Our feature presentation this morning is a conversation between Princeton Professor Emeritus, Richard Falk, who also served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Rights, and Ali Abu Nimah, journalist, author and founder of the Electronic Intifada, that took place in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The conversation followed a lecture delivered by Prof. Falk. Their appeal to rationality and diplomacy in the face of failed military approaches to problem solving in the Middle East is the kind of discussion and approach to conflict resolution that one wishes would take place amongst our so-called diplomats on the international stage, but alas pure military response continues to dominate as the solution to the Middle East conflict.
Following this, we close with a Palestinian voice, that of Ayman Odeh. Ayman Odeh is an Arab Israeli lawyer and politician. He is a member of the Knesset, and currently serves as leader of Hadash, and head of the Joint List, a political alliance of four Arab-dominated parties. We present an excerpt from a speech he gave at a conference sponsored by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in New York City.
Before any of this, we offer a big chunk of current news, much of it heartbreaking.
We begin with news out of Palestine, and of course it is not good news. We constantly review the news reports out of the West Bank and Gaza and there is a sickening repetition to itâ¦news of the daily shootings of Palestinians by the Israeli military, and Jewish settlers, day in and day out, news of land confiscation and the discriminatory application of the law. We try not to become numb to this repetitionâ¦we dare not become numb. Here are just a few stories from this past week to again jar us into paying attention to the magnitude of systematic genocide taking place day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year in the West Bank and Gaza.
We begin with a report from Hebron. Thirteen-year-old Mohammed Irshied thought his older brother had only been shot in the leg when he arrived alone to the hospital and asked for his brotherâs room number. âThe police officer at the front just looked at me and said âyour brother isnât in a room, heâs a martyr now,ââ Mohammed told Middle East Eye a few hours later at the mourning hall where friends and family were gathering to show their respects for the young man. Itâs the second time in less than two months that Mohammed has found himself in the same hall mourning a sibling. Israeli forces shot Ouday Irshied, 24, in the chest and leg during clashes in Hebron city on Friday, killing him just six-and-a-half weeks after his sister Dania Irshied, 17, was shot dead at the same city-center. Mohammed is now the oldest of his four remaining siblings. He and his brother spent most of their time together. At home they shared a room, and together they ran the familyâs small bakery in the center of town. Dania, he said, was his oldest sister and took care of him like a mother. One familyâ¦3 children killed in a matter of weeks.
How would you like to come home to find your house occupied by the military that now lay claim to it? This happens all the time in the West Bank. Here is the latest is a report.
â For the last 15 days a family in Hebron have had no access to the top two floors of their house, which was illegally taken over by the Israeli occupation forces and where they set up a military base. Ten Israeli soldiers suddenly showed up at the house in the neighborhood of Abu Sheineh, in Hebron; they broke in by smashing a window in the door, took the key and demanded that the family vacate the third floor. The soldiers did not have any documentation to explain or justify the incursion nor did they give an explanation to the family why their house was being taken over. Any questions are ignored and the third floor as well as the rooftop are now off limits. Since the soldiers arrived they have broken the windows, and shot holes in the water tank which supplies clean water to the household. They then took all the blankets on the premises and used them to dry the water leaking from the tanks. The family also reported that once the water supply was fixed the soldiers contaminated the water and used the apartment and roof as a toilet. The soldiers never leave the apartment empty, but a few times per day there is a shift change. This happens at different times every day so there is no knowing when, and the soldiers move in and out as they please anyway. This means there can be soldiers moving throughout the building at any time, terrifying the family- especially the young children who no longer dare to leave the house on their own. The soldiers use the roof as a lookout and also frequently fire weapons such as teargas, from there into the surrounding neighborhood. The three-story house is home to 13 people, now crowded into two small floors- including a young disabled child. They have no idea how long the soldiers will stay, or if the family will ever get their house back at all.
And finally a review of the week from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.
Last week 10 Palestinian civilians, including a child, were killed in the West Bank. 70 Palestinian civilians, including 21 children, a female journalist and a woman, were wounded in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli forces put into effect the house demolition policy on grounds of collective punishment. A house in Nablus was bombed, due to which a mosque and 5 nearby houses sustained material damage. A number of houses were surveyed and their occupants were threatened to leave their houses to be demolished. Israeli forces continued to target the border area along the Gaza Strip. 2 house sustained damage because of the Israeli shells. Israeli warplanes raided a training site in the Gaza Strip, but no casualties were reported. Israeli forces conducted 114 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank just past this week, while ten Massachusetts were visiting Israel on an all expenses paid junket sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council. You can bet your bottom dollar that did not read about these issues in the Israeli press as they reveled in their public relations tour.
This Week In Palestine (a weekly part of Truth and Justice Radio) is an award-winning three-quarter-hour segment of news from Palestine and discussion of issues relevant to the Palestinians' struggle for freedom from Israel's brutal military occupation and colonization of their homeland. It speaks from the point of view of Palestinians and those who care about them. It's a regular part of Truth and Justice Radio, aired Sundays 6-10am ET on WZBC 90.3FM, Newton, MA, streaming and archived for two weeks at wzbc.org; TJR's website, truthandjusticeradio.org, has a link to This Week In Palestine archives back thru 1-6-2008; earlier editions are obtainable from radio4all.net or by navigating through our playlists. (At this important time, TJR has been airing a lot of Palestine coverage IN ADDITION to that provided by This Week In Palestine.) We hope you'll write to us at tjr@bluebottle.com if you rebroadcast our work, or have questions or comments.
This Week In Palestine 12-20-2015
Ali Abunimah with Richard Falk, Ayman Odeh, and heartbreaking current news
![<?php echo $config['site_title']; ?>](/static/images/rp-navimg.gif)
![Support the <?php echo $config['site_title']; ?>](/static/images/support.png)
