News Highlights:

• Liaison talks between Palestinians and Israelis, coordinated by the U.S., continue regarding the Nov. 25th opening of the Rafah border crossing.
• Nov. 20th – Mohammad al-Rimawi and his father forced to go daily to an Israeli military base because the Israeli security services are looking for the younger brother.
• Ariel Sharon forms new party and triggers early Israeli elections, probably in March 2006.
• Mahmoud Abbas tells Palestinian elections committee that Jan. 25th, 2006 legislative elections may be delayed.
• Nov. 20th – Israeli court releases anti-nuclear activist Mordecai Vanunu on bail after arresting him at a checkpoint.

Feature:

A special Eyewitness Palestine, with three on the ground reports from Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Hebron. The first report was an urgent appeal from the municipality of Beit Sahour about the new Bethlehem 300 checkpoint that will destroy the already weak Bethlehem area economy. The second was from the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and involved eyewitness reports of new demolitions of Palestinian homes in the Jerusalem area on November 20th. The last report was highlights of an article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, entitled Ghost Town, detailing how Palestinians are effectively being driven out of certain sectors of Hebron, Al-Khalil.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of an update from www.stopthewall.org about how the villagers of Eizarya are trying to halt the construction of the apartheid wall on the village lands.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice oversees completion of agreement on the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
• Palestinian cabinet minister Mohammed Dahlan claims agreement is “an important step”, despite restrictions on the Rafah crossing, including limiting it to just Palestinian ID holders and sending a live video feed to a centre with European and Israeli officials.
• Nov. 14th – Israeli troops assassinate a leading Hamas official in Nablus during a wide-scale arrest raid.
• Israeli officials serve demolition decrees for Palestinian Bedouin buildings in the Negev; 12 Bedouin injured, including five women taken to hospital, as they resist the action.
• Saudi Arabia agrees to annul its economic embargo on Israel, in order to join the World Trade Organization.
• Israeli Foreign Minister begins official visit to Tunisia and will meet with leaders of Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritius as well as attend U.N. summit.
• Canadian PM Paul Martin addresses Toronto conference, saying “Israel’s values are Canada’s values….shared values of democracy, the rule of law and the protection of human rights”.

Feature:

An interview with Lebanese-Canadian filmmaker Jayce Salloum about his current and upcoming projects and the state of progressive Canadian culture in general. Jayce detailed his current exhibits at the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Nov. 24th showing at SFU Harbour Centre of his new video on First Nations issues in Kelowna. There was discussion of the common bonds between the Palestinian and First Nations struggles and also analysis of the censorship and self-censorship in the artistic community after 9/11.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of a November 15th, 2005 Ynet story about the reaction of the father of Iman Al-Hams, as the Israeli officer who murdered the 13-year-old Palestinian girl was acquitted in an Israeli court.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Parents of the 12-year-old Palestinian killed by Israeli troops have donated their son’s organs for transplant as a peace gesture.
• Meetings continue regarding opening of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza; Israel insisting on certain security conditions, including real-time surveillance cameras and powers for the EU observers.
• Ariel Sharon says if Hamas participates in Jan/2006 Palestinian elections, Israel will not hold joint meetings, will make it difficult for Hamas candidates to campaign freely, and will not ease restrictions on freedom of movement.
• Marwan Bargouthi, the imprisoned Palestinian legislator and Fateh leader, calls for an end to any internal dissension and also rejects the Israeli threats about Hamas’ role in elections.
• Italian TV news investigation says the U.S. used white phosphorous on innocent civilians, particularly in Fallujah.

Feature:

An in studio discussion that marked the 1st anniversary of the death of Yasser Arafat and examined what had happened in the year that had passed. The discussion talked about the circumstances of Arafat’s death and how many analysts thought he had been poisoned. The panel also looked in detail at the worsening situation on the ground, both in the West Bank and Gaza, and then finished with an analysis of the internal Palestinian scene leading up to next year’s legislative elections.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of an article in the Israeli Haaretz newspaper, entitled Demons in the Skies of the Gaza Strip. The Nov. 6th, 2005 article talked about the sonic boom collective punishment that the Israeli air force is inflicting on the Gazan civilian population.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Israeli soldiers invade the Palestinian village of Bilin and make more
  arrests, as well as using civilians as “human shields”.
• Oct. 30th, Israeli army invades town of Qabatia, and assassinates two
  Palestinians, and injures others; Palestinian Authority denounces the
  actions as “state terrorism”.
• Israeli cabinet approves deploying EU personnel at the Rafah border
  crossing, but with conditions.
• Member of Israeli Knesset, Elizar Cohen, submits bill to annex parts of the
  West Bank to Israel, primarily the large settlement blocs.
• Oct. 30th – U.N. official says poverty will afflict 62% of Palestinians in the
  West Bank and Gaza by 2008, adds that repercussions of apartheid wall are
  enormous; Ariel Sharon tells Knesset that construction of wall will continue
  without any budgetary restraints.

Feature:

A live interview with Jamie Boucher, a member of Solidarity for Palestinian
Human Rights at U.B.C. He talked about the group’s recent letter regarding
a disturbing bias that has developed in the student newspaper, the Ubyssey.
SPHR did an exhaustive survey of articles in the paper and showed that over
the last two years, the coverage had been one-sided and biased towards
Israel. The Ubyssey has so far refused to print the group’s letter with the
accompanying survey. There was also discussion of the larger context on
Canadian university campuses and the aggressive Zionist campaign to try and
counteract growing pro-Palestinian support.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of an Oct. 30th, 2005 article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz about
a new Israeli checkpoint that will effectively sever the West Bank south of
Nablus.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Palestinian PM Ahmed Qorei warns Israel against its restrictions on freedom of movement for Palestinians, after he was held at a roadblock for 45 minutes.
• Israel shells several areas in the Gaza Strip, injuring at least five Palestinians, including a 65 year old woman and a baby.
• Palestinian resistance groups had earlier fired homemade shells into Israel, but only after Israel assassinated another Palestinian leader in Tulkarem.
• Oct. 23rd – U.S. officials say Israeli and Palestinian obligations under the roadmap plan are not of equal importance; Palestinian commitments are presumably more crucial.
• Oct. 24th – James Wolfensohn criticizes Israel for holding up agreements on opening Gaza Strip border crossings and not improving Palestinian mobility in the West Bank.
• Voice of Palestine offers condolences on the passing of Professor James Graff, the founder and chair of Near East Cultural and Educational Foundation, and author of a book on Palestinian children.

Feature:

An interview with Kole, a representative from the Coalition against Israel’s War Crimes. Kole talked about the upcoming November visit of Israeli PM Ariel Sharon to Canada and what the coalition is doing to oppose his visit. The coalition is composed of many community and social justice groups who have come together to call on the Canadian government to not allow this war criminal entry into the country.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a satirical article in the October 23rd, 2005 Haaretz newspaper, entitled “Enough Palestinian Cars”, about new restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement in the West Bank.