Between The Lines - Daoud Nassar: Israel Destroys Fruit Orchard at West Bank Tent of Nations Farm (Week Ending June 6, 2014)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

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Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

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Israel Destroys 1500 Fruit Trees at Palestinian "Tent of Nations" Farm

Posted May 28, 2014

Interview with Daoud Nassar, owner of the Tent of Nations Farm, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

On May 19, the Israeli military entered the Nassar family farm a few miles outside of Bethlehem in the West Bank and bulldozed more than 1,500 mature apricot and apple trees that were almost ready for harvest. The family has been battling in Israeli courts to hold onto their 100-acre farm, which is surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements. Despite having all the paperwork documenting their ownership of the land going back almost a century, Israel claims the property is state land. In 2010, the family was served with 13 demolition orders which they are fighting in court. The Nassar farm is known as the Tent of Nations because the family has nurtured peaceful relations with their neighbors and with Israeli and international supporters.

The Israeli military’s action at the Nassar farm came less than a week before Pope Frances visited the Middle East and nearby Bethlehem, where the pontiff openly supported Palestinian’s pursuit of an independent state, said a short prayer alongside a section of Israel’s controversial separation wall and invited Palestinian and Israeli leaders to the Vatican to pray for peace.

Between The Lines’ Melinda Tunus spoke with Daoud (David) Nassar, who lives on the farm with his wife and children and other relatives. He was traveling in the U.S. on one of his regular speaking tours when his wife called to inform him of the destruction of the fruit orchard. He said this was the first attack by the Israeli military or settlers since 2002, and that despite the high emotional and financial cost of losing so many trees, the family and its supporters will replant, and continue to pursue legal remedies.

DAOUD NASSAR: Two months ago, they declared the land where the fruit trees are as state land, and of course, it's private property, and we appealed on the 12th of May, and usually after the lawyer appeals, we get a court date. But what happened is they came on the 19th and destroyed, even without waiting for a court date. Yeah, it's a very difficult situation for us, but we are trying now to go legally and raise this question: Why did they do it? Although the land is private property, the thing is, I believe in different ways they are trying to move us out of the area.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Are you going to ask for compensation?

DAOUD NASSAR: Well, we will of course, and this is something we will never get, but this is important to react legally and ask for compensation, of course.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Thousands of people – internationals, and also Israelis – have come to work on the farm. Do you know if there's been any response to this inside Israel?

DAOUD NASSAR: Well, I got many emails from Jewish people and Israeli people who are very shocked to hear this, and of course they are supporting us, and they said also that when you start planting new trees we are ready to come and help you with that. It's good to feel support from the other side; there are people who believe in justice and they don't like what is happening in their name.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Will you replant trees, and if so ... the financial cost must be high, as well as the emotional cost of this attack.

DAOUD NASSAR: The first step is to inform people to react internationally and the second part is to appeal and go on a legal battle there, of course asking for compensation and all of that. And the third step is to cultivate the area because it's damaged, to build the natural wall, the terraces again, and prepare the ground to be planted by this coming December or January; the planting season is in the rainy season. It's a big loss; emotionally it's huge, but also, trying now to replant and to rebuild and so on, it's also a huge burden on us.

BETWEEN THE LINES: It seems with the relationships you've built around the world, this might become a better known incident than the daily occurrences of uprooting of trees in Palestine. Do you think the Israeli military might think in retrospect this wasn't such a great idea, given the response to it?

DAOUD NASSAR: I hope so, but not only because of the response, but because also, it's unjust, even according to their system, because the moment you appeal, they are not allowed to act this way until the court decides. With our situation now, they did not wait for a decision – they came and smashed the trees without even a notice that this is going to happen. This is what our lawyer said that this is an illegal reaction even according to their system. And that's why it's important to go to court and try to solve it legally. And, of course, international awareness and pressure is important and needed in this way. Taking into consideration that this is an example of what is happening all over the Palestinian territories. It's not like a unique story, but we want people to raise this question, why it happened to the Tent of Nations, but also inform indirectly about what is happening in general.

BETWEEN THE LINES: I called the Israeli embassy, and the woman I spoke with said Israel is looking into the incident and will issue a report. Has your family been in touch at all with Israeli authorities, and do you think there will be any kind of report?

DAOUD NASSAR: Well, I hope so, because we need some answers. They might say, "It's state land and he planted on state land," which of course is not true, but even as they declared it state land, we reacted legally, but why they came and uprooted the trees, you know? So I hope to have some explanation and also to go legally. This is what we're trying to do through our lawyer. This is illegal action and illegal action must be stopped by court, so this is what we are trying to achieve there, and hopefully justice will prevail. We have to continue this struggle with faith, with love and hope. You know, we cannot change our way of action.

For more information on Tent of Nations Farm in the West Bank, visit tentofnations.org. Their Facebook page is Tent of Nations