Israel's Missed Opportunities for Peace From 1967 to the Present
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- Written by Sergio Yahni and Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center Sergio Yahni and Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center
- Published: 06 June 2007 06 June 2007
This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Six Day War of June 1967, which resulted in Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights. As time has passed and the occupation has become an increasingly permanent reality, the question remains as to why peace has continued to be unattainable for Israel. Many claim that even the June 1967 War was a direct consequence of Israel's inability or unwillingness to accept the comprises that peace requires. On Monday, the 4th of June, 2007, we spoke with long-time Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery at his home in Tel Aviv. Mr. Avnery, who was born in Germany in 1923 and moved to Mandate Palestine at the age of ten, is an Israeli journalist and former Knesset member. We discussed his assessments of the political context before and after the '67 War, missed opportunities for negotiation during this period, his involvement in 1970 in an indirect communication between the Egyptian leader Gamel Abd-al-Nasser and the Israeli government, in which Nasser made clear that he was ready to make peace and establish both diplomatic and commercial relations with Israel, and finally, we spoke of the ongoing situation today on the eve of the war's anniversary.
Listen to this podcast: {audio}http://www.archive.org/download/UriAvneryGushShalomIsraelsMissedOpportunitiesforPeaceFromtheSixDayWarofJune1967tothePresent/AIC.NfW.UriAvnery_June06_2007.output.mp3{/audio}
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The Experience of Administrative Detention Prisoners in Israeli Prisons
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- Written by Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center
- Published: 31 May 2007 31 May 2007
Ahmad Abu Haniya, the Youth Project Coordinator for the Alternative Information Center, was released from administrative detention on 14 May 2007, after two years of imprisonment without any trial or formal charges being brought against him. Ahmad was detained at an Israeli military checkpoint on his way to work on 18 May 2005 and placed in administrative detention, which is imprisonment without charge or trial. As with all of the approximately 800 Palestinian administrative detainees currently being held by Israel, Ahmad and his attorney were not even permitted to know the accusations against him. During his time in prison, Ahmad was adopted as an appeal case by Amnesty International, and supported by the American National Lawyers Guild. The detention of Ahmad and so many other Palestinians, blatantly violates international humanitarian law, which permits administrative detention only as an exceptional and highly regulated measure. Administrative detention violates the fundamental right to liberty and due process, and has been used by Israel as a tool to oppress political activists in Palestine who struggle non-violently against the Israeli occupation and for a just peace between Palestinians and Israelis. We spoke with Ahmad on the 21st of May, one week after his release from prison, at the offices of the AIC in Beit Sahour.
Listen to this podcast: {audio}http://www.archive.org/download/AhmadAbuHaniyahTheAlternaTheExperienceofAdministrati/AIC.NfW.AhmadAbuHaniyah_May31_2007.mp3{/audio}
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Israel's Investigation of Azmi Bishara in Context
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- Written by Bryan Atinsky and Susana Mendoza, Alternative Information Center Bryan Atinsky and Susana Mendoza, Alternative Information Center
- Published: 24 May 2007 24 May 2007
On Monday, 21 May 2007, we spoke with Dr. Jamal Zahalka, Chairman of Balad, the National Democratic Assembly Party, at his office in the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem. Dr. Zahalka, a Palestinian citizen of Israel from Kfar Kara in the Galilee, has been a Member of the Knesset since 2003, becoming the head of Balad following the resignation of Azmi Bishara in April of this year. We talked with Dr. Zahalka about the work of the Balad Party; the implications of recently published political documents by leaders of the Israeli Arab community, which call for the legal transformation of Israel into a State for all its citizens; the Israeli establishment's reaction to these demands; and the social and political context of the current allegations and legal investigation against Azmi Bishara, the former head of Balad, for espionage and money laundering.
Listen to this podcast: {audio}http://www.archive.org/download/JamalZahalkaChairmanoftheIsraelsInvestigationofAzmi/AIC.NfW.JamalZahalka_May24_2007.mp3{/audio}
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Analysis of the Current Situation In the Gaza Strip
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- Written by Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center
- Published: 18 May 2007 18 May 2007
On the 18th of May, 2007, I spoke with Nassar Ibrahim, Palestinian author, political analyst and co-director of the Alternative Information Center, at his office in Beit Sahour. We discussed the current situation in the Gaza Strip, ongoing Palestinian factional violence and its relation to the Israeli occupation and international economic boycott, and practical actions that need to be taken on both a local and international level to create a more secure and stable situation in the region.
Listen to this podcast: {audio}http://www.archive.org/download/NassarIbrahimAlternativeInformationCenterAICAnalysisoftheCurrentSituationintheGazaStrip/AIC.NfW.NassarIbrahim_May18_2007.mp3{/audio}
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Israeli Economic Policies towards the Palestinians between 1967 and Today
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- Written by Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center
- Published: 03 May 2007 03 May 2007
The economic policies that Israel enforces, control the lives of Palestinians in the territories occupied since 1967. However, the power structure and the decision-making processes within Israel have changed drastically in recent years. The policies Israel implemented in the OPT have shifted between centralization and de-centralization of power, between unification of the economies of Israel and the OPT and separation of the two. These policies were not decided by Israeli officials autonomously - they were influenced by pressure from above (i.e., the international community and its financial institutions) and more importantly by pressure from below (i.e., the Palestinian Intifada). What exactly are the economic policies that sustain the occupation? Who came up with them? What are the reasons underlying the recent changes in the Israeli political-economic policy? How are all of these decisions affected by the economic needs of Israel? On Tuesday, the 17th April, 2007 at the offices of the Alternative Information Center in Beit Sahour, AIC Economist Shir Hever discussed these issues in a lecture titled Israeli Economic Policies towards the Palestinians between 1967 and Today.
Listen to this podcast: {audio}http://www.archive.org/download/AIC.NfW.ShirHever_May3_2007/AIC.NfW.ShirHever_May3_2007_64kb.mp3{/audio}
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