News Highlights:

• Dec. 26th – Israeli military removes a trailer Palestinian villagers of Bilin put on their land cut off by apartheid wall; villagers have a pending court case against the route of the wall in their area and their lawyer has uncovered that the route was designed to protect Israeli and Canadian real estate brokers.
• Patriarch Michel Sabbah warns that delaying solutions will only fuel violence in his Christmas message in Bethlehem.
• Dec. 26th – Jerusalem Cmte. Of the Zionist Council push to expand Jerusalem, especially the E1 corridor linking the settlement of Maale Adumim.
• Dec. 26th – Israeli Housing Ministry releases tenders for construction of 228 new settler housing units.
• New report shows 9200 Palestinians detained in Israeli jails; 270 arrested in November 2005 alone.

Feature:

The Voice of Palestine presented its annual year in review, and took a look at the top stories of 2005. The Gaza redeployment, the upcoming Palestinian and Israeli elections, as well as the increasingly pro-Israeli Canadian foreign policy were all discussed. The panel concluded by analysing the situation in Iraq and the Middle East in general.

Focus on Zionism:

A Dec. 22th, 2005 report from the Palestine Monitor about the extra-judicial assassination of three Palestinian men in Nablus.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Dec. 20th – Israeli settler group intends to build 15 new illegal “outposts” across West Bank.
• Dec. 17th – Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas holds talks with Future Party, which recently split from his own party Fateh.
• Dec. 17th – Israel reiterates its opposition to Hamas participation in Palestinian parliamentary elections and applauds U.S. House decision to cut off aid to Palestinian Authority if Hamas allowed to run.
• Dec. 19th – Christian Peacemaker Team CPT members react to George Bush’s address about the war in Iraq by saying U.S. should withdraw troops; four CPT members still missing in Iraq.
• Dec. 20th – Israeli court says Lebanese leader kidnapped and imprisoned by Israel may sue, but is not allowed to receive any compensation.

Feature:

A live interview with Khalid Mouammar, a Palestinian Canadian activist from Toronto, who gave an update on the case of Prof. David Noble at York University. Prof. Noble has launched a defamation case against York for smearing him as “anti-Semitic” because of his pro-Palestinian activities. Prof. Noble, who is himself Jewish, had publicly exposed the number of Israeli lobbyists and fundraisers on York U. Foundation, and had also assisted students targeted by the administration for their stand on Palestinian rights.

Focus on Zionism:

An updated version of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” was read, that has been put out by a progressive British group. The new lyrics highlight the separation wall and the horrors of the Israeli occupation.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Dec. 13th – two Palestinians killed in occupied territories: one farmer shot dead by Israeli troops while working in his fields in Gaza and another Palestinian died from injuries inflicted 4 years ago by Israeli setters.
• Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem denounces Israel’s separation wall at protest near Ramallah.
• European Union decides to not publish report on East Jerusalem critical of Israeli settlement expansion; Israel had warned EU not to damage ties after it allowed EU monitors at Rafah crossing.
• Palestinians export first load of crops from greenhouses bought from Israeli settlers who left Gaza; access for produce to outside world still limited and under Israeli control.

Feature:

A live interview with Jaggi Singh, a Montreal peace activist, who is facing trumped-up charges following the protest against Benjamin Netanyahu at Concordia University several years ago. Jaggi explained how he was only charged after he showed strong public support for the protestors and made a trip to Palestine. Several of the charges had already been dropped and he was seeking a full dismissal of all the charges. There was also discussion about the aggressive campaign in general against supporters of Palestinian rights, especially on university campuses. (A few days after this interview, all charges against Jaggi were dismissed.)

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a Dec. 11th, 2005 Haaretz article, explaining how the “safe passage” promised to Palestinians between Gaza and the West Bank was “the history of a farce”.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Dec. 2nd – Palestinians from AlTuwani village march in support of Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) volunteers kidnapped in Iraq; all groups in Hebron issue statement calling for their release.
• Dec. 5th – Israel prepares for further attacks and assassinations in occupied Palestinian territory, after bombing in Netanya; Israeli army asks to demolish more Palestinian homes.
• Dec. 4th – Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile into Gaza City, hitting an office building.
• Earlier, Israeli naval patrol vessel had killed Palestinian fisherman off Gaza coast, which had prompted militants to fire rockets into Israel.
• Canada reverses past policy to join U.S. and Israel in opposing U.N. resolutions on Palestinian rights.

Feature:

A live interview with Dr. Tayseer from the Tel Rumeida section of Hebron Al Khalil. Dr. Tayseer talked about the aggressive harassment by the Israeli settlers in Hebron, and how the Palestinian civilian population is suffering on a daily basis. He also expressed the Palestinian frustration with the impotency of the Temporary International Force, which was supposedly set up to monitor such violations against civilians. Dr. Tayseer closed by saying how the Palestinians in Hebron felt about the abduction of the CPT members in Iraq.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a Dec. 4th, 2005 article in Haaretz newspaper about how the Israeli army is keeping an injured 14-year-old Palestinian boy in arm and leg restraints in his hospital bed.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Press release issued by the anti-wall campaign in Palestine on Nov. 29th, Int’l. Day of Solidarity with the Palestinians, points out that the UN and international community remain oblivious to the disastrous effects of the apartheid wall on Palestinians.
• Israel has opened a major crossing on the separation wall at Qalqilyah; it is part of a series of new crossing points being constructed along the route of the wall.
• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas suspends primary elections for Fateh, due to reported fraud in Gaza; primaries in West Bank elected younger activists, including imprisoned leader and legislator Marwan Bargouthi.
• Shimon Peres to declare whether or not he will join Ariel Sharon’s new party, Kadima.
• U.S. Green Party endorses strategy of boycott and divestment to pressure Israel to guarantee Palestinian human rights.

Feature:

A live interview with Jamal Mansour from Bilin in the West Bank, about the village’s struggle to halt construction of the apartheid wall on their lands. Bilin has been in the forefront of non-violent resistance to the wall, and has been joined by many international and Israeli peace activists as well. Jamal spoke about the different actions the village has undertaken, and about the brutal Israeli repression against these activities. Israel has engaged in sweeping arrest raids against people in the town and has even tortured the detainees, simply for being involved in the peaceful protests.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of a Nov. 28th, 2005 article from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz about how the Israeli High Court refused a petition to connect a Bedouin village in the Negev to the electricity grid, in order to allow a three-year-old child to receive chemotherapy at home.

Here is an audio file of this show: