News Highlights:

• Israel will release 199 Palestinian prisoners on August 25 as a “goodwill gesture” to Mahmoud Abbas, including two long-serving political detainees.
• Palestinian officials note, however, that just since the Annapolis conference last year, Israel has arrested over 4 times the number of prisoners it has released.
• Patients continue to die in Gaza due to the Israeli siege, as the latest Palestinian to die from lack of medical treatment brings the number to 237.
• Israeli judge releases on bail the father of the young girl who videotaped the shooting of a handcuffed Palestinian by an Israeli soldier; father’s attorney says the arrest was simply out of vengeance.

Feature:

The feature was a unique cultural presentation, entitled the University of Majd, and detailed the experiences of a young Palestinian political prisoner. Majd was arrested during the mass Israeli raids in April 2002 and sentenced to a 30 year term. The presentation, which is both spoken word and musical, tells the story of this one of 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners and is both moving and informative at the same time.

Focus on Zionism:

Focus was part of an August 18th, 2008 press release from the International Solidarity Movement about the two ships carrying over 40 human rights volunteers trying to break the siege on Gaza.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Palestinians plan state funeral for Mahmoud Darwish, the famous Palestinian poet who passed away on August 9th, 2008 following heart surgery.
• Israeli military raids the West Bank village of Yabad, near Jenin, and stops work on water reservoirs; the village is currently not connected to either the water or electricity networks and suffers from lack of basic services.
• Palestinian negotiators say two state solution may be impossible due to Israeli demands and therefore a single binational state would be the only solution left.
• Palestinian Centre for Human Rights welcomes the Spanish High Court decision to issue arrest warrants for the six Israeli officials accused of war crimes in bombing a residential Gaza neighbourhood.

Feature:

The feature was a tribute to the poetry and legacy of Mahmoud Darwish, the Palestinian “poet laureate” who passed away on August 9th, 2008. Local Palestinian Abed Mustafa spoke of his memories of Darwish, as they were both from the same village and grew up together (a village that was destroyed by Zionist forces in 1948). Several of Mahmoud’s poems were also presented in both Arabic and English, as well as musical adaptations. The feature concluded with comments about the enormous contributions of Darwish, both culturally and politically, to the Palestinian and Arab peoples.

Focus on Zionism:

Due to the length and importance of the feature, Focus was not presented.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• International activists are crossing from Cyprus to Gaza in two vessels to try and break the Israeli blockade.
• Nilin villagers bury 17-year-old Palestinian killed by Israeli troops, but funeral is attacked by Palestinian Authority security in Ramallah for displaying Hamas flags.
• Israel transfers 88 Fateh supporters to Jericho, after they fled clashes with Hamas in Gaza.
• Israel’s Shin Bet security service is coercing ill Palestinians to become informants in exchange for medical treatment, reports Israeli Physicians for Human Rights.

Feature:

The feature was a special tribute to the poetry of the late Tawfiq Zayyad (1929-1994), who was also the mayor of Nazareth. We talked with Naila Zayyad, the widow of Tawfiq and herself a long-time activist in Nazareth. She read some of Tawfiq’s poems in Arabic which were then presented in English along with musical adaptations of the poetry. Naila explained about the Tawfiq Zayyad Foundation in Nazareth (http://www.zayyad.com (Arabic) and gave the email [email protected] for people to get more information in English.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of an August 3rd, 2008 report from the International Solidarity Movement about settler violence against Palestinian children and families in Al-Khalil (Hebron) and a successful protest action.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• 10-year-old Palestinian boy shot dead near Nilin, as protests continue against the apartheid wall that will take 2500 dunums of village land; Israeli authorities are deporting 23-year-old Canadian human rights volunteer who was assisting the Nilin villagers.
• Palestinian officials say upcoming talks in Washington are the last chance for peace negotiations to succeed.
• Palestinian human rights groups say both Fateh and Hamas are engaging in arbitrary arrests of political opponents and torture.
• Palestine Solidarity Campaign in the U.K. calls for a ban on imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Feature:

The feature was a rebroadcast of a presentation given on March 12th, 2005 at the Palestine Lives Conference in McMaster University, Hamilton, about Canadian foreign policy. Mustafa Henaway, a former York Univ. student and volunteer with the Int’l. Solidarity Movement, explained about the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement, in particular its hidden military clauses, and also highlighted the complicity of Canadian companies in maintaining Israeli occupation. The information he provided is especially relevant given the new lawsuit against two companies in Quebec by the village of Bilin for illegal settlement construction.

Focus on Zionism:

University presidents in Israel demand that the Israeli military stop restricting Palestinian students from being able to enrol or take certain courses in Israeli academic institutions; meanwhile, five Israeli professors join a legal challenge against such restrictions.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Israeli soldier that was filmed shooting a bound and blindfolded Palestinian was released from police detention, because he said his commander told him 3 times to “shoot him”.
• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warns he will withdraw PA security forces from cities in the occupied West Bank unless the Israeli military halts their raids.
• Palestinian political prisoners in Israel’s Majeddo prison are attacked by guards, with 13 detainees wounded; there are over 10,000 Palestinian prisoners, including 78 women, in Israeli jails, all facing very bad conditions.

Feature:

A live interview with Gordon Murray of the Palestine Media Collective, who was one of the authors of the Vancouver Sun parody and a long-time supporter of the Palestinian people. Gordon explained about the recent letter in the Georgia Straight in he and Carel Moiseiwitch took responsibility for the Sun parody and detailed how their experiences in Palestine and the biased media here in Canada had motivated them. They are now two of the defendants in the lawsuit that CanWest has launched over the parody and Gordon encouraged people to check out the website (www.seriouslyfreespeech.ca) and to work through alternative media to educate others about the Palestinian people’s struggle.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a July 21st, 2008 article in the Egyptian Daily News, about a Scottish couple trying to bring medical supplied to besieged Gazan hospitals.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Palestinian toddler dies in Gaza Strip after being barred from transfer to a more specialized hospital elsewhere; the 19-month-old baby is the 204th Palestinian patient to die because of the ongoing Israeli closure.
• Israeli military forces continue their campaign against institutions in Nablus.
• Palestinian officials say they may suspend negotiations with Israel due to the continued settlement construction and expansion; Palestinian village of Bilin has launched a lawsuit against two Canadian construction companies for illegal settlement building activity.
• International Committee of the Red Cross says Israeli restrictions on movement are damaging Bedouin communities in the West Bank.

Feature:

The feature was a tribute to long-time activist and supporter of Palestinian rights, Mordecai Briemberg, who just turned 70. An interview on Voice of Palestine with Mord from 15 years ago, in Sept/93, was presented, where he commented on the then just-announced Oslo Accords. The feature concluded by detailing the Canwest lawsuit against Mord and others and the committee (www.seriouslyfreespeech.ca) that is working to defend freedom of speech and challenge Canwest’s attempts to stifle debate on Israel/Palestine.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of a July 15th, 2008 article in the British Guardian newspaper about the Israeli restrictions on Gaza students trying to study abroad and the story of one young Palestinian man who could finally pursue his Master’s in Britain after 8 years.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Israeli army invades Nablus, and shuts down several charitable institutions and confiscates their properties.
• Israeli forces also raid a popular shopping mall in Nablus, but local shoppers defy the two year closure.
• July 5th – Israeli army invades the village of Nilin near Ramallah, ordering a complete curfew and closing off all roads.
• Many Palestinians in the occupied West Bank will hold protests July 9-12th to mark the fourth anniversary of the Int’l. Court decision against Israel’s apartheid wall.
• Appointed Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad said that Israel did not allow the transfer of money to pay Gazan civil servants.

Feature:

A live interview from Palestine with Victor MacDiarmind of Kingston, Ontario, who is currently a human rights volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement in the occupied West Bank. Victor spoke about the protests against the apartheid wall happening in the village of Nilin which was recently put under curfew. Victor told us about the violent response of the Israeli military to the villagers’ non-violent actions, and he himself had been shot twice by Israeli forces, but thankfully with only minor injuries. He then updated us on the situation in Nablus, where he had just travelled, and detailed the results of the Israeli raids on the city.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a July 7th, 2008 article from the Palestine News Network about a 7 year old Palestinian girl paralysed from the neck down by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza who may soon be expelled from the only hospital in Israel that can offer the specialized treatment she needs.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Red Cross official says that the Israeli siege on Gaza is having a devastating impact on all aspects of daily life and commerce.
• Palestinian prize-winning journalist Mohammed Omer is strip-searched and assaulted by Israeli security officials as a border crossing.
• A proposed amendment to an Israeli law will deny Palestinians the right to seek compensation for Israeli army damages.
• Israel’s Foreign Ministry advises a number of Israeli officials not to visit Spain, as an international arrest warrant was issued against them on suspicion of war crimes.

Feature:

A special Eyewitness Palestine, with two on-the-ground stories from the occupied West Bank. The first was based on a new report from the Israeli human rights group Btselem, about the grave water shortage developing this summer in large areas of the West Bank where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are not connected to a water network. This was followed by the heart-breaking description of one family’s suffering and exposure to disease because of contaminated water in the village of Burin. The second segment talked about the Israeli closure and harassment of the Hebron orphanages run by the Islamic Charitable Society, and was carried in the Guardian newspaper.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a June 29th, 2008 open letter sent to U.S. rap musician Snoop Dogg by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, urging him to cancel his September/08 performance in Israel.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• The first violation of the Gaza ceasefire occurs when Israeli troops wound a 68-year-old Palestinian farmer in northern Gaza on June 23rd, 2008.
• Gaza truce remains shaky, as Israeli troops kill 2 Palestinians in the West Bank and Palestinian resistance fighters in Gaza respond by sending rockets into Israel.
• International donors to the Ramallah-based Palestinian police and security forces meet in Berlin, amid U.S. pressure to maintain the isolation of Hamas.
• 5 Palestinian civilians injured in an anti-separation wall protest in Nilin near Ramallah; Nilin will lose 2500 dunums of land and be completely separated from the West Bank.

Feature:

A live interview from Australia with Harmeet Sooden, an activist with the International Solidarity Movement who was recently deported from Israel. Harmeet explained how he got involved with Palestinian support work and made his first trip to the occupied territories a few years ago. He tried to return earlier this month and was detained by Israeli authorities, roughed up and eventually deported. Harmeet was also one of the 4 Christian Peacemaker Team members kidnapped in Iraq in November 2005 and he talked about that experience and commented on how the media responded differently. He concluded by calling on people to become informed and pressure their own governments to sanction Israel’s human rights violations.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a June 23rd, 2008 article from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz about a Palestinian Israeli woman who wants to celebrate her 60th birthday by being able to visit the grave of her father. She has never been able to visit it because there is an Israeli military base on the ruins of her family’s village near Nazareth.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Israel announces it will build more settlement housing units in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank; this brings to nearly 8000 the number of new settlement units approved for construction since the Annapolis talks last November.
• Israel and Hamas agree to a six-month truce, to start on June 19, brokered by Egypt; Israeli airstrikes have killed 20 Palestinians in Gaza in the last week alone.
• June 16th – Israeli military invades Bethlehem, injuring an elderly woman and a teenager.
• Reuters is pressing the Israeli military for answers as to why a Reuters cameraman and eight other Palestinian civilians were killed on a road in Gaza by “flechette darts” fired by an Israeli tank.

Feature:

A live interview with Omar Shaban, the new VP for the West for the Canadian Arab Federation (www.caf.ca). Omar detailed the workshops held at CAF’s recent convention and AGM that included an emphasis on the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, as well as media action and Canada’s policies towards Arab refugees. Omar, who was at the Toronto convention representing Canada Palestine Association in Vancouver, also explained how the participants wanted to increase the involvement of Arab Canadian youth.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a June 13th, 2008 human rights report from the Int’l. Womens Peace Service IWPS about Israeli military attacks on the village of Izbat al Tabib, apparently in order to clear the village for a new settler-only road.

Here is an audio file of this show: