From Occupied Palestine

Mechanisms of denial
ILAN PAPPE and JUSTIN PODUR
ZNet, 20 February 2005

Ilan Pappe is a professor of history at Haifa University in Israel. He is an activist for Palestinian rights. He was in Toronto in February to give the keynote speech at "Israeli Apartheid Week" at the University of Toronto. He was interviewed by telephone on February 5, 2005.

A multifaceted fraud
JUSTIN PODUR
Znet, 5 December 2003

Review of:

The Trouble With Islam,
by Irshad Manji
Random House, 2003; 247 pages.

Irshad Manji, according to the jacket of her book, is "a broadcaster, author, public speaker, and media enterpreneur, born in East Africa and raised on the west coast of Canada." She was the producer and host of QueerTelevision and calls herself "a journalist with a reputation for flinging open doors" (pg. 76). Her new book, "The Trouble With Islam: A Wake-up Call for Honesty and Change", is on Canadian bestseller lists and, with a glowing profile in the New York Times, will no doubt do well in the United States as well. Her book is supposed to be an "Open Letter to Muslims and Non-Muslims", asking "tough questions": "Why are we all being held hostage by what's happening between the Palestinians and the Israelis? What's with the stubborn streak of anti-Semitism in Islam? Who is the real colonizer of Muslims - America or Arabia? Why are we squandering the talents of women, fully half of God's creation?" (pg. 2).

Book Review: Stolen Youth
JUSTIN PODUR
Znet, 11 February 2004

Review of:

Stolen Youth: The Politics of Israel's Detention of Palestinian Children.
by Catherine Cook, Adam Hanieh, and Adah Kay
Pluto Press, London, 2004. 197 pages.

"Three more people in masks came into the room. They blindfolded me, put a hood over my head... they kicked and slapped me. They beat me with a plastic pipe and whatever they could get their hands on. I couldn't see anything because I was blindfolded. I just felt the blows. That lasted ten to fifteen minutes... Later they stood me on a chair and told me to grab a pipe that was fixed to the wall. They removed the chair from under me and left me hanging in the air, with my handcuffed hands holding onto the pipe and the weight of my body, hanging in the air, drawing my hands downwards. They left the room." - Ismail Sabatin, 17 years old.

Another turn of the spiral: Tom Hurndall's death and the ongoing destruction of Palestine
JUSTIN PODUR
Znet, 15 January 2004

Tom Hurndall died on January 13, 2004 at 7:45pm, in a hospital in his country, the UK, after spending over 8 months in a coma.

Letter to a Zionist
JUSTIN PODUR
Znet, 20 November 2003

It's been almost a year. Do you remember it? It was a speaking event like any other but it sticks out in my mind even now. A friend from the International Solidarity Movement had come back from the Occupied Territories and was giving his report. Others offered some analysis of the situation there. It was well attended. I was the moderator.

Road map theatrics
JUSTIN PODUR
Znet Commentary, 11 August 2003

On August 3, 2003, the Associated Press reported on the progress of the road map. Some of the 'wanted men' of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades were to be packed off to Jericho from Arafat's compound in Ramallah. It is not always clear what a Palestinian has to do to make himself a 'wanted man'.

Murdering Solidarity
JUSTIN PODUR
ZNET, 10 May 2003

Picture this: 20 military vehicles, including an armoured personnel carrier, surround an office in broad daylight. Dozens of soldiers and police proceed to raid and loot the office, breaking equipment, stealing computers, and kidnapping the workers in the office-three unarmed women, one of whom has since been released.

What happened in Jenin? What is happening in Jenin?
JUSTIN PODUR
Znet, 5 August 2002

What happened in Jenin? What is happening in Jenin? The second question is more important than the first, but the two are related. With the United Nations report on Jenin having been published, and the Human Rights Watch Report tabled some time ago, the official voices have spoken.

Conversation with Justin Podur in Gaza
JUSTIN PODUR and CYNTHIA PETERS
Znet, 1 July 2002

Cynthia Peters: Tell me about Gaza.

Justin Podur: During my first few hours here in Gaza, just after I crossed the Erez checkpoint, I passed an orange grove being knocked down by Israeli armored bulldozers. We started to take pictures of what was going on, but nearby tanks fired into the air warning us to stop. We went back the next day to survey the damage and talk to the caretakers of the grove -- a family living in a nearby house. The Israeli army had shot up their house and their water tank. For three days, the whole family was afraid to leave the house.

Turning the West Bank and Gaza into prisons
JUSTIN PODUR and CYNTHIA PETERS
Znet, 26 June 2002

Cynthia Peters: Describe what's happening in Jenin.

This is a society that's slowly being choked to death. It is marked by fear, random violence, and irrational destruction. No one is allowed peace of mind. Even the relatively well-off -- those with jobs and some money -- live in constant fear. The poor, of course, are the hardest hit.