Development
EI's Development section offers news and reports about the status of key development issues on the ground and the work of international and local aid agencies. Quality submissions are welcomed.
Palestinian water strategies subject to Israeli veto
Report, The Electronic Intifada, 1 September 2008
RAMALLAH/STOCKHOLM (IRIN) - The Occupied Palestinian Territories continues to suffer from drought, but the head of the Palestinian Water Authority told IRIN there was a limit to what he could do to help. "Crisis management is the only strategy that I am able to apply," Shaddad Attili, the head of the Water Authority, told IRIN while attending World Water Week in Stockholm (13-23 August). [MORE]
Egyptian kinship with Fatah hampers mediation
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, The Electronic Intifada, 26 August 2008
CAIRO (IPS) - Following renewed fighting between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, Egypt has stepped up calls for dialogue and reconciliation. But critics say Cairo's partiality to Fatah -- which is backed, like the Egyptian regime itself, by the US -- prevents it from mediating fairly in the crisis. [MORE]
A civil war in the making
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, The Electronic Intifada, 25 August 2008
CAIRO (IPS) - Recent weeks have seen the worst fighting between rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas since the latter's takeover of the Gaza Strip last summer. Hamas accuses the "treasonous faction" within Fatah -- which worked with US military intelligence in last year's failed bid to destroy the resistance group -- of instigating the violence.
[MORE]
Palestinian group seeks to change aid dynamics
Report, The Electronic Intifada, 15 August 2008
RAMALLAH (IRIN) - A newly formed Ramallah-based "Palestinian community foundation" said it is looking to change the way aid is given, so that more sections of society benefit from international donations and less money goes to waste. "We don't want to get rid of foreign aid; we want to reform it, so it is in line with the Palestinians' priorities," said Nora Lester Murad from the Dalia Association. [MORE]
Gaza and West Bank in muddied separation
Mel Frykberg, The Electronic Intifada, 14 August 2008
RAMALLAH, West Bank (IPS) - Over a hundred Fatah fighters loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement fled to the West Bank from Gaza last week, fearing for their lives at the hands of Hamas, the Islamic movement which took over the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after it routed Fatah forces.
[MORE]
"Israeli policy won't change with a new PM"
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, The Electronic Intifada, 13 August 2008
CAIRO (IPS) - With Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's recent resignation announcement, the self-proclaimed Jewish state is headed for new leadership. Egyptian commentators, though, entertain few hopes that Olmert's successor -- whoever he or she may be -- will temper Israel's hard-line approach to the peace process. [MORE]
Unity has ensured low HIV and AIDS infection rates
Mel Frykberg, The Electronic Intifada, 12 August 2008
EAST JERUSALEM, West Bank (IPS) - Palestinians from all ranks of society have pulled together to tackle the issue of AIDS, despite the increasing factional violence and chaos in the Palestinian territories. Hamas, which has authority in Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority in charge of the West Bank, and Christian and Muslim leaders, in conjunction with various UN organizations and non-governmental organizations, have worked together to ensure that the Palestinian territories retain a very low rate of HIV and AIDS infection. [MORE]
Parliamentary caucus to mull refugee issue
Report, The Electronic Intifada, 6 August 2008
JERUSALEM (IRIN) - An Israeli parliamentary caucus has been formed to look at "solutions" to the Palestinian refugee problem, now in its 60th year. "The idea of the caucus is to look at the refugee problem from a humanitarian perspective, not to focus on why there are refugees, but to look at solutions," a spokesman for member of parliament Amira Dotan, a co-chairperson of the group, told IRIN.
[MORE]
Environmentalists concerned over Dead Sea canal plans
Report, The Electronic Intifada, 4 August 2008
HERZELIYA (IRIN) - Environmental groups have expressed concern about plans to build a canal between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea -- transferring water from the former to save the latter. They say not enough research has been done and alternative options have not been checked. "We are concerned about what will happen to the Dead Sea when this amount of marine water is pumped into it," said Gidon Bromberg of Friends of the Earth Middle East, at a 30 July public hearing organized by the World Bank in Herziliya, which followed two others in Ramallah and Amman. [MORE]
Poverty in Gaza hits "unprecedented" level
Omid Memarian, The Electronic Intifada, 28 July 2008
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - In both the West Bank and Gaza, young people aged 15 to 24 are the most likely of any group to be unemployed, while the number of households in Gaza below the poverty line has reached an historic high of nearly 52 percent, according to a new report by the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) issued Thursday. [MORE]
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