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What Bush left behind

Mohammed Ali Gaza Strip, Palestine 20 January 2008


Since US President George W. Bush’s visit to this part of the world, at least 38 Gazans were killed and another 1,500 were injured as a result of Israeli military attacks. This escalation of violence came right after Bush’s trip to Israel and Ramallah, as Israel enjoyed an obvious green light from the US as the Arab world sat by and watched. For anyone who might believe that Bush’s visit would improve the lives of Palestinians in general and of Gazans in particular, let me assure you that the opposite has occurred. EI contributor Mohammed Ali writes from Gaza. 

Photostory: As long as there is life, there is hope

20 January 2008


The year 1948 is the worst year in Palestinian history. It is the year of the destruction of Palestinian society and the dispossession and expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs by Zionist forces. Today, there are about five million Palestinian refugees around the world, still waiting to exercise their right of return. Most refugees live in the surrounding Arab countries; however some of them live very close to their original homes. In my case, I live only three kilometers from my own village: Lifta. Anan Odeh’s images document the village where his parents were born and forced to flee in 1948. 

Israel kills nine Gazans, injures 57 in three days

19 January 2008


Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have intensified their war crimes in the Gaza Strip with total disregard for civilian lives. During the last three days, nine Palestinians, including four civilians, have been killed by the IOF. Three of the civilian victims were women. In addition, 57 other people were inured, the majority of whom were also civilians. On 18 January shrapnel from a bomb fired from an Israeli fighter jet onto a governmental building hit a nearby wedding celebration, killing one woman and injuring dozens of others. 

Photostory: A day in Ma'ale Adumim

15 February 2008


It is only a fifteen minute bus ride from Jerusalem to the Ma’ale Adumim settlement. After entering through guarded gates, one’s first impression is of a Miami-style suburb. The town at noon seems almost abandoned because the major part of Ma’ale Adumim residents head off to work in Jerusalem during the day. But once reaching the fence that surrounds Ma’ale Adumim, an odd feeling begins to creep over oneself. This neatly planned concrete patchwork seems totally out of place in the surrounding arid Palestinian landscape. Toon Lambrecht goes inside one of the Israel’s largest settlements in the West Bank. 

Gaza power cuts leave people cold physically, metaphorically

17 January 2008


JERUSALEM/GAZA, 17 January (IRIN) - The Israeli government decided earlier this month to permit the Gaza Strip to import industrial diesel — in similar quantities to those permitted prior to the fuel import restrictions imposed in October 2007 — but the impoverished enclave continues to suffer from power cuts. The cuts are affecting daily life, particularly now as the region has been experiencing an uncommonly cold winter. 

Israeli forces kill Gaza civilians in botched execution attempt

16 January 2008


On Wednesday at noon, 16 January 2008, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) launched an air strike against a civilian vehicle in Gaza City. Three Palestinian civilians (a man, his son and his brother) were killed in the strike. According to preliminary investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, at approximately 12:30pm on Wednesday, an IOF aircraft fired a missile at a civilian vehicle, in which three members of the al-Yazji family, including a child, were traveling, in al-Nafaq Street in the al-Daraj neighborhood of east Gaza City. 

Mr. Bush's trip to Ramallah

Anne Paq Ramallah, West Bank 16 January 2008


So US President George W. Bush came to Ramallah, and of course the city was turned upside down. The Palestinian Authority (PA) wanted to show that they were up to the task of handling the security. I managed to get a press pass and I was cynical but curious to see how the big show would go down. All the photographers and journalists were told to come at 6am at a certain location so that they could be taken all together to the Muqata’a, the PA’s headquarters. Anne Paq reports from Ramallah. 

Life and wildlife in the Jordan Valley

Henry Martin Jordan Valley 22 January 2008


The Palestine Wildlife Society has recently installed 64 nesting boxes for barn owls and kestrels in the Jordan Valley, in the area around Atuf village. Imad F. Atrash, director of the society, arranged for a public event on 2 January 2008, to celebrate the completion of this project at Atuf school. Accompanying the event was live fire by the Israeli army, who were conducting military exercises less than a mile away. As the volunteers rigged up the sound system and displays, an Israeli army jeep drove past, no doubt attracted by the gathering. 

Citizenship, Zionism and separation of religion from the state

Michael Warschawski 15 January 2008


It is customary to say that the Israeli daily Haaretz is a progressive newspaper. However, its progressive character is generally nowhere to be seen when Israel initiates a war against one of its neighbors — its opposition to the previous two wars came only after the newspaper provided support to the policies of the government and the military — or abuses against the Palestinian people. However, when dealing with matters of religion, and particularly hatred of the religious, the progressiveness of Haaretz, its editors and community of readers, is endless. Michael Warschawski comments. 

"It felt like a kind of resistance to celebrate"

IRIN Nahr al-Bared refugee camp 15 January 2008


Ahmed and Liliane Hassan, who are 25 and 17, were supposed to marry in August, but instead were driven from their homes in Nahr al-Bared camp, along with up to 40,000 other people, by 106 days of fighting between the Lebanese army and militant group Fatah al-Islam. They were among several thousand Palestinians allowed to return from 10 October, and soon after tied the knot. Ahmed explained: “When we celebrated our engagement during the 2006 July War, the Israelis bombed Abdeh, on the edge of Nahr al-Bared and we ended up in the shelters. Then the fighting delayed our wedding.”