News from Within: Palestine/Israel

News from Within: Palestine/Israel is a podcast of the Alternative Information Center (AIC). The AIC is a joint Palestinian-Israeli organization which prioritizes political advocacy, critical analysis and information sharing on the Palestinian and Israeli societies as well as on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ...

News from Within Podcast: Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine" in the Israeli Context
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, by Naomi Klein Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine in the Israeli Context On Thursday, the 26th of June, 2008, Shir Hever, economist with the Alternative Information Center (AIC) spoke with Canadian journalist, author and activist, Naomi Klein. Naomi is the author of No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies and Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate and a frequent contributor to The Nation, In These Times, The Globe and Mail, and The Guardian. Her most recent work is, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (September 2007). In this book, she undertakes to show how “disaster capitalism,” which she defines as “orchestrated raids on the public sphere in the wake of catastrophic events, combined with the treatment of disasters as exciting market opportunities,” did not begin in the wake of September 11, 2001. Instead, its origins can be traced back fifty years, to the University of Chicago under Milton Friedman, which produced many of the leading neoconservative and neoliberal thinkers, whose influence is still profound in Washington today. Shir spoke with Naomi about Israel’s role in the disaster capitalism phenomenon, the contradictions in Israeli society, which both profits and suffers from the burdens of being a fortress state in constant conflict, and on the discourse among Israeli economists about the role of peace vs. war in the Israeli economy.

News from Within Podcast: Implications of the European Union's Decision to Upgrade its ...
On 16 June, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was in Luxembourg for a meeting of meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council, during which the EU voted unanimously to upgrade its relationship with Israel. Implications of the European Union's Decision to Upgrade its Relationship With Israel On Thursday, the 19th of June, 2008, we spoke with Professor Yossi Schwartz in the offices of the Alternative Information Center (AIC) in West Jerusalem. Yossi, a professor of history at Tel Aviv University, is founder and current chairperson of the Israeli human rights organization, Hamoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual. He is also co-chairperson on the board of directors of the AIC. We discussed the wider implications of the European Union’s decision to upgrade its political and economic relationship with Israel.

News from Within Podcast: American, Israeli and Iranian Strategies in the Middle East Conflict
Gilbert Achcar News from Within Podcast: American, Israeli and Iranian Strategies in the Middle East Conflict On 29 May, 2008, Michael Warschawski, co-founder of the Alternative Information Center, spoke with Gilbert Achcar at his office in London, England. Gilbert lived in Lebanon for many years before moving to France, where he taught politics and international relations at the University of Paris. Since 2007, he has been a professor of Development Studies and International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. He is the author of many books, including, The Clash of Barbarisms: The Making of the New World Disorder, Eastern Cauldron: Islam, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iraq in a Marxist Mirror and The 33-Day War: Israel's War on Hezbollah in Lebanon and Its Consequences, which he co-wrote with Michael Warschawski. During this conversation, Achcar and Warschawski discussed the current situation in Lebanon, Iran’s involvement in Iraq and its relations with Syria and the Hezbollah, US foreign policy in the region in the context of the upcoming presidential elections, and the possibility of American and Israeli military strikes on Lebanon or Iran.

News from Within Podcast: Zionism as an Attempt to Solve the Jewish Identity Complex of Secular Jews
Akiva Orr has been writing on the issue of the relation between Zionism and the search for a secular Jewish identity for many years, including the book Israel: Politics, Myths and Identity Crises, published in English by Pluto Press in 1994. News from Within Podcast: Zionism as an Attempt to Solve the Jewish Identity Complex of Secular Jews On Monday, the 26th of May, 2008, Akiva Orr spoke at the offices of the Alternative Information Center in West Jerusalem. Akiva was born in Berlin in 1931 and immigrated to Palestine with his family in 1934, growing up in Tel Aviv. He served in the Israeli Navy in 1948 and after the war studied mathematics and physics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In the early 1950s, Akiva became critical of Zionism, joining the Israeli Communist Party in 1953. However, in 1962, he broke from the party and jointly founded the anti-Zionist Israeli organization Matzpen. He has written several books including “The Un-Jewish State: The Politics of Jewish Identity in Israel,” “The Other Israel: The Radical Case Against Zionism,” and the “Direct Democracy Manifesto.” You can read and download his books on his website at akiorrbooks.org (http://www.akiorrbooks.org/).

News from Within Podcast: Palestinian Perspective on Carter's Visit and the Prospects of a Ceasefire
On 21 April in Jerusalem, former US President Jimmy Carter delivers a speech during a meeting held by the Israeli Council of Foreign Relations. News from Within Podcast: A Palestinian Perspective on Carter's Visit and the Prospects of an Israeli/Palestinian Ceasefire On Monday the 28th of April, 2008, I spoke with Nassar Ibrahim in the offices of the Alternative Information Center in Beit Sahour. Nassar, a longtime Palestinian writer, journalist and activist, is Policy Director of the AIC. We discussed the implications of the recent visit of former US President Jimmy Carter to the Middle East, the possibility of a long-term ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the context of recent US and Israeli diplomatic maneuvers in the region, and Palestinian plans for events to commemorate 60 years since the Nakba.

News from Within Podcast: On "Occupied Minds: A Journey Through the Israeli Psyche"
Occupied Minds: A Journey Through the Israeli Psyche by Arthur Nelsen On Occupied Minds: A Journey Through the Israeli Psyche On 29 March 2008, Arthur Neslen spoke at the AICafe in the offices of the Alternative Information Center in Beit Sahour. Arthur is the author of Occupied Minds: A Journey Through the Israeli Psyche, which was published in 2006 by Pluto Press. The book features a series of first person narratives, gathered from interviews with more than 50 Israelis from across the social and political spectrum, shedding light on the dynamics of Israeli identity and consciousness. Arthur was formerly the London correspondent for Aljazeera.net and the website's only Jewish journalist. He was international editor of Red Pepper Magazine for five years, and worked between 2001 and 2004 as a broadcast journalist at the BBC. Additionally, he has written for publications including the Guardian, the Independent, the Observer, the New Statesman and Private Eye.

News from Within Podcast: Social and Political Currents in Lebanon
Social and Political Currents in Lebanon On 14 February, in separate parts of Beirut, two public events occured, embodying the contrasting currents of Lebanese society: One, the funeral of assassinated Hezbollah leader Imad Mugniyah and the other, the third anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri. On Wednesday, 20 February 2008, Alter-Inter spoke with Nahla Chahal at her office in Paris, France. Nahla is an author, journalist, researcher and columnist at the al-Hayat pan-Arab daily newspaper. During the 1970s, she was one of the leaders of the Organization of Communist Action of Lebanon (OACL) and a participant in the Lebanese Communist Party. She is currently president of the Arab Women Researchers Association and Coordinator of the International Civil Campaigns for the Protection of the Palestinian People (CCIPPP). They discussed the current social and political situation in Lebanon, the position of the Lebanese Left and progressive forces, Hezbollah domestic strategies, the implications of the assassination of Imad Magniyah, the continuing impact of the summer 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon, and a look towards the near future in Lebanon and the region.

News from Within Podcast: Personal and Historical Perspective on Joint Palestinian/Israeli Struggle
Michael Warschawski A Personal and Historical Perspective on the Joint Palestinian/Israeli Struggle On 29 January 2008, Michael (Mikado) Warschawski spoke at the offices of the Alternative Information Center (AIC) in Beit Sahour. Michael is a well-known Israeli anti-colonial activist, journalist and author. A former activist in the seminal anti-Zionist Israeli organization Matzpen from the 1960s through the 1980’s, he is a cofounder of the Alternative Information Center and a leader in the global anti-war movement and World Social Forum Process. Michael discussed the formation and historical role of the joint Palestinian-Israeli struggle for peace and justice and its current trajectory, examining it through the prism of personal experience and the history and sociopolitical perspective of the AIC.

News from Within Podcast: The Israeli Economy on the Brink
The Israeli Economy on the Brink On 11 December 2007, Shir Hever gave a lecture at the AICafé, located in the offices of the Alternative Information Center (AIC) in Beit Sahour. Shir, an economist, is author of the Economy of the Occupation series of the AIC. His lecture, titled “The Israeli Economy on the Brink,” highlights the disparity between the way that the Israeli economy is generally depicted in the local and international media, and the economic reality. In recent years, Israel’s economy has been portrayed as prosperous if not booming, and the political situation is represented as having little effect on the Israeli market. However, Shir’s analysis gives evidence that the Israeli economy is deeply affected by the occupation of the Palestinian territories and by decades of unending military conflict. Through his analysis of the economic trends in Israel, we learn a lot about the potential directions the conflict may take, and possibilities for its eventual resolution.

News from Within Podcast: The Annapolis Conference in the Shadow of the One State Reality
The Annapolis Conference in the Shadow of the One State Reality On 28 November 2007, Meron Benvenisti presented a lecture in West Jerusalem at the monthly Last Wednesday Forum of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), which it hosts together with its outreach center Daila. Meron Benvenisti served as Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem under Teddy Kollek from 1971 to 1978, administering the city’s annexed Palestinian sectors. In 1982, he established and directed the West Bank Database Project, one of the first attempts to gather comprehensive data on Israeli settlement and governmental policies in the West Bank. He is a regular contributor to the major Israeli daily Haaretz, and author of numerous books, including: Jerusalem: The Torn City (1977); Intimate Enemies: Jews and Arabs in a Shared Land (1995); City of Stone: The Hidden History of Jerusalem (1996); and Sacred Landscape: The Buried History of the Holy Land since 1948 (2000).

News from Within Podcast: The Annapolis Conference and the Left and Democratic Movement in Palestine
The Annapolis Conference and the Left and Democratic Movements in Palestine On Sunday, 18 November 2007, I spoke with Dr. Naim Abu Tair. Dr. Naim operates a private medical clinic in East Jerusalem. In addition, he was formerly the director and president of the Palestinian Health Work Committee, and is currently the General Director of the Bisan Center for Research and Development and co-chair of the board of the Alternative Information Center. We spoke about the situation for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, and his assessment of the Hamas/Fatah split and the competing Palestinian governments in Gaza and the West Bank. We also discussed the Left and Democratic forces in Palestinian society, and a forecast of the results of the upcoming US backed Middle East conference in Annapolis, which is due to take place at the end of November.

News from Within Podcast: The Prospects for War or Peace in the Middle East
The Prospects for War or Peace in the Middle East On 2 October 2007, I spoke with Prof. Dror Ze’evi, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Ben Gurion University and President of The Middle East Islamic Association of Israel. He is the author of An Ottoman Century: The District of Jerusalem in the 1600s, and more recently Producing Desire: Changing Sexual Discourse in the Ottoman Middle East, 1500-1900. He also writes periodically on current issues for the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth. We spoke about the situation in the Gaza Strip, US/Israeli relations, the issue of academic and economic boycott, rising tensions between Israel, Syria and Iran, and the prospects for war or peace in the region. The following are the personal views of Prof. Ze’evi, and do not necessarily reflect the positions of The Middle East Islamic Association of Israel.

News from Within Podcast: An Analysis of Current Israeli Approaches to the Palestinian Situation
An Analysis of Current Israeli Approaches to the Palestinian Situation in the Wake of the Hamas Takeover of Gaza We continue in this podcast with highlighting lectures from the recent conference, The Bilbao Initiative: Another Future is Possible, held in Bethlehem on Friday, 27 July 2007. The conference was sponsored by the Alternative Information Center (AIC), The Palestinian Health Work Committies (HWC), the Alternative Tourism Group (ATG), and the Bisan Center for Research and Development. In this show, we bring you the lecture of Naomi Chazan. She examines the current political situation in Israel and various Israeli approaches to the Palestinian situation in the wake of the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip and end of the Palestinian unity government. Naomi is a former Member of the Knesset for the Meretz Party and currently a professor of Political Science and researcher at the Hebrew University’s Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace.

News from Within Podcast: The Takeover of Gaza: What Next?
The Takeover of Gaza: What Next? For the next few podcasts, we will bring to you highlights from the conference, The Bilbao Initiative: Another Future is Possible, held in Bethlehem on Friday, 27 July 2007. Endorsed in 2003, by over 20 Palestinian and Israeli organizations, the Bilbao Declaration presents the minimum conditions under which a just and lasting peace can be formed, as well as providing a concrete foundation upon which Palestinian and Israeli activists can work together. Over 100 Palestinian, Israeli and international social activists met at the conference, to jointly analyze the current political situation, endorse the Bilbao Declaration and form a steering committee to update this 2003 document for use in future joint advocacy. In this show, we bring you the lecture of Dr. Majed Nassar, titled, “The Takeover of Gaza: What Next?” Dr. Nassar is Deputy Director of the Palestinian Health Works Committee (HWC) and a board member of the Alternative Information Center (AIC).

News from Within Podcast: Cheap Wars and Israel's Roaring Economy
Cheap Wars and Israel's Roaring Economy: An Interview with Political Economist Jonathan Nitzan On Monday, July 23, 2007, Shir Hever, economic researcher with the Alternative Information Center (AIC), interviewed, Prof. Jonathan Nitzan about two recent articles which he co-authored with Shimshon Bichler, titled “Cheap Wars” and “Israel’s Roaring Economy.” Jonathan Nitzan is a professor of Political Economy at York University in Toronto Canada and the author of numerous articles and books dealing with the regional and international political economy, including The Global Political Economy of Israel, published in English in 2002, which he co-authored with frequent collaborator, Shimshon Bichler. The publications of Jonathan Nitzan and Shimshon Bichler, including the articles discussed in this interview, are freely available from The Bichler and Nitzan Archives at www.bnarchives.net.

News from Within Podcast: Till the Last Drop, The Palestinian Water Crisis in the West Bank, Pt. II
Till the Last Drop: The Palestinian Water Crisis in the West Bank, Hydrogeology and Hydropolitics of a Regional Conflict, Pt. II On 19th of June 2007 in West Jerusalem, Clemens Messerschmid presented the second of a two-part lecture series sponsored by the Alternative Information Center, titled Till the Last Drop: The Palestinian Water Crisis in the West Bank, Hydrogeology and Hydropolitics of a Regional Conflict. Mr. Messerschmid is a German hydrogeologist who has worked for many years on international water projects in the West Bank. In this lecture, Clemens focuses on the hydro-political developments during the Oslo and post-Oslo periods up to the present, examining the diverging agendas of Palestinians and Israelis, and also of the donor states and their water projects. Finally, Clemens presents a critical discussion of possible solutions to the situation, examining their technical and political merits.

News from Within Podcast: Till the Last Drop, The Palestinian Water Crisis in the West Bank
News from Within: Palestine/Israel Podcast - Till the Last Drop: The Palestinian Water Crisis in the West Bank, Hydrogeology and Hydropolitics of a Regional Conflict On June 12th 2007, at the Daila center in West Jerusalem, Clemens Messerschmid, presented the first of a two-part lecture series sponsored by the Alternative Information Center, titled Till the Last Drop: The Palestinian Water Crisis in the West Bank, Hydrogeology and Hydropolitics of a Regional Conflict. Mr. Messerschmid is a German hydrogeologist who has worked for many years on international water projects in the West Bank. He introduced the physical settings of water resources in the region and their extremely asymmetrical allocation between the Palestinians and Israelis. In addition, he gave an introduction to the hydrogeology of the shared aquifers and an overview of the historical development of their utilization, focusing on the years of overt occupation between the 1967 War and The Oslo Interim Agreement of September 1995.

News from Within Podcast: Binational Currents in Israel and Palestine
News from Within: Palestine/Israel Podcast - Binational Currents in Israel and Palestine on the Anniversary of 40 Years of Occupation On 12 June, the Alternative Information Center (AIC) spoke with Michael Warschawski, longtime Israeli political observer and analyst, as well as co-founder of the AIC, about understanding binationalism in both an Israeli and Palestinian context, against the backdrop of 40 years of occupation. We spoke to him about the Israeli/Palestinian peace movement in the light of the larger struggle against globalization and neo-colonialism, as well as discuss some issues regarding the future of the peace movement in Israel, including one of its more controversial figures, Tali Fahima.

News from Within Podcast: Israel's Missed Opportunities for Peace From 1967 to the Present
News from Within: Palestine/Israel Podcast - Israel's Missed Opportunities for Peace: From the Six-Day War of June 1967 to the Present This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Six Day War of June 1967, which resulted in Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights. As time has passed and the occupation has become an increasingly permanent reality, the question remains as to why peace has continued to be unattainable for Israel. Many claim that even the June 1967 War was a direct consequence of Israel’s inability or unwillingness to accept the comprises that peace requires. On Monday, the 4th of June, 2007, we spoke with long-time Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery at his home in Tel Aviv. Mr. Avnery, who was born in Germany in 1923 and moved to Mandate Palestine at the age of ten, is an Israeli journalist and former Knesset member. We discussed his assessments of the political context before and after the ’67 War, missed opportunities for negotiation during this period, his involvement in 1970 in an indirect communication between the Egyptian leader Gamel Abd-al-Nasser and the Israeli government, in which Nasser made clear that he was ready to make peace and establish both diplomatic and commercial relations with Israel, and finally, we spoke of the ongoing situation today on the eve of the war’s anniversary.

News from Within Podcast: The Experience of Administrative Detention Prisoners in Israeli Prisons
News from Within: Palestine/Israel Podcast - The Experience of Administrative Detention Prisoners in Israeli Prisons Ahmad Abu Haniya, the Youth Project Coordinator for the Alternative Information Center, was released from administrative detention on 14 May 2007, after two years of imprisonment without any trial or formal charges being brought against him. Ahmad was detained at an Israeli military checkpoint on his way to work on 18 May 2005 and placed in administrative detention, which is imprisonment without charge or trial. As with all of the approximately 800 Palestinian administrative detainees currently being held by Israel, Ahmad and his attorney were not even permitted to know the accusations against him. During his time in prison, Ahmad was adopted as an appeal case by Amnesty International, and supported by the American National Lawyers Guild. The detention of Ahmad and so many other Palestinians, blatantly violates international humanitarian law, which permits administrative detention only as an exceptional and highly regulated measure. Administrative detention violates the fundamental right to liberty and due process, and has been used by Israel as a tool to oppress political activists in Palestine who struggle non-violently against the Israeli occupation and for a just peace between Palestinians and Israelis. We spoke with Ahmad on the 21st of May, one week after his release from prison, at the offices of the AIC in Beit Sahour.

News from Within Podcast: Israel's Investigation of Azmi Bishara in Context
News from Within: Palestine/Israel Podcast - Israel's Investigation of Azmi Bishara in Context On Monday, 21 May 2007, we spoke with Dr. Jamal Zahalka, Chairman of Balad, the National Democratic Assembly Party, at his office in the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem. Dr. Zahalka, a Palestinian citizen of Israel from Kfar Kara in the Galilee, has been a Member of the Knesset since 2003, becoming the head of Balad following the resignation of Azmi Bishara in April of this year. We talked with Dr. Zahalka about the work of the Balad Party; the implications of recently published political documents by leaders of the Israeli Arab community, which call for the legal transformation of Israel into a State for all its citizens; the Israeli establishment’s reaction to these demands; and the social and political context of the current allegations and legal investigation against Azmi Bishara, the former head of Balad, for espionage and money laundering.

News from Within Podcast: Analysis of the Current Situation In the Gaza Strip
News from Within: Palestine/Israel Podcast - Analysis of the Current Situation In the Gaza Strip On the 18th of May, 2007, I spoke with Nassar Ibrahim, Palestinian author, political analyst and co-director of the Alternative Information Center, at his office in Beit Sahour. We discussed the current situation in the Gaza Strip, ongoing Palestinian factional violence and its relation to the Israeli occupation and international economic boycott, and practical actions that need to be taken on both a local and international level to create a more secure and stable situation in the region.

News from Within Podcast: Israeli Economic Policies towards the Palestinians between 1967 and Today
News from Within: Palestine/Israel Podcast - Israeli Economic Policies towards the Palestinians between 1967 and Today The economic policies that Israel enforces, control the lives of Palestinians in the territories occupied since 1967. However, the power structure and the decision-making processes within Israel have changed drastically in recent years. The policies Israel implemented in the OPT have shifted between centralization and de-centralization of power, between unification of the economies of Israel and the OPT and separation of the two. These policies were not decided by Israeli officials autonomously–they were influenced by pressure from above (i.e., the international community and its financial institutions) and more importantly by pressure from below (i.e., the Palestinian Intifada). What exactly are the economic policies that sustain the occupation? Who came up with them? What are the reasons underlying the recent changes in the Israeli political-economic policy? How are all of these decisions affected by the economic needs of Israel? On Tuesday, the 17th April, 2007 at the offices of the Alternative Information Center in Beit Sahour, AIC Economist Shir Hever discussed these issues in a lecture titled “Israeli Economic Policies towards the Palestinians between 1967 and Today”

News from Within Podcast: Against Models and Solutions - Towards a Bi-National Thinking
News from Within: Palestine/Israel Podcast - Against Models and Solutions: Towards a Bi-National Thinking In the present podcast, we bring you the last of our three part series, presenting highlights from the international conference, Building a Future Together: Alternatives to the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse, which took place in Bethlehem, on 2-3 December 2005. This lecture is from Dr. Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, titled Against Models and Solutions: Towards a Bi-National Thinking. Dr. Raz-Krakotzkin is a senior lecturer in Jewish History at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva.

News from Within Podcast: Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment Against Israel
News from Within: Palestine/Israel Podcast - Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment Against Israel In this podcast, we continue presenting highlights from the International conference, Building a Future Together: Alternatives to the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse, which took place in Bethlehem, on 2-3 December 2005. Today, we bring you a lecture by Dr. Majed Nassar, titled Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment Against Israel. Dr Nassar is Executive Director of the Palestinian Health Work Committees and is member of the Board of Directors of the Alternative Information Center (AIC).

News from Within Podcast: Local and International Perspectives on a Two State Solution
News from Within: Palestine/Israel Podcast - Local and International Perspectives on a Two State Solution In the next few podcasts, we will be bringing you some highlights from the International conference, Building a Future Together: Alternatives to the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse, which took place in Bethlehem, Palestine on 2-3 December 2005. The conference was jointly organized by the Alternative Information Center, the Palestinian Health Works Committee, and the Alternative Tourism Group. On this show, we bring you a lecture by Virginia Tilley titled Local and International Perspectives on a Two State Solution. Virginia Tilley is a professor of Political Science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in NY and author of The One-State Solution: A Breakthrough for Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Deadlock from the University of Michigan Press. Visit me at Podcast Pickle! (http://podcastpickle.com/cast/23460/#f1c1114a1aaf3b48c51b728aac7cc0f0)

News from Within Podcast: Israeli Responsibility for Damage to Population of East Jerusalem
News from Within: Palestine/Israel Podcast - Israel Responsible for over One Billion Dollars in Damage to East Jerusalem Palestinians In a press conference, held on 14 March 2007, Shir Hever, economist and researcher for the Alternative Information Center (AIC), presented findings from his recently published bulletin titled The Separation Wall in East Jerusalem-Economic Consequences. He discussed the damage that the Wall has and continues to produce for the population of East Jerusalem, and how this impacts the future prospects for achieving a just peace for both the Palestinians and Israelis.

News from Within Podcast: International Legal Solutions for War Crimes and Human Rights Violations
News from Within Podcast: International Legal Solutions for War Crimes and Human Rights Violations - The Experience in Latin America and its Relation to the Situation in Palestine On Feb 6 2007, the Alternative Information Center (AIC) and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), jointly hosted a lecture by Judge Juan Guzman at the Ambassador Hotel in East Jerusalem. Judge Guzman is a retired Chilean judge who became internationally famous for being the first judge to prosecute former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet on human rights charges, after Pinochets return to Chile following more than a year of house arrest in London, England. He spoke together with Israeli human rights lawyer, Lea Tsemel on International Legal Solutions for War Crimes and Human Rights Violations: The Experience in Latin America and its Relation to the Situation in Palestine.

News from Within PODCAST: Elections, Occupation and Solidarity - An Interview withTanya Reinhart
News from Within PODCAST: Elections, Occupation and Solidarity - An Interview with Professor Tanya Reinhart Tanya Reinhart is a professor emeritus of linguistics and cultural studies at Tel Aviv University and currently Global Distinguished Professor of Linguistics at NYU and a professor at the University of Utrecht. She has written several books on the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, has a column in Israels largest daily, Yideot Aharonot, and has had many articles published in international journals. Her latest book, The Roadmap to Nowhere: Israel/Palestine Since 2003, is published by Verso Press. This interview was conducted in April 2006, shortly after the Israeli elections, and Prof. Reinhart discusses the implications of the election win by Olmerts Kadima Party, the Labor partys agreement to join in a coalition government, historical background about Amir Peretz, the current head of the Labor party, the ongoing international sanctions against the Hamas led Palestinian government, the international communitys relations with Israel and support for the continuation of the Occupation of Palestinian land, the opportunities and limits of the international and local movement against Israeli policies, and background about her support of academic boycott and its relation to leaving her position as professor at Tel Aviv University. Prof. Reinhart was interviewed by Bryan Atinsky of the Alternative Information Center (AIC).

AIC Podcast: Interview with Daniel Dor
Media Objectivity? Reception, Reconstruction and (Re)presentation: An Interview with Daniel Dor A former journalist, Professor Daniel Dor teaches in the Department of Communication at Tel Aviv University. He has worked as a senior news editor in two of Israels leading newspapers. He is also the author of a number of books in Hebrew, and one that was revised and translated into English, titled Intifada Hits the Headlines, by Indiana University Press. He has a second book in English now by Pluto Press, titled The Supression of Guilt. The interview was conducted by Bryan Atinsky and Elan Frankel of the AIC.

AIC Podcast: Education Under Occupation Roundtable
AIC PODCAST: Discussion - Education under Occupation The discussion focuses on the effects of the Israeli occupation on the Palestinian and Israeli educational systems, and how local and international educational strategies can be effective in working to end the occupation. Palestinian, Israeli and International educators, discuss ways in which pedagogy can be an essential tool in working towards liberation, human rights, and democracy building or a means for subjugation and oppression. With: Michael Mikado Warschawski, Hanan Aruri, Howard S. Davidson, Ilan Pappe and others.

AIC Podcast: Lecture - History of the Occupation
AIC PODCAST - Lecture: The Economy of the Occupation, a brief History This Podcast is a live - Cut of a lecture from the AICs Economy Researcher Shir Hever, recorded at the Daila Center , Jerusalem at the 22nd June 2005. The lecture followes the main developments of the Israeli and Palestinian economies since the beginning of the occupation. The accompanying Presentation is available as pdf download at http://alternativenews.dyndns.org/download/History_occupation.pdf.