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Death in Custody Irv Rubin, z"l former head of the Jewish Defense League was apparently murdered in a California detention center the same day as he was supposed to have had his day in court. Prison officials have claimed that he slashed his own throat and then threw himself over a prison railing, actions which do not seem physically possible. Furthermore, it is rather strange for a prisoner to attempt suicide in a public area, as opposed to in his cell. Irv Rubin was a dynamic activist and believing Jew who fought for many years on the streets and in the courts for Jewish causes. All who knew him,including his family say that it is totally out of character for him to have committed suicide, especially since his trial was about to begin.It should be noted that just a few days before his death Rubin had made a motion to the court requesting to expose past F.B.I. improprieties vis a vis the J.D.L. Given the number of Black Muslims in the detention facility in which Rubin was incarcerated it is not hard to imagine a lone Jewish activist being targetted, especially given his record of demonstrating against Louis Farrakhan and neo-Nazis. A growing number of Jewish activists are organizing to demand that the U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft conduct an investigation into the case. Alan Schneider, the B'nai Brith representative in Israel has also expressed his belief that Rubin's death was unlikely to have been a suicide and that there is probably a cover-up of a conspiracy afoot. Please send e-mails to the Attorney General at AskDOJ@usdoj.gov and to the Office of the Inspector General at inspector.general@usdoj.gov. Let us send a message that Jewish blood is not cheap regardless of whether we agree with Rubin's opinions or tactics.
Official Palestinian Authority
Radio Praises Bus Attack in "Occupied Jerusalem" as an Attack on
a "colony" with no Word of Condemnation
[Michael Widlanski is completing his PHD on the subject of the Arab media and a lecturer at the Rothberg School of the Hebrew University. IMRA interviewed Widlanski, in English, on 21 November at 8:20 a.m. after a terrorist attack by a suicide bomber against a bus in the Kiryat Menachem neighborhood in Jerusalem that murdered at least 9 in the bus full of schoolchildren. Kiryat Menachem is a neighborhood located within the green line of Jerusalem, built on an Arab village that was abandoned in 1948.] IMRA: What is Voice of Palestine, the official radio station of the Palestinian Authority, reporting about the terrorist attack? Widlanski: V.O.P. began its coverage of the bombing attack at about 7:30 this morning. It referred several time to the colony ("musta' mara") of Kiryat Menachem and to the whole event as an explosives operation ("amaliyya tafjiriyya") without any word of condemnation. Several times V.O.P. made the point that it was in Western Jerusalem but in the colony of Kiryat Menachem. On the 9 a.m. V.O.P. NEWS, V.O.P. described this as an attack in "occupied Jerusalem".
IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
Israelis Suffering From Post
Traumatic Stress Syndrome One out of ten Israelis suffers from post-trauma stress syndrome. Most of them are women. 75% of Israelis harden themselves and avoid the sights of terror attack, to cope with the trauma. A new Israeli study that examined how the terror attacks from September 2000 to April 2002 affected Israelis, was presented yesterday at a conference at the Medical Center in Tel Aviv. The study, conducted by Prof. Avi Blich, director of the Lev Hasharon psychiatric hospital, together with Prof. Zehava Solomon and Dr. Mark Galkopf, was based on a study conducted among a representative sample of 512 Israelis aged over 18. A first sampling showed that 16% of respondents were involved in a terror attack, 22% had a friend or relative killed or wounded in a terror attack, 9% were involved in terror and also knew someone else involved. The answers found that terror attacks affect nearly all Israelis. It also found that around 10% of Israelis suffer from PTSS. People who undergo serious trauma are liable to experience a heavy suppression reaction that causes changes in their mood as well as various physical reactions, such as trembling, making it difficult for them to get back to routine. This PTSS, the study found, from which half a million Israeli suffer, makes them emotionally handicapped. These people experience the traumatic event over and over, making it hard for them to function or to sleep at night and unable to function as formerly for many years. It was also found that the chances of women suffering from the syndrome are 5-6 times higher than for men. No difference was found in the responses between those involved in terror attacks and those not involved at all. For the sake of comparison, throughout the United States, two months after 9/11, 11.7% of the population developed PTSS. Prof. Blich said yesterday, "the public in Israel is paying a heavy social price. Dulling the senses safeguards us, but we should realize that we pay a price for our emotional suppression. We become inattentive to what is happening to our society, and obviously even more so to the other side." The Effect of Terror on the Israeli Psyche What do we suffer from?
57% feel despondent How do we deal with it?
82.8% phone their relatives and friends repeatedly
US Road Map Leads Nowhere for Israel: The revised version of the road map sponsored by the US administration and the Quartet calls for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in 2003 with provisional borders. This Palestinian state will have a seat at the UN. The United States has not presented Israel with a copy of the new document, but its main points were leaked by a variety of sources and have reached the top political echelon in Jerusalem. The US has informed Israel that at issue is not a new draft version, but a "rolling paper" in reference to which the parties will be asked to voice their reservations. The Americans also said that the document kept changing from one moment to the next and that it would change once again after Israel had submitted its reservations. Officials in Israel were very critical of the US administration's conduct on this issue. A high-ranking Foreign Ministry official said: "while the Americans reached an understanding with Sharon about freezing talks on the road map until after the elections, behind Israel's back they continued to churn out irreversible papers that have bearing on Israel's fate." Officials close to Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu say that the new road map is worse than its precursors and it harbors numerous risks to Israel. Conversely, professional civil servants in the Foreign Ministry note that it was their impression from the new road map that a number of improvements from Israel's point of view had been made. Following are the central tenets of the new road map:
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