: