The news  3-9 May 2004

the referendum and after

The referendum defeat for Sharon was also a blow for Bush

Akiva Eldar argued the referendum should kill off the idea that ‘only the Likud’ can implement a withdrawal.

Meron Benvenisti pointed out that the settler lobby’s power to veto change was given them by the political leadership.

In the USA, the powerful pro-Israel lobby AIPAC called off its planned campaign in the wake of the referendum defeat.

The Quartet could guarantee the assets left behind in any Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and could even provide an international police force, EU diplomats suggested.

Israel ‘warned’ the EU not to back the Palestinians.

In the aftermath of the referendum defeat, Palestinian Premier Qurei called for an international peace conference.

Sharon was said to be considering a slimmed-down version of his withdrawal plan. But Shimon Peres told Sharon that Labour would not back a watered-down plan.

By 140 votes to 6, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution confirming Palestinian sovereignty over the Occupied Territories.

under occupation

No Palestinians condemned the killing of a settler mother and her four children, as Palestinian opinion appears to regard all settlers and their families as legitimate targets.

Non-violent protests against the Wall in the village of Biddu have been met with force in which four people have died, and a child and a rabbi have been used as human shields by the Israeli forces.

A powerful report by Tanya Reinhardt on the Biddu protests appeared in the mass-circulation Israeli paper Yediot Aharonot.

The widow of TV cameraman James Miller is still fighting to get Israel to take action to find the soldier who shot him.

Maz Hastings wrote on ‘the price for peace that Israel is unwilling to pay’

Danny Rubinstein explained how the international boycott of Arafat is leading to unprecedented Palestinian unity - which Arafat himself may not welcome.

In the Gaza Strip, a new barrier is to be built along Gush Khatif road.

The saga of an Abu Dis hotel illustrates the subterfuges used by Israel to seize Palestinian property.

Adalah, the legal centre for Arab minority rights in Israel, has published a briefing paper on Israel’s continued use of human shields [click on link].

Palestinian detainees who tried to greet their families in a military courtroom were set upon and beaten by police guards, their lawyers say.

A Palestinian Authority Police Colonel in the Gaza strip has resigned in protest against corruption, and journalists in the West Bank continue to be attacked and beaten.

Daniel Barenboim gave a concert in Ramallah on a visit in which he also saw the Wall, and gave a press conference.

inside Israel

Israel’s Housing Ministry spent $6m on settlements that were illegal even under Israeli law.

Moroccan Jews in Israel are re-learning their parents’ tongue.

It was Jews from Morocco and other Arab countries who gave the settlers their majority against Sharon, in a ‘poor white’ expression of ultra-patriotism.

A new report from the Bureau of Statistics highlights the economic and social gulf between Jews and Arabs in Israel.

An Israeli officer was jailed for six months for killing a 16 year-old Palestinian boy.

Controversy raged over academic freedom, after 400 academics signed a petition against the decision by Education Minister Limor Livnat to boycott a meeting at Ben Gurion University in protest at the stand of one of its academics, Lev Grinburg. Grinburg himself, an immigrant from Argentina, sees the issue in a broader context.

elsewhere

A letter from 53 former diplomats slated Bush’s policies in the Middle East.

Despite apparent Israeli concessions, Brussels appears to be climbing down in the long battle over settlement products and the EU-Israel Trade Agreements.

Adam Keller answers Natan Sharansky on the ‘New Antisemitism’.

James Zogby looks at the parallels betweeen what he calls ‘the two antisemitisms’’ - against Jews, and against Arabs.

Karachi’s last remaining Jew fights for compensation for the city’s last synagogue.

past news round-ups

• week of 19-26 April
• week of 12-18 April
• week of 22-28 March
• week of 15-21 March
• week of 8-14 March
• week of 1-7 March
• week of 23-29 February
• week of 16-22 February
• week of 9-15 February
• week of 2-8 February
• week of 26 January-1 February
• week of 19-25 January
• week of 12-18 January
• week of 5-11 January

  2003

• week of 8-14 December
• week of 1-7 December
• week of 24-30 November
• week of 10-16 November
• week of 3-9 November
• week of 27 October-2 November
• week of 20-26 October
• week of 13-19 October
• week of 6-12 October
• week of 29 September - 5 October
• week of 22-28 September
• week of 15-21 September
• week of 8-14 September
• week of 1-7 September
• week of 4-10 August
• week of 28 July-3 August
• week of 21-27 July
• week of 14-20 July
• week of 7-13 July
• week of 30 June-6 July
• week of 23-29 June
• week of 16-22 June
• week of 9-15 June
• week of 27 May- 8 June
• week of 26 May-1 June
• week of 19-25 May
• week of 22-29 April
• week of 14-21 April
• week of 7-13 April
• week of 31 March - 6 April
• week of 24-30 March
• week of 17-23 March
• week of 3-9 March
• week of 24 February-2 March
• week of 17-23 February
• week of 10-16 February
• week of 3-9 February
• week of 27 January-2 February
• week of 20-26 January
• week of 13-19 January
• week of 6-12 January
• week of 30 December-5 January

2002

• week of 9-15 December
• week of 2-8 December
• week of 18-25 November
• week of 11-17 November
• week of 4-10 November
• week of 28 October-3 November
• week of 21-27 October
• week of 14-20 October
• week of 7-13 October.
• week of 30 September - 6 October.
• week of 23-29 September
• week of 16-22 September
• week of 5-11 August