News Highlights:

• Israeli police finally eject extremist settlers from two-month stay in a hotel in Gaza after some of them publicly lynch and stone a Palestinian teenager.
• Mahmoud Abbas reports that Fateh Central Committee agreed on real reforms after meeting in Jordan and that they are prepared to take control of Gaza.
• Islamic Jihad and Hamas will not join Palestinian unity government.
• Israeli and Palestinian officials agree in principle on a safe passage between Gaza and West Bank, either a rail or road link.
• Palestinian popular committees against the apartheid wall release statement on global activities to mark one-year anniversary of the ruling of the International Court of Justice.
• Representative of Vancouver committee www.stopthewall.ca reported live on the activities being planned here in town on the anniversary and on the shameful position of the Canadian government.

Feature:

Excerpts of the commentary of Uri Avnery, leading Israeli peace activist and founder of Gush Shalom, on the recent actions of extremist settlers in Gaza. The article, entitled Arik’s Horror Show, explained how Ariel Sharon benefits from publicizing and dealing leniently with the behaviour of the settlers, as it allows him to justify keeping the major settlement blocs in the West Bank. www.gush-shalom.org

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of the June 30th, 2005 article by the Haaretz reporter that witnessed the lynching and stoning of the Palestinian teen by settler teenagers. Nir Hasson reported that it was a handful of the journalists who saved the Palestinian and that the settler youth even attacked them as they were dragging him away.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Palestinian parliamentarian Hussam Khader has been illegally detained for over 2 years by Israel, as his hearings have been repeatedly postponed; there is now an international campaign to have him unconditionally released.
• Israeli soldier that murdered British student Tom Hurndall found guilty of manslaughter.
• Tom’s younger brother was detained at Israeli airport as a “security risk” and his mother said, “so much remains unexposed”.
• June 28th – U.S. is considering giving Israel an extra $1 billion in “post-Gaza disengagement” aid to develop the Negev and Galilee, in contrast to no “post-disengagement” aid so far to the Palestinian Authority.
• Anglican churches expect to adopt campaign to divest from companies investing in Israeli occupation, similar to what the U.S. Presbyterian Church is already doing.

Feature:

A live interview with Dr. Annie Higgins, from Chicago, about her recent trips to Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank, as well as in Lebanon and Syria. Annie spoke about the hardships of daily life in the camps, in particular the Jenin camp, which she volunteered in just after the Israeli invasion of 2002. She also noted the spirit of resilience of the Palestinians in these camps and the connection of Palestinians to their land and the right of return.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a commentary in The Guardian, June 28th, 2005, about how the Israeli army has killed so many Palestinian civilians, including children, and how there has been no justice for the parents of those Palestinian children.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Summit between Israeli PM Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud
  Abbas ends in bitter disappointment, yields few results and Abbas does not
  even attend closing press conference.
• Palestinian political prisoners went on one-day hunger strike to highlight
  their plight during the summit; they are calling for a timetable for the
  release of all 8000 detainees, as well as the immediate release of child,
  female and ill prisoners and pre-1994 detainees.
• U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice says Israeli and Palestinian
  officials have agreed to demolish settler buildings in Gaza
  Sharon tells Rice that Israel will “protect itself” from any Palestinian
  unrest during and after “disengagement”; other Israeli officials make
  similar comments.
• Palestinian parliament passes new election law that will allow for half of
  the newly expanded seats to be voted in as party representatives in general
  polls; new elections now expected in early 2006.

Feature:

A live interview with Professor Michael Neumann from Trent University in
Ontario, about his upcoming book, The Case Against Israel, and his analysis
on current developments in Palestine and the Middle East. Professor Neumann
also talked about how he viewed the U.S. relationship with Israel and the
behaviour of Zionist groups in North America.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of a report on the Komo-TV website in Washington State about the
tour of Rachel Corrie’s parents with Khaled and Samah Nasrallah, whose home
Rachel died protecting from an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza two years ago.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Palestinians groups warn that the “ceasefire” is near collapse, if Israel continues its military operations; dozens of Palestinians have been killed since the Sharm al Sheikh summit in February.
• June 13th – Israeli soldiers barred medical personnel from entering Azzoun Atma village near Qalqila; a two-day total closure of the West Bank and Gaza was also imposed for the duration of a Jewish holiday.
• Palestinian sources report that Israel has already re-arrested dozens of the political prisoners just released; some will be given further administrative detention without trial or charge.
• The Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem has made an international appeal to safeguard the church’s autonomy; both Israeli and Palestinian governments have not recognized the removal from office of the former Patriarch, whom Israeli armed police are protecting.
• June 13th – Egyptian and U.S. officials to visit Israel and Palestine, ahead of the trip by Condoleeza Rice and the upcoming meeting between Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas.

Feature:

A special Eyewitness Palestine, with two reports from U.K. activists that
were part of a trip to Palestine in April, 2005, organized by the British
group www.waronwant.org. One report was by Nick Dearden, a senior organizer with War on Want, and he spoke movingly of the impacts of the apartheid wall on Palestinian daily life. The second section was highlights of an interview with a member of the Scottish rock bank, Belle and Sebastian, who were also on the trip.

Focus on Zionism:

A June 2nd press release from the Israeli human rights group, Btselem, about
an amendment being considered in the Israeli Knesset, that will exempt
Israel from paying compensation to Palestinians injured by its security
forces.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Two Palestinians killed in West Bank during an arrest raid by Israeli
  soldiers.
• June 6th – Israeli security forces use stun grenades on Palestinians at Haram
  Al-Sharif in Jerusalem; 40,000 Israelis had come to East Jerusalem to
  celebrate its illegal capture and annexation.
• Palestinian Authority postpones July 17th parliamentary elections, and no new
  date has yet been set.
• June 6th – Israeli author of report on illegal settlement outposts says nothing
  has changed and construction continues, and this is a matter of the state
  violating its own laws.

Feature:

An in studio panel discussion on current developments in Palestine,
including the Palestinian election delays, the increasingly shaky “truce”
and Ariel Sharon’s Gaza “pullout” plan. The panel discussed Mahmoud Abbas’
recent trip to North America and the cynical dimension and limits of current
U.S. support for the Palestinian Authority. The delay of the elections, as
well as the postponement of the Fateh general convention which had been
scheduled for this August, were also analyzed and the implications for
Palestinian internal stability assessed.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a June 6th, 2005 article from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz,
entitled “When everything is permissible”. The article detailed how Israeli
soldiers were explicitly ordered to lay in wait at PA checkpoints and then
kill anyone who came by, all in revenge for the earlier killing of 6 Israeli
soldiers.