Amy Goodman and James Zogby Host Event to Honor the Words and Life of Rachel Corrie

When: 8:00 PM Wednesday, March 22,

Where: Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Drive, New York, New York

Available for media contact: Ann Petter: 212.246.7528, Tom Wallace: 617.461.1041

Hosted by: Amy Goodman and James Zogby

Participants include: Cindy & Craig Corrie, Anthony Arnove, Huwaida Arraf, Brian Avery, Nirit Ben-Ari, Leila Buck, Kia Corthron, Sherif Fam, Suheir Hammad, Leonard Hubbard (from The Roots) with A. Marcy Francis (Vocalist), Brian Jones, Liz Magnes, Malachy McCourt, Betty Shamieh, Jonathan Tasini, Zafer Tawil, Tom Wallace, Ora Wise, and Maysoon Zayid

Participating by video: Maya Angelou, Patti Smith, Eve Ensler, Mariam Said, Najla Said

On March 22, New York City will hear the words of Rachel Corrie at the Riverside Church in Manhattan. Rejecting efforts to silence Rachel’s voice, a growing list of performers, writers, academics and activists will read selected writings from Rachel Corrie, and honor her through poems and songs. They will discuss the context in which her words were written, and the pervasive climate of fear in which they have been suppressed.

Rachel was a human rights activist and gifted writer. She was crushed to death by an Israeli Army bulldozer as she tried to protect the home of a Palestinian pharmacist from demolition in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on March 16th, 2003. Rachel was 23.

“My Name is Rachel Corrie” is a powerful one-woman show based entirely on the writings of Rachel Corrie. The play was scheduled to open at the New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) on March 22nd. The NYTW postponed the play indefinitely sparking an escalating controversy. James Nicola, the Director of the NYTW, told the New York Times that he needed time to “contextualize the play”. The play, edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner from Rachel’s diaries and emails, was produced by the Royal Court Theatre in London. Starring Megan Dodds, it played to sold out audiences and wide acclaim.

In an extraordinary grassroots response to this controversy, Rachel’s Words was launched by a handful of activists from a NYC apartment. In two weeks the organization has coordinated a worldwide response to ensure that Rachel’s words will be heard. On March 16th, the 3rd Anniversary of Rachel’s killing, her words were read at events in 13 countries, including ten locations in Palestine and Israel, and over 40 locations in the United States.

Vanessa Redgrave “contextualized” just what the postponement meant in an interview with Democracy Now: “Rachel’s voice was silenced by an IDF bulldozer. In the play Rachel makes a speech as a ten year old about world poverty, and her belief that the world could end poverty. The New York Theater Workshop silenced that little girl too, who is speaking for people all over the world.”

For updated information visit www.RachelsWords.org

Participant Biographies

Maya Angelou: acclaimed poet, historian, author, and civil rights activist.

Anthony Arnove: editor, with Howard Zinn, of Voices of a People’s History of the United States.

Huwaida Arraf, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

Brian Avery: environmental and Human Rights Activist. In 2003 he volunteered with the ISM in the West Bank city of Jenin and was shot in the face by the Israeli army during an attack on a group of volunteers.

Nirit Ben-Ari: Israeli citizen and former soldier in the Israeli military radio station. She worked for the United Nations Department of Public Information, Africa section.

Leila Buck: founding member of Mixed Company, a bi-cultural theater collective.

Kathleen Chalfant: Tony nominated actress.

Kia Corthron: award-winning playwright.

Eve Ensler: performer, activist and award-winning author of The Vagina Monologues.

Sherif Fam: Host of This Week In Palestine, WZBC radio, Boston.

Amy Goodman: host of Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now! program.

Suheir Hammad: poet, who has appeared in award winning anthologies, and in zines stapled together by queer youth collectives.

Leonard “Hub” Hubbard: band member of grammy award winning The Roots.

Brian Jones: has toured across the country as Marx in Howard Zinn’s one-man play Marx in Soho since 1999.

Liz Magnes: celebrated Israeli jazz pianist.

Malachy McCourt: actor, author and writer. He has performed on Broadway and off-Broadway.

Mariam Said: widow of the late Edward Said.

Najla Said: a founding member and the current artistic director of Nibras, the Arab-American theatre collective.

Betty Shamieh: Palestinian-American writer and actor. Her play “Roar” was the first play about Palestinians to appear off-Broadway, and was selected as a New York Times Critic’s Pick for four consecutive weeks.

Patti Smith: American musician, singer, and poet.

Jonathan Tasini: New York Democratic candidate for the United States Senate.

Zafer Tawil: New York based oud player born in Jerusalem.

Tom Wallace, American peace activist and media coordinator for the ISM at a crucial time following the killing of Rachel Corrie and the shootings of Tom Hurndall and Brian Avery.

Ora Wise: American Jewish peace activist born in Jerusalem.

Maysoon Zayid: is an actress and professional stand-up comedian.

Howard Zinn: historian, playwright, and social activist.

Dr. James J. Zogby: founder and president of the Arab American Institute (AAI).

Israeli Supreme Court: State Must Defend why Settlement Expansion Near Bil’in Should not be Demolished

On the 21st of March the Israeli State and other parties were ordered to respond to a petition filed by Peace Now and head of the Council of Bil’in.

Defendants must convince the Court that construction plans for the illegal Matityahu East settlement should not be annulled. They must also explain why demolition orders should not be issued and a criminal investigation opened against those involved.

Judges wrote, “the State should refer, in its response among others, to the question whether a criminal investigation in the issue concerned was started, and how the State intends to act in this context.” The respondents were given 30 days to file their responses.

Bil’in villagers have waged an extensive media campaign to publicize Israel’s activity. The court order was made following a March 15 hearing of the petition (HCJ 143/06) against the expansion of the Matityahu outpost on village land west of the annexation wall. The Court also maintained the injunction forbidding further building in the compound and preventing new residents from moving in.

In a separate order issued by the Supreme Court on the 20th of March the military was denied the authority to implement a confiscation order of Bil’in land in order to build a military installation on the proposed wall route. To read the decisions in Hebrew go to: www.court.gov.il and enter file numbers: 143/06 and 8414/05

The Israeli Civil Administration has admitted that, according to Israeli law, illegal construction has been taking place on a massive scale. The administration also said it helps launder Palestinian land by declaring it state property then transferring it to private hands.

In Bili’n for example, attorney Moshe Glick signed in place of the village Muhktar (head), testifying that a resident’s land was paid for by settlers. Mr. Glick argued that the decision was justified because he claimed “any Jew entering Bil’in will be killed.” He also said a military order forbidding Israelis from entering Area “B” made it impossible to obtain the Muhktar’s signature. Both statements are false, yet the Civil Administration maintains the supposed land sale was legitimate.

Bil’in villagers have been protesting the theft of their land by the annexation barrier for over one year. The protests have become a prominent symbol of Palestinian non-violent resistance and joint struggle with Israeli and international activists. The Wall is planned along a route only meters away from the closest home in Bil’in. However it runs 700 meters away from the expanding illegal settlement, annexing over sixty percent of villagers’ agricultural land.

For more information:
Attorney Michael Sfard- 0544713930
Mohammed Khatib 054-5851893,
Dror Etkes (Settlement Watch, Peace Now) -0544899351,025660648,
ISM Media Office 02-2971824

AP Erases Video of Israeli Soldier Shooting Palestinian Boy

By Alison Weir

“The trend toward secrecy is the greatest threat to democracy.”
– Associated Press CEO, in a speech about the importance of openness

“The official response is we decline to respond.”
– Associated Press Director of Media Relations, replying to questions about AP

In the midst of journalism’s “Sunshine Week” – during which the Associated Press and other news organizations are valiantly proclaiming the public’s “right to know” – AP insists on conducting its own activities in the dark, and refuses to answer even the simplest questions about its system of international news reporting.

Most of all, it refuses to explain why it erased footage of an Israeli soldier intentionally shooting a Palestinian boy.

AP, according to its website, is the world’s oldest and largest news organization. It is the behemoth of news reporting, providing what its editors determine is the news to a billion people each day. Through its feeds to thousands of newspapers, radio and television stations, AP is a major determinant in what Americans read, hear and see – and what they don’t.

What they don’t is profoundly important. I investigated one such omission when I was in the Palestinian Territories last year working on a documentary with my colleague (and daughter), who was filming our interviews.

On Oct. 17, 2004 Israeli military forces invaded Balata, a dense, poverty-stricken community deep in Palestine’s West Bank (Israel
frequently invades this area and others). According to witnesses, the vehicles stayed for about twenty minutes, the military asserting its power over the Palestinian population. The witnesses state that there was no Palestinian resistance–no “clash,” no “crossfire,” not even any stone-throwing. At one point, after most of the vehicles had finally driven away, an Israeli soldier stuck his gun out of his armored vehicle, aimed at a pre-pubescent boy nearby, and pulled the trigger.

We went to the hospital and interviewed the boy, Ahmad, his doctors, family, and others. Ahmad had bandages around his lower abdomen, where surgeons had operated on his bladder. He said he was afraid of Israeli soldiers, and pulled up his pants leg to show where he had been shot previously.

In the hospital there was a second boy, this one with a shattered femur; and a third boy, this one in critical condition with a bullet
hole in his lung. A fourth boy, not a patient, was visiting a friend. He showed us a scarred lip and missing teeth from when Israeli
soldiers had shot him in the mouth.

This was not an unusual situation. When I had visited Palestinian hospitals on a previous trip, I had seen many such victims; some with worse injuries. Yet, very few Americans know this is going on. AP’s actions in regard to Ahmad’s shooting may explain why.

We discovered that an AP cameraman had filmed the entire incident. This cameraman had then followed what apparently is the usual routine. He sent his video–an extremely valuable commodity, since it contained documentary evidence of a war crime – to the AP control bureau for the region. This bureau is in Israel.

What happened next is unfathomable. Did AP broadcast it? No. Did AP place the video in safe-keeping, available for an investigation of this crime? No.

According to its cameraman, AP erased it.

We were astounded. We traveled to AP’s control bureau in Israel. With our own video camera out and running, we asked bureau chief Steve Gutkin about this incident. Was the information we had been told correct, or did he have a different version? Did the bureau have the video, or had they indeed erased it. If so, why?

Gutkin, repeatedly looking at the camera and visibly flustered, told us that AP did not allow its journalists to give interviews. He told us that all questions must go to Corporate Communications, located in New York. He explained that they were on deadline and couldn’t talk. I said I understood deadline pressure, and sat down to wait until they were done. When he called Israeli police to arrest us, we left.

Back in the US later, I phoned Corporate Communications and reached Director of Media Relations Jack Stokes, AP’s public relations spokesman. I had conversed with Stokes before.

Over the past several years I have noticed disturbing flaws in AP coverage of Israel-Palestine: newsworthy stories not being covered, reports sent to international newspapers but not to American ones, stories omitting or misreporting significant facts, critical sentences being removed from updated reports.

I would phone AP with the appropriate correction or news alert. One time this resulted in a flawed news story being slightly corrected in updates. In a few cases stories were then covered that had been neglected. In many cases, however, I was told that I needed to speak to Corporate Communications. I would phone Corporate Communications, leave a message, and wait for a response. Most often, none came.

Several times, however, I was able to have long conversations with AP spokesman Stokes. None of these conversations, however, ever ended with AP taking any action. Some typical responses:

* The omitted story was “not newsworthy.”

* The story deemed by AP editors to be newsworthy to the rest of the world – e.g. Israel’s brutal imprisonment of over 300 Palestinian youths – was not newsworthy in the US (Israel’s major ally).

* Burying a report of Israeli forces shooting a four-year-old Palestinian girl in the mouth was justified.

* Misreporting an incident in which an Israeli officer riddled a 13-year-old girl at close range with bullets was unimportant.

Despite this unresponsive pattern, when I learned firsthand of an AP bureau erasing footage of an atrocity, I again phoned Corporate Communications. I no longer had much expectation that AP would take any corrective action, but I did expect to receive some information. I gave spokesperson Stokes the numerous details about this incident that we had gathered on the scene and asked him the same questions I had asked Gutkin. He said he would look into this and get back to me.

After several days he had not gotten back to me, so I again phoned him. He said that he had looked into this incident, and that AP had determined that this was “an internal matter” and that they would give no response.

While I should have known better, I was again astounded. AP was blatantly violating fundamental journalistic norms of ethical
behavior, and clearly felt it had the power to get away with it.

Journalism, according to the Statement of Principles of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, is a “sacred trust.” It is the bulwark of a free society and is so essential to the functioning of a democracy that our forefathers affirmed its primacy in the very first amendment of the Bill of Rights.

According to the Society of Professional Journalists, one of the four major pillars of journalistic ethics is to “Be Accountable.” According to SPJ’s Code of Ethics:

“Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.

“Journalists should:

* Clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct.

* Encourage the public to voice grievances against the news media.

* Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.

* Expose unethical practices of journalists and the news media.

* Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.

Finally, this week, on deadline with a chapter about media coverage of Israel-Palestine, I again tried to confirm some of my facts with AP. Certainly, I felt, during “Sunshine Week” AP would respond. As part of the Sunshine campaign, AP’s CEO and President Tom Curley is traveling the country giving speeches on the necessity of transparency and accountability (for government) and emphasizing “the openness that effective democracy requires.”

“The trend toward secrecy,” AP’s president has correctly been pointing out, “is the greatest threat to democracy.”

I emailed my questions to AP, talked to Stokes by phone, and again was told he would get back to me. Again, I got back to him. Then, in a surreal exchange, he conveyed AP’s reply: “The official response is we decline to respond.” As I asked question after question, many as simple as a confirmation of the number of bureaus AP has in Israel-Palestine, the response was silence or a repetition of: “The official response is we decline to respond.”

The next day I tried phoning AP’s President Curley directly. I was unable to reach Curley, since he was on the road giving his Sunshine Week speeches (“Secrecy,” Curley says, “is for losers”), but I left a message for him with an assistant. She said someone would respond.

I am still waiting.

It is clearly time to go to AP’s superiors. The fact is, AP is a cooperative. It is not owned by Corporate Communications spokespeople or by its CEO or even by its board of directors. It is owned by the thousands of newspapers and broadcast stations around the United States that use AP reports. These newspapers, radio and television stations are the true directors of AP, and bear the responsibility for its coverage.

In the end, it appears, the only way that Americans will receive full, unbiased reporting from AP on Israel-Palestine will be when
these member-owners demand such coverage from their employees in the Middle East and in New York. As long as AP’s owners remain too busy or too negligent to ensure the quality and accuracy of their Israel-Palestine coverage, the handful of people within AP who are distorting its news reporting on this tragic, life-and-death, globally destabilizing issue will quite likely continue to do so.

In the final analysis, therefore, it is up to us – members of the public – to step in. Everyone who believes that Americans have the
right and the need to receive full, undistorted information on all issues, including Israel-Palestine, must take action. We must require our news media to fulfill their profoundly important obligation, and we must ourselves distribute the critical information our media are leaving out.

If we don’t take action, no one else will.

To obtain cards exposing AP actions to disseminate in your community go to: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/media/clues.html

AP can be reached at 212-621-1500.

Alison Weir, a former journalist is Executive Director of If Americans Knew, which is currently conducting a statistical analysis
of AP’s coverage of Israel-Palestine, to be released within a few months.

Printed in CounterPunch, Weekend Edition March 18/19, 2006, http://www.counterpunch.org/weir03182006.html
and at: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/media/erasevideo.html

—
Alison Weir
Executive Director
www.IfAmericansKnew.org
310-441-8580

Beautiful, Terrible

more photos here

By Katie

Tel Rumeida is beautiful this time of year. Today I stood on my roof and talked to my roommate Wes in San Francisco. Wes is awesome and one of the people I miss the most. He’s been so supportive of me coming here for which I am very grateful. I originally called him to see if the woman who is subletting my room in San Francisco would like to stay there a month longer. Unfortunately she couldn’t and it was at that moment I could finally say out loud what I’ve known for the past few weeks, that I want to come back here.

From my roof I have a 360 degree view of Hebron, the second oldest city on earth. This place is so messed up and so beautiful all at the same time and I am constantly in awe of the patience, kindness and selflessness of the Palestinians who live here. They are subjected to violence, racism and harassment by settlers and soldiers on a daily basis and it would be so easy to become bitter and violent back but they are patient and full of restraint. They’re waiting for their time and I hope I live to see it. For every settler or solider who spits at me, throws rocks, calls me a Nazi, says something vulgar or threatens to arrest me, there’s a Palestinian who brings me coffee, tea, candy, fruit, invites me for lunch, or thanks me and my volunteer friends here for the work we are doing. That’s the ridiculous irony of the situation, it’s the Israeli settlers and soldiers who are doing the terrorizing here.

I need to come back here because for the first time in my life I feel like I am doing work that actually matters and really helps people. During the day I film and intervene in incidents of harassment, and when the streets are quiet, I study Arabic or draw. In the evening I go to Kung Fu with Grandmaster Jaafar and at night I paint, play soccer or hang out with my friends here. I really miss my friends at home though. I’ve already spoken to a couple of you about coming back here with me and I’d like to take this opportunity to invite anyone who is reading my lj. One amazing thing about this place is that it’s really easy to get things done. There’s less bureaucracy and red tape so if you see something that needs doing, you just do it. There are huge opportunities for creative people because there’s so much to do here whether you want to teach English, make a documentary film, write, take photos, work with kids, or just brainstorm clever non-violent methods of resistance. Don’t be scared because of all the crazy stuff I’ve written about, it was my personal choice to be in those situations. You can pick and choose the kind of work you like to do.

I’m leaving for Jordan in a couple of days and I am going to miss Palestine terribly. Everyone I’ve met here is so strong and brave and I admire them all so much. My heroes are people like H. who was tortured in jail and could have easily emerged a violent and bitter fighter, but instead became a leader of the non-violent resistance, people like N, who I admire because she is so dedicated and tough, people like M.A. and M.M. who’ve had so many friends killed but haven’t lost faith in non-violence, people like B. who is the first person I’d choose to have by my side when a group of settlers are looking to cause trouble, (I’m always repeating to myself “it’s gonna be ok, B. is here..”), R. who is young enough to be my daughter but has lived more than most people twice her age, F. who has been so gracious and entertaining, all the Israeli activists who use their position of privilege to support Palestinians in their struggle against the occupation, and Grandmaster Jaafar, my Kung Fu teacher. Several years ago Jaafar was stopped by some soldiers for a search. They told him to put his hands on a wall and spread his legs. Then a soldier kicked him in the balls. He reacted, of course, and ten soldiers jumped him. He kicked all their asses and was thrown in jail as a result. His Kung Fu school here was bombed during the first intifada and he built the next one himself. And also all the kids from Tel Rumeida. I used to find kids annoying at best, but these kids won me over; they’re adorable and so much fun to be around.

Me and Sifu Jaafar in front of the school’s logo I painted for him:

So yeah, I have to come back here. My heart was broken in Balata when I saw all those kids in such a hopeless situation. M.A. asked me to do an art project with them but I didn’t have time. I want to come back to Palestine and go to Balata to work on murals with the kids. In addition, I’d like to paint murals over all the racist graffiti in Hebron. There’s a lot of it: I did one the other day on a house down the street. The owners had moved out because they didn’t want their kids subjected to violence from the settlers. On the wall of the house, some settlers wrote this:

I painted this on top of it:

B and I made bets on how long it would last before some settlers graffiti over it. I don’t think it’ll be more than a few days.

I want to make more postcards of the inspiring people I meet and I want to keep monitoring the streets in Tel Rumeida because I feel like people in this neighborhood are finally beginning to trust me and to ask me for help when they are having a problem. I’m so sad to leave!

Well that’s about it for my time in Palestine, I have a bunch of paintings I need to scan which will have to wait til I get home. Thank you all for opening your minds and learning about a side of Palestine you will never see on television ! I’ll see some of you soon in Jordan, inshallah.

The Heroes of Tel Rumeida

By Mary Baxter

The heroes of Tel Rumeida are twelve children, who need to pass by or through the Tel Rumeida Israeli settlement to get to school. They are from about 5 to 14 years old. They are frightened of the settlers who threaten and at times attack them. But still they come six days a week. Israeli settler children travel by bus past Palestinian houses but Palestinian children must walk, often by themselves.

The settlers want their houses in order to expand their settlement but the Palestinians will not sell. Hence the threats! One family was driven out of their home but won a court case and are now back in the house. The court order said there should be police in front of their house when they return from school. This seldom occurs. Other families were shut in their houses for three years. Settler caravans have been placed on their street and they were not allowed use the street to come and go. In July 2005, they won a court order to have a rough track parallel to the street, on their own land. There was an incident in December 2005 when one of the families tried to have goods delivered to the track and settlers objected. Following that Israeli soldiers placed razor wire across the entrance and along one side of the track. The family again have access to the track but the wire is still there. Everyday children must open razor wire and walk along a track, where they are between settlers on one side and razor wire on the other.

These children are often yelled at or detained by young Israeli soldiers. The soldiers, who are mostly reasonable young men are “carrying out orders” and do not understand the situation. They see the settlers at their best. Although the Palestinian children are often very frightened, they keep the passage to their houses open. They are the bravest people I know.