News Highlights:

• May 29th – Israeli soldiers kill a Palestinian man in Hebron, in the same spot
  where two Palestinian teens were also murdered by troops earlier this year.
• Israel due to release about 400 Palestinian political prisoners; however,
  most of them are short-term prisoners, who had almost finished their
  sentences and none of the pre-Oslo prisoners have yet to be released.
• Palestinians warn Israel that its air raids into Gaza threaten the truce
  Israel says it may reoccupy Gaza towns to “secure” its pullout in August.
• May 31st – senior Israeli news anchor presents his documentary showing the ugly
  face of Israel’s settlement policy.
• Palestinian election officials delay the re-vote in several Gaza
  municipalities, due to a Hamas boycott.

Feature:

Highlights of a presentation by Dr. Jacqueline Sfeir, Dean of Education at
Bethlehem University, at the Palestine Centre in Vancouver on May 28th. Dr.
Sfeir was in B.C. at the invitation of the Federation of Post Secondary
Educators, and she had earlier addressed their AGM in Kamloops to a standing
ovation. Dr. Sfeir spoke movingly of how the Israeli occupation and its
daily restrictions affect the lives of Palestinian students and their access
to education.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of a May 31st, 2005 release from the Christian Peacemaker Team,
highlighting a story written by one of their members entitled “Annexation
wall strangling Bethlehem”.

News Highlights:

• May 21st – Israeli forces close key checkpoint in Gaza, paralysing north south
  traffic.
• Palestinian Election Commission announces postponement of July 17th
  legislative elections due to delay in ratification of new election law.
• Israel intends to demolish a whole Palestinian neighbourhood in East
  Jerusalem.
• Ariel Sharon reiterates his vow to hold on to major West Bank settlement
  blocs permanently.
• Laura Bush heckled at Haram AlSharif in Jerusalem, and also angers
  Palestinians by including visit to Jericho as part of her Israeli tour.

Feature:

Highlights of the speech by Tariq Ali, the well-known anti-war activist and
author, recorded on April 28th, 2005 in Vancouver. Tariq had spoken to a
large crowd at the Maritime Labour Centre, on the theme of Empire and
Resistance: Vietnam to Iraq. He talked about the media distortions on the
Iraqi situation, the similarities and differences between the resistance in
Vietnam and Iraq, and the future of the Palestinian struggle.

Focus on Zionism:

Due to the length of Tariq Ali’s speech, Focus was not presented this week.

News Highlights:

• Palestinians commemorate Al Nakbah on May 15th, with protest rallies and two minutes of silence across Palestine; they say Israel’s Gaza “disengagement” will not address the right of return.
• Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas broadcasts Al Nakbah speech, calling for an independent Palestinian state.
• May 16th – Israeli High Court removed temporary injunctions on construction work of the apartheid wall near the Ariel settlement bloc.
• May 15th – Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that the illegal sales of Palestinian land by the former and disgraced Greek Orthodox patriarch were financed by settler organizations.
• May 12th – Israeli air force is joining Canadian “Maple Flag” war games in Alberta later this month; Palestinian and Arab Canadians are outraged.

Feature:

A taped interview with Salim Abou Gazaleh, the marketing director of the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee. Salim was touring eastern Canada and spoke with Voice of Palestine about the work of PARC, and its efforts to help Palestinian farmers. He spoke about the difficulties Israeli occupation and especially the apartheid wall are placing on the livelihood of Palestinians. Salim also detailed the involvement of women in PARC, and the projects underway to market Palestinian olive oil and related products.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a poem to mark the day of Al Nakbah, written by Abdel Fattah Abu-Srour, the director of a children’s theatre and cultural centre in Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem.

News Highlights:

• Israel’s foreign minister says Israel will reconsider its Gaza “pullout” if Hamas wins the Palestinian legislative elections; Ariel Sharon has already delayed the pullout by a month.
• Palestinian officials say Hamas must be included in the democratic process and this is part of the roadmap plan.
• May 6th – early results from Palestinian municipal elections showed Fateh leading, but with a very strong showing from Hamas.
• Disputes over the elections results and allegations of fraud have delayed the official announcement of the results.
• Palestinians injured in Jerusalem as the Israeli army attacks people protesting moves by Israeli extremist groups to damage Al Aqsa mosque.
• Ariel Sharon says Israel will not release any more Palestinian prisoners.

Feature:

A live interview with Christopher Khoury in Chicago, the program coordinator of the Palestinian Film Festival in that city. Christopher spoke about the four-year history of the festival and the directors and films that were shown this year. He said the festival was very well received and attended by a diverse audience, and detailed some of the leading Palestinian directors and actors.

Visit their website at: www.PalestineFilmFest.com

Focus on Zionism:

One story from an update by Btselem, the Israeli human rights group, about how settler children in Hebron are allowed to terrorize a Palestinian woman and her family, despite the fact that Israeli soldiers have taken over her rooftop.

News Highlights:

• April 28th – peaceful anti-wall demo in Beilin including Palestinian and Israeli activists is savagely attacked by Israeli undercover and security forces (see feature).
• Israeli cabinet approves establishment of a settlers’ university in Ariel in the West Bank, claiming “national importance”; this is the same college that contributed to the boycott by British academics.
• Israeli Palestinians denounce the cabinet move, adding there has been a four-year delay in establishing the first Arab college in Nazareth.
• Greek Orthodox Patriarch is denounced by Christian Palestinians and others within his church for selling land in Jerusalem to Israelis.
• Russian President Putin visits Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, after visiting Israel.

Feature:

An Eyewitness Palestine, written by Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery, about the April 28th demo in Beilin and how the Israeli security forces intentionally and viciously attacked the peaceful protest. Avnery compared the response of the Israeli forces to this demo with the way they protected a settler demo the same day, and also detailed how an undercover Israeli unit (Massada) infiltrated the Palestinian demo and started to throw rocks to give an excuse to their own security forces to be more violent.

Focus on Zionism:

A May 2nd, 2005 report from the International Solidarity Movement about the demolition of a Palestinian family home in Jerusalem. 125 Israeli border police, some on horseback, protected the bulldozer and held back journalists and human rights activists.