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Meet the Lebanese Press: Post-summit syndrome

Hicham Safieddine 6 April 2008


What’s next for Lebanon after the Arab Summit that concluded last weekend in Damascus? Marx said history repeats itself first as tragedy, second as farce. Arab summits tend to repeat themselves as tragedies and farces at one and the same time, and the latest summit in Damascus was no exception. Summit soap opera moves by top and low-level delegates over closing statements, the tone of speeches, and other trivialities were the norm. 

EU "closer than ever" to Israel

David Cronin 6 April 2008


BRUSSELS, 4 April (IPS) - Israel has been described as “closer to the European Union than ever before” by a leading Brussels official, even though a new EU report laments the ongoing killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces. This week, the European Commission published a series of progress reports on its relations with countries neighboring the 27-country bloc. 

Gaza running on near empty

Mohammed Omer 6 April 2008


GAZA CITY, 5 April (IPS) - Ayman Eid stands as motionless as his orange Hyundai taxi. Never mind taking a passenger somewhere, Ayman has no idea how he will ever get home. The queue at the petrol station seems endless. Drivers have run out of petrol even to queue up in their cars; they just queue up themselves, empty cans in hand. Only the lucky leave with a full can by the end of a day. 

Nothing to laugh at here

Sousan Hammad 4 April 2008


Four comedians recently came together in Houston, Texas “to promote peace through comedy” under the banner of the Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour. However, rather than promoting a just end to the conflict, their material exploits it in a disturbing manner. “We rely on the conflict; peace would ruin our show,” co-founder Ray Hanania said in an interview with EI contributor Sousan Hammad. 

Israel's oil refineries privatized: the Palestinian economy perspective

Shir Hever 3 April 2008


Over a year has passed since Israel privatized its oil refineries in Haifa and Ashdod to private companies. The Haifa refineries were bought by a group of investors lead by the Ofer brothers, two of Israel’s richest capitalists through their company Israel Corp. The Ashdod refineries were bought by the Paz petrol company owned by Zadik Bino. What may appear to be an internal Israeli matter, has in fact a crucial impact on the Palestinian economy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well. 

"When I'm big will I go to jail like Daddy?"

Joy Ellison al-Tuwani, West Bank 3 April 2008


“Momma, when I’m big will I go to jail like Daddy?” That was little Adam’s question for his mother when I came to visit their house, just before leaving the village of al-Tuwani for a brief trip home to the United States. Adam is three years old. His mother tells me that he wants his father to come home from jail and bring him ice cream. “Adam is upset,” she says. 

Gaza patients die as Israel denies treatment

3 April 2008


JERUSALEM, 1 April (IRIN) - “Tragedies that could and should have been avoided,” was how Ambrogio Manenti, head of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Jerusalem, described the cases of Palestinian patients who died while awaiting medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip. A new report by the WHO on 1 April describes in detail five cases of patients who died either while awaiting an Israeli permit to exit the enclave or after having been denied one. 

This 'bombshell' took a year falling

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani 2 April 2008


CAIRO, 2 April (IPS) - A recent article in Vanity Fair magazine “exposing” a US-planned coup attempt against Palestinian resistance movement Hamas last year has ignited a storm of debate about Washington’s Middle East policies. Yet for more than nine months, details of the plot were reported in the independent Arabic press — and elsewhere — leading some observers to ask: where was the mainstream media?