Sherif Fam speaks with Dr. Masin Qumsiyeh. A Palestinian-American, former Professor of Genetics at the Yale University School of Medicine, long-time activist and author, Dr. Qumsiyeh is most famously known for his widely acclaimed book: “Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle.” Dr. Qumsiyeh is also the founder and former President of the Holy Land Conservation Foundation, and co-founder of Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition. Dr. Qumsiyeh advocates for a secular one-state solution.

This program was produced by Truth and Justice Radio for October 14, 2007.

For more information, visit:
truthandjusticeradio.org
qumsiyeh.org
academicsforjustice.org

After almost 60 years in Lebanon, Palestinian refugees are still facing harsh conditions in their daily lives. They suffer from severe housing conditions in the refugee camps, poverty, racism and many forms of social, political and legal discrimination. In dozens of jobs, especially in those requiring special skills and higher education, Palestinians are forbidden to work. One result of this discriminating policy is being treated in this short film: many well-educated refugees can’t find jobs and therefore end up as taxi drivers, day laborers or shopkeepers.

This short film was produced in Bourj Ash-Shamali refugee camp, near Sour (south Lebanon). Bourj Ash-Shamali hosts 20,000 Palestinian refugees, mostly from the north of Palestine. Thousands of its residents work in day labor, meaning: hard work, low wages, no job and therefore no income security.

This film was produced by the a-films collective on November 26, 2007.

For more information, visit:
a-films.blogspot.com

This documentary was filmed in late 2005 and brings the viewer closer to the living conditions and unresolved problems of Palestinian refugees in the Lebanon camps. Viewers see the camps with a focus on the issues of health, unemployment, education and the cultural memory of this community of refugees expelled in 1948 and 1967 from their homes in historic Palestine.

This program was produced in 2005 by Red Hill Films for Alternative Focus.

For more information, visit:
alternatefocus.org

Andy Trimlett interviews Ghassan Andoni, co-founder and spokesperson of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in Palestine. Andoni talks about his organization’s non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation. He discusses the failure of the American and Israeli governments to properly investigate the death of ISM volunteer Rachel Corrie. Andoni provides an analysis the recent Palestinian election, the uprising in Lebanon, and daily life in the Palestinian territories.

This program was produced by Andy Trimlett for Alternative Focus in 2005.

For more information, visit:
alternatefocus.org
palsolidarity.org
rachelcorriefoundation.org

Professor Salman H. Abu-Sitta of the London-based Palestine Land Society gives a personal account of how he became a refugee in Palestine in 1948. Using data from his research, Abu-Sitta shows how over 600 Palestinian villages were systematically depopulated by the advancing Israeli forces, leaving many others dismembered by an arbitrary cease-fire line. With maps and demographic statistics, Abu-Sitta shows that, in effect, Zionist policies were an ethnic cleansing campaign that resulted in a massive transfer of native Palestinians to the countries bordering Israel, where thousands remain within 100 miles from their original communities.

This program was produced for Alternative Focus by John Odam.

For more information, visit:
alternatefocus.org
plands.org (Palestine Land Society)

Because of the ongoing brutal Israel occupation and the discourse controlled by Israel, the US and the EU, the question of the future of Palestine has focused almost exclusively on the idea of a two-state solution. But the future of Palestine must deal with the larger issue of the refugees, Palestinians in the diaspora, and the Palestinians who are citizens of Israel.

This week’s Radio Intifada explores the current situation on the ground and the recent Fatah coup, the death of the two-state solution, and the role of the PLO and PNC (Palestinian National Congress) in (re)building Palestinian institutions and charting a viable future for Palestinians.

Special guests:
Naseer Aruri, Chancellor Professor (Emeritus) of Political Science, U Mass, Dartmouth, his most recent publication is the new edition of Palestine and the Palestinians;

Virginia Tilley, Chief Research Specialist in Democracy and Governance, Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa, author of The One State Solution: A Breakthrough for Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Deadlock;

Osamah Khalil, Palestinian-American doctoral candidate in US and Middle East History, UC Berkeley and frequent contributor to Electronic Intifada;

and featuring the music of Reem Kalani.

This show is hosted and produced by Sherna Gluck and Michael Shahin, SWANA (South and West Asia and North Africa) Collective of KPFK for July 19, 2007.

For more information, visit:
kpfk.org
electronicintifada.net
reemkalani.com

Last week we introduced you to the Palestinians of the Al-Waleed Camp, just a few of the millions of refugees from the war and ongoing violence in Iraq. This week we’ll look a little more closely at life in this desert encampment, and hear a little bit about how the Palestinian Authority has performed in supporting their citizens who, until recently, were living quite peaceably in Iraq.

The Palestinian citizens now trapped in Al-Waleed Camp accuse the Palestinian Authority of using their suffering to play political games with Israel. The Palestinian Authority announced that it would accept its citizens back in the West Bank. As the situation worsens, there is no immediate prospect of a solution. The only proposal thus far, an offer by the Palestinian Authority to take in the refugees, was rejected by Israel.

However, the refugees express the feeling that the situation is not as simplistic as it seems. They claim that other states, particularly in Europe, have since expressed willingness to resettle them, but that the PA refuses to accept these solutions, preferring to leave their citizens in the desert, pawns in a political game with Israel.

This program was produced by Alive in Baghdad.

For more information, visit:
aliveinbaghdad.org

The Israeli army kidnaps 17 civilians in the West Bank while Palestinians protest in Gaza. These stories and more in today’s update.

Palestine Today for July 19, 2007 was brought to you by Heidi Rosbe and Ghassan Bannoura for the International Middle East Media Center.

For more information, visit:
imemc.org

CKUT radio produced a retrospective on the 1967 Naksa (setback) for the 40th anniversary that aired on June 7, 2007. This is part five of that program.

Rana Abdulla, coordinator for refugee support for Palestinian families displaced from Iraq, speaks about the situation of the growing number of Palestinian refugees from the war in Iraq.

For more information, visit:
ckut.ca

As death tolls and temperatures rise in Baghdad, there are more than 1400 Palestinians stranded in a purgatory between Syria and Iraq. These Palestinians find themselves not only reviled and targeted in Baghdad, where many have lived for the past 60 years. Now they live in tents in the desert, left to wonder why none of the world’s governments will give them safe passage. Furthermore, so they claim, when the rare offer of resettlement comes, they’re left waiting desperately, hoping the government of “their country,” the Palestinian Authority, will permit the move. Many claim the PA is using them as just another pawn in a shell game of victimhood, distraction, and deal-making.

In part one of a two part series, these Palestinians (or are they Iraqis?) speak about desperate circumstances in Baghdad, and the reasons they fled the country they called home for generations. After they fled Baghdad, they found their circumstances still desperate, and perhaps in some ways worse. Syria has closed its borders to Palestinians, Jordan is closed to Palestinians and Iraqis alike.

This program was produced by Alive in Baghdad.

For more information, visit:
aliveinbaghdad.org