On January 25, 2002 a remarkable group of 52 soldiers and officers of the Israeli army reserves published a quarter-page letter which appeared in the Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz. In this letter, they called on their comrades-in-arms to join their act of refusal to serve in the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza. In a manifesto published in a book in 2003 entitled “Breaking Ranks: Refusing to Serve in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” they further declared: “we shall not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve, and humiliate an entire people.”
Sherif Fam speaks to Oded Na’aman, a 26 year-old former crew commander in the artillery corps of the Israeli Defense Forces, who spent a year as a soldier and commander in checkpoints all over the West Bank, then became a member of “Breaking the Silence.”
This program was produced by This Week In Palestine for WZBC radio on March 3, 2008.
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Professor Kovel is a prolific writer who has published ten books and over a hundred articles. His most recent book: “Overcoming Zionism,” published by the Pluto Press in the UK, and distributed by the University of Michigan Press, predictably earned him the ire of what Rabbi Arthur Waskow, of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia, calls “Jewish Officialdom,” or the “Official Jewish Institutional Structures,” including the Michigan chapters of the American Jewish Congress, the Jewish Community Relations Council, and B’nai Brith.
As a result, the University of Michigan Press, temporarily suspended distribution of the book in August 2007 amid the now tiresome, shrill accusations of anti-Semitism. Once again, it appeared that the age-old tactic of killing the messenger to deny access to the message had succeeded.
In October, 2007, however, following a “growing campaign led by fellow academics and civil libertarians,” (principally historian Howard Zinn), the University of Michigan Press reversed its decision.
This program was produced by This Week In Palestine for January 20, 2008.
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truthandjusticeradio.org
joelkovel.org
Sherif Fam offers a list of ways to become involved in the struggle for justice in the Middle East. Then, a sobering summary of current events in Palestine.
Independent Palestinian journalist Mr. Hisham Sharabati, a native of Al Khaleel and editor in chief of the local paper “Resalat Al Khaleel,” joins Sherif for a discussion of current affairs in Palestine.
This program was produced by Truth and Justice Radio for September 30, 2007.
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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.
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truthandjusticeradio.org
qumsiyeh.org
academicsforjustice.org
Sherif Fam speaks to Allison Weir, founder of If Americans Knew, about U.S. military support for Israel.
This program was produced by Truth and Justice Radio for October 21, 2007.
Sherif Fam talks to Dr. Uri Davis. Davis is a dual citizen of the State of Israel and the UK, and an Observer-Member of the Palestine National Council (PNC). He has been at the forefront of the defence of human rights, notably the defence of Palestinian rights inside and outside the State of Israel, since the mid -1960s. Born in Jerusalem in 1943, when Palestine was still undivided. Dr. Davis describes himself as a “Palestinian Jew.” He is a founder and chairperson of “MAIAP”, the Movement Against Israeli Apartheid in Palestine. His autobiography, published in 1995, is entitled “Crossing the Border: an autobiography of an anti-Zionist Palestinian Jew.”
This program was produced by Truth and Justice Radio for November 4, 2007.
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www.uridavis.info
Sherif Fam is joined by phone by two young Americans who are living and working in Bethlehem. Kit is a Phillipino-American student at the California State University in Monterey, CA. David was graduated from Princeton University with a PhD in Philosophy. Both are working at the Siraj Center in Bethlehem, attending courses in Arabic and history, and working with the children of Bethlehem. They join us from the Siraj Center in Bethlehem.
This program was produced by This Week In Palestine for WZBC radio on July 8, 2007.
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sirajcenter.org
This Week in Palestine talks to Yasmine Noor, who was born in Rafah but left at a young age. She returned to Palestine in the late nineties and went through high school in Ramallah (at a time when people could move from Gaza to the West Bank). She came to the US in Sep. 2000, two weeks before the second uprising, and was not able to return to Gaza until now. She holds a BA degree in Religion and an MA in Conflict Analysis and Resolution. She is also the co-founder of a grassroots relief organization called Save Gaza, which is what brought her back to Gaza. Ms. Noor returned to Gaza to implement a sustainable gardening project in an effort to allow local Gazan families to grow gardens using very few resources and not have to rely on relief handouts.
This program was produced by Sherif Fam for This Week In Palestine for June 24, 2007.
For more information, visit:
truthandjusticeradio.org
savegaza.org