Diaries: Live from Palestine

When I heard that Israeli Sergeant Benjamin Anthony would be speaking at DePaul University in Chicago yesterday, I had one question for him: why did its army torture my friend?

Popular resistance leader Mousa Abu Maria shared an Israeli prison cell with Khader Adnan, now completing his 55th day of hunger strike. Abu Maria recalls Adnan’s leadership in organizing and educating prisoners in this interview for The Electronic Intifada.

Seventeen-year-old Haneen Abu Jalala died last month at an Israeli hospital from what her family says were complications from white phosphorous fired at their home three years ago.

A married couple, both former political prisoners from the occupied West Bank, recount their years in detention from Gaza, where the husband was deported to following last October’s prisoner swap.

Traveling back to Gaza, Fidaa Elaydi finally meets her uncle, who was released from Israeli jail as part of the prisoner swap in October. With his release, and the ability to spend time together, she says it changed the dynamic of her family.

Nadine Darwish felt a strong urge to do something when she saw Sabra hummus for sale in her school’s cafeteria, knowing Sabra’s mother company gives money to the Israeli army.

Were 13-year-old Anwar and five-year-old Haneen terrorists? What could possibly explain the Israeli army’s targeting of children during its invasion of Gaza three years ago?

Rafat Abushaban recalls how three years ago, Palestinians in Gaza united under the most terrible of circumstances during Israel’s 22 days of relentless bombing.

Three years ago, Israel began its savage 22-day long bombardment of Gaza. Looking back, Mohammed Suliman recalls that there seemed to be “no beginning and no end to the bombing.”

Fidaa Elaydi will soon be meeting her uncle, recently released after serving twenty years in an Israeli prison, for the first time since she was a small child.