News Highlights:

• Apr 10th – Israeli artillery shells blast the Ghaban family home in northern Gaza, killing 8 year-old Hadeel and injuring her mom and 7 other family members.
• This year alone, 15 Palestinian kids have been killed in the occupied territories by the Israeli military.
• Thousands of Palestinians marched in Jenin, to mark the 4th anniversary of the Jenin massacre and the partial destruction of the refugee camp by Israeli forces in 2002.
• WHO warns that Palestinian health services face an acute crisis, due to Israeli sanctions and cuts in international aid.
• British attorney-general is called on to seek war crimes charges against five Israeli officers after a British inquest jury found that soldiers under their command intentionally killed British peace activist, Tom Hurndall in 2003.

Feature:

Tom, a Vancouver activist with the International Solidarity Movement, (www.ism-vancouver.org) joined us in the studio to talk about his recent trip to Palestine. This was Tom’s second time volunteering in Palestine and he spoke about the profound impact both trips had on him. This time he had been in Hebron/AlKhalil and witnessed the aggressive brutality of the illegal settlers there. He also talked about the memorial action for Rachel Corrie that he had participated in.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of an April 10th, 2006 Guardian article about how Israeli was boycotting the inquest into the shooting death of Tom Hurndall.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• April 3rd – Israeli forces launch night raids into Budrus, which has played a key role in protesting the apartheid wall.
• April 3rd – 13-year-old Palestinian shot dead by Israeli soldiers near Qalandia refugee camp; Palestinian fighters fire homemade rockets at southern Israel after another Israeli extra-judicial assassination.
• Israeli forces shell Gaza, killing one Palestinian and wounding seven, including a mother and child.
• Hamas says it held talks with French officials, and also met with Indian officials.
• Security expert in London says the Israeli killing of filmmaker James Miller was “cold-blooded murder”.

Feature:

Excerpts of a speech by Khaled Mouammar, presented at the second annual Palestine Lives Conference held April 1st at McMaster University. The conference, which was organized by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights SPHR and attended by over 200 people, featured speakers that included Ismail Zayid, Hanna Kawas and David Noble. Khaled Mouammar spoke about Ethnicity and Religion in the Holy Land.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of an April 3rd, 2006 Haaretz article about how Zionist Christian leaders in the U.S. are planning to launch a new lobby group, called Christians United for Israel.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Both the outgoing and new Palestinian governments condemn the compensation paid to the Israeli soldier who murdered Iman Al Hams, a 13-year-old Palestinian girl.
• Al Bireh, near Ramallah, no longer has places to bury its dead due to Israel preventing the construction of a new cemetery.
• Israeli election results show Ehud Olmert’s party leading, although he will have to form a coalition; voter turnout was the lowest in Israel’s history.
• Mahmoud Abbas says he is ready to renew negotiations with Israel, but the new PA government is more cautious about Ehud Olmert’s unilateralism.

Feature:

An in studio discussion about the result of the Israeli elections, held March 28, and the swearing-in of the new Palestinian government, set to happen March 30th. Ehud Olmert and the Kadima party that was started by Ariel Sharon will be forming the next coalition government and Olmert’s unilateral “separation policy” was discussed. An article by Amira Hass was referenced that discussed how Israeli elections impact the daily life of Palestinians more than Palestinian elections, and that this is the essence of occupation.

Focus on Zionism:

A statement released by www.stopthewall.org in Palestine marking the 30th anniversary of Land Day on March 30th. The statement called for greater mobilization, including an effective boycott campaign against Israeli products.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• British Foreign Office criticizes Israel after border policemen shot dead a 10-year-old Palestinian girl in Yamoun.
• Director of CARE Int’l in the West Bank says the route of the wall matches that of water resources, with many aquifers now located on the “Israeli side”.
• Extremist settler leader, Baruch Marzel, campaigning for the upcoming Israeli elections, calls for the assassination of Israeli peace activist, Uri Avnery.
• March 18th – Amnesty Int’l. calls on Israel to cease settlement expansion and construction of the separation wall, and calls for candidates in the March 28th elections to talk about human and social rights.

Feature:

A live interview from Palestine with Tom, a Vancouver activist volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement. Tom spoke about his experiences in various towns and cities in the West Bank, in particular the situation for Palestinians in Tel Rumeida in occupied Hebron/AlKhalil. Tom detailed how settler teenagers are allowed to openly and freely terrorize the Palestinian civilian population, in particular schoolchildren, and how he himself had been attacked by settler youth. He also told us about the solidarity action done on March 16th to commemorate the memory of Rachel Corrie.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a March 13th, 2006 press release in the Morning Star, detailing comments by South African trade unionist Willy Madisha, saying that S. Africa’s apartheid policies had been a “Sunday picnic” compared to Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinians.

Here is an audio file of this show:

Following is a report sent today from Robin, whom we interviewed on the Voice of Palestine on Tue. Mar. 21, 2006, Robin is a member of ISM-Vancouver, and this is his second trip to Palestine.

Destruction and Defiance in the Shadow of Bethlehem:

Unable to enter the al-Walaja village, I waited for close to an hour at the Har Gill’o turnoff until I could hear the sounds of 2 giant earth-movers, courtesy of Volvo and the Israeli government. The police refused to respond to questions, but a young soldier told me that a “military activity” was just finishing, but he had no idea what that activity was. He threatened to arrest me if I try to make my way past the blockade, so I waited, along with villagers and international press, until he allowed us to walk through. He and the others in green and blue, on horseback and jeeps, laughed as they ate their lunch on the hoods of their vehicles, oblivious to the villagers watching them. Ironically, the road sign to the illegal settlement of Har Gill’o boasts of accomodation and a lookout because of the stunning view: a view that the family of Hadr Mahmoud Mohammed Rabah no longer enjoy.

I walked the narrow road into the village, following the Volvo tracks and the ground up pavement, not in need of any directions. I spoke with two teenagers just released from handcuffs by the police. They were obviously devastated, but at least not injured like their friend, who took a blow to the head from a soldiers club.

The Rabah family, including 8 children, are now homeless, after the Volvo earth-movers tore through the back of their dwelling while family members scrambled desperately to remove furniture and other items. Another home nearby was also levelled, two more examples of an ugly Israeli tradition that occurs on average 2-3 times each month. A teacher in Bethlehem, Hadr Rabah tells me that the village is very united against the Occupation, so there is no shortage of people offering to take in family members temporarily at least. When I asked why the earth-movers left the front of the home intact, his reply was “they were afraid of the electric”.

It’s not hard to see why Israel desires this land that overlooks Jerusalem and a couple of illegal settlements that used to be parts of Beit Jala and Walaja. As one neighbour -himself in receipt of a destruction order- said…”This land is beautiful, so Israel needs it”. Another neighbour explained that the Israeli government …”needs to have the ground without the people”. In the distance towards Jerusalem, I could see the zoo, complete with giraffes wandering in their pen. After a couple weeks in Hebron, listening to Tel Rumeida settlers refer to Palestinians as pigs, dogs, and animals, I couldn’t help but see the parallel: The Israeli government sees the West Bank as their zoo for Palestinians, complete with walls, fences and gates…except they would rather you did not visit. I realize the comparison is primitive and unflattering, but I think it reflects the unwillingness of Israel to see the Palestinian people as teachers, doctors, shop-owners, students, mothers and sons.

I stood with the Rabah family as they explained how Israeli officials had been out repeatedly to photograph and survey the area around their home and many others in al-Walaja. I felt awful, but was encouraged to take pictures to record and report the flattened home and the young people sifting through the rubble for household goods. Another local teacher added her thoughts about the effects on young children when they witness such events at a young age. She told me that it is very difficult for the children of Walaja to sit in their classes and focus on education while there is such upheaval in the community at the hands of the occupying authorities. “Imagine what a two-year old will grow up like”. Why is not the entire village crowded around the ruins, embracing the family? “It happens so often. If they stand here now, will that change things? People still have to go to school and to work. If I stand here until 12:00 tomorrow, will it be any different?”

When homes in al-Walaja are destroyed, it often means olive and orange trees fall as well, but what are left standing are hope and defiance. Today it appears that defiance wins over hope.

News Highlights:

• Israel invades Jericho and raids a Palestinian prison compound, kidnapping the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; Ahmed Saadat was being guarded by British and American monitors who left the prison just before the Israeli raid.
• Palestinian official Saab Erekat says Western donors never gave money directly to the Palestinian Authority, always through NGO’s.
• Hamas leader Khalid Meshal condemns Israeli PM Ehud Olmert’s announced plan to finalize Israel’s borders by 2010 through unilateral actions:
• Israel is building a district police station in the E1 area, which is occupied West Bank land between Jerusalem and the settlement of Maaleh Adumim; a new large settlement is planned for the occupied area and Ehud Olmert says E1 will be developed to have “territorial contiguity” for Israel.
• Israel is preventing 2000 Palestinians from returning to the Jordan Valley, in an attempt to stop them from demanding their land back; Israel has illegally (even by Israeli law) transferred thousands of dunams of Palestinian land to settlements and army bases.

Feature:

Splitting the Sky, an indigenous activist, was live in the studio to talk about the recent trip of the Assembly of First Nations chiefs to Israel and the response. He talked about the complicity of the AFN with the Canadian establishment in many areas, and also detailed the historic similarities between the indigenous peoples of Palestine and the Americas. There was discussion of the open letter that had been sent to the AFN criticizing the trip, signed by 47 groups and over 100 individuals.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of the activism call entitled “Why are people afraid of Rachel Corrie’s words?” The appeal is calling on people to mark the 3rd anniversary on March 16th of Rachel’s murder by an Israeli bulldozer, and to protest the cancellation in New York of the play My Name is Rachel Corrie.

Here is an audio file of this show: