News Highlights:

• Fateh members pressure their group’s leadership to resign after the Hamas victory in the Palestinian legislative elections.
• Qalqilya municipal councillor is arrested along with many other activists, as Israel conducts arrest raids in the West Bank; Mustafa Sabri calls on human rights groups to protest the inhumane conditions of their incarceration.
• Israeli officials drum up international support for a boycott of a Hamas-led government.
• Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar says long-term truce with Israel is possible if it withdraws to pre-1967 borders and releases prisoners.
• Hamas official says group was having secret talks with the U.S., but prefers direct communication; adds that group will continue its resistance as long as there is occupation.

Feature:

A live interview with Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh from Yale University, a Palestinian-American author and activist. Mazin talked first about his article Boycott Israel that was carried in the World Economics Forum Global Agenda Magazine and the reaction to it, including pulling the magazine off the shelves. He explained how the call for boycott and other non-violent action is being heavily repressed and what message this sends to the Palestinians. He also talked about the recent Palestinian elections and analyzed what the results meant and what is next for the Palestinian struggle.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a Jan. 30th, 2006 Guardian article about Israel’s shooting of two Palestinian children in the week Hamas was elected, and the international hypocrisy in responding to both.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Marwan al-Bargouthi, the jailed Palestinian leader, calls for all Palestinian parties to join in a national coalition following the Jan. 25th legislative elections; Bargouthi is one of 30 Palestinian candidates currently in Israeli prisons.
• Jan. 23th – Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian boy on a West Bank road.
• Jan. 22nd – Palestinian security forces cast their votes so as to be ready for duty during elections; Israeli air strike kills Palestinian civilian in Gaza City.
• Jan. 22nd – Palestinian public prosecutor decides to close down Hamas TV station in Gaza.

Feature:

An interview with James Boucher, a representative of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights at UBC. James spoke about the group’s struggle to get an article published in the student newspaper, the Ubyssey. He read part of the article which talked about the Ubyssey’s pro-Israeli bias, and which was finally just published. He also talked about the group’s other activities and solidarity work on campus.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of an article in the Jan. 22/06 SFGate.com about the flaws in the Palestinian elections. The article pointed out that 2/3 of the Palestinian nation could not even vote and were excluded from the electoral process, and the ones allowed to vote were doing so under military occupation.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Jan. 15th – Israeli soldiers shot dead two Palestinians, a mother and son; meanwhile, settlers in Hebron/AlKhalil riot over plans to evacuate settler squatters from the Palestinian vegetable market.
• Jan. 15th – Israel’s cabinet votes to “allow” Palestinians in Jerusalem to vote, but with conditions on who can campaign and be a candidate.
• Jan. 16th – Israel raids the Jerusalem offices of a Palestinian political party, the Fidah party, and arrests five.
• Jan. 17th – Egypt says it supports efforts to stop nuclear weapons, but calls on the West to stop turning a blind eye to Israel’s nuclear arsenal.
• The Socialist Left Party in Norway will maintain its boycott against Israeli products.

Feature:

A live interview with Ron Saba, editor of the Montreal Planet magazine, about the upcoming Canadian elections and issues affecting the Arab and Moslem communities. Ron had been instrumental in exposing the list of MPs involved in the Canada-Israel Friendship Group, and he talked about his correspondence with one of those, Alexa McDonough, who tried to justify her participation in the parliamentary group. There was also discussion of the role of the Liberal Parliamentarians for Israel, who have influenced Canadian policy at the cabinet level. Ron called on listeners to make MPs accountable for their support of Israeli war crimes and to target them on election day. The Vancouver-based Canada Palestine Association has released a position paper, Canadian Elections 2006, and listeners were directed to their website, www.cpavancouver.org, for more info.

Focus on Zionism:

Part of a Jan 17th, 2006 report from the United Nations Relief and Work Agency UNRWA about how the Israeli separation wall has impacted the health of Palestinian mothers and their children. The wall has made it extremely difficult for expectant and new moms to reach medical clinics for the appropriate health checkups.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Israeli forces continue to demolish Palestinian homes near Bethlehem, reports the anti-wall campaign in its Jan 9th statement; also, Tulkarem district is under heavy siege since the beginning of the year and farmers cannot harvest their crops.
• Jan. 9th = Palestinian candidates in the Jan. 25th legislative elections say they reject Israeli conditions on their campaigning in Jerusalem; these conditions not only exclude certain parties, but also forces candidates to register in an Israeli detention facility and receive prior permission for any rallies or meetings.
• Palestinians in Gaza cannot celebrate the Muslim Eid al-Adha due to widespread poverty; 70% of the population lives on less than $2/day and the borders remain controlled by Israel.
• Two top U.S. economists predict the Iraq war will cost the U.S. between one and two trillion dollars.

Special Feature:

The special feature looked at two different perspectives on the political legacy of Ariel Sharon, following his debilitating stroke. The first was from a Palestinian intellectual and former PLO representative, Ms. Karma Nabulsi, whose commentary was carried in the Jan. 6/06 Guardian newspaper. Ms Nabulsi had been in Beirut in 1982 and commented on Sharon’s approach of military conquest and how his intentions had always been clear to Palestinians. The other perspective was from an Israeli journalist, Gideon Levy, and was carried in the Jan. 9/06 Haaretz paper. Mr. Levy attempted to paint an honest picture of Sharon’s legacy, saying Sharon was the cause of many of the problems Israel now faces.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of a January 10th, 2006 report from AFP about how the settlers at Maaleh Adumim are confident they will keep flourishing, even with the demise of Sharon.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Palestinian PM says Jan. 25/06 legislative elections will be postponed if Jerusalem not included in voting process.
• Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that illegal permits issued for West Bank settlement expansion; Modiin Illit construction is happening on private land belonging to the Palestinian village of Bili’in.
• Israeli PM Ariel Sharon to undergo heart procedure on Jan. 5th, and has reduced workload since December stroke.
• Ariel Sharon plans to scrap the roadmap plan and annex occupied West Bank land, according to Maariv newspaper on Jan. 2nd; paper says plan has already been presented to the Bush administration.

Feature:

VOP was unable to connect by phone with Mansour Mansour, ISM campaign coordinator from Biddu village, about the civil disobedience actions against Israeli settlement expansion. Instead, the in studio collective discussed the leading stories in the week’s news, particularly the exposure of the illegal “dirty tricks” used to expand Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, and the upcoming Palestinian elections.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a Jan. 2nd, 2006 Haaretz article about the new checkpoints Israel is putting up inside the West Bank that are really border crossings.

Here is an audio file of this show: