News Highlights:

• Two young Palestinian girls were murdered within the last week by Israeli forces. 8 year-old Aaya Fayaad was killed on August 30 in Khan Younis while showing her friends her new school uniform. 9 year-old Sana Alda’our died September 2 from shrapnel wounds received during an Israeli extra-judicial assassination attempt on August 26, when Israeli planes attacked a car in a residential neighbourhood near the Jabalya refugee camp.
• Palestinian Christians staged a protest on August 30 against the dividing wall in Bethlehem. Many Christian religious leaders were also present, including Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, who said, “If the wall is built, it will be built in the hearts of the people and bloodshed will increase”.
• The crisis in the Palestinian government continues, as Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas move their conflict to the Palestinian Legislative Council.
• The European Union refuses to add the political wing of Hamas to a list of terrorist organizations. Israel’s foreign minister visits Morocco for the first time since Septemer 2000 and calls for closer relations.

Feature:

Voice of Palestine celebrated 16 years of being on the air at Coop Radio by launching their new website. There was also a discussion of the campaign launched against the show by local Zionists when it first went on the air, and a look back at some of the old documents and letters from that time. Members of Coop Radio and listeners were thanked for their support in 1987 and their continued support of the show since then, and the increased public support and understanding for the Palestinian cause was also noted and recognized. Carel Moiseiwitsch talked about the Zionist campaign that was launched against her art exhibit, Life in Occupied Palestine, this summer at the Grunt Gallery and a conversation followed about the comparisons and similarities of the two experiences. A phone-in caller from the Palestinian community expressed appreciation for the show and affirmed the commitment to help keep this voice of the Palestinian people alive and on the air.

Focus on Zionism:

This week’s focus was a story about the first day back at school for Palestinian kids, and the difficulties faced from Israeli roadblocks and the new apartheid wall.