Israel attacks charities, orphanages
If you still think there are red lines that Israel has not crossed with regard to its treatment of Palestinians, don't be too sure. In recent days and weeks, the Israeli army has been vandalizing, ransacking and confiscating Palestinian civilian institutions in the West Bank's largest towns and cities, including Ramallah, the seat of...
Roadblocks cripple West Bank economy
July 26th, 20080 HEBRON (IPS) The Israeli military has erected three additional roadblocks, further blocking vehicular access on the road between the south Hebron village of At-Tuwani and the commercial hub of Yatta in the southern West Bank. The West Bank is the Palestinian area west of the Jordan river, much of it under Israeli control....The coming of the third Palestinian exodus
Israel has once again sealed off the Gaza Strip from all but limited humanitarian aid, spawning widespread food, water and fuel shortages and crippling the local economy in the overcrowded territory of 1.5 million people. By depriving Palestinians of the basic conditions of a normal life, it is assumed that they will eventually...‘Worse than apartheid’
I thought they would feel right at home in the alleys of Balata refugee camp, the Casbah and the Hawara checkpoint. But they said there is no comparison: for them the Israeli occupation regime is worse than anything they knew under apartheid. This week, 21 human rights activists from South Africa visited Israel. Among them were...Gaza under siege despite truce
CAIRO (IPS) Despite a torrent of mutual recriminations, the fragile truce between Israel and Palestinian resistance faction Hamas survived into its third week. Israel, however, has been slow to fulfill its pledge as laid down in an Egypt-brokered ceasefire agreement to allow desperately-needed humanitarian supplies into the...Sewage in water threatens Gazans
GAZA CITY (IPS) Gaza is being forced to pump 77 tons of untreated or partially treated sewage out to sea daily due to the Israeli blockade of the coastal territory. The fear is that some of this is creeping back into drinking water. "The health of Gaza's 1.5 million people is at risk," Mahmoud Daher, from the U.N. World Health...Tense Israeli-Hamas truce holds
A fragile quiet has been maintained in the Gaza Strip following the implementation of a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas movement. The Egyptian-mediated truce started at dawn on Thursday but Israeli tanks remain on the Gazan border and leaders continue to express doubts about how long the deal can last. Ehud Olmert,...Israel detains Fulbright scholars in Gaza
Gaza City Zohair Abu Shaban graduated at the top of his 2007 class in electrical engineering at the Islamic University here and after a lengthy application process, he was awarded the U.S. State Department's prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to study in Connecticut. But first Mr. Abu Shaban has to get out of Gaza. So far, that's...Israeli attack looking more likely
JERUSALEM (IPS) The likelihood of a large-scale Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip has crept closer as more rockets continue to land in southern Israel and another Israeli was killed by a mortar shell, further hardening attitudes amongst senior ministers against a proposed truce with Hamas. Speaking to reporters aboard...Investment conference a success?
BETHLEHEM Amid lavish settings and tight security, hundreds of investors and entrepreneurs from around the world last week gathered in the southern West Bank town of Bethlehem to discuss and plan joint business ventures. Palestine Authority (PA) officials described the "Palestine Investment Conference" as a "mega event" in light...American Palestinians move from al-Nakba to organizing
WASHINGTON In the past few weeks, Palestinians around the globe have commemorated the 60th anniversary of al Nakba, or the catastrophe, that led to their displacement from their homeland. Israel's establishment in May 1948 continued and accelerated the forcible Palestinian exile at the hands of Israel's founding pioneers....U.S. allies picking up the pieces
WASHINGTON (IPS) As the White House agenda for the Middle East continues to unravel, events over the past 24 hours seem to suggest that U.S. allies in the region are determined to construct a new edifice based on diplomacy, with or without Washington's help. In spite of efforts by President George W. Bush's administration to...Refugees, peace activists mourn
As Israel celebrates 60 years of statehood, Palestinians worldwide mourn the loss of their homes and homeland. While one people Jews fleeing persecution in Europe gained a country, another people the land's indigenous Palestinians lost nearly everything they had. In 1948 hundreds of...New Israeli scholars face up to country’s origins
A former French ambassador reviews a wealth of texts documenting Israel's ugly history In the 1980s in Israel, a new generation of men and women who had not lived through the Holocaust or the creation of their country came of age intellectually and embarked on a remarkable period of change. This change...Siege hits Palestinians before they are born
GAZA CITY (IPS) The Israeli siege of Gaza that has restricted access to food, water and medicine is now beginning to hit unborn children and newborn babies. "Many babies are born suffering from anemia that they have inherited from their mothers," Dr. Salah Al-Rantisi, head of the women's health department at the Palestinian......
Bush hails Israel on 60th anniversary visit
May 16th, 20080 On his second trip to Israel, President Bush will address the issue of settlement building and try to push for progress on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. JERUSALEM President Bush landed here Wednesday to join the Jewish state in its 60th anniversary gala part of his drive to propel...Israel is suppressing a secret it must face
How did a Jewish state founded 60 years ago end up throwing filth at cowering Palestinians? By Johann Hari When you hit your 60th birthday, most of you will guzzle down your hormone replacement therapy with a glass of champagne and wonder if you have become everything you dreamed of in your youth. In a few......
A day to remember in Jericho
Caritas Jerusalem celebrates Mother's Day for members of the Ramallah Elderly Day Care Center with a special outing to Jericho JERUSALEM Catholic relief group Caritas Jerusalem took members of its elderly day care center in Ramallah to Jericho on March 30 to celebrate Mothers Day. The Ramallah...Why Palestinian unity is not an option
Just days after the HAMAS-Fatah clash last June in Gaza, Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas looked firm and composed as he shook hands with members of his new emergency government. He made sure his move appeared as legitimate as possible, issuing decrees that outlawed the armed militias of HAMAS, and also suspended...Israel told to tackle West Bank plight
JERUSALEM Israel is coming under concerted international pressure to give swift agreement to specific measures to improve Palestinian life in the West Bank which senior diplomats believe could eventually make or break negotiations between the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas....Greek Orthodox patriarch looks to the future
JERUSALEM (AP) The Greek Orthodox Church in the Holy Land is trying to recover from a moral and financial crisis, its top clergyman, Patriarch Theofilos III, told The Associated Press in a rare interview. In recent years, the church has been shaken by secretive real estate deals with Israelis, by Palestinian laymen angry about......
HAMAS offers truce to Israel
April 25th, 20080 CAIRO HAMAS has proposed a six-month truce with Israel, aimed at easing a blockade on the Gaza Strip. At a meeting with Egyptian mediators in Cairo on Thursday, the Palestinian group offered to cease cross-border rocket attacks if Israel opens crossing points into Gaza and ends military incursions into the Palestinian territory....CNN downplays Israeli crimes in Gaza
The headlines say it all. CNN reported, "Israeli-Palestinian fighting kills 21." Who exactly did the killing is hidden. The article also used photographic trickery to downplay the magnitude of the crimes. The BBC's website read, "Day of Gaza unrest leaves 22 dead," but featured a powerful online video. One......
Understanding the six basic issues for HAMAS
Achieving a peaceful Israeli-Palestinian win-win situation is to deal with HAMAS in the total context of its actions. This means understanding that HAMAS represents: resistance, respect, reciprocity, reconstruction, rights and refugees. BEIRUT The controversy over whether former U.S. President Jimmy Carter...European, North American Christians show solidarity with Hebron’s persecuted orphans
Hebron In a conspicuous contrast to Christian Zionists who rabidly support Israeli repression of Palestinians, scores of Christian activists from Europe and North America this week arrived in this southern West Bank town to show solidarity with the Islamic Charitable Society, Palestine's largest charity. A few weeks......