Imagine being held at a security checkpoint for seven hours, told you can't return to where you have lived for the past four years, blindfolded, handcuffed and dropped at the border of a rough neighborhood in the middle of the night. This is Berlanti Azzam's story, as told by her to a diverse audience including Palestinians and Jews Wednesday night at the Sierra Arden United Church of Christ. The 22-year-old was six weeks away from graduating with a bachelor's degree in business administration from Bethlehem University when deported from the West Bank to her homeland, Gaza. Azzam was given legal aid from GISHA, an Israeli legal team dealing mostly with freedom of movement issues, but wa

District 9 Directed by Neill Blomkamp By Tony Sheppard Capitol Weekly Sitting at the Number 1 spot in this week’s box office rankings and modestly masquerading as a relatively low-budget creature feature, “District 9” is brought to you in a hands-off way by producer Peter Jackson (the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy). I say masquerading, as it’s really quite an insightful commentary on politics and international power-brokering, both past and current. The story has aliens arriving over Johannesburg, complete with their clearly superior technology and weaponry but also with a broken spaceship and apparently no intergalactic towing service. This results in two outcomes – a giant refugee camp

Approximately 100 Protesters chanting "Free Free Palestine" and holding large Palestinian, American, and UN flags assembled outside the Robert Matsui courthouse on the corner of 5th and I Streets yesterday, in the latest of a series of gatherings to protest the ongoing Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip. Protesters said they were there to raise awareness of the aggressive actions of Israel, and the US policy of support for Israel in the form of arms shipments. Naseer Abboushi, of the Palestinian - American Congress, said "We want a diplomatic solution to end the fighting and get a long- term solution. We believe that this can be achieved diplomatically." Not all protesters were Palest