NOVANEWS
Dear Friends,
Sad news tonight: the Israeli military judge rejected Khader Adnan’s appeal to reduce his sentence. This information by the Associated Press is in the Washington Post and Haaretz. Apart from one additional item on Khader Adnan in the Guardian the dozen or so international commercial press that I scanned was too busy with other things—all had the 2 attacks near the Israeli embassies, news on Greece, on Syria, on Egypt. How can one lone prisoner on his 58th day of hunger strike compete with such matters? If he dies, will it have been in vain? Will nothing change? Yes, there are demonstrations demanding his release and other solidarity acts, but it seems that petitions, letters, phone calls, faxes, demonstrations, etc have been either insufficient or we are battling intransigence that nothing will change. And nothing will change it, because there is nothing to fear. Israel does as it wills. No government threatens it with sanctions. Till when?
Item one of the 8 items below is the brief report on the judge’s verdict.
In item 2 Haggai Matar tells us what we already know: ‘Khader Adnan’s life is at risk.’ Haggai writes very well. Worth reading his brief piece.
Items 3 and 4 are about East Jerusalem. I must admit that Israel’s leaders are taking ‘good’ advantage of all the other affairs that keep the world off Israel’s back—Greece, Syria, the economy, and so on and so forth. One wonders if these other things were not happening, would Israel’s leaders be so daring as they have been this past year and maybe the year before? Obviously, endeavoring to make life as miserable as possible for Palestinians everywhere in the West Bank and Gaza, but especially in East Jerusalem, probably with the hope of encouraging them to leave. Item 3 relates the trials of 2 East Jerusalem hospitals. Item 4 reports that Israel approves a new East Jerusalem visitors’ compound, which induced the authorities to make room for it by razing a Palestinian community center and children’s park. Don’t you get nauseous on hearing such doings? I do. And don’t let the argument that the community center was built without a permit induce you to think that the authorities had the right to demolish it. Palestinians almost never are given permission to build.
Item 5 ‘Lesson in extremism at Israel ‘peace’ school’ reports that a Jewish-Palestinian school was the object of a price-tag assault. Of course there are Jews who don’t want Jews to live in peace and happiness with any other people, least of all Palestinians!
Item 6 is a change of pace. After so much awful news, here is one item that is a pleasure to read. Two teachers respond to the Minister of Education’s retort to the letter signed by over 200 teachers informing him that they refused to play his political games. This letter responding to his response argues that Israeli schools must avoid political rhetoric, especially of the kind that Saar promotes. Bravo. Interestingly, the teachers who wrote the rejoinder teach bible and literature.
Item 7 is about an Israeli-Palestinian radio station that advocates peace, but which no longer operates on wave lengths due to Israel having closed it down. Of course it could not be allowed to continue! Israel’s governments want peace to stay as far from their doors as possible.
The closing item (8) interested me for its title rather than for the rest, which does not go into detail about what the title says. The link is here in case you want to read the article. The title is “Israeli sperm bank only taking donations from IDF veterans.” Now there’s a form of militarism that I bet you never dreamed of!
All the best,
and please, if you can think of anything that might save Khader Adnan’s life, please go for it!
Dorothy
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1 Washington Post
Monday, February 13, 2012
Israeli court rejects appeal from Palestinian man on 58th day of hunger strike
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/lawyer-for-palestinian-on-58th-day-of-hunger-strike-says-appeal-to-reduce-jail-term-rejected/2012/02/13/gIQAX9JxAR_story.html
[also in Haaretz http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-rejects-appeal-of-palestinian-prisoner-on-hunger-strike-1.412713]
By Associated Press
JERUSALEM — An Israeli military court on Monday rejected an appeal from a Palestinian man on hunger strike for 58 days to have his jail term reduced, officials said.
Lawyer Mahmoud Hassan said a military court judge refused the appeal and that his client, Khader Adnan, will be detained until May 8. A military spokeswoman confirmed the ruling and said Adnan will be expected to carry out the full four-month sentence. The spokeswoman spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.
Adnan is a member of the militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad. He is on a hunger strike to protest what he says is humiliation that he faces in Israel’s military justice system. He is in poor condition and under guard at an Israeli hospital.
Adnan is being held in “administrative detention,” under which an Israeli military judge can imprison Palestinians for six-month periods without charge. Palestinians don’t get to see evidence against them.
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2 Monday, February 13 2012
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Khader Adnan’s life at risk as hunger strike enters 58th day; solidarity protests spread
Protest in solidarity with Khader Adnan at Ofer prison last week (Keren Maor / Activestils)
By Haggai Matar
Doctors have expressed grave concern for the life of Khader Adnan, who has been on a hunger strike for the 58 days since his arrest. He also recently stopped drinking water.
Adnan, 33, is hospitalized at the Ziv Medical Center in Safed, where he is chained to a bed despite his condition. On Friday, in light of the complications entailed in moving him, a military court hearing was held at the hospital, regarding Adnan’s appeal against his administrative detention order. Despite the urgency of the case, the military judge announced he would give his decision “over the course of next week” (meaning, this present week). Adnan’s wife, who was allowed to see him yesterday, said that he looks like a ghost.
Adnan, who is politically associated with the Islamic Jihad, began his hunger strike initially in protest of the mistreatment he said he endured during his Shin Bet interrogation. It continues against the four-month administrative detention order issued against him.
Administrative detention is an unusual and extraordinary legal phenomenon, whereby the security establishment essentially admits that it does not have evidence on which to base any charges, but chooses to imprison someone out of concern over activities he or she could potentially undertake in the future. Administrative detention orders can be repeatedly extended for six months, and there are many who spend years in prison under such conditions – with no charges against which to defend themselves. In addition to Adnan, there are presently some 310 people in administrative detention in Israel.
The protest spreads, while the media remains silent
In recent days, the protest against Adnan’s detention has expanded. Demonstrations calling for his release have taken place in Gaza, Ramallah, outside the Ofer Prison, in Nablus, Hebron, Haifa and Tel Aviv. A few of the weekly anti-occupation protests in the West Bank have been dedicated to this call. This Friday, the demonstration marking seven years since the start of Bil’in’s struggle will be partially dedicated to Adnan, who has taken part in the village’s demonstrations in the past.
In Gaza, nine activists have launched a hunger strike in solidarity with Adnan in front of the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross, demanding immediate intervention on behalf of his release. Additional demonstrations for his release have been held in cities all over the world. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also called on the Israeli government to release Adnan and save his life.
Al Jazeera has also reported that hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails joined the hunger strike yesterday. This strike is taking place just a few months after an earlier hunger strike that swept Israeli jails, in protest against the worsening of prisoner conditions as a result of a government policy designed to exert pressure and bring about the release of Gilad Schalit. That strike ended with the prisoner exchange deal, which the Palestinian prisoners had hoped would end the worsened conditions. To this day, that hasn’t happened.
Then, like now, Israeli mainstream media coverage of the hunger strike is almost non-existent. The lack of coverage is no doubt a result of the absence of public discourse on the Palestinian prisoners in general, and on Israel’s use of administrative detentions specifically.
Haggai Matar is an Israeli journalist and political activist, focusing mainly on the struggle against the occupation. He is currently working at Zman Tel Aviv, the local supplement of Maariv newspaper, and at the independent Hebrew website MySay.
Read also:
Khader Adnan’s life at risk as hunger strike enters 58th day; solidarity protests spread
Hunger strike highlights forgotten tragedy of Palestinian prisoners
Palestinian on 48th day of hunger strike chained to hospital bed
Israel shackles Palestinian hunger striker [the Guardian] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/12/palestinian-hunger-striker-shackled
Tags Gaza, hunger strike, ICRC, Khader ‘Adnan, Ofer Prison, palestinian prisoners, west bank
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3 Haaretz
Monday, February 13, 2012
East Jerusalem’s hospitals are good, but access to them is limited
Most patients and staff are residents of the West Bank, which has become increasingly inaccessible due to the separation fence and its system of permits.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/east-jerusalem-s-hospitals-are-good-but-access-to-them-is-limited-1.412654
By Oz Rosenberg
Tags: Jerusalem East Jerusalem West Bank
Both of East Jerusalem’s hospitals are generally considered to be quality institutions that provide good service to their patients, most of whom are Palestinians from the West Bank. The Al-Mukassad Hospital, for example, is considered the Palestinian version of Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center.
However, while the service provided in East Jerusalem’s hospitals may be comparable to that found in the western part of the city, accessibility to the institutions themselves is problematic.
According to Fouad Abu Ahmad, who runs two clinics in East Jerusalem, the scope of services that hospitals are able to provide their patients in that part of the city is limited due to the licensing system maintained by Israel’s health maintenance organizations. As a result, a person’s health insurance may cover an operation, but not a visit to the emergency room.
According to Physicians for Human Rights, a nongovernmental organization, one of the most problematic parts of East Jerusalem’s medical system is its emergency medical services.
According to statistics, between July and September of 2011 there were 204 cases in which patients needed to be taken to the emergency room in an ambulance. In no less than 80 percent of these cases Magen David Adom teams demanded a police escort for the ambulance. This, says PHR, significantly increases the time it takes to evacuate a patient or wounded person, potentially risking lives.
Magen David Adom has claimed more than once that its demand for police escorts is the result of past experience, in which teams have been attacked by local residents and forced to flee. However, the data shows that in many cases escort is required even in areas that are not considered hostile.
Various human rights organizations claim that the separation fence, along with the system of permits that goes along with it, hinders the provision of medical services to residents, as in many cases the road to the hospital has been made considerably longer.
A UN report published in 2008 found that out of over one thousand hospital workers in East Jerusalem, around 70 percent are residents of the West Bank. They are also finding it increasingly difficult to secure entry and employment permits, which directly affects the proper functioning of the hospitals in East Jerusalem.
Until last weekend, West Bank residents who sought treatment in East Jerusalem’s hospitals were forced to endure checks and delays on their way back to the West Bank as well. This procedure was halted last weekend, following a request made by Physicians for Human Rights to the Civil Administration. According to the organization, this is a small step in the right direction.
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4 Haaretz
Monday, February 13, 2012
Israel approves new East Jerusalem visitors’ compound, razes Palestinian community center
Jerusalem planning and committee approves construction of new visitors’ center at City of David National Park in Silwan.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-approves-new-east-jerusalem-visitors-compound-razes-palestinian-community-center-1.412700
By Nir Hasson
The Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee approved on Monday the construction of a new visitors’ center at the City of David National Park in Silwan.
As part of this decision, Israel Nature and Parks Authority representatives this morning razed a complex built by Silwan residents that included a playground, community center and cafe.
The new visitors’ center is to be built above the Givati parking lot and will be called the Mercaz Kedem (Kedem Center). The building will be built on stilts and beneath it there will be an area where visitors can view recently discovered archeological findings. The Elad organization promoted the plan and it obtained the support of Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who appeared before the district committee earlier today to voice his support.
The Israel Antiquities Authority’s Jerusalem District director, Dr. Yuval Baruch, also expressed support for the plan, despite the presence of archeological findings under the building. “This is one of the most important projects in Jerusalem in recent generations. It would be impossible to find a serious archeologist with a bad word to say about the conduct of the excavations,” said Baruch. “The building as it stands is approved by the Israel Antiquities Authority and was presented to the authority in dozens of meetings.
All of the changes the Antiquities Authority requested were included in Arie Rahamimov’s plan: the number of parking spaces was reduced, and the height of the building was limited so it would not overshadow the height of the Old City wall (the difference is one meter). There is an important link here between the Ophel Garden, the City of David and the Western Wall and the creation of a direct link between the sites. We led the way to this result.”
The building, designed by architect Arie Rahamimov, will also include a parking lot for the use of visitors to the City of David, exhibition space and classrooms and on the roof, there are plans to build a plaza and observation deck overlooking Silwan and the Old City walls.
“The plan is an example of outstanding architecture that will contribute to the development of the national park and create public space that befits the location within the site and the city, as well as address the needs of the million and a half annual visitors to the national park,” the Ministry of Interior’s announcement stated.
On the other hand, Silwan residents and left-wing organizations that support them vehemently objected to the building which they claimed bolstered the process of Judaization of the village and strengthened the Elad organization’s hold on the place.
“The public interest is to prevent massive construction opposite the walls of the Old City and certainly not to build on top of the major archeological strata uncovered,” said Archeologist Yoni Mizrahi, who is active in the Emek Shaveh, an umbrella organization of left-wing archeologists, “In addition, the archeology should be presented as part of Silwan where it was found, and not disconnected from it. The decision to erect a building in the Givati parking lot will fortify the Elad organization’s Israeli settlement in Silwan and further exclude the Palestinian residents from their right to their village’s past.”
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5 The Independent
Monday, 13 February 2012
Lesson in extremism at Israel ‘peace’ school
Attacks on co-existence projects have raised fears they are being targeted by Jewish activists
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/lesson-in-extremism-at-israel-peace-school-6804840.html#
Donald Macintyre
Monday, A school set up to promote peace and understanding between Arab and Jewish communities in Jerusalem has been hit by vandals who have daubed racist threats on its playground walls, including “Death to Arabs”.
Teachers and pupils at the Max Rayne Hand in Hand Jerusalem School, the city’s only Jewish-Arab school, also found sprayed on its walls, “Shoah [Holocaust] for the Arabs” and “Kahane was right” – a reference to the notorious rabbi whose ultra right wing political movement, Kach, was barred from contesting Israeli elections in 1988 and listed by the US State Department as a terrorist organisation in 2002.
Police are investigating two attacks at the school, which have raised concerns that right wing Jewish extremists now see co-existence projects as a target. The bilingual school has teachers as well as primary and secondary pupils from both communities. It is named after British-Jewish businessman, Max Rayne, who opened the school in 2007.
The attacks came just four days after similar threats were sprayed on the wall of a Greek Orthodox monastery in the city, and a car outside, including the words “price tag” – a term used by militant Jewish settlers to describe attacks on Palestinian property carried out in revenge for action taken by the Israeli military against illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank.
Three houses were demolished by the military last year in the Jewish West Bank outpost of Migron, which is illegal in Israel as well as international law. Since then there has been a spate of attacks on Palestinian property in the West Bank including mosques.
The Abraham Fund, which sponsors co-existence projects, has raised concerns “price tag” attacks are now being aimed at education for shared living between Arabs and Jews in Israel. A spokesman said: “These attacks are on a place [the school] that represents the wish of Arabs and Jews to build together a better future for their children.”
Paz Cohen, the Jewish joint chairman of the Max Rayne Hand in Hand school’s parents’ committee, vowed the school would continue its work: “It has been a huge success and these radicals don’t know how to handle this reality. It is very hurtful to see this graffiti, it is not just against Muslims but against Jews, against everyone. It puts a strain on democracy but it will make our group bigger and stronger.”
Mr Cohen said his father had left Nazi Germany to escape a regime which had also started with a small group of radical racists, adding of the present day Jewish extremists: “They have to be aware of the acts we have historically suffered ourselves.” He added he had been heartened by the swift response of the police and Ministry of Education, and by a letter from the Speaker of the Knesset, Reuven Rivlin, which had been read out to pupils after the attacks, who called on the authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.
One parent of a pupil said later: “Some of the younger Arab kids are scared, while some of the older ones don’t understand why people would do this. And there is some anger.”
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6 Haaretz
Monday, February 13, 2012
Israeli schools must stay away from political rhetoric
We want the right to keep a skeptical distance on the sidelines of fashionable rhetoric that constantly makes use of popular phrases such as ‘moral standards,’ ‘experiences,’ ‘excitement’ and ‘identity.’
http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/israeli-schools-must-stay-away-from-political-rhetoric-1.412567?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.225%2C2.227%2C
By Dina Berdichevsky, Gili Kugler
It is correct to say that teachers writing a letter to oppose high-school tours of Hebron is a political act. But this is true also of any instilling of values and “facts” – and certainly of educational work, which encourages a skeptical approach and critical thought.
Last week, for the first time since assuming his position as education minister, Gideon Saar addressed these teachers directly when he spoke about his policy. He went speedily from one television channel to another and responded to the teachers’ letter in which they stated that they would refuse to accompany student tours to Hebron. When Saar announced his plan for school trips to the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Kiryat Arba a year ago, he did not bother to explain his intentions to anyone other than the residents of the Jewish settlement there. The same was true when he spoke about it at a conference in Ariel and during a visit to Shiloh.
On all those occasions, as well as when he announced in the Knesset that the school tours would be expanded to all parts of the land, the professionals who are supposed to carry out that plan – the teachers – were not involved. Last week, their voice, too, was heard for a moment. But, lo and behold, in his responses, the minister reiterated that “political elements” who wanted to work against him were behind the letter.
As teachers who participated in the initiative and signed the letter, we can but wonder about Sa’ar’s assumption, revealed by his remarks, that there is no place for educators to have a say or a position of their own about various educational initiatives, especially if they are of a political nature.
Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that there are “political elements” behind this letter – teachers in the education system. There is no choice but to admit that we, the teachers, constitute a “political element.” We are women who work in a women’s system that is managed mainly by men, and this division of power has political significance. We work in high schools that are partially privatized, and in this sense contribute daily to the strengthening of the policy of privatization in education – an act which undoubtedly has political significance.
We teach according to textbooks in which the picture of reality changes according to the changes of government, and we thus help decide the boundaries of discourse, knowledge and criticism in Israeli society. In this way, too, we constitute a “political element.” When we teach the Bible and literature, we encourage our pupils to ask questions and to think about the nature of a just society, about the significance of human freedom, about the future they are dreaming of, and about war and peace. For those reasons, we constitute a political element.
In the letter, we declare that we are not prepared to accompany tours to Hebron because it is only thanks to the injustice being done there that we have the possibility of taking our students through the deserted streets. And indeed, this is a political statement. In the letter, we talk about the policy that imposes separation, isolation and exile on the city’s Palestinian residents – a policy designed to make possible the sanctification of the cradle of the nation in the form of the Tomb of the Patriarchs. These are certainly political claims. And, finally, the act of refusing – as opposition to the strengthening of Hebron’s Jewish community on the backs of students and teachers – is also a political act.
Indeed, as we have been told more than once, everything is political and if that is the case, what is the reason for criticizing the plan to visit Hebron? The problem with the plan is not merely its destructive implications for the future of our society and education system, but mainly its attempt to conceal its “political” aspect.
In the syllabus for state schools that relates to the importance of Hebron, one of the aims is defined as follows: “I am part of the people of Israel – that is a fact. The place where the crystallization of the people of Israel took place, where the values of its heritage and culture were formulated, was the mountainous area – and that too is a fact. Therefore the historical and cultural story that took place on the mountain is my story.”
Had the writers of the syllabus admitted that facts are also political they would have made it possible for students to keep their distance – a skeptical distance – and not to let the “truth” swallow their identities.
Educational work that is worthy of the name does not try to blur or conceal its political significance, not even through the means of presenting a supposedly balanced picture. Particularly on the issue of Hebron, the attempt to create a balance between the narratives is an empty pretension since it is also done in relation to a point about which a political decision has to be reached.
We want the right to keep a skeptical distance on the sidelines of fashionable rhetoric that constantly makes use of popular phrases such as “moral standards,” “experiences,” “excitement” and “identity.” And that will be possible only if we recognize openly that an educational act is a political act, and that values and “facts” are also political.
In Jewish heritage, this ironic skepticism, whose charm is being lost from the educational discourse of these times, has an immeasurably greater value than the value of the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
The writers are teachers of Bible and literature in Jerusalem, and are signatories to the teachers’ letter opposing high-school tours of Hebron.
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7 Haaretz
Monday, February 13, 2012
What does the future hold for the only joint Israeli-Palestinian radio?
All for Peace was taken off the radio waves by the Israeli Ministry of Communications last year, and now broadcasts only online; but the station is still awaiting a final Supreme Court decision on the matter.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/what-does-the-future-hold-for-the-only-joint-israeli-palestinian-radio-1.412677
By Sophie Anmuth
Tags: Middle East peace process Palestinians
Get Haaretz on iPhone Get Haaretz on Android The staff at the only joint Israeli-Palestinian radio station is doing its best these to keep business. But since the Israeli Ministry of Communications ordered the station to stop transmitting on the radio waves in November 2011, its broadcasts can be found only online.
The Ministry of Communications says it took All for Peace (Kol Hashalom in Hebrew, and Sout al Salam in Arabic) off the air due to licensing issues.
It says that the radio station started broadcasting “an increasing number of Hebrew-language commercials”, which “led to economic damage to legal Israeli regional radio stations”. The radio thus targeted the Israeli public, says the ministry, but without an Israeli broadcasting permit.
The staff at All for Peace, however, sees the closure as a political retaliatory measure, to silence the opposition and independent media.
A final decision from the Supreme Court is expected at the beginning of March.
The All for Peace recording studios are located in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. The studio itself is unassuming: From the outside, it looks just like a normal building. The radio staff is housed on the ground floor of an otherwise empty building, surrounded by Palestinian car mechanics and the Israeli General Police Headquarters.
Sitting at his office, the station’s business manager Mossi Raz, is reading the news while sipping a coffee in his sparsely decorated room. Raz is a member of the Meretz party and a former MK. In the office next to his, sits Maysa Baransi-Siniora, the Palestinian co-director of the radio.
Both are able to see past the obstacles presented to them, because have faith in their cause. They are struggling to keep afloat despite the setback, but regret having to lay off 10 people – almost half of the paid staff – in the wake of the ministry’s decision. Now only 16 people are left of the paid staff.
All for Peace receives subsidies from United Nations organisations and foreign embassies. A good chunk of its independent revenues also came from ads, while on the air. These revenues dropped dramatically after the station was taken off the waves, says Raz, from NIS 64, 000 NIS in November to just NIS 6,000 in December. The radio is surviving by a thread now, mostly due and most of its employees are unpaid volunteers.
Before the ministry shut it down, says Raz, All for Peace was “doing increasingly well, income-wise.” Raz believes some pressure to close down All for Peace came after local radio stations “may have complained to the Minister of Communications”. Other complaints were also lodged, including reportedly one r by Likud MK Danny Danon to the attorney general on the grounds that the radio encouraged Palestinians to demonstrate.
But the radio sees such subversion as part of its mission, and says it does so within the legal realm. “Well, yes, we encourage Palestinians to ask for their rights. We incite to the application of law. To exercise democracy,” says Raz.
The recording studio is located in East Jerusalem, but its broadcasts are actually transmitted from Ramallah, where it is licensed by the Palestinian Authority.
“A volunteer of the radio even asked the Ministry of Communications [in 2008] whether the radio was really legal,” Raz recalls. The answer was of course yes, he says: “The Israeli Minister did not have anything to say against Palestinian Authority licenses.”
The Ministry of Communications, however, says that a Palestinian Authority license is not necessarily the final word for discussion.
“According to the Interim Agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the electro-magnetic frequency spectrum jointly belongs to Israel and the Palestinian Authority and is managed by Israel. While the permission for any radio broadcasts transmitted from Palestinian Authority territories is determined by a Palestinian-Israeli Joint Technical Committee,” says the ministry. “So far, the Committee has not allocated a frequency for the Voice of Peace radio station.”
Despite the ministry’s explanations, the staff is convinced the station was taken off the waves as part of a political crackdown.
“It is a hard-time for left-wingers” says Guy Elhanan, who runs a program called ‘Neturi Harta’ – a play on words alluding to the ultra-Orthodox anti-Zionists – that could be loosely translated as ‘No Bullshit’.
Veteran Israeli diplomat Ilan Baruch, who quit politics last year to protest the government’s policy toward Palestinians and subsequently took up hosting an All for Peace show on current affairs, says he has “no doubt the radio is denied frequencies in the political context of shutting down a critical voice.”
Some staff members see the ministry’s decision as an opportunity, rather than a setback. This is “for us an honorary award,” says Rabbi Saar Shaked, a paid staffer. “The Jewish tradition teaches us to rise against injustice and to rebel against tyranny,” he explains.
Being taken off the air has had an adverse effect on the radio’s range of broadcast and funds – but support has grown overwhelmingly, Raz says. Traffic on its internet broadcast increased by about 500 percent in the first two weeks after All for Peace was taken off the radio waves. Letters of support have flooded the station’s inbox. Some 70 volunteers remained, despite the loss of revenue, and more programs than ever have been added to the station’s roster.
All for Peace was founded in January 2004, the brainchild of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists and journalists. Its name pays homage to the Vice of Peace Radio, the station launched and broadcast from the Mediterranean in 1973 by the Israeli peace activist Abie Nathan.
The station received a United Nations Award for Intercultural Innovation in December; the year before, it received the Award for International Media for outstanding contribution to peace.
The directors of All for Peace, Raz and Baransi-Siniora, say their mission is fairly straightforward: “[We ] want Israelis to listen to the Palestinian message. And we want Palestinians to listen to the Israeli message. The station is aimed at both peoples, Palestinians and Israelis, and seeks to provide messages of peace, freedom, democracy, cooperation, mutual understanding, coexistence, and hope.”
The members of staff agree. “Information does not really cross borders,” says Elhanan. “That’s why I’m here.” His show, ‘Neturei Harta’ thus is both a comment on current affairs as well as an effort to make the Israeli public hear the Palestinian point of view. “And if possible, with the help of Arabic contemporary music, make them like Arabs,” he adds.
All for Peace appealed the ministry’s decision with a petition the Israeli Supreme Court at the beginning of December. After the first hearing in January, the Supreme Court ordered the Ministry of Communications (on January 26) to provide a statement of reason within 45 days as to why it ordered the radio station off the air.
The directors of the station feel encouraged by the court’s ruling. “The Supreme Court, following the hearing, did not find the Ministry’s case convincing and places further burden of proof on their side,” they said.
All for Peace is a joint venture of the Palestinian NGO Biladi and the Israeli NGO Givat Haviva, a Jewish-Arab Center for Peace. The radio broadcasted in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and English.
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8 Israeli sperm bank only taking donations from IDF veterans