CAIRO (IPS) - An Egyptian proposal for a “calming” of hostilities, or tahdia, between Israel and Palestinian resistance faction Hamas officially came into effect Thursday. The deal follows several months of three-way talks between Israeli officials, Palestinian delegations and Egyptian mediators. Read more about New ceasefire could ease the burden 

JERUSALEM (IRIN) - The European Commission (EC) on 16 June announced a 24 million euro donation to humanitarian programs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. About half of the money would go to the West Bank and half to the Gaza Strip, a senior EC official said, noting that even though only about a third of the population lives in the coastal enclave, the humanitarian situation there was more severe. Read more about Palestinians increasingly donor-dependent 

JERUSALEM (IRIN) - Lower incomes and the increasing cost of food have contributed to higher food insecurity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. However, without a change in the political situation the only solution remains emergency humanitarian aid, a new UN report has said. Israel has said restrictions on movement and the wall are needed for security purposes and efforts are being made to make life easier for Palestinians. Read more about Politics mostly responsible for Palestinian food insecurity - UN 

GAZA CITY (IPS) - The girl, about 16, is wandering about Jabaliya refugee camp, picking up anything she thinks can burn. She cannot find enough bits of wood, so she gathers plastic bags, old notebooks and even a pair of broken plastic sandals. “I want to heat some water,” she said. “I want a bath.” Read more about Anything for a bath, anything for fuel 

CAIRO (IPS) - In the last two months, popular and parliamentary opposition to the sale of Egyptian natural gas to Israel has mounted. As a result, in a rare nod to public opinion, the government recently announced it was “revising” the terms of the sale agreement. “The government was finally embarrassed into partially addressing our concerns,” Mohammed Anwar al-Sadat, former MP and spokesman for the recently founded Popular Campaign against Gas Exports told IPS. Read more about Egypt bends on Israel gas deal 

Israel has now been granted the highest level of European Union relations available to a non-member state, despite the EU’s own finding that “little concrete progress” has been made on issues raised between Israel and the EU, namely Israel’s human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. EI co-founder Arjan El Fassed comments on the efforts towards a “more intense, more fruitful, more influential cooperation” between the EU and Israel. Read more about Israel has won the European cup: a special relationship 

Israel’s ruling elite now has a major aspiration: to join the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as a member country. For the sake of the Israelis and of their neighbors, this aspiration should be thwarted by an international campaign of all supporters of peace; and, in fact, by supporters of the free market as well. EI contributor Ran HaCohen comments. Read more about Keep Israel out of elite economic club