Democracy Now! April 17, 2002

9:01-9:06 Headlines: CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY IN BETHLEHEM GUEST: TONY SALMAN, Antonian Charitable Society (a Roman Catholic institution in Bethlehem), inside Church of the Nativity in Manger Square in Bethlehem. 9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break 9:07-9:20 MARWAN BARGHOUTI, THE LEADER OF THE SECOND INTIFADA, IS CAPTURED BY THE ISRAELI MILITARY On Monday, Israeli soldiers captured one of the most wanted leaders of the Palestinian Intifada. Marwan Barghouti is Secretary General of Fatah's military wing in the West Bank, a close aide to Yasser Arafat, and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. He was detained at a house in Ramallah. Barghoutis fiery speeches and frequent media interviews--including several he gave Israeli television in Hebrewearned him the title of leader of the second Intifada. Barghouti was arrested for the first time when he was only 18, and he learned Hebrew in Israeli prisons. He served six years in prison for membership in Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, when it was an illegal organization. He was deported in 1987 and allowed to return seven years later under an interim Palestinian-Israeli peace deal. In the months preceding his capture, Barghouti had gone almost completely underground. He hadnt left Ramallah for 19 months for fear of being detained or killed. An Israeli missile attack on his convoy narrowly missed him in August last year. Last December, his house was stormed by Israeli soldiers in apparent retaliation for an attack on a bus of Jewish settlers days before. Shortly after, Free Speech Radio News reporter, Raphael Krafft, conducted a rare interview with Barghouti at an undisclosed location. Here are some of his comments from that interview. Tape: MARWAN BARGHOUTI, Secretary General of Fatah in the West Bank, interviewed by Free Speech Radio News reporter Rafael Krafft in December 2001 Guest: TOUFIC HADDAD, Palestinian-American editor of Between the Lines, an anti-Zionist magazine based in Ramallah. Between the Lines aims to continue the political perspective of a categorical rejection of the Oslo process, and the Apartheid reality which has been established in its wake in the '67 Occupied Territories and strengthened within Israel.Contact: www.between-lines.org Guest: ALLEGRA PACHECO, Israeli-American lawyer who represents Palestinian political prisoners from the West Bank and Gaza. In 1999, she litigated and won - the first anti-torture case before the Israeli high court.9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break 9:21-9:40 THE WAR ON AFGHANISTAN RAGES ON: WITH ALL EYES TRAINED ON THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES, THE US AND BRITAIN LAUNCH A MAJOR GROUND OFFENSIVE IN THE EAST, THE WARLORDS RETURN TO POWER, AND ATTACKS RISE AGAINST ETHNIC PASHTUNS IN THE NORTH As world attention remains riveted on the Occupied Territories, the war in Afghanistan rages on. Just yesterday Britain announced that it had launched a major military offensive in the eastern mountains of Afghanistan, joining US and Afghan forces already deep in the region. Last month, the US launched Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan. It was the largest American-led ground offensive since the Gulf War and it lasted 12 days. Smaller assaults have continued throughout the past few weeks. According to CNN, fierce firefights erupted over the weekend between US soldiers and alleged Al Qaeda forces. Meanwhile, the press has also been reporting increased fighting between rival Afghan factions. Last week, the forces of an interim government commander and a royalist warlord clashed just west of Kabul, exchanging fire and killing at least three people. The fighting followed days after an assassination attempt in Jalalabad against Defense Minister Mohammad Fahim; Fahim survived the attack, but five others were killed five and fifty were wounded. Just a week earlier, the Afghan government announced that it had unearthed a plot to kill interim leader Hamid Karzai and ex-King Zahir Shah. The government publicly blamed the Taliban and al-Qaeda for the plot, but also cast suspicion on a former Prime Minister and several powerful warlords. At least 160 people have been arrested in connection with the scheme. The mounting instability in Afghanistan comes as the country begins the complicated and lengthy process of choosing a new government. On Monday, Afghans across the country began selecting representatives for the loyajirga, or grand council, that will convene in June to choose the new leaders. But with the rising tide of internal violence, many are concerned that the loya jirga will be severely undermined. A report recently released by Human Rights Watch describes a post-bombing Afghanistan racked by instability and factionalism. GUEST: VIKRAM PAREKH, researcher with Human Rights Watch, who helped write the recently released report, Paying for the Talibans Crimes: Abuses Against Ethnic Pashtuns in Northern Afghanistan. [[The 56-page report documents cases of summary executions, beatings, sexual violence, abductions, and oltting that have been committed since November 2001, when non-Pashtun Northern Alliance forces regained power in the north.GUEST: SHAZEIA, member of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), speaking from Pakistan. CONTACT: www.rawa.org GUEST: SONALI KOLHATKAR, vice president, Afghan Womens Mission, and now KPFKs morning show host and co-producer. She has an upcoming article in Berkeley Womens Law Journal on the impact of US intervention on Afghan womens rights. 9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break 9:41-9:58 THE WAR ON AFGHANISTAN RAGES ON: WITH ALL EYES TRAINED ON THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES, THE US AND BRITAIN LAUNCH A MAJOR GROUND OFFENSIVE IN THE EAST, THE WARLORDS RETURN TO POWER, AND ATTACKS RISE AGAINST ETHNIC PASHTUNS IN THE NORTH On Monday, four US soldiers were killed and one wounded trying to destroy a cache of rockets. The incident brings the number of U.S. troops killed in and around Afghanistan since the war began to 36. More than 3,000 Afghans have lost their lives in the US bombing; countless others have been killed or severely wounded by unexploded cluster bombs and mines. Estimates of the number of land mines and unexploded bombs and shells littering Afghanistan range from 600,000 to 10 million. GUEST: HADI GHAEMI, independent researcher with the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR). He has just helped complete a report on Human Rights and the reconstruction of Afghanistan, expected to be released later this week. He is also working on a film based on footage. A portion of the film that we will be seeing today is called Cluster Bombs: Theory vs. Experiment IN STUDIO CONTACT: www.cesr.org MUSIC: 6: JAILER Gregory Issacs 20: BOTH SIDES NOW Joni Mitchell 40: APRIL 20TH Perspectives on Peace demo Mixed and Produced by Peter Bochan End: WAKE UP EVERYBODY Harlold Melvin & the Blue Notes Collectors Item (Philadelphia International CD) 9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits