MERIP Media Resource List,
June 30, 2006
AVAILABLE
FOR INTERVIEWS on
the following topics:
- Israeli military
operations continue in Gaza
- Kuwait's first election with women participants, June 29
PERETZ KIDRON
Peretz Kidron is an Israeli
writer in Jerusalem. Kidron has long been active with Yesh
Gvul and other Israeli peace and human rights groups. He is
a former reservist, among the first to refuse service in the
occupied territories. He commented today: "In the absence
of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, the only form of communication
available to either side is violence. Although the Israeli
side is sounding aggrieved and hurt over Palestinian attacks
-- Qassam rockets, hostage taking -- the principal blame for
the rapid deterioration must lie with the Israeli government
and its Western allies who are isolating the democratically
elected Palestinian leadership in an attempt to beat the Palestinians
into submission."
NEVE
GORDON
Neve Gordon teaches politics at Ben-Gurion University, Israel,
and is the editor of From the Margins of Globalization:
Critical Perspectives on Human Rights (2004). Gordon
just returned from Vienna where he participated in the UN
Palestinian Rights Committee's international meeting in support
of Israeli-Palestinian peace. He commented today: "Israel
has transformed Gaza into a Lebanon of sorts, indiscriminately
bombarding civilian populations and cutting off electricity
to hundreds of thousands of residents. The only difference
between the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip and those of South
Lebanon is that the latter could flee northward, while the
former have nowhere to go."
MARY
ANN TÉTREAULT
Mary Ann Tétreault
is the Una Chapman Cox Distinguished Professor of International
Affairs at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Her recent
books include Stories of Democracy: Politics and Society
in Contemporary Kuwait (2000) and The Kuwait Petroleum
Corporation and the Economics of the New World Order
(1995). She has been writing about women in Kuwait since 1994.
She commented today: "Women were enthusiastic participants
at rallies and seminars during the short and unexpected campaign
season in Kuwait and came out in unexpectedly large numbers
to vote. Standing in long lines, enduring temperatures
that reached 118 degrees Fahrenheit by mid-afternoon, Kuwaiti
women of all ages rejoiced in this first opportunity to exercise
their political rights. The early election was precipitated
by a clash between parliament and the government over redistricting
that ended with the Emir's decision to dissolve the National
Assembly and call for new elections. The conflict was
complicated by something unusual for Kuwait: social movement
activism including a series of street demonstrations spearheaded
by young Kuwaitis in their twenties disgusted by the corruption
of the electoral system and much of Kuwaiti political life. Many
Kuwaitis are speculating that this will be another short parliament
-- indeed, that this might happen all over again in six months."
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