Feature Archives

On February 23 Brian Avery arrived in Tel Aviv from the U.S. in order to be present on February 28th when the Israeli Supreme Court hears his petition demanding a criminal investigation of his shooting.
Brian, an American with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was shot in the face and critically wounded on April 5, 2003 by Israeli soldiers while standing in street with his hands in the air in the West Bank town of Jenin. A bullet entered his face, shattering his jaw and his nose. Since the incident he has been in rehabilitation and undergone a series of facial reconstruction surgeries.
Four other international activists from Denmark and Sweden who witnessed the shooting testify that Brian, along with another ISM activist, was standing under a street lamp on a quiet empty street wearing a high visibility medic vest with his hands in the air, clearly indicating he was an unarmed international. An Israeli Armored Personnel Carrier approached at less than 30kmph and without warning opened heavy fire from a range of just tens of meters, and then carried on driving.
Read More | Democracy Now Interview | Brian Avery arrested in SF for marching against Iraq war | 6/16/2003: Brian Avery Returns Home | International Solidarity Movement

3/24/2005 "Israel [has] announced plans for the construction of as many as 3,500 settler units around East Jerusalem. The massive settlement expansion is aimed at creating a 'territorial and demographic Jewish continuity' between the settlement of Maali Adomim, five kilometres east of Jerusalem, and other Jewish settlements on the northeastern outskirts of the occupied city. In other words, the new settlement, dubbed by Israeli officials as reflective of 'natural growth', would nearly completely strangle, even ghettoise, Arab East Jerusalem and eliminate remaining Arab demographic gaps between the city and the West Bank. ...The implication here is very clear. It means that any prospective Palestinian political state, whether to be called a state or go by any other name, will be composed of hapless and disconnected enclaves that look more like "great prisons" or "reservations" than elements of a viable and genuine political entity. ... The PA has strongly condemned Israel's insistence on 'imposing the fait accompli' and unilaterally deciding the shape and borders of any future Palestinian entity. 'This amounts to killing the roadmap. Israel is strangling Jerusalem and making the creation of a viable Palestinian state impossible,' said PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei.
Read More | Poisoning the land and stealing trees | What future for Israel's Palestinian citizens? | Israel hands over Jericho | Falling through the Looking Glass in Hebron | Settler violence against Palestinians is burgeoning at an alarming rate

3/20/2005 "Palestinian officials and Israeli peace campaigners accused Ariel Sharon's government of undermining peace efforts by expanding West Bank settlements even as it hands control of Arab towns to the Palestinian security services.... Jericho was handed over last week, the first of five in the current batch designed to enhance the credibility of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, and his strategy of winning a state by diplomacy. At the same time, however, the liberal daily paper Ha'aretz reported that an aerial photography survey, commissioned by the Defence Ministry, revealed extensive building since last summer in existing settlements, thus violating Israel's commitments under the international road map for peace. " Read More

3/9/2005: "Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, could face a criminal investigation after an inquiry today found government funds had secretly been used to set up illegal West Bank settlements. A report by the former state prosecutor Talia Sasson called for Israel's attorney general to consider initiating criminal proceedings after discovering various ministries and official institutions had cooperated in channelling money to help to establish unauthorised outposts over the past decade." Read More

2/25/2005: 6 ,391 homes for settlers are slated to be built this year, a sharp increase over 2004. Statistics on the website of the Israel Lands Authority (ILA), whose 2005 construction plan was cited by Yediot, showed the government agency marketed 1, 783 new housing units in the West Bank in 2004 and 1 ,225 in 2003.
Behind the photo opportunities and historic handshakes of the Sharm al-Sheikh summit, the evidence on the ground is that Israel is taking advantage of the new mood not to build peace, but to build more settlements. Without an immediate halt in settlement construction, the possibility for a territorially contiguous, free Palestinian state alongside Israel will remain a distant mirage, no matter how many times President Bush talks about it, and the present easing of tension will be no more than a short respite from more horror to come.

2/23/2005: Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas intervened in the dispute between parliament and his prime minister, and persuaded legislators from his Fatah Party to support a new Cabinet. Lawmakers had objected to his first list because it was seen by them as being stacked with political cronies of the late Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. Several legislators had said they wanted to push Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei out and would not support any Cabinet he proposed.

2/10/2005: Abbas has sacked several top security commanders in the Gaza Strip follow a salvo of Hamas mortars fired at Israelis in Gaza. The militant group said it was retaliating for the death of a Gaza man killed by Israeli fire overnight.

On Tuesday February 8th 2005, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Sharm El-Sheikh Egypt and announced an end to four years of hostilities. While many Palestinians were guardedly optimistic, others said they saw nothing new, having grown tired of summits that have become meaningless by their abundance. "It's the same old same old. So many summits have come and gone. Besides, it is only security related, nothing more. And if there is no binding agenda, the summit will fail. This is just a delaying tactic being used by Sharon," said 38-year-old Nahla al-Natur. "We have so many decisions in the past-why doesn't the international community force Israel to abide by them instead of coming up with new summits?"
Shortly after the announcement of the ceasefire, Hamas was adamant about making clear their position regarding the outcome of the summit. A Hamas representative told the Associated Press that "the talk about what the leader of the Palestinian Authority called a cessation of acts of violence is not binding on the resistance because this is a unilateral stance and was not the outcome of an intra-Palestinian dialogue as has been agreed previously" The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said Wednesday no cease-fire with Israel has yet been reached among Palestinians. A PFLP statement released in Amman said the various Palestinian factions did not make any commitments to the Palestinian Authority to end hostilities and were still waiting for Israel to respond to their political demands.
Al-Ahram On Sharm El-Sheikh | Uri Avnery: The Stalemate | Abbas gets ready for showdown with militants over cease-fire | Israel to Lift West Bank Travel Ban | Palestinian street expects result | Democracy Now Interviews Electronic Intifada Founder

On December 14, 2004, after spending most of a year and a half living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, I was arrested at a demonstration against the Segregation Wall* in Belain, Ramallah. It was my first time in that village. I was arrested along with another U.S. citizen, Kelly Minio-Pallueto, and a British guy named Tom. Four Israelis were also taken on the charge of being in a closed military zone.
The border police there were primarily interested in getting rid of the Israelis. Kelly and I were both filming, were in fact the only two people who were. We were filming the soldiers attacking Israelis, internationals and Palestinians, and especially the severe beating of a teenage Palestinian. The soldiers took Kelly, and Tom tried to stop them. I filmed their arrest as well. The soldiers ignored me completely, even when I grabbed their batons to keep some of the blows from hitting the youth. Some time later, while the boy was still being abused, a man in plain clothes and a Police hat came and asked for my ID. He said I needed to go with him because my visa was expired. I told him I had a valid visa, and offered to show him. He wasn't really interested. It seems likely that both Kelly and I were targeted because we were recognized as having been in Palestine before, not because of anything we were doing at that time. I was arrested with my camera and tape, and the police did not attempt to look at them until hours later. I gave the tape to Tom to take out when he was released.
After questioning by the secret police (SHEBAK), Tom and the Israelis were released, and Kelly and I were taken to the immigration police station at Talpiot, Jerusalem to be deported. Kelly was told she was being deported because she had signed an agreement when she crossed the border not to go to the West Bank. I was told that I was being deported because I was demonstrating in a closed military zone. This seemed odd to me, since obviously I was not demonstrating by myself; was I in a closed military zone and no one else was?
Read More Of Kate Raphael Bender's Account Of Being Detained In Israel
View a video made by Kate of Israeli army violence against peaceful Palestinian, Israeli and international protesters in the West Bank village of Bela'in, at the beginning of Apartheid Wall construction there in December.
Previous Posts By Kate: 1   2   3   4 | Previous Posts About Kate: 1   2   3   4

1/28/2005: Hamas has won an overwhelming victory in Gaza Strip local elections, the final results showed Friday. Hamas won control of seven of the ten municipal councils that held elections, including the three largest ones: Dir al-Balah, Bnei Siheileh, and Beit Hanun.
Read More | Hamas Victory Rally Erupts Into Shootout | Hamas: Into the mainstream

1/16/2005 Mahmoud Abbas, was sworn in on Saturday January 15th as President of the Palestinian National Authority. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had phoned Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday the 11th "to congratulate him on his election as Palestinian president and offer cooperation, the highest-level contact between the sides in nearly four years". Just two days later there was a small attack by a handful of militants on a crossing between Gaza and Israel. Despites Abbas' calls for a halt to attacks on Israel and the limited time he had between the election and the attack, Sharon's response was to once again cut all ties with the Palestinian leadership and give orders "for troops to carry out unlimited operations against Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip".
Since Saturday morning, 15 January 2005, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have launched a wide scale offensive on al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City. They have killed 5 Palestinians and injured 5 others. This latest attack has come following a decision by IOF to close all border crossings of the Gaza Strip and decrease the time of opening al-Matahen and Abu Houli checkpoints on Salah al-Din Street (the main road between the north and south of the Gaza Strip), as an indicator of escalation by IOF in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). PCHR warns that the presence of IOF in al-Zaytoun neighborhood may cause more casualties among Palestinian civilians and more damage to civilian property. Read More...
A cynical exploitation of the transition | Electronic Intifada

1/9/2005 Polls were forced to stay open for several hours longer than scheduled due to a massive turnout (especially in rural areas). According to exit polls Abbas is headed for big victory as was expected. While there were no major disturbances during the voting, Palestinians have accused Israel of not carrying out a promised easing of its military grip on the West Bank and Gaza for the vote.
Abbas Campaigns in Nablus | A Democratic Exercise in Futility | Elections Under Fire | Abbas Calls for Peace Talks After Poll | Slave Sovereignty | On the Narrow Shoulders of Abu Mazen | Israeli Bar on Voting Slammed | The Election Buzz

12/12/2004 Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barguthi has quit the Palestine presidential race for a second time. Fatah leadership had threatened to expel Mr Barghouti if he did not withdraw his candidacy. On December 1st Barghouti had officially entered the January 2005 presidential election more...
Abbas apologises to Kuwait | Palestinian presidential candidate arrested at border | Israeli soldiers beat election candidate | Interview With Wife Of Marwan Barghouti

11/26/2004: Marwan Barghuthi has announced that he will not run in upcoming Palestinian elections and will instead be throwing his support behind former prime minister Mahmud Abbas. Barghuthi had come under pressure from his Fatah faction to drop out of the race after he had indicated he planned on running.
Palestine: Uncertain times | Crowded field for Palestinian election | Hamas Likely to Run in Presidential Elections

11/16/2004: Elections to choose a successor to Yasser Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority are to be held on January 9th.
Following Arafat's death, Mahmoud Abbas was elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Palestinians' highest decision-making body, and Palestinian parliament speaker Rawhi Fattouh was named interim Palestinian president. Rumors that Abbas was chosen by Fatah as their candidate in the upcomming election have been circulating in the press, but Abbas denies that he is running. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades says it is opposed to Mahmud Abbas as Yasir Arafat's successor and would instead back jailed West Bank Fatah leader Marwan al-Barghuthi. A spokesman said: "We do not support Abu Mazin [Abbas] for the election and we have decided to vote for Marwan Barghuthi to be our candidate for president." The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) along with four other Palestinian factions have agreed to field a joint candidate in the presidential elections. The PLFP and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), boycotted the previous Palestinian election in 1996 rejecting Arafat's interim peace deals with Israel.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad say they will boycott the upcoming Presidential election since they want a wider general election and "unified leadership".
Al-Barghuti wants top Palestinian post | Abu Mazen (Mahmud Abbas) Survives an Assassination Attempt | Free Marwan Barghouti

11/11/2004 Nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, released in April after 18 years in jail, has been re-arrested. His supporters said that the police had used the death of Yassir Arafat as cover to make the arrest, in the hope that it would be ignored. Mr Vanunu was seized by some 30 armed police officers who stormed the Anglican Cathedral in East Jerusalem to make the arrest. "Analysts said the arrest of Vanunu -- who has repeatedly defied orders not to give interviews -- may be an Israeli attempt to suppress discussion of its nuclear program at a time of increasing international efforts to block Iran from going nuclear."
Past Indybay Coverage Of Vanunu | Letter from the Bishop in Jerusalem on Vanunu's Arrest | International Journalists Protest Vanunu Arrest