News & Public Affairs

During olive harvest Palestinians concerned about losing land listen

12/15/09 Doris Norrito
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Olive trees are the source of livelihood for many Palestinian farmers. This year, the harvest was poor. Drought and insects added to the destruction of olive groves by Israelis, devastating the Palestinian economy and further obstructing chances for peace.

The small farm village of Rummaneh lies directly on the Green Line, the border meant to separate Israel from Palestinian lands. Abu Khaled prunes the trees while his children and grandchildren pick and sort the olives. It’s a happy time...

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tourism religious travel

04/07/09 Doris Norrito
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Tags: Palestine, Israel, tourism, travel, Middle East

Tours to Israel have always enjoyed popularity. But visits to the Israeli occupied Palestinian West Bank are discouraged by news of terrorist attacks and government warnings. Palestinian run tour groups offer a different view for travelers to the Holy Land.

Last November, the First World Religious Travel Expo and Educational Conference was held in Orlando. For the first time, Palestine tour trips were represented. Although both Israeli and Palestinian tours include visits to sacred Christi...

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Lake Worth Commissioner arrested for protesting shooting listen

03/18/09 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Palestine, Israel, Mideast conflict

A Lake Worth city commissioner was arrested on Monday during a protest outside the Israeli Consulate in Miami.

Commissioner Cara Jennings and 35 others were protesting the actions of the Israeli Defense Forces, who shot American Tristan Anderson in the head last Friday in the West Bank village of Ni’lin.

WMNF spoke this afternoon with Commissioner Jennings about Monday’s protest and her arrest.

“I was with a group of people outside the Consulate – the Israeli Consulate – in downtow...

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American Tristan Anderson shot by Israeli Defense Forces listen

03/13/09 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Palestine, Israel

An American is in critical condition with life-threatening wounds after being shot in the head today by a member of the Israeli Defense Forces, or IDF.

Tristan Anderson, from California, is in a Tel-Aviv hospital after being transported from the village of Na’alin in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank.

WMNF spoke with David Jacobus, who is in the hospital with Anderson.

David Jacobus: “We actually just got word from the surgeons who came out. He has a very high velocity impact in h...

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Robin Wright on Middle East - Part I listen

03/04/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Foreign policy, Mideast conflict, Israel, Palestine, Syria

Journalist Robin Wright has reported from more than 140 countries in her career. She most recently covered foreign policy for the Washington Post.

Her latest book, Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East, has just been published in paperback.

WMNF spoke with Wright yesterday, and asked her about U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s announcement that two top State Department officials will travel to Damascus to hold a series of meetings with Syrian officials this wee...

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Palestine-Israel conflict debated at Tiger Bay listen

02/20/09 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Palestine, Israel, Mideast conflict

During the more than 60 years since Israel was founded in 1948, there has been conflict between Israel and the Palestinians displaced by the formation of the Jewish state. That clash came to a heated apex recently during Israel’s three-week-long offensive on the Gaza strip in December and January.

At the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center this afternoon, about 50 people from the Tiger Bay Club of Tampa heard from advocates on both sides of the conflict.

T...

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Martin Indyk on Middle East Peace possibilities listen

02/18/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Politics, foreign policy, Mid-East, Israel, Palestine

In the Middle East today, Hamas vehemently rejected the Israeli Cabinet's decision not to open its border crossings with the Gaza Strip until Hamas agrees to release abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.

Shalit was abducted by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid in June 2006. Hamas has demanded the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the soldier's freedom.

According to the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, Israel’s Welfare Minister told the Cabinet th...

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Gaza Vigil held in Temple Terrace listen

01/09/09 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Mideast conflict, Gaza, Palestine, Israel, vigil

This afternoon, more than 200 people turned out to a silent vigil for victims of Israel’s violence in the occupied Gaza Strip.

People holding flags, posters and photos stood on all four corners of Temple Terrace’s busiest intersection, Fowler Avenue and 56th Street as rush hour traffic passed by Friday afternoon. The silent vigil for innocent victims of Israel’s siege, bombardment, and invasion of the Palestinian Gaza Strip was organized, in part, by Friends of Human Rights. Lars Underbakk...

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150 protest Israel's attack on Gaza listen

01/05/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Mideast conflict, Gaza, Palestine, Israel

On Saturday night in downtown St. Petersburg, a crowd of approximately 150 people stood on the BayWalk complex between First and Second streets to protest the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Protests have been held across the country, and the world, for the most part condemning the Israeli government for its incursion into Gaza a week ago Saturday.

It was the second such protest in the Tampa Bay area in a week. Last Tuesday, an estimated 400 to 500 people protested off Dale Mabry ...

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Minnesota's Keith Ellison on situation in Gaza

01/05/09 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Mideast conflict, Gaza, Palestine, Israel, poll

A recent Rasmussen poll shows the American public far less indulgent of Israeli aggression than many previously believed.

Opinion on the bombing of Gaza is fairly evenly divided, showing 44 percent support Israel's military action against the Palestinians and 41 percent saying it should have tried to find a diplomatic solution to the problems.

A majority of Democrats – 55 percent - say Israel should have tried to find a diplomatic solution first; a view shared by just 27 percent of Rep...

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