Feature Archives

On November 27th, a "Middle East peace conference" was held in Annapolis,Maryland. Leaders of Fatah who rule only over parts of the West Bank attended but Hamas, which now rules over Gaza, did not. During the talks there was no mention of freezing Israeli settlement expansion, of halting construction of the separation/apartheid wall, of the question of Jerusalem, the Palestinian refugees and borders.

George Cadman of Free Radio Santa Cruz 101.1 FM interviewed Dr. Paul Larudee, co-founder of the Free Gaza Movement, on December 4th about plans to set sail from Cyprus to Gaza in May of 2008. The Free Gaza Movement's mission is to break the siege of Gaza. They want to raise international awareness about the prison-like closure of the Gaza Strip and pressure the international community to review its sanctions policy and end its support for continued Israeli occupation.

On June 15th, Hamas militants seized the Palestinian presidential compound in Gaza City and took full control of the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has announced the dismissal of the Hamas-led government and declared a state of emergency. Abbas said he would now rule by presidential decree until the conditions were right for early elections. However, Prime Minister Ismail Haniya says his government will press on and impose law and order. The Occupied Territories have now been effectively split into two separate entities with Hamas in charge of Gaza and Fatah controlling the West Bank.

Following the killing of a senior Fatah leader on May 13th, violence erupted throughout the Gaza Strip. Two attempted ceasefires collapsed within hours and fighting between Fatah and Hamas has resulted in dozens of deaths, threatening to shatter the two factions' unity government. Israel is intervening in the factional strife with the explicit aim of eliminating Hamas as a military and political force; a senior Israeli cabinet official has even called for all Hamas leaders to be killed. Israeli air strikes have killed over thirty civilians in the past few days, with some of the attacks appearing to be assassination attempts.

Palestine Awareness Week is taking place at UC Santa Cruz from May 7th through May 10th and began with a Check Point established in the Baytree Plaza. At that check point, five Palestinians were being detained for no apparent reason while two Israeli soldiers mentally and physically abused the detainees and prevented them from leaving the prison cell. One Palestinian women plead over and over to be released because she was pregnant and worried should would lose her baby.

Feryal Abu Haikal and Mohammed Khatib live in communities that are immediately threatened with destruction and expulsion by the Israeli military and settlers. They will be in the Bay Area from February 25th through 28th to tell of their personal experiences mobilizing their communities to nonviolently resist these measures. Events will be held in Alameda, San Rafael, Moraga, San Jose, and Berkeley. Flyer Thousands of Palestinians and hundreds of Israelis are waging a grassroots, nonviolent campaign of resistance to Israel's apartheid system of military occupation and discrimination against Palestinians. Palestine-Related Events from Indybay's calendar

Scott Kennedy of the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz co-led a delegation to Israel and the West Bank of Palestine from November 4–18, 2006. Ken Carlson of Santa Cruz was also on the delegation which was cosponsored by the Washington, DC based Interfaith PeaceBuilders and the Middle East Program of the national American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Audio