Phyllis Bennis from the Institute for Policy Studies interviewed by Joy leClaire. Bennis comments on recent events in Palestine and the suggestions of a new non-violent “intifada”. She also discusses other news across the Middle East and the release of her new book, Ending the US War in Afghanistan: A Primer.
This program was produced by ForthRight Radio for March 17, 2010.
For more information, visit:
http://ips-dc.org/staff/phyllis
Last week we introduced you to the Palestinians of the Al-Waleed Camp, just a few of the millions of refugees from the war and ongoing violence in Iraq. This week we’ll look a little more closely at life in this desert encampment, and hear a little bit about how the Palestinian Authority has performed in supporting their citizens who, until recently, were living quite peaceably in Iraq.
The Palestinian citizens now trapped in Al-Waleed Camp accuse the Palestinian Authority of using their suffering to play political games with Israel. The Palestinian Authority announced that it would accept its citizens back in the West Bank. As the situation worsens, there is no immediate prospect of a solution. The only proposal thus far, an offer by the Palestinian Authority to take in the refugees, was rejected by Israel.
However, the refugees express the feeling that the situation is not as simplistic as it seems. They claim that other states, particularly in Europe, have since expressed willingness to resettle them, but that the PA refuses to accept these solutions, preferring to leave their citizens in the desert, pawns in a political game with Israel.
This program was produced by Alive in Baghdad.
For more information, visit:
http://aliveinbaghdad.org
CKUT radio produced a retrospective on the 1967 Naksa (setback) for the 40th anniversary that aired on June 7, 2007. This is part five of that program.
Rana Abdulla, coordinator for refugee support for Palestinian families displaced from Iraq, speaks about the situation of the growing number of Palestinian refugees from the war in Iraq.
For more information, visit:
http://ckut.ca
As death tolls and temperatures rise in Baghdad, there are more than 1400 Palestinians stranded in a purgatory between Syria and Iraq. These Palestinians find themselves not only reviled and targeted in Baghdad, where many have lived for the past 60 years. Now they live in tents in the desert, left to wonder why none of the world’s governments will give them safe passage. Furthermore, so they claim, when the rare offer of resettlement comes, they’re left waiting desperately, hoping the government of “their country,” the Palestinian Authority, will permit the move. Many claim the PA is using them as just another pawn in a shell game of victimhood, distraction, and deal-making.
In part one of a two part series, these Palestinians (or are they Iraqis?) speak about desperate circumstances in Baghdad, and the reasons they fled the country they called home for generations. After they fled Baghdad, they found their circumstances still desperate, and perhaps in some ways worse. Syria has closed its borders to Palestinians, Jordan is closed to Palestinians and Iraqis alike.
This program was produced by Alive in Baghdad.
For more information, visit:
http://aliveinbaghdad.org