News Releases

  • Jenin, Nablus, Bethlehem: Aid Workers Available for Interviews

    DOMINIC NUTT An emergencies officer for Christian Aid, Dominic Nutt is currently in Bethlehem. More Information MARK ZEITOUN Zeitoun, who is an international aid worker and a water engineer, is in the West Bank. He said today: “In almost all the cities that the Israel Defense Force has occupied, there has been severe damage to the water infrastructure through systematic targeting and sabotage. The destruction is done either by digging up the water pipes or by destroying the electrical lines to the water pumps. Most attempts to repair the infrastructure or to deliver water to the curfewed residents are blocked.…


  • Interviews Available: * Mideast * Venezuela

    SARAH ANNE MINKIN JOSHUA RUEBNER A member of Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel, Minkin will attend the National Rally in Solidarity with Israel today in Washington at the Capitol. She said today: “There is a growing Jewish movement in this country and around the world working for justice and peace for Israelis and Palestinians.” Ruebner, co-founder of the group, said today: “As Jews who love justice and peace, it’s offensive to us that, in our name, Israel is pursuing policies completely out of line with the truths of Judaism.” More Information KATHY KELLY, JEFF GUNTZEL Members of Voices…


  • Taxation Without Representation — and Representation Without Taxation

    BILL ALLISON Co-author of The Cheating of America: How Tax Avoidance and Evasion by the Super Rich Are Costing the Country Billions — and What You Can Do About It, Allison is managing editor at the Center for Public Integrity. More Information SCOTT KLINGER (via Betsy Leondar-Wright) Co-director of Responsible Wealth and a chartered financial analyst, Klinger is the author of United for a Fair Economy’s new report “Titans of the Enron Economy: The 10 Habits of Highly Defective Corporations.” He said today: “Enron’s profits in the five years ending in 2000 were $1.8 billion, which would mean $625 million…


  • Interviews Available: Mideast Crisis

    DIAA HADID Hadid, an Australian citizen, is assisting Ittijah, a Haifa-based network of Arab associations. With many phone lines in the West Bank cut, Ittijah is connecting media to Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. More Information NAJEH JARRAR Professor of sociology at An-Najah National University, which is in Nablus, Jarrar is currently in Jenin. He said today: “For 10 days, we’ve been under curfew, no electricity, no water, a shortage of food. The Israelis conquered the city four days ago and searched the houses one by one. Today they forced out the residents of the refugee camp. Some of…


  • Israeli Palestinian Conflict: Voices

    ALI ABUNIMAH Abunimah is vice president of the Arab-American Action Network More Information MARC ELLIS Ellis is director of the Center for American and Jewish Studies at Baylor University. He is author of Practicing Exile: The Religious Odyssey of a American Jew and a recent essay about this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day (which is Tuesday) entitled “A Revolutionary Coincidence.” EMAD FRAITEKH Internet director for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Fraitekh is from Nablus. Two of his cousins were killed in Nablus when a missile from an Apache helicopter hit their home late last week. He is in contact…


  • Crisis in Middle East: Interviews Available

    JOEL CAMPAGNA Program coordinator on the Middle East and North Africa for the Committee to Protect Journalists, Campagna said today: “We are outraged by the Israeli army’s continuing attacks against journalists. Today’s incident in Ramallah, in which the army fired stun grenades and rubber bullets at reporters, is reprehensible. On several occasions in recent days, the Israel Defense Forces have opened fire on, or in the direction of, working journalists, in a clear effort to intimidate journalists reporting in the West Bank. These actions must cease and we call on the IDF to lift the restrictions now in place on…


  • U.S. and Israeli Policies: The Road Ahead

    SIMONA SHARONI Sharoni is professor of peace and conflict studies and Middle East politics at Evergreen State College and executive director of the Consortium on Peace Research, Education and Development. An Israeli Jew who served in the Israeli army, she said today: “Sharon will probably do as much damage as he can before Powell gets to Israel next week, the same way he did before Zinni’s trip. Israel’s leaders have proven that they can go into the West Bank towns anytime they want. There should be an inquiry commission to investigate allegations of war crimes committed by Israel in the…


  • Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Interviews Available

    CHRIS TOENSING Editor of Middle East Report, Toensing talked this morning with Boston Globe reporter Anthony Shadid, who was shot yesterday. Shadid has written for Middle East Report. Toensing said today: “The bullet missed Anthony’s spinal cord by a centimeter. The talk of him being ‘caught in the crossfire’ is misleading. The circumstantial evidence is that an Israeli sharpshooter hit him. His jacket clearly said ‘TV’ on both the front and back. The Israelis slowed his treatment by trying to prevent his Palestinian translator from leaving Ramallah with him. Israel has demanded that all journalists get out of Ramallah. This…


  • Interviews Available on McCain-Feingold Law

    JOHN MOYERS Editor and publisher of TomPaine.com, Moyers wrote the recent article “Measuring the First Step: Campaign Finance Reform and the ‘Fannie Lou Hamer Standard.’” He said today: “At best, McCain-Feingold is a first step. It does nothing to get at the heart of the problem, which is that we have privately financed public servants. That’s oxymoronic. He who pays the piper calls the tune — we need to give candidates a clean money option.” More Information SPENCER OVERTON An acting professor of law at the University of California at Davis specializing in voting rights, campaign finance and property law,…


  • Interviews Available: Perspectives on Arab Summit

    AS’AD ABUKHALIL Associate professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus, and research fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, AbuKhalil is author of the just-released book Bin Laden, Islam, and America’s New “War on Terrorism” and The Historical Dictionary of Lebanon. He said today: “The Arab people are not holding their breath over the results of this summit. Twenty-five Arab summits have been held in the name of ‘liberating Palestine’ while the plight of Palestinians continued to worsen and while Israeli occupation expanded. The U.S. government may be holding its…


  • Some Analysis of Powell’s Speech

    PHYLLIS BENNIS A fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, Bennis is author of the book Before and After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the September 11th Crisis and the article “Powell’s Dubious Case for War.” Bennis said today: “Contrary to Powell’s pronouncements, Hans Blix said the UNMOVIC inspectors have seen ‘no evidence’ of mobile biological…

  • Oil: The Heart of the Crisis?

    REESE ERLICH Coauthor of the new book Target Iraq, Erlich said today: “While the U.S. government and media say oil is an important factor influencing other countries, such as France and Russia, they rarely acknowledge oil as a motivating factor for U.S. policy…. If a pro-U.S. regime privatizes Iraqi oil, then U.S. companies would stand…

  • Colin Powell in the Spotlight: The Record Behind the Image

    A new USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll found that — “when it comes to U.S. policy toward Iraq” — Americans trust Secretary of State Colin Powell more than President Bush by a margin of 63-24 percent. With Powell appearing before the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, the following analysts are available for interviews, offering perspectives on Powell’s…

  • The Columbia Disaster: Interviews Available

    LLOYD J. DUMAS Dumas is the author of Lethal Arrogance: Human Fallibility and Dangerous Technologies and is a professor of political economy at the University of Texas at Dallas. He said today: “The tragic breakup of the space shuttle Columbia as it re-entered the atmosphere this morning once more underlines the vulnerability of highly complex…

  • Fact-Checking and Spin-Checking President Bush: A Critical Assessment at Accuracy.org/2003

    The Institute for Public Accuracy today released an in-depth analysis of key claims in President Bush’s State of the Union Address, drawing on the work of more than 20 analysts. The critique — available at www.accuracy.org/2003 — focuses on issues of foreign policy and the domestic economy. Contributing analysts who are available for interviews include:…

  • Former U.N. Official Just Back From Iraq

    A former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, Denis Halliday, will be available for interviews back in New York City on Tuesday afternoon and evening. He will also be available for interviews in London on Thursday and Friday. Halliday, who headed the U.N. oil-for-food program, has just returned from three days in Iraq. On…

  • Former U.N. Official Says Bush Plans Could “Annihilate Iraqi Society”

    BAGHDAD — A former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations said tonight that the United States and Britain are proceeding with plans to “annihilate Iraqi society, a catastrophe that would be heightened by the threatened use of tactical nuclear weaponry.” Denis J. Halliday told a news conference in Baghdad that he was “greatly impressed…

  • * Sharon * United Nations * Venezuela

    AMER ABDELHADI Manager of an independent radio station, TMFM, in the West Bank city of Nablus, Abdelhadi said today: “The city is under a very brutal curfew, with Israeli soldiers increasing their abuses. There is a lot of speculation that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is hoping this will increase the chances for suicide bombings…

  • * Traveling to and from Iraq * The Discovered Iraqi Shells * U.S. Pressure on Turkey

    KATHY KELLY, STEPHANIE SCHAUDEL, DANNY MULLER Dr. DAVID HILFIKER, BERT SACKS Voices in the Wilderness campaign members who have refused payment of $50,000 in fines for their previous travel to Iraq will hold a press conference at the National Press Club (Tuesday, January 21 at 9:30 a.m.) to announce future delegations and assert continued readiness…

  • Critics of Bush Stance on Iraq

    With major anti-war protests set for Washington and San Francisco this weekend, the following are available for interviews: SUSAN WRIGHT Author of Biological Warfare and Disarmament: New Problems/New Perspectives, Wright is available for a limited number of interviews. She said today: “The focus on these shells illustrates the kind of double bind that is being…

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