Jewish brains in chains
By Gideon Samet, Ha'aretz, October 19, 2002
A government eager for a show trial; a Palestinian leader accused of murder; a judge with a feisty personality; a lawyer who didn't inherit his grandfather's best genes; an atmosphere charged with pain and desire for revenge. With ingredients like that, it couldn't be a tasty stew. But that's what's cooking at the pointless trial of Marwan Barghouti in Tel Aviv. Again, it has become clear that nothing in Israeli life, even the white-as-snow courts, can escape the stain of 35 years of corrupting occupation. Not even common sense has survived.

The funeral of Shaden Abu Hijleh
By Amer Abdelhadi, The Electronic Intifada, October 14, 2002
Imagine losing a loved one suddenly and violently, and having to constrain yourself and not express any sadness or anger. It must be hard. Now imagine witnessing the murder of your own mother and finding yourself so contrained. You cannot do anything about it, you cannot find answers, and you have to save your own life. How hard can it get? Today was the funeral of Shaden Abu Hijleh, a teacher, social activist, humanitarian, wife, mother, and good friend to everyone. Shaden was murdered in cold blood on Friday evening while she was knitting on the steps to the veranda of her home in Nablus. Her husband Dr. Jamal, and her son Sa’ed, an engineer, who were also sitting near her, were injured but have survived their shrapnel wounds.

Blood and oil
By Randeep Ramesh, The Guardian, October 17, 2002
Europe and America are taking increasingly divergent approaches to the unreliability of the Middle Eastern petroleum supply - one green, the other unrepentantly black: The question of whether oil is worth spilling blood over has been quietly raised by the foreign office minister, Peter Hain. In a speech today to the Royal United Services Institute in London, Mr Hain notes that the cost of protecting the Middle East's oil reserves, paid for mostly by the US and without which the west would grind to a halt, is as high as $25 (£16) a barrel - about the same as it costs to buy. Mr Hain, seen as an outrider for Blairite thinking, goes on to warn that no amount of money will guarantee petrol supplies to the west and consumers should be weaning themselves off the black stuff.

Skinheads with tzitziot
By Uzi Benziman, Ha'aretz, October 20, 2002
The behavior of those among the settlers dubbed "the hill youth" is reminiscent of the skinheads in Europe and the United States: They are loutish, violent and uninhibited brawl-mongers. The various groups of skinheads have all kinds of excuses for unloading their aggression - from racist ideology to frustration at a soccer game result - and in Israel of 2002, hundreds of knitted-skullcap-wearing punks do it for the love of the motherland. The day before yesterday, the young louts returned to Havat Gilad to prevent the final stages of its removal and to foil the state authorities' decision. Two days prior, they had unleashed their rage indiscriminately on anyone they caught sight of: Palestinians harvesting olives, policemen, soldiers, journalists. This young rabble has succeeded in imposing its will: The security forces don't dare confront it, the heads of the Yesha Council of Jewish settlements are unable to call it to order, and it does not listen to the rabbis. At the same time, the wanton boisterousness of these thugs is becoming the spearhead of the current protest, determining both its character and results. The bullying and forceful nature of their behavior is sweeping others to follow in their footsteps.

Apocalypse, Nu?
By Loreh Al-Malikeh, Bassaleh News Network, The Electronic Intifada, October 16, 2002
President George W. Bush recently addressed a rally sponsored by the Christian Coalition by video link-up.
Strange signs and portents abound from Washington to Jerusalem: American Baptist preachers who cannot even spell “chutzpah” and who have assured their flocks for generations that God Almighty does not hear the prayers of a Jew are now marching shoulder to shoulder through the streets of Jerusalem shouting “Israel, We Love You!” and “We are Zealous for Zion!” Never have the ancient, dusty streets of Jerusalem seen so much polyester. Surely, this is a sign that Armageddon is nigh! Meanwhile, hardened Israeli experts in multi-denominational blood-letting and racist fear-mongering like Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert gush about love, brotherhood, and oneness before adoring crowds of bible-thumping evangelicals.

Cast away
By Danny Rubinstein, Ha'aretz, October 20, 2002
Three weeks ago last Thursday, an Israel Defense Forces unit, accompanied by a few policemen and a bulldozer, came to the neighborhood of Sheikh Saad in southeast Jerusalem. The unit's commander informed a few local residents, whom he encountered at the entrance to the neighborhood, that within two hours the bulldozer would heap up boulders and create earth ramparts across the narrow street that leads into the neighborhood, thus blocking the way in and out. The neighborhood's topographic location is somewhat different from that of the dozens of other Palestinian neighborhoods in the eastern section of the city: The street that was blocked is effectively the only entrance to the neighborhood. The Israeli officer went on to inform the residents that car owners would have to decide where they wanted their vehicles to be: inside the neighborhood, meaning they would be able to drive around only there, or outside, in which case they would not be able to drive home.

Analysis: New U.S. map aimed at Baghdad
By Aluf Benn, Ha'aretz, October 20, 2002 
The policy "route map" the American government has proposed, ostensibly as a solution to the Israel-Palestinian dispute, has a different target - Baghdad. Israeli officials believe nothing will move ahead in the diplomatic process before the war in Iraq ends. The U.S., they say, is trying now to buy some time and recruit support among its friends in Europe and the Arab world who are demanding that Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat be taken care of along with Saddam Hussein. In a bid to win some time, the Bush administration drew up the detailed plan for establishing a Palestinian state and an end to Israel's occupation of the territories. The American document tries to placate both sides while simultaneously imposing on both burdens and tasks that are politically not so palatable. The Palestinians are called on to implement serious reforms within a few weeks. These changes will push Arafat into a symbolic role, and establish an effective security force and also a constitutional democracy.

I'm an American Tired of American Lies
By Woody Harrelson, Palestine Chronicle, October 18, 2002
The man who drives me to and from work is named Woody too. A relief to me, as it minimises the chance of my forgetting his name. I call him Woodman and he calls me Wood. He has become my best friend here, even though he's upset that I have quit drinking beer. He's smart, funny, and there's nothing he hasn't seen in 33 years behind the wheel of his black cab. He drove me for a while before I felt confident he liked me; he doesn't like people easily, especially if they have a rap for busting up black cabs. Woodman and I agree about a lot of things, but one thing we can never agree about is Iraq. He thinks the only language Saddam understands is brute force. I don't believe we should be bombing cities in our quest for one man. We've killed a million Iraqis since the start of the Gulf war - mostly by blocking humanitarian aid. Let's stop now. Thankfully, most of the Brits I talk to about the war are closer to me than to Woodman. Only your prime minister doesn't seem to have noticed.

The view from Rafah
By Amira Hass, Ha'aretz, October 20, 2002  
The first shell was fired between 2:30 and 3:00 P.M. last Thursday, October 17. It hit a small grocery belonging to Said Abu Obayid, 47, and killed him. The second shell - or perhaps the same one - killed a would-be customer who had come to buy something from the market. This was Iman al Rul, 25. The grocery is located in the Rafah refugee camp's "O" block, a distance of some 500 meters from the Egyptian border. Over the last two years, Israel Defense Forces troops have demolished all of the houses that were located in a 70-meter strip along the border. Al Rul lived in a house there; it was demolished eight months ago.