MER Article Pappe Faces Down Prosecution On May 19, 2002, Ilan Pappé received word that an order for him to stand trial at Haifa University, where he teaches political science, had been rescinded. The prosecution, represented by Haifa’s dean of humanities, had demanded Pappé’s expulsion from the university due to positions he has taken on Rebecca L. Stein • 2 min read
MER Article The Shrinking Space of Citizenship On February 14, 2002, the Israeli government sent several light planes to spray 12,000 dunams of crops in the southern Negev region with poisonous chemicals. The destroyed fields had been cultivated for years by Bedouin Arabs, on ancestral lands they claim as their own. The minister responsible for Oren Yiftachel • 20 min read
Current Analysis Bleak Horizons After Operation Defensive Wall On April 28, both Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat accepted an American proposal whereby US and British security personnel will be dispatched to Jericho to supervise the imprisonment of six Palestinians besieged with Arafat in what remains of the Ramallah governorate. Barring last-minute surprises, the Mouin Rabbani • 9 min read
Current Analysis In Ramallah, Grueling Reoccupation Grinds On He was the tallest of the Palestinian policemen. Thin, his olive drab uniform ballooning over his boots, he swayed momentarily as a helmeted Israeli soldier stood behind him and tucked the muzzle of a gun into the Palestinian's right armpit, keeping his finger on the trigger. Only then did the line Charmaine Seitz • 6 min read
Current Analysis Letters of Warning After 12 long months of hearings and the appearance of 349 witnesses, a panel of Israeli judges has offered the first insight into its conclusions about the deaths of 13 Palestinian citizens at the hands of the country's police force in October 2000. Justice Theodor Or, head of Jonathan Cook • 7 min read
Current Analysis Sharon's Journey of Colors At approximately 1:00 am on March 15, 2002, Israeli military forces began withdrawing from the twin cities of Ramallah and al-Bireh in the West Bank, which they had occupied in a massive show of force three days previously. In the ensuing hours, Israel evacuated most of the other towns, Mouin Rabbani • 7 min read
Current Analysis In Israel, A New-Old Voice of Conscience Awakens Alongside the recent military escalations in the Occupied Territories, a new voice of conscience is rising inside Israel, loud and clear. Previously marginal, this voice now offers the country hope of breaking out of the past 17 months of crisis. The new voice permeates reports from the Occupied Territories, and Lev Grinberg • 6 min read
Current Analysis Detonating Lebanon's War Files It is hard to say which news surprised Beirutis more on January 24: the previous evening's report from Brussels that a war crimes case against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and others had moved one step closer to trial, or the sickeningly familiar roar of that morning' Laurie King-Irani • 7 min read
Current Analysis Trying to Try Sharon The concept of universal jurisdiction in international law is undergoing a historic test in Belgium. On November 28, a Belgian court will decide whether Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon can be tried for his alleged role in the slaughter by Lebanese militiamen of untold numbers of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians Linda A. Malone • 7 min read
Current Analysis Closure As soon as the Israeli army jeep disappears around the bend, a dusty minivan emerges from the grape fields outside Beit Ummar, a farming town in the southern West Bank. Revving the engine as he accelerates into the turn, the driver leans out the window and yells, "Go! Go! Chris Smith • 6 min read
Current Analysis Under the Guise of Security The view from Ahmed Khalil Abu Samra's window is a bleak one. To one side is an Israeli military post. To another, towards the Palestinian town of Dayr al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, lie Abu Samra's wrecked greenhouses and the remnants of uprooted olive and Chris Smith • 6 min read
Current Analysis Lebanon One Year After the Israeli Withdrawal Quiet has apparently returned to the Lebanese-Israeli border after violent incidents last week marked the first anniversary of Israel's forced withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Israeli forces shot two Lebanese men who were throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers across the border, and downed a small plane flying into Israeli As'ad AbuKhalil • 8 min read
