News Highlights:

• Sept. 19th – 8 Palestinians wounded when Israeli troops attack peaceful anti-wall protest near Hebron, wounded include 9 year old boy.
• Sept. 19th – special military hearing set for imprisoned Palestinian legislator Hussam Khader, due to lack of evidence after main witness withdrew testimony.
• Sept. 19th – Palestinian political prisoners report of humiliating treatment by guards during recent hunger strike.
• U.S. President Bush addresses UN General Assembly, calls for Israeli freeze on settlement building; Israeli officials claim this is already being implemented, with no building of “new settlements” taking place.
• George Bush also defended his illegal invasion of Iraq and called for support from the world community.

Feature:

A special commemoration of the 22nd anniversary of the massacre in Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon.  Two reports were read, one from Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Refugee Rights, and the other from Al Awda, the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition. Both reports highlighted the role of Ariel Sharon, then Israeli defence minister, in the massacres and the fact that no-one has ever been brought to justice for what happened.  A brief discussion after the reports detailed the complicity of the U.S. government, which gave guarantees for the safety of the civilians in the refugee camps once the Palestinian resistance fighters left Beirut in August 1982.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of a Sept. 20 report from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz about the sale of 5000 “smart bombs” to Israel from the U.S.  Funding will come from U.S. military aid to Israel.  The deal faced no political obstacles, even though Israel has been using such bombs in its extra judicial executions that have killed many civilians.

News Highlights:

• Sept 13th – hundreds of Palestinian children and their parents demonstrate in East Jerusalem about the implications of the apartheid wall on their education; students and teachers are separated from their schools, especially in A-Ram.
• Sept. 13th – assassination strike by Israeli forces kills 3 Palestinians in Jenin and wounds passers-by.
• Sept. 13th – Israel shuts down voter registration offices in East Jerusalem.
• Sept. 12th – U.S. forces kill at least 10 Iraqi civilians after firing missiles at a crowd in Baghdad, Palestinian TV journalist also killed and two other journalists wounded.
• Sept. 11th – Israel completely seals off the West Bank and Gaza.
• German groups plan demos all across the country Sept 25th for global day of action on 4th anniversary of intifada, Vancouver also has a rally on Sept. 26th.
• Israeli forces withdraw from northern Gaza after yet another invasion, which killed 1 civilian and left enormous damage; water pipes and sewage system also destroyed.

Feature:

An interview with Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh from Yale University, cofounder of
AlAwda in North America, about the failure of the Oslo Accords and his new book. Sept. 13th, 2004 marked the 11th anniversary of the signing of the Oslo agreement on the White House lawn and Mazin detailed the reasons Oslo did not bring lasting peace to the region, a main one being its disregard of Palestinian human rights. Mazin also talked about his recently published book, Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle, which advocates a one-state solution that rejects apartheid (to order his book, go to his website: www.qumsiyeh.org)

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of a Sept. 12th, 2004 story on AlJazeera.net about the new right-wing party just created in Israel, whose founders say they are dedicated to the expulsion of non-Jews from Israel.

News Highlights:

• Palestinian prisoners suspend their 19-day hunger strike, after Israeli
  authorities meet some of their demands.
• Marwan Bargouthi, the Palestinian legislator in Israeli jail, still
  continues his hunger strike after his solitary confinement is renewed, as
  his health deteriorates.
• U.N. Agency decries Israeli shelling wounding a 10-year-old Palestinian
  child inside a schoolroom in Gaza, the third such incident in 18 months.
• In the last 4 months, 44 Palestinians, including 13 children, killed by
  Israeli forces in Nablus; 280 wounded and 170 Palestinians arrested,
  including 6 women.
• 50,000 Palestinians attend funeral for 14 people killed in an Israeli air
  strike in Gaza, as U.S. slams Palestinian leaders for saying the inevitable
  retaliation will be justified.
• Israel is pressing foreign donors to finance roads made necessary by the
  apartheid wall and the settlements.
• On September 6th, Israel began construction on the southern portion of the separation
  wall.

Feature:

This week marked the 17th year of Voice of Palestine going on the airwaves
at Coop Radio.  There was a lookback at some of the more notable interviews
and features that the show had carried, and three clips from past specials
were played.  The first was an interview in May, 2001 with Dr. Mustafa
Bargouthi, head of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees.  This
was followed by excerpts of a speech by the late Faisal Husseini, given in
1998 at a conference in Toronto, and talking about the future of the peace
process.  Finally, there was part of an interview with MP Libby Davies, just
after her return from a trip to Palestine in May 2002, following the Israeli
invasion and reoccupation of the Palestinian cities.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of a Sept. 7th article carried in AlJazeera, about a statement issued
by a group of prominent Jewish rabbis in Israel calling on the Israeli army
to not be concerned about killing Palestinian civilians in the context of
military operations.

News Highlights:

• Aug. 31st – thousands of Palestinians march in the funeral of a solidarity
  hunger striker, Aisheh Al Zaban, the mother of a political prisoner in an
  Israeli jail.
• Meanwhile, the hunger strike entered its 16th day, as Israeli authorities
  attempt to break the strike.
• Political prisoners in one jail, Shikma, resume their strike after stopping
  it for two days on promises from prison officials that were not fulfilled.
• Nine year-old Palestinian girl wounded in a failed Israeli assassination
  attempt in Jenin.
• Israeli High Court rules, after lengthy legal challenge, that the
  documentary “Jenin, Jenin” may be shown on television and in theatres in
  Israel.
• Arun Ghandi, grandson of Mahatma Ghandi, visits Bethlehem and addresses
  rally in Manger Square; compares current situation in occupied Palestine
  with Apartheid South Africa.

Feature:

A report on the on-going complaint against Global TV for numerous airings of
the biased program, Jenin: Massacring the Truth.  Canada Palestine
Association in Vancouver initiated a complaint with
both the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) and the CRTC about the
show, detailing how it has distorted facts and was basically a mouthpiece
for the Israeli point-of-view.  Peter Kent, who answered for Global TV,
tried to dismiss the Israeli destruction of the Jenin refugee camp and the
voices of the survivors in the documentary, Jenin Jenin. CPA is now awaiting
the ruling of the CBSC.

Focus on Zionism:

Excerpts of an article from the Aug. 24th Israeli newspaper Haaretz, about the
comments of South African law professor John Dugard.  Dugard, the special
rapporteur for the U.N. on human rights in occupied Palestine, wrote that
there is an apartheid regime in the occupied territories “worse than the one
that existed in South Africa.”

News Highlights:

• Palestinian political prisoners mark the tenth day of an open-ended hunger
  strike, to protest inhumane conditions; Israeli security minister says
  prisoners can “starve to death” Palestinian children also detained and
  abused in Israeli jails, and may join hunger strike.
• British government opposes any expansion of Israeli settlements, contrary to
  U.S. position, as Israel announces plans for another 533 new houses in West
  Bank settlements.
• “Settlement Watch” says Israel planning further expansion and “this is about
  redesigning Israel and moving the bulk of it eastwards…”
• Israeli Justice Ministry concluded the ruling by the International Court of
  Justice on the separation wall should be respected and to ignore it leaves
  Israel open to sanctions.

Feature

An interview with Kevin James, a hip-hop singer from the U.S. called Son of
Nun, who recently won the Open Mic contest on NPR radio for his song Free
Palestine.  The phone connection with Kevin was lost just a few minutes into
the interview and could not be re-established.  Instead, his statement on
winning the contest was read as well as the lyrics of his song.  The song
itself in its entirety was then played on the air.  Kevin’s CD Blood and
Fire can be purchased at www.PalestineOnlineStore.com

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of the statement by Defence for Children International/Palestine
Section calling on the Israeli government to improve conditions for child
detainees and for UNICEF to support the demands of the minor prisoners. (See
www.dci-pal.org )