Follow that Story

Activist released On Jan. 8 the Israeli government finally released veteran Bay Area activist Kate Raphael from detention. Raphael spent eight days behind bars for participating in a demonstration against Israel's building of a huge wall through the West Bank village of Budrus (see "Caged Dove," 1/7/04).

But Raphael's freedom came at a cost: she was obliged to pay 7,000 shekels (approximately $1,435) in bail, was barred from returning to the occupied territories, and agreed to depart Israel by Jan. 17. The 45-year-old Jewish American has vowed to fight the deportation order and hopes to get the Jan. 17 deadline overturned so that she can be present for her trial.

In a telephone conversation with the Bay Guardian, Raphael cited dual reasons for fighting her case: "There's work that I've begun ... that would suffer as a result of my not being here," she said. But, more importantly, Raphael wants to protect the rights of internationals and Israelis to work in solidarity with Palestinians because, she explained, it enables Palestinians to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience against Israeli incursions without being met with an all-out military assault.

Raphael accused the authorities who run the Michal Detention Center, where she was held, for colluding with her accusers at the Ministry of the Interior to bar her from gaining access to her lawyer or to information on what attempts were being made on her behalf on the outside. She also said she intends to file a complaint about the use of male officers at the center, whom she said regularly violated Israeli law and the inmates' human rights by entering female prisoners' quarters without warning at all times of day and night.

Even while behind bars, Raphael's efforts helped illuminate Israeli injustices in the occupied territories to a broader audience: two local television channels broadcast footage she took in Budrus of Israeli military transgressions as soliders beat protesters and fired on them with rubber-coated bullets on the day of her arrest, she told us.

Now Raphael is using her experience to highlight the plight of the women she met while in detention – most of whom are "casualties of the international sex trade" – and to launch a call to action in the United States:

"What's really important right now is that we in the States are paying for the building of this wall with the $13 million our government gives to the state of Israel every day," she said. "I believe that even supporters of Israel, if they saw what the wall is doing and how it's destroying any possibility of Palestinian life, would not be able to support it in the way that they have been. So I would ask everybody who cares about justice to do one thing and that's to call your Congressional representatives and demand that they come to Palestine and Israel and take a tour of the wall." (Camille T. Taiara)

'Chron' settles with Norr Technology reporter and columnist Henry Norr has reached a settlement with the San Francisco Chronicle after the newspaper fired him in April for attending protests against the war in Iraq (" 'Chron' fires Norr," 4/30/03).

Norr won financial compensation and continued health and retirement benefits from the Chron and was also allowed a short piece in its pages to voice his opinion on the firing, saying he was terminated "because of my political views – my opposition to the war in Iraq and Israel's occupation of Palestine."

Norr told the Bay Guardian the favorable settlement terms the Chron's lawyers offered him indicate the paper knew its actions against him were unfounded. The Chron did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

"The fact that they were willing to make a settlement, particularly one with such an unusual provision, means they recognized they had a problem," Norr said. "It indicates they knew this wasn't the kind of case they could deal with with a few bucks." (Helen Christophi)

Vote delayed The California Public Utilities Commission delayed a Jan. 8 vote on long-term natural gas contracts for the state's big three electric utilities, rescheduling the vote for Jan. 22.

Los Angeles, Marin, and San Francisco Counties each passed resolutions last month urging CPUC commissioners to defeat the measure because it could thwart a plan called Community Choice Aggregation that would allow cities to purchase wholesale electricity for residents in place of the utilities.

Ratepayer groups also oppose the contracts, which they say would be costly for consumers and potentially hazardous to the environment – especially where energy companies are drilling for gas reserves (see "The Russian Front," 1/8/04).

"We can't allow the CPUC ... to block San Francisco from opting out of new PG&E power contracts," Sup. Tom Ammiano told the Bay Guardian. It has been five years since the San Francisco Board of Supervisors first passed a resolution introduced by Ammiano that called for Community Choice Aggregation. (Matthew Hirsch)

Sunshine on the ballot: State senate president John Burton called the Bay Guardian late afternoon Jan. 12 to tell us the Sunshine Amendment unanimously passed both houses of the legislature and is headed for the November ballot. Burton introduced the Sunshine Amendment, officially known as State Constitutional Amendment 1, to strengthen public access to government meetings and records.

SCA 1 appeared on its way to the March ballot last year before intense partisan wrangling stalled nearly every bill in the assembly requiring a two-thirds vote – including the Sunshine Amendment. Burton expressed relief after the bill's approval, not least because it means fewer phone calls from activist newspaper publishers.

"The good thing about the bill is it means not having to talk to [Bay Guardian publisher and editor] Bruce Brugmann anymore," Burton cracked.

Sunshine Amendment sponsors, including the California First Amendment Coalition and the California Newspaper Publishers Association, do not expect to face significant opposition to the amendment. With majority support from voters in November, the Sunshine Amendment will become law Jan. 1, 2005. (Hirsch)