MATERIAL WRITTEN WHEN I LIVED IN PALESTINE FROM 1994-1998:
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25 May 1998 - DIARY OF MY HOME
DEMOLITION
Index, including press
releases, photographs, and a (coming) diary entry. Arrived home to find
a gang of 20-30 armed Palestinians, including members of the security forces,
had bulldozed part of my home, smashed every single piece of glass in the
house, broken down the doors with sledgehammers, thrown all my belongings
in the yard, and had scrawled "Good Afternoon" on the living room walls.
One of those once in a lifetime experiences not to be tried at home.
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14 May 1998 - RAMALLAH DIARY
Al-Nakba commemorated
in Ramallah [4 parts]
Fifty years after the creation of the State of Israel
in 1948, Palestinians gathered in Ramallah to commemorate the confiscation
of their land, the destruction of their towns and villages, and the driving
out of almost one million of their people to become refugees that made
it possible. This entry highlights how clashes have become empty, dangerous
ritual, and gives an example of how Israeli soldiers target those not participating
in the clashes, namely me.
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7 May 1998 - RAMALLAH DIARY
Newsflash: Ramallah security
branches turn soccer scuffle into mini-Lebanon
Sitting with some friends in my home one night, ten automatic
weapons opened up round the corner near the police station. I grabbed a
video camera and hit the road. Although this was the most serious intra-Palestinian
violence in the center of Ramallah since the December 1995 redeployment,
it was a story that was completely missed by the international media.
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5 May 1998 - RAMALLAH DIARY
Goodbye Nizar Qabbani
Controversial Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani passed away recently.
In the spirit of his poetry, this entry looks at some of the realities
in post-Oslo Palestine and challenges us to confront them.
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3 May 1998 - BIRZEIT DIARY
Birzeit Elections 1998:
No small change in the status quo
National political parties are very interested in the
results of student elections, particularly at the presigious Palestinian
university of Birzeit. This diary entry looks at student election campaign
funding by the national parties, the climate of repression outside the
university gates, and concludes that the only reason it all still works
at Birzeit is the protection of a strong, democratic election system.
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20 April 1998 - PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
DIARY
Who killed Muhyideen Al-Shareef?
This diary entry is an investigative report into the
suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of the No. 2 in Izzadin
Al-Qassam, the military wing of Hamas. It was one of the first reports
to challenge the official versions of the death and expose the cover-up
by the Palestinian Authority.
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11 March 1998 - RAMALLAH DIARY
Clashes after three shot
dead near Hebron
Following the Israeli checkpoint shooting at a van of
Palestinians returning from a day's work inside Israel, Birzeit students
clashed with Israeli soldiers near Ramallah. This entry looks at what it's
like to get shot at with live ammunition, the Israeli government's protection
of its soldiers when they commit human rights violations, some of the politics
of choosing locations for clashes, the intrusiveness of violence into daily
Palestinian life, Palestinian police tactics to calm clashes, the moral
bankrupcy of much of the Western media, and a pitifully thinly-veiled plea
for someone to give me a Nikon F5.
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9 February 1998 - PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
DIARY
Iraq, Palestine, and chemical
and biological war
As war in the Gulf looks likely once again, this diary
entry spares a thought for the people of Iraq seven years after sanctions,
and discovers what plans the Palestinian Authority has for protecting its
citizens in the event of a chemical and biological attack from Iraqi missiles.
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23 January 1998 - HEBRON DIARY
CPT: Dealing with threats
on your life
The work of the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) in Hebron
has opened a new window on life in the town for Palestinians, a window
that Jewish extremists would like to see shut down. This entry reports
a visit to Hebron to see how the CPT members are dealing with recent death
threats.
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9 December 1997 - INTIFADA
DIARY: TEN YEARS AFTER
This new diary section profiles the experience of two
Birzeit students during the Intifada, one from the northern and one from
the southern parts of the West Bank. Find out how Birzeit students joined
in the Intifada, how it was organised on the streets, what the clashes
were like, Israeli use of teargas and nerve gas, and one student's first
experience of torture.
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25 September 1997 - OUTSIDE THE DIARY
September
1996 Web Memorial
A year following the September
1996 clashes that shook the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a number of us
who were involved in the Web reporting of the time regrouped to make this
memorial to the 88 Palestinians killed during the clashes.
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18 September 1997 - OUTSIDE THE DIARY
Birzeit
News - Staff and student strikes at Birzeit disrupt academic year: Universities
and Higher Education Ministry caught in deficit trap.
Staff and student strikes are annual problems that face
the Palestinian higher education sector. With the coming of the Palestinian
Authority, many hoped this would end. Unfortunately, it's not that simple.
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8 September 1997 - CLOSURE
DIARY
Israeli closure of Ramallah
for 'security reasons' clearly untrue
With maps, photographs and an 'on the ground' explanation,
this entry demonstrates very clearly that the most commonly cited reason
for closure - "security" - has nothing to do with the policy.
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10 August 1997 - CLOSURE DIARY
"Checkpoint
in the Church Aisle", a closure story from Birzeit University
When Charlie from Bethlehem decided to marry Tania from
Jerusalem, a few miles apart, things became very complicated. Charlie's
sister, a Birzeit student, tells us the story.
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7-9 August 1997 - CLOSURE DIARY
The immediate situation
beckons
Checkpoints are no respectors of persons, and this entry
looks at the humiliation they represent to Palestinians and the danger
and stress faced by choosing the 'dirt road' option to get round them.
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30 July - 6 August 1997 - CLOSURE
DIARY
Fear and loathing on the
leaflet trail [2 parts]
In the wake of yet another bombing, a leaflet was sent
to the media claiming responsibility and the West Bank was sealed off.
But wait a minute, where did that leaflet come from? This entry goes on
a wild goose chase to find the answer to that question and discovers some
very interesting things about how the media works in these situations.
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July 1997 - OUTSIDE THE DIARY
Link
Magazine: "Securities in a time of Insecurity", the new Palestine Securities
Exchange
Coming soon, as Link's website shut down and I'm tracking
down the article, this entry looks at whether it's safe to invest in the
Palestinian economy and finds a very qualified staff at the new Palestine
Securities Exchange who attempt to answer this question honestly and explain
what they are doing to make it a safe option.
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18 July 1997 - HEBRON DIARY
Visit to Hebron after three
weeks of clashes [6 parts]
A look at how the patterns of clashes develop and spread
nationally, the particular features of clashes in Hebron, recent settler
incitement of the Muslim population, the experience of returning Hebronites
who have lived in the U.S., land confiscation by settlers, the work of
the Christian Peacemaker Team based in the city, and my experience of getting
stoned by a Jewish settler kid, and my consequent thoughts about children
and violence.
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June 1997 - 'ON THE GROUND IN RAMALLAH'
DIARY
Creating the /war/ website
An activist using the Web to report from "on the ground"
during the violent September 1996 confrontations in the West Bank reflects
on the empowerment offered by the Internet and the realities of its global
nature.
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14 April 1997 - BIRZEIT DIARY
Birzeit Elections 1997:
No easy answers for the situation outside the gates
The student wing of Arafat's Fatah faction takes back
the percentage lead, but doesn't gain an overall majority. Events outside
the university seem to have remained a key influence in Birzeit election
results.
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29 March 1997 - ABU GHNAIM
DIARY
Birzeit student shot
[2 parts]
A classic diary entry making clear the complete absense
of justification in the shooting of a Palestinian demonstrator by an Israeli
soldier during clashes.
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26 March 1997 - ABU GHNAIM
DIARY
Birzeit students join
in [3 parts]
This entry looks at what role clashes play in the Birzeit
student elections, the very strange behaviour of Israeli soliders at clashes,
the experience of having a soldier aim his rifle at you for the second
time in a week, what the media doesn't show you at clashes and why, and
recounts my most severe teargassing experience.
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22 March 1997 - ABU GHNAIM
DIARY
Back through Wadi-Al-Nar
and Wadi Al-Nar Photo Gallery
These entries focus on the results of the closure of
Jerusalem to Palestinians, in particular the dangerous route that Palestinians
must take when travelling between the northern and southern parts of the
West Bank.
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21 March 1997 - ABU GHNAIM
DIARY - 2 entries:
One seeks revenge...
[2 parts] and ...Children bearing rocks
These entries look at Palestinian reactions to bus bombings
and other acts of terrorism, Israeli treatment of Palestinian victims of
bus bombings, an insight into why some Palestinians support bus bombings
and why the majority do not, the unquestioning support of some 'Christians'
for the State of Israel, more checkpoint harassment, disillusionment with
the Palestinian Authority, how the Palestinian Police deal with Palestinians
throwing stones, and why Bethlehem is the no. 2 flashpoint for violence
after Hebron.
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7 March 1997 - ABU GHNAIM
DIARY - 6 entries:
Off to the mountain,
Seeing the mountain for the first time,
The demonstration, Thoughts
during the demonstration, The demonstration
ends and On the way home
With the international media descending on Jebal Abu
Ghnaim to record Palestinian protest against the Har Homa settlement project,
myself and a few friends went for a visit there, to find out what had caused
them to leave the safety of the American Colony Hotel bar. These entries
look at how we got to the other side of Jerusalem with banned West Bank
Palestinians in the car, our September 1996 clashes flashback as we arrived,
why Israel is after Abu Ghanim, the media frenzy, the Israeli peace bloc,
the excessive Israeli armed presence in response to the protests, the unenviable
situation of young Israelis in a country with draft military service and
repressive racist policies, containment of the protest by the Palestinian
Authority, and harassment by Palestinian Police on the way home.
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25 January 1997 - BIRZEIT DIARY
Birzeit students in Palestinian
detention: Some statistics from 1996
Since the redeployment of Israeli troops from Ramallah,
and the coming of the Palestinian Authority and its security organs, these
were the first representative statistics the Birzeit University Human Rights
Action Project was able to collect on Palestinian detention of students.
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17-18 January 1997 - HEBRON DIARY
- 6 entries:
Netanyahu faces Oslo 2: A
slow train coming, A closer look at Hebron's
"Jewish community", Sunset on the occupation?,
The former Israeli military headquarters,
Something like a circus or a zoo and The
atmosphere of redeployment
The delayed Hebron redeployment was in part due to the
sensitive nature of the town to Israel, who has 400 extremist settlers
living in the center of town. These entries from the redeployment time
look at how Netanyahu approached the redeployment, the mentality of the
settlers there, the violence of right wing Israelis in the situation, the
taking over of the District Headquarters by the Palestinian Authority and
the memories of a Hebron resident who was interrogated in that building
by Israelis, the media focus on the town, and the mixed reactions of the
Palestinian population to the redeployment.
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11-14 December 1996 - CLOSURE
DIARY
Ramallah is closed again
after an attack on settlers [4 parts]
This entry compares the punitive closure on the entire
population of Ramallah in response to the attack on a settler family with
Israel's treatment of Nahum Korman, a settler who killed a Palestinian
child in October. It goes on to look a little at the nature of the settler
community near Ramallah, how the closure affected our lives in Ramallah,
the reaction of Netanyahu's government to the attack, Likud's history of
settlement policy, the shameless comparative 'analysis' of the right-wing
Jerusalem Post between the attack on the settler family and Nahum Korman's
killing of the Palestinian child, how the closure affected Birzeit University,
how we in the Web Project are learning to deal with being cut off from
our equipment during these times, and - of course - more checkpoint experiences.
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29 September 1996 - 'ON THE GROUND
IN RAMALLAH' DIARY
Discovering what lay on the hills
of Ramallah
As the clashes calmed down, I went for a walk up the
hill where the tank was stationed overlooking Ramallah. Oops, bad call.
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27 September 1996 - 'ON THE GROUND
IN RAMALLAH' DIARY - 4 entries:
Tanks surround Ramallah, Midday
around Khammara checkpoint, Stone throwing at
Khammara checkpoint and Casualties at Khamara
checkpoint (Some images may be disturbing)
These entries deal with the experience of the intimidatation
of waking up to find your town surrounded by tanks, what this meant to
those of us living in Ramallah, and the clashes from day three.
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26 September 1996 - 'ON THE GROUND
IN RAMALLAH' DIARY - 6 entries:
The seriousness of things, At
Khammara Checkpoint in the late afternoon, The
face of war, Palestinian Police confront Israeli
snipers, Helicopter gunships open fire on homes
and Ammunition used
These entries look at how the events have affected the
lives of everyone in the town, the sense of war descending on the town,
the disparity of weapons used by both sides, and the reality of what the
media calls "rubber" or "plastic" bullets, all from day two of the clashes.
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25 September 1996 - 'ON THE GROUND
IN RAMALLAH' DIARY - 7 entries:
Rally at Birzeit University,
Demonstration at the Khammara Checkpoint, Israeli
soldiers open fire, Casualties, Aftermath
of the first shootings, At Ramallah hospital
(Some images may be disturbing) and Intensive Care
Unit, Ramallah Hospital (Some images may be disturbing)
These entries look at the march by Birzeit students that
marked the beginning of the September clashes, the excessive use of force
and intrusion into Palestinian territory by Israeli troops in the clashes
that brought about retaliation from the Palestinian Police, the wounding
and killing of Palestinian demonstrators, how Ramallah Hospital coped with
the 263 injured that passed through its doors today, and concludes with
a meditation on the role of a photojournalist in situations where real
people are really dying.
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26 August 1996 - BIRZEIT
DIARY
Universities meet McCarthy,
Palestinian style
With eighteen existing Palestinian security organs, we
were delighted to hear that a new one had been specially created to monitor
university students.
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17 July 1996 - BIRZEIT DIARY
Stamping out terrorism?
This entry touches on one of the small but annoying aspects
of life, Israeli censorship of mail, and Israel's attitude to the newly
emergent Palestinian Authority's postal system.
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28 June 1996 - BIRZEIT DIARY
"Letter to a prisoner",
Birzeit students in Palestinian detention, part 6.
This entry reports on how the students at Birzeit undertook
a moving act of solidarity with their fellow students detained in the Palestinian
Authority prison in Ramallah.
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26 June 1996 - BIRZEIT DIARY
"So, what were we doing
about it?", Birzeit students in Palestinian detention, part 5.
This entry talks about the landmark court case in which
Birzeit University took Palestinian President Arafat to court to challenge
the illegality of the detention of ten of its students.
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19 May 1996 - PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
DIARY
Preventative Security Service
Graduation Ceremony
Came home from work one day to see a bunch of armed and
masked guys jogging past my house. Two weeks later, I found out who they
were.
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15 May 1996 - BIRZEIT DIARY
Birzeit Elections 1996:
A message for the Palestinian Authority
The new prevelance of Palestinian security forces and
the detention of students gives the Islamic Bloc a percentage win.
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10 May 1996 - RAMALLAH DIARY
Letter from Ramallah
#2
The combination of the 1967 occupation and the 1987 Intifada
killed the development of culture and entertainment in what was once known
as "The Bride of Palestine". Hotels, cinemas and restaurants have tended
to close rather than open in this hilly, former summer resort. Since the
December arrival of the Palestinian Authority, this has begun to change.
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Early May 1996 - BIRZEIT DIARY
"The Jericho Hell"
and "Waiting for Godot", Birzeit students
in Palestinian detention, parts 3 and 4.
These entries look at two aspects of the detention of
Birzeit students in Palestinian jails, dealing with the timelessness of
an open-ended jail term and the brutal torture of some of them.
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9-21 April 1996 - BIRZEIT DIARY
"Hunger strike", Birzeit
students in Palestinian detention, part 2.
This entry looks at the how the Palestinian media dealt
(or rather didn't) with the story of prisoners, including Birzeit students,
going on hunger strike to protest their illegal detention by the Palestinian
Authority.
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3 April 1996 - BIRZEIT DIARY
Birzeit students confront
Arafat [4 parts].
Following a violent raid on the campus of An-Najah University
in Nablus and the illegal detention of students by the Palestinian Authority,
Birzeit students marched to Ramallah to demand to see Arafat. The story
of how they got there was pretty gripping as is the question that you'll
be asking as you read: did they get to see Arafat in the end?
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28 March 1996 - BIRZEIT DIARY
"One-tenth of our university
is missing" [4 parts].
In the run up to the Israeli elections, Prime Minister
Shimon Peres attempts to reward both himself and a retiring Israeli military
commander by okaying a media raid on students living in the village of
Birzeit in the largest arbitrary arrest in the history of the university.
The Israeli media participates in the sham to arrest people "deeply involved
in terrorist attacks", missing completely the irony of 95 percent of these
'dangerous terrorists' being released by the end of the day.
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Early March 1996 - BIRZEIT DIARY
"After the bus bombings",
Birzeit students in Palestinian detention, part 1.
This entry, the beginning of a series, looks at the experience
of a group of Birzeit students arrested to "keep Israel happy" and challenges
you to take reports of the arrest of 'Islamic militants' with a grain of
salt next time.
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5-18 March 1996 - CLOSURE DIARY
Locked in Ramallah for
two weeks [3 parts].
Following a series of four suicide bombings in eight
days, we discovered why Israel hadn't handed back the seemingly insignificant
areas between Palestinian towns. This entry asks the reader to consider
that you might be a closet terrorist, opens up the feelings evoked by closure,
tries not to burst out with uncontrollable laughter at the shakey rationale
behind it, and sighs at the disruptiveness of such acts of collective punishment
to one university's academic calendar.
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1 March 1996 - PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
DIARY
There's a man with a gun over
there...
The coming of the Palestinian Authority meant the arrival
of more security organs than you can shake a stick at and this entry asks
what we should expect from the onipresence of security personnel in Palestinian
towns and cities.
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12 February 1996 - CLOSURE
DIARY
First Israeli closure
of Ramallah [3 parts].
This entry reports on the first manifestation of the
new post-Oslo restrictions on freedom of movement.
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5 January 1996 - CLOSURE DIARY
Why have the maps changed?
New maps mean new mindsets. This entry offers some paranoid
and idle speculation later proved to have hit the nail on the head.
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30 December 1995 - RAMALLAH
DIARY
Arafat visits Ramallah
and Redeployment Street Celebrations
These entries look at the first visit of Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat to newly 'liberated' Ramallah and some of the local
reactions.
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29 December 1995 - RAMALLAH
DIARY
Meanwhile in the nearby
settlement of Bet El [2 parts].
During the redeployment I thought to myself, "I wonder
what the atmosphere is like in the neighbouring Israeli settlement?" So
I went to find out.
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28 December 1995 - RAMALLAH
DIARY
Palestinian Police Parade
and Gun culture in Ramallah
As redeployment fever swept through Ramallah, it uncovered
one of the local fascinations - guns.
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27 December 1995 - RAMALLAH
DIARY - 6 entries:
Thoughts before the
Israeli departure, Waiting for the
Israelis to go, Israeli departure from
Ramallah Police Station [2 parts], Ramallah
Police Station handed over, Palestinian
Police prepare their new cars and Removing
all signs of the Israelis
These entries look at the events of redeployment day
in Ramallah, including before, during, and after the Israelis vacated the
police station and local headquarters, and the joy of the population as
it wandered round the empty buildings.
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20 December 1995 - RAMALLAH
DIARY
Israeli control of the
roads
Freedom of movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is
something that isn't taken for granted if you're Palestinian. Immediately
before redeployment, I became aware that some parts of the landscape might
not be part of it any longer, and began taking photos.
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15 November 1995 - RAMALLAH
DIARY
Car license plates: the
road to apartheid
Car license plates, irrelevant facts of beaurocratic
life or collectors items everywhere else in the world. Not so for Jews
and Arabs living in the West Bank.
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August 1995 - BIRZEIT DIARY
Birzeit Elections 1995:
A new system for a new era
In the post-Oslo period, Birzeit's students choose a
new proportional representation system of elections that reflects a desire
to encourage the participation of all political factions in the university
community.
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21 July 1995 - RAMALLAH DIARY
Letter from Ramallah
#1
Since the prisoners began their hunger strike, the centre
of Ramallah, to appropriate an oft-used local phrase, has "caught fire".
This entry looks at clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in their
various manifestations as both theatre and reality.
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9 June 1995 - RAMALLAH DIARY
Israel's bureaucratic
message of hatred
To do just about anything that involves movement around
the country, Palestinians have to apply to Israel for permits. Naturally,
this doesn't apply to Israelis, and this entry looks at what this says
about Israel' commitment to peace and an end to the conflict.
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January 1995 - OUTSIDE THE DIARY
"Making
Education Illegal" - Students from the Gaza Strip: Israeli restrictions
and international reactions
A special 15,000-word report by Nigel Parry for the Human
Rights Action Project at Birzeit from the university's Human Rights Archive.
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11 November 1994 - HEBRON DIARY
Reopening of the Hebron
Mosque [2 parts]
After the February 1994 Hebron Massacre, when Israeli
settler Baruch Goldstein walked into the Ibrahimi Mosque and opened fire
on praying Muslims, killing around 30, the mosque was closed by the Israeli
army. Ten months later, on its reopening, I visited to see the heralded
"new arrangements". What waited in Hebron surprised even me.
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MATERIAL WRITTEN AFTER I LEFT PALESTINE IN JUNE 1998:
- 26 April 2001 - MEDIA DIARY
"CNN as a byword II"
CNN's language use in reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to present the Israeli occupation as a Palestinian point of view.
- 25 April 2001 - MEDIA DIARY
"On CNN's report of the 'new' Israeli closure"
CNN's reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict falls into one of the standard media traps.
- 12-18 April 2001 - MEDIA DIARY
"The Vocabulary Of Revenge"
Published in Al-Ahram Weekly, this article looks at Israel's use of the word "retaliation" and how the media readily picks it up.
- 8 March 2001 - MEDIA DIARY
"Deconstructing 'for security reasons': Israel's closure of Birzeit University"
Published on the Media Monitor's Network. A look at the clearly punitive targeting of Birzeit University and the language used.
- 29 October 2000 - MEDIA DIARY
"CNN: Richard Blystone's report, 'Poisoned Playground'"
As the clashes that began on 28 September 2000 continued to result in a high loss of life and level of injuries among the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza Strip including many children, various Israeli official and media sources claimed Palestinians were using "children as shields", in some cases for financial gain, CNN broadcast an unprecedented feature on children throwing stones.
- 28 October 2000 - MEDIA DIARY
"CNN: An excellent Hebron report | Investigating the clashes"
As the clashes that began on 28 September 2000 continued to result in a high loss of life and level of injuries among the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and as the various Israeli claims, including Palestinians using "children as shields", increased, I wrote to CNN from London with some suggestions about how to get to the bottom of this.
- 22 October 2000 - MEDIA DIARY
"CNN as a byword"
As the clashes that began on 28 September 2000 continued to result in a high loss of life and level of injuries among the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, I wrote to CNN from London, on 22 October 2000, to point out that CNN has become a byword for bad coverage, and to make a suggestion about the use of language in reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
- 4 October 2000 - MEDIA DIARY
"CNN, 'rubber bullets', and the current clashes"
As clashes at a level unseen since the September 1996 Clashes once again swept the landscape of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in September 2000, I wrote to CNN concerning their use of the term "rubber bullets", a diminutive term that misleads about the nature of these heavy steel cylinders covered with a mm or two of rubber coating.
- 21 December 1999 - MEDIA DIARY
"The daily drudge of occupation", Ha'aretz newspaper
Ha'aretz journalist Daphna Lewy-Yanowitz conducted an interview with me in December 1999 which ended up in this piece.
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24 March 1999 - BIRZEIT DIARY
Birzeit Elections 1999:
A growing sense of alienation
Once again, the Fatah faction on campus tried to fend off accusations of ties with the security forces, appealing during the 23 March debate, the traditional center piece of the Birzeit elections, for the Palestinian Authority to release student Ghassan Addassi, an Islamic Bloc member detained for almost exactly a year on clearly trumped-up charges of assassinating one of the leaders of the military wing of Hamas.
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11 March 1999 - MEDIA DIARY
"CNN Interactive finally changes its 'Middle East Related Sites' page"
Still hiding away in Minnesota, I took some time once again to write a letter to CNN Interactive about part of their website, a letter I'd written perhaps 12 times over the last few years, and one I arranged a limited letter-writing campaign about a couple of years ago. The difference this time was that I got a positive response...
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24 October 1998 - PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
DIARY
The Wye River Memorandum (shortened
version)
This spoof was penned the day after the signing in Washington
on 23 October. The same day Palestinians clashed with the Palestinian Authority
in Ramallah, on 29 October and 6 November terrorist attacks took place
in the Gaza Strip and West Jerusalem respectively, and on 16 November Israeli
Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu announced that the West Bank redeployment
was delayed. This and the fifth and final paragraph of Section 1 should
give you an idea of the predictability of things on the ground in Palestine
sometimes.
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16 October 1998 - MEDIA DIARY
"Middle East in Focus" programme,
KPFK Pacifica, California
Don Bustany has been hosting this very honest programme
on the Middle East since the 1970s, and invited me on to talk about my
experiences before I left Palestine, and the peace process at a time when
the Wye negotiations were in full swing. The highlight for me in this interview
was the opportunity to talk about the reality of clashes, one that exists
on an entirely separate dimension than TV coverage of the conflict. The
full transcript and a RealAudio clip are available.
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31 August 1998 - MEDIA DIARY
"7 Questions", Newsies.com
Tom Mangan created the Newsies.com website to pursue
his belief that journalists have a higher number of interesting websites
per capita on the Web. I answer questions about U.S. culture in Palestine,
what the most unforgettable sight I saw during the Intifada was, what people
do for fun in Ramallah, offer a recommendation for tension reduction in
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and more, in his 7 Questions section.
Afterwards, why not visit the excellent Newsies.com website?
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16 June 1998 - MEDIA DIARY
"The new webmasters of the West Bank", Ha'aretz newspaper
Just before the incident with my home that made me decide to take a break from Palestine, Israeli journalist Tzuri Dar got in contact with me to do a feature on the Palestinian Internet for Ha'aretz, a quality newspaper in Israel. It was published in the wake of my departure and, despite a few unintentional factual innaccuracies and an unfortunate section heading half-way through the article, served as a timely epitaph for my time spent helping to build the Palestinian Internet.
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