News Highlights:

• Israeli forces launch military invasion into Nablus refugee camps, resulting in one Palestinian and one Israeli soldier being killed.
• Israeli forces kill 16-year-old in Ramallah and leave him to bleed to death, refusing him medical aid.
• Mahmoud Abbas says he will not attend the regional November summit unless there will be an Agreement of Principles.
• Israeli Palestinian leaders announce plants to boycott Israel’s El Al airlines due to harassment of Arab passengers.
• There was a special commentary to mark the 25th anniversary of the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon. Download that commentary here.

Feature:

The feature was a live interview with Professor Joel Kovel from New York, who was coming to Vancouver to make two presentations, one entitled “Overcoming Zionism”. Prof. Kovel spoke about his new book of the same name and how he had come to the conclusion that the Zionist project of an exclusive Jewish state was damaging to the Jewish people, as well as the Palestinians. Kovel also detailed how there had been pressure to stop publication of his book and called on people to support the boycott campaign against Israel.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a Sept. 17th, 2007 article in the Israeli Haaretz newspaper about how an American appeals court dismissed the lawsuit against Caterpillar bulldozers because a court could not criticize or question U.S. foreign policy.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Sept. 9th – partial strike in Gaza as Fateh-Hamas differences continue to escalate after Hamas security forces clash with demonstrators on Sept. 7th.
• Fateh security forces in Hebron break up student rally protesting tuition hikes.
• Israeli Foreign Minister claims Hamas is ultimately responsible for rocket attack on Israeli military base that wounds 69 Israeli soldiers.
• Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said U.S. sponsored conference will fail without a clear agenda and proper preparation.
• Israel is reportedly happy with the results of its airstrike on Syrian territory.

Feature:

A live interview with Sare Makdisi, a Palestinian American professor from UCLA. Prof. Makdisi talked about the failures of Oslo, and how the Palestinian people were actually worse after 15 years of the Oslo Agreement, especially in respect to conditions on the ground. He also talked about the attacks by Zionist lobby groups on progressive pro-Palestinian forces at universities in North America, both students and faculty. There was discussion of some of the many articles Prof. Makdisi had written, one on the possibility of a single secular democratic state as a solution and the other on why Palestinians reject the corrupt Abbas leadership.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a Sept. 9th, 2007 report carried by Reuters about a recent Btselem report entitled “Ghost Town”, detailing how Israeli policy is forcing many Palestinians to leave the center of Hebron/AlKhalil.

Here is an audio file of this show:

Voice of Palestine 20th Anniversary

News Highlights:

• Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis leaves five civilians injured; in 2 weeks, 12 Palestinians including 6 children have been killed in such attacks.
• Mahmoud Abbas revises Palestinian election laws to eliminate district voting, in which Hamas won a large majority in the last elections.
• Bilin village wins a court victory after years of non-violent resistance against the Israeli apartheid wall.
• The Ramallah appointed Palestinian government closes down 103 Palestinian charities, a move the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights says is illegal and will cut off emergency aid to thousands of families.

Feature:

Voice of Palestine marked 20 years of being on the air at Coop Radio and the show’s collective had a brief discussion on what had changed in this 20 year history. They also honoured late operator Patrick Newton and talked about the recipient of the scholarship in his name at BirZeit University in Palestine. The rest of the feature was a rebroadcast of one of the show’s most memorable interviews from November 16th, 1993, with the late Professor Israel Shahak, one of the vanguard Israelis to champion Palestinian human rights.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a September 2nd, 2007 Haaretz article by the famous Israeli commentator Gideon Levy entitled Children of War, in which he condemns the Israeli army’s contempt for the lives of Palestinian children.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Gaza human rights organization warns of imminent collapse of Gaza economy and says 80% of population is living below the poverty line; calls on international community to force Israel to lift the siege.
• Israeli forces kill four Palestinians in Gaza in two days.
• Appointed Palestinian PM, Salam Fayyad, orders the closure of 103 Palestinian institutions and NGOs, in a move analysts say is aimed at Hamas.
• Hamas says it will enforce Palestinian press law introduced in 1995 that bans publication of certain information amid protests from journalists.
• Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meet again, but without any concrete achievements and no easing of Israeli restrictions on Palestinians.
• Hamas leader Khalid Meshal says upcoming U.S.-sponsored conference is doomed to fail because it will only serve Israel’s interests.

Feature:

The feature was another in the series of Palestinian voices on the future of the Palestinian progressive secular movement. Dr. Ismail Zayid, a Palestinian Canadian author and activist from Halifax, was interviewed about the failure of the Oslo accords, and why they could never have met the minimum demands of the Palestinians. He also talked about what he thought was possible future options for the Palestinian nation. He concluded by discussing his long-time campaign with Revenue Canada demanding they rescind the tax-deductible status for the Jewish National Fund JNF. The JNF has built “Canada Park” on the ruins of the village where Dr. Zayid was born and raised as a boy.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of an August 28th, 2007 AFP dispatch about a Palestinian baby that dies in the heat waiting at a border crossing between Gaza and Israel.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Gaza’s only power plant has completely shut down after Israel’s four day closure of the border through which fuel crosses and the freezing of fuel payments by the EU.
• The effects of lack of electricity, especially in the heat of summer, are devastating for the health sector.
• 11 primary health clinics in Bedouin villages in the Negev are refused connection to the main Israeli power grid and must operate on generators.
• Two Palestinian boys, aged 9 and 12, killed by an Israeli missile in northern Gaza.
• Ismail Haniyeh urges Mahmoud Abbas to hold elections for the Palestine National Council, the highest body in the PLO.
• Israel Lands Administration is working with an extremist settler group to confiscate more Palestinian land in East Jerusalem.
• British government refuses visas to Palestinian youth soccer team invited for 3-week tour.

Feature:

Noah Lepawsky joined us in the studio to talk about his new play, being premiered Aug. 22nd-26th in Vancouver. Noah has a history in acting and theatre and also spent 7 weeks in the summer of 2005 working in Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement. His solo performance, I Met a Man in Jenin, was two years in development and chronicles his experiences as a Jewish-Canadian volunteering with Palestinians in the West Bank.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of an Aug. 17th, 2007 report by a Palestinian doctor about the impact of the separation wall on Palestinian villagers in Jayyous and Qalqilya.

Here is an audio file of this show: