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The news  23-29 February 2004:

writing on the wall


Hearings on the Wall started in the Hague.

Israel argued the Jerusalem suicide bombing reinforced its case against the Hague hearings, as the war of words continued.

James Crawford, Chair of the Law Faculty at Cambridge University and described as ‘the best international lawyer in the world’ is heading the Palestinian legal team at the Hague.

Michael Tarazi, Legal Adviser to the PLO, was interviewed before the hearings for the electronic journal Bitter Lemons.

Interestingly, Israel’s high-profile propaganda campaign about the Wall failed to convince at least one middle-of-the-road US newspaper editor.

In The Independent Maxine Frith talked to Israelis and Palestinians about how the wall would affect their lives.

Rogel Alpher describes the hysterical campaign being waged within Israel to portray the wall as a barrier against a new holocaust. Yoel Marcus was disgusted by Israel’s exploitative circus outside the court. “Exploiting bereavement and wallowing in self-pity is fitting for soap operas - not for the strongest country in the Middle East”.

‘We created the State of Israel in order to become a normal nation, "a people among peoples". The events of this week show that we have not succeeded in this. The ghetto is deep inside us. This is also throwing another light on the Separation Wall. It encloses the Palestinians in enclaves, but it also returns us to the reality of the ghetto, and not only physically’ says Uri Avnery.

Gary Fields is a professor of communications at the University of California, San Diego, who recently returned from Israel and the West Bank as part of a delegation sponsored by Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. In this opinion piece for the Baltimore Sun, he puts the Wall in its political and historic context.

Iltezam Morar, a 15 year-old Palestinian living in the ‘seam line’ village of Budrus, wrote this piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer about the impact of the Wall on his life.

Noam Chomsky gave his view of the Wall in an opinion piece for the New York Times.

The Los Angeles Times talked to Palestinians from Masha.

Marouf Zahran, the Mayor of Qalqilya, described the noose round his town in a feature in the Guardian.

Israeli academic Neve Gordon gave an original perspective on the Wall.

talking about withdrawal


The US State Department is prepared to engage with Sharon’s ‘withdrawal plan’ if it will help give the impression of progress in the run-up to the handover of power in Iraq. But US officials have been irritated by Sharon’s lack of detail and urgency. US thinking includes possible Egyptian responsibility for security in Gaza. The US would also like any Israeli withdrawal to be coordinated with the Palestinian Authority.

The EU shared the US’ reservations, and insisted that relocated Gaza settlers should not be moved to the West Bank.

Some US officials did object to supporting the withdrawal plan but were overuled. However, after meetings between US and Israeli officials there was still a feeling of mounting irritation with Sharon’s refusal to come clean on his plans, and a lingering suspicion that he might just be stringing Washington along.

under occupation


The latest suicide bombing in Jerusalem, the day before the Hague hearings began, produced confusion among the Palestinian leadership as grass-roots activists are increasingly out of control.

Israel deployed the bombed-out bus along the wall’s route in Jerusalem, where it provoked mixed reactions from Palestinians.

Israel raided Palestinian banks and confiscated what it said were terrorist accounts. Palestinian sources were fearful that other institutions were targeted. Even the US protested, complaining that the raid could destabilise the Palestinian banking system. In the Jordan Times Daoud Kuttab argued that the raid strengthened the case for the impotent Palestinian Authority to dissolve itself.

Amira Hass looks at the way that grass-roots non-violent action against the wall is involving new sections of Palestinian society in creative and democratic activity - and how this conflicts with the agenda of those who organise suicide bombings.

Gush Shalom distributed this account of a number of non-violent direct actions against the wall.

Huweida Arraf of the International Solidarity Movement wrote this account of non-violent resistance to the apartheid wall for a US newspaper.

Two Palestinians were shot dead in the course of the protests after stones were thrown.

As the protests continued Israeli violence mounted against united non-violent demonstrations by Palestinians and Israelis, as described in this dispatch from Gush Shalom.

But according to some reports there was only a partial response to the PA’s call for a day of demonstrations against the Wall.

The Israeli Supreme Court ordered a seven-day halt to further bulldozer work on the Wall and told the IDF to hold hearings to allow consultation with the affected villagers.

Israel is conducting further land-grabs in Gaza while talking of withdrawal.

Gideon Levy accompnied three Knesset members on a visit to checkpoints and wrote this angry and moving account of the daily routine of insult and humiliation he witnessed. He also describes how the army in the occupied territories is acting as a brutal and lawless rabble whose conduct must end by corrupting Israeli society itself.

Arafat pledged to hold new internal elections in Fatah within a year at a stormy meeting of the movement’s Revolutionary Council.

Physicians for Human Rights records an unusual case where, thanks to the presence of Israeli observers, the IDF took disciplinary action against a soldier who abused a medical worker at a checkpoint.

inside Israel


Deputy Defence Minister Ze’ev Boim created a storm when he suggested that Arabs and Muslims might suffer from a genetic defect that caused them to hate Jews.

In his ‘People and Politics’ column Akiva Eldar looks at Bush’s attitude to Sharon’s wihdrawal plan; at leaked documents that reveal the openly racist and discriminatory character of the planning process in the West Bank; and at the way the US Zionist lobby are determined not to let the antisemitic overtones of Mel Gibson’s film get in the way of cuddling up to the Christian Right.

Israel and Jordan will cooperate on a joint environmental studies centre to be built on their mutual border.

Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander visited Israel to help launch One Voice, a grass-roots peace initiative aiming to put odinary Iraelis and Palestinians in touch with each other to work out their own peace plan from below.

Mordecai Vanunu has vowed to continue to fight moves to restrict his freedom after his release. The Security Services continue to brief against him. But the Cabinet decided he would be released but kept under surveillance when his sentence expires.

In Galilee 2,000 Palestinian citizens of Israel demonstrated against police violence following a protest against house demolitions.

Parents of the five jailed refuseniks have announced that the prisoners have now been transferred to a civilian jail.

In a sudden outburst of concern for equality, Israeli authorities have started treating women refuseniks on an equal footing with men.

Reuven Pedatzur took a critical look at the writings of “the Israeli army’s house philosopher”.

regional initiatives


Patrick Seale gave a pessimistic assessment of the regional situation on the eve of the forthcoming Arab summit in Tunis.

Arab states were reported to be considering a new initiative based on condemning attacks on civilians. Plans are also under way for the League to relaunch the Saudi peace plan.

There was scepticism from Arabs and Europeans about President Bush’s proposed new initiative on the Middle East. In response the Administration sources were stressing that reform in the Arab world would have to be home-grown.

elsewhere

The lively Stop Moskowitz campaign is keeping tabs on a nasty piece of work.

2002

 

 

 

 


 

 

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