Gaza Strip

As news of the uprisings in a growing number of Arab countries spread like wildfire around the world, residents of other countries struggling under their own oppressive governments and soaring unemployment were celebrating on the streets, on Twitter and on Facebook. The occupied Gaza Strip was no exception.

Shaban Qarmout got up early on Monday, 10 January and headed out to his farmland as he usually did. Despite there being no clashes or military activity in the area, he was killed on his land by Israeli soldiers in a nearby watchtower.

Between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, Israel used its formidable military arsenal to wage all out war against a territory whose destitute population is made up largely of refugees. More than 1,400 people were killed, including almost four hundred children. Two years later, Rami Almeghari speaks with Gazans who witnessed Israel’s invasion.

On a recent afternoon, farmers bearing cartons of strawberries lined up in front of the office of a local agricultural organization in the northern Gaza Strip. “This is a moment that fills me with hope,” said Ibrahim al-Musallami, 58, one of the farmers.

The four-member Abu Daher family lived their happiest day yet since Israeli army bulldozers crushed their cement home almost two years ago during Israel’s massive assault on the Gaza Strip. Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza.

Majid Rabah, age 11, had a broad smile on his face as he relaxed at his family’s apartment in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City on Monday, 4 October. He had just heard the news that the two Israeli soldiers who had used him as a human shield had been convicted of their crime in an Israeli military court. Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza.

Since the split between the Fatah and Hamas factions deepened after the latter stymied foreign-backed efforts to overthrow it in 2007 following its election victory the previous year, there has been much talk of restoring Palestinian unity. Such reconciliation has however so far eluded all efforts. Some analysts think it may have a better chance now. Rami Almeghari reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Jamila Hammouda, a mother of five small children, hopes that she will be reunited with her family in Cairo, Egypt. Hammouda, her husband and their children were waiting on the Gaza side of the Rafah terminal crossing with Egypt, where Palestinians in Gaza have queued up after Egyptian authorities reopened the crossing “indefinitely.” Rami Almeghari reports for The Electronic Intifada.

GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - Life can be hard working in these tunnels, and it is always at risk. But many have no choice but to work in them, particularly since mid-2007, when Israel and Egypt, with the help of the international community, imposed a siege of staggering severity on the 1.5 million humans in the Gaza Strip.

On 16 May, bulldozers demolished 20 houses in the al-Barahma neighborhood west of Rafah in the southern occupied Gaza Strip. This tragic scene has been repeated all too many times in Palestine’s history, but what made this different, and a subject of great controversy and outcry, is that it was carried out by the Palestinian Land Authority (PLA), backed by police from the Hamas government. Rami Almeghari reports for The Electronic Intifada.