News Highlights:

• Latest Israeli aggression in Gaza kills 17 Palestinians and injures over 45; the dead include an 11-year-old boy Hesham Al-Shour.
• After initially clearing the Givati commander of “unethical” behaviour, Israeli military police have now arrested the officer who emptied his weapon into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl.
• Israeli Knesset approves Ariel Sharon’s “disengagement plan” –
  Israeli peace group, Gush Shalom, says Sharon’s plan will continue the occupation and oppression.
• U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice says foreign leaders should tell Yasser Arafat to step aside.

Feature:

A live interview with Naseer Aruri, a Palestinian-American professor, who was in Vancouver for a public presentation. Naseer talked about the Ariel Sharon “disengagement plan”, which was just approved in the Israeli Knesset. He also discussed the upcoming U.S. elections and the failure of the Oslo Plan.

Focus on Zionism:

An update from the International Solidarity Movement about the olive harvest in Palestine, and the difficulties Palestinian farmers are facing due to the Israeli “permissions” system.

News Highlights:

• Human Rights Watch says Israel has violated international law by
  systematically destroying Palestinian homes; group calls on Caterpillar to
  stop selling bulldozers to Israeli military.
• Israeli army clears the commander that repeatedly fired into the lifeless
  body of a 13-year-old Palestinian girl; claims he had not “acted
  unethically”
• Oct. 18th – four Palestinians killed and a fifth dies from previous wounds;
  Israel’s invasion into northern Gaza killed almost 140 Palestinians and
  injured 400.
• Oct. 18th – U.S Presbyterian Church calls on Israel to end its occupation of
  Palestinian land and renews the possibility of divestment from companies
  dealing with Israel.
• Oct. 17th – huge demo in London protests against the Iraq war, as Britain redeploys its troops in Iraq at U.S. request.

Feature:

A live interview with Dr. Ismail Zayid, a Palestinian Canadian from Halifax,
to talk about Canadian foreign policy on the Middle East. Dr. Zayid is a
long-time activist and pointed out that the perceived shift in Canadian
policy (as reported in the Globe and Mail) to a more pro-Israel stance is
actually only an acceleration in an already biased stance. He also talked
about the support work in Halifax and its development over the recent years.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of a report by a South African-born doctor, carried on Znet,
about the Israeli assault on Palestinian health care. The report spoke
about the consequences of the apartheid wall on the Palestinian health
system and gave one example of how a doctor was forced to exam and treat a
sick Palestinian girl through the wires of the gate. For the full report,
see www.zmag.org.

News Highlights:

• A new human rights report from Gaza condemns the killing by Israeli forces
  of Palestinian children, 29 of who have died since Sept. 28th in Israel’s
  latest incursion.
• Today, a 10-year-old Palestinian girl was shot while inside her UNRWA
  classroom.
• Israeli soldiers have talked to the media about their commander who emptied
  his automatic rifle into 13-year-old Iman Al Hams last week; 15 bullets were
  extracted from her body.
• Oct. 11th – Israeli PM Ariel Sharon orders the Gaza aggression to continue.
• Oct. 11th – Palestinian Authority releases legal document that states Israel
  will remain an occupying power in Gaza even if it carries out the
  “disengagement” plan; all people and goods entering or leaving Gaza will
  still be under Israeli control.
• Israeli Interior Minister issues a statement against the incidents of Jews
  spitting at Christian clergy in Jerusalem; the most recent attack was
  against the Armenian archbishop.

Feature:

A special Eyewitness Palestine: Gaza’s Children highlighted two recent reports, one
from the BBC about the Israeli commander who repeatedly fired at the
13-year-old Palestinian girl and the other from the Electronic Intifada with
eyewitness reports of the families in Jabiliya refugee camp. The BBC report
talked about the investigation underway of the Israeli officer who
approached a young Palestinian girl after soldiers under his command had
already shot her, and emptied his automatic rifle into her body. The
Electronic Intifada story talked about several families in Gaza whose lives
had been devastated by the Israeli assault and whose children now lie
injured in several different hospitals. One doctor in the Kamal Udwan
Hospital said he had never seen such extensive and penetrating injuries.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of an urgent action appeal from the Christian Peacemaker Team
about the recent settler attacks on CPT members and other internationals
trying to escort Palestinian children to school. Some of the internationals
have suffered broken arms and even a punctured lung.

News Highlights:

• U.S. vetoes U.N. Security Council resolution calling for Israel to stop its
  offensive in the Gaza Strip that has cost at least 80 Palestinian lives so
  far.
• Meanwhile, 13-year-old Palestinian girl shot to death by Israeli troops in
  Rafah.
• Israeli aggression in Gaza has left Palestinian in shock, as many state
  Israel is deliberately targeting civilians.
• Israeli human rights group, Btselem, says many civilians killed, including
  19 kids under the age of 17.
• Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Oct. 1st that the Israeli army was
  instructed to be a little bit “light on the trigger” to punish the
  Palestinians.
• Israeli army “reviewing” its claim that UN ambulances transported rockets,
  after UN officials demanded an immediate retraction and apology;  meanwhile
  Israel arrests 13 UN employees on suspicion of “terrorist links”.

Feature:

A live interview with Rev. Naim Ateek, from the group Sabeel, about his
upcoming trip to Vancouver and Sabeel’s conference earlier this year on
“Challenging Christian Zionism”.  Rev. Ateek talked about how Sabeel was
founded to advance peace and justice in the Holy Land and how the Christian
Zionists, especially in the U.S., are using the scriptures to promote war
and oppression. A recent example was a speech by Pat Robertson in Israel on
Oct. 4, where he said a Palestinian state in Israeli-controlled land was
part of “Satan’s plan”.  Rev. Ateek did point out that many Christian groups
in the U.S., however, were beginning to be more informed and mentioned the
recent divestment from Israel by the U.S. Presbyterian church.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of a Sept. 25th report by AlJazeera.net about the comments of the UN
human rights investigator John Dugard on Israel’s apartheid wall.  Dugard, a
South African law professor, said that Israel’s intentions in building the
wall had less to do with security and more to do with confiscating
additional Palestinian land.

News Highlights:

• Two Palestinians killed today as Israeli troops continue incursion into Jenin city and refugee camp, on the 4th anniversary of the AlAqsa intifada.
• Israeli soldiers occupied the hospital in Jenin and destroyed equipment in
  the operating room (OR)
• Israeli newspapers report that Israel is continuing to expropriate West Bank territory under the guise of “state lands”.
• An Israeli settler who killed a Palestinian motorist is freed from police custody and placed under house arrest; eyewitnesses said Salah Jabara,
  father of 8, was killed in cold blood .

Feature:

Sept. 28th marks the 4th anniversary of the beginning of the second
Palestinian intifada, an event sparked by the provocative visit of then
opposition leader Ariel Sharon to the AlAqsa mosque compound.  An in-studio
discussion looked at the “cold statistics” of dead and wounded, including
Palestinian children, as presented in a new report by Dr. Mustafa Bargouthi
(see http://www.palestinemonitor.org). Two to
three Palestinians have been killed per day, 82% of those civilians.  The
discussion also compared the first and second Palestinian intifada and
examined the role of both Ariel Sharon and George Bush, especially in the
context of the current Middle East reality.

Focus on Zionism:

A report from http://www.stopthewall.org about the
consequences of the apartheid wall in the village of Budrus near Ramallah,
and the villagers’ efforts to halt the construction as it slowly strangles
their way of life.