News Highlights:

• Israeli soldiers and settlers kill 4 Palestinians within 24 hours, two of them children.
• 13-year-old Sabri Rajub shot dead in Hebron’s Old Quarter on Feb. 14th, and 15-year-old Ala Hani killed the next day by settlers in Beitunia.
• Israel may hand over Jericho soon; Israeli officials state any further withdrawals from Palestinian cities will depend on the Palestinian Authority “curtailing violence”.
• Hamas announces it agrees to ceasefire and develops mechanism with PA to discuss any violations; however, Hamas says it is free to act if Israel initiates a military offensive or resumes assassinations.
• Mahmoud Abbas quoted in NY Times on Feb. 14th as saying the war with Israel is effectively over and Ariel Sharon is now speaking a different language.
• Israel supports U.S. decision to recall its envoy to Syria following assassination of Rafik Hariri; Syrian VP pays condolences to Hariri’s family and says Israel may be behind the car bombing.

Feature:

An Eyewitness Palestine: Annexation of Palestinian Land, featuring two reports about the forced de-population by Israel of Palestinian villages close to Jerusalem. The first report was from the Palestinian Monitoring Group and detailed the situation of the village of Khallet an Numan. The second report was from the Christian Peacemaker Team and told the story of the human cost to Palestinian villagers in Walaja, under the title, No Permits for People, Houses or Land.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of the 2004 outpost survey in the occupied territories from the Israeli Peace Now group. The conclusions were that the outposts are becoming permanent settlements, and as of the date of the report, there were 99 outposts in the West Bank.

News Highlights:

• Mahmoud Abbas and Ariel Sharon meet in Sharm Al Sheikh and agree to
  ceasefire, but not in a formal written document; Palestinian group Hamas
  still evaluating the summit.
• Egyptian students and journalists stage protests against summit and against normalization with Israel.
• Israeli forces to withdraw from five Palestinian cities within three weeks, according to Palestinian officials at summit.
• Israeli military court orders release of the army commander responsible for shooting to death 13-year-old Palestinian girl Iman al-Hams.
• Israel decides to erect a wall around Ariel settlement that will result in the annexation of thousands of dunams of Palestinian farmland.

Feature:

An instudio discussion about the Sharm Al Sheikh summit, what took place and
what are the implications for the future. The panel discussed the
credibility of the ceasefire and whether or not it could hold for any length
of time. They also talked about how the “new facts on the ground”,
especially the apartheid wall and Israeli settlements, make any genuine
peace settlement extremely difficult unless these obstacles are dealt with.
Finally, the discussion turned to the role of the U.S., and how their
occupation of Iraq was influencing their position.

Focus on Zionism:

A story from the IMEMC news agency about the release of Palestinian prisoner Mervat Taha and her baby from Israeli jail. After her release, Mervat talked about her suffering in detention and how she was forced to give birth with her hands handcuffed.

News Highlights:

• Jan. 31st – Israeli soldiers kill 10-year-old Palestinian girl in a playground at a U.N. school.
• Mahmoud Abbas and Ariel Sharon to hold summit next week, but some
  Palestinian officials warn that bilateral cooperation must lead to a final
  settlement.
• Jan. 30th – Israeli border police plan to demolish Arab neighbourhood in Jerusalem to protect the separation wall.
• Jan. 27th – U.N. human rights envoy says Israel’s planned pullout from Gaza will not change its status as the occupying power, because it will still retain control over all access points; John Dugard also states Israel
  probably committed war crimes with its “massive and wanton” destruction of
  homes in Gaza.

Feature:

An interview with Riad Muslih, an Iraqi Canadian, about the Jan. 30th Iraqi
elections, their credibility, and what the results mean. The whole concept
of elections under occupation, both in Iraq and recently in Palestine, was
discussed and their legitimacy questioned. Riad talked about irregularities
in the voting procedures in Iraq and it was mentioned how some people were
told they would lose their food rations if they didn’t vote. Riad concluded
the elections did not serve democracy and also talked about how the status
of women had deteriorated under the occupation.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a Jan. 30th report from the British Observer, about the trial
of the Israeli soldier that shot the British student Tom Hurndall. An
investigation by the paper has turned up allegations of missing evidence and
a military cover-up by Israel.

News Highlights:

• Israel has begun seizing East Jerusalem land owned by Palestinians under the obscure “absentee owners” law; many of the landowners, some of whom live 100 metres from the land about to be expropriated, now live on the wrong side of the apartheid wall.
• Israeli official says Israel seeks only interim accord with Palestinians; Zalman Shoval, advisor to Ariel Sharon, says he sees “no final accord in our generation”.
• Palestinian resistance groups close to ceasefire, but will need Israeli commitment to halt its incursions, release prisoners, and remove checkpoints.

Feature:

An interview with Matthew Cassels, an American Jewish activist from Chicago,
who is now volunteering in Palestine. Matthew is a member of the Palestine
Solidarity Group – Chicago, and is currently helping Addameer, a prisoner rights group in Ramallah. He spoke about how he became involved in Palestinian support work and also about the situation of Palestinians on the ground, especially students at Bir Zeit university.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of a Jan. 24th, 2005 report from the Israeli Haaretz newspaper,
regarding an Israeli Finance Ministry report about the dropping birthrate in
the Israeli Arab sector due to cutbacks in child support allocations. One
Ministry official said, “we are reversing the graph, to defend the Jewish
majority in the country”.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Jan. 15th – Israeli tank shell kills 50-year-old Palestinian woman and her son
  in their home in Khan Younis.
• The same day, Israeli troops kill six other Palestinians in Gaza Ariel Sharon instructs his army to carry out unlimited operations in Gaza,
  “without restrictions”.
• Jan 15th – Palestinian Election Commission staff resign to protest
  irregularities in the Jan. 9th presidential election; the 46 who left included
  senior members who said pressure was exerted by Mahmoud Abbas’ campaign
  PLO Legal Unit is being shut down, despite new negotiations allegedly on the
  horizon; lawyers in the unit say there was pressure from the donor countries
  and the Palestine Authority leadership.

Feature:

An interview with Professor Marion Boulby from Trent University, who was a
Canadian election observer for the Jan. 9th, 2005 Palestinian elections. It
was discussed how the Canadian delegation did not include any
Palestinian-Canadians and also the role of such observers. Prof. Boulby
spoke about what she saw on the ground and the restrictions on voters and
candidates, especially in Jerusalem.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a Jan. 18th press release from the Palestinian Centre for Human
Rights about the dire situation of thousands of Palestinians trapped on the
Egyptian side of the Rafah international crossing into Gaza. Israeli forces
have closed the crossing point since Dec. 13th, 2004.

Here is an audio file of this show: