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More than 1 million Palestinian children return to school

2 September 2005


More than one-million children returned to school today after a summer break which saw many developments affecting children in both West Bank and Gaza Strip. This is a very important day for the children, for the parents, for the teaching staff and for the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE). All have done remarkable work keeping schools open and functioning during difficult times. Many students in the occupied Palestinian territories go to school under very challenging circumstances. To help address these issues UNICEF this year is supporting the Ministry of Education in a wide range of issues - from improving the quality of education to providing essential learning supplies, and supporting teacher training. 

High Court Petition against law denying Palestinians compensation

1 September 2005


This morning, nine human rights organizations petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice demanding that the Court declare void the amendment to the Civil Wrongs (Liability of the State) Law passed by the Knesset in July 2005. This amendment prevents Palestinians from filing compensation suits in Israeli courts for injury caused by Israeli forces. The new amendment almost completely blocks Palestinians filing compensation suits. The law will not even allow Palestinians to file for compensation for harm caused by illegal shooting, looting, negligence on training grounds, abuse and degrading treatment at checkpoints, or physical violence. The law is blatantly discriminatory in that it denies the right to sue for compensation based on the identity of the victim. 

Israel’s Gaza pullout must lead to West bank, East Jerusalem exit - UN committee

31 August 2005


The Chairman of the United Nations panel dealing with Palestinian rights today expressed hope that the positive momentum gained by Israel’s removal of settlements from the Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank would be followed by similar steps in the rest of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and “breathe new life into the political process.” The fresh impetus gained by the withdrawal would hopefully lead to a comprehensive, just and lasting solution of the question of Palestine, said Paul Badje (Senegal), Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, echoing a statement issued yesterday by the Bureau of the Committee on Palestinian Rights at United Nations Headquarters in New York. 

Podcast/Interview: Hariri - Reconstruction, Poverty and Unrest

Stefan Christoff 6 September 2005


Listen to an interview with Leila Hatoum, staff writer at Lebanon’s Daily Star newspaper, the largest English daily in the Middle East. This interview focuses on the economic policies of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated in downtown Beirut in February 2005. Hariri’s public image in Lebanon and throughout the world is directly associated with the Lebanese “opposition” movement, sparked by his assassination and defined by large-scale street demonstrations in downtown Beirut demanding Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. 

Interview with Samah Idriss: Lebanon: Assassinations, Elections and Palestine

Stefan Christoff 3 September 2005


An interview with Samah Idriss, co-founder of the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel and editor-in-chief of al-Adab, a Lebanese arts and culture magazine based in Beirut. This interview was conducted in August 2005 in Beirut Lebanon and addresses various issues relating to the present day politics of Lebanon, while providing regional context to the major political changes taking place in Lebanon…. “The late Rafik al-Hariri had excellent relations with some Syrian elites, both politically and financially. Hariri rarely uttered a word against their interference in Lebanese public life, and their political and economic corruption in the country.” 

Well-known UK graffiti artist Banksy hacks the Wall

Nigel Parry 2 September 2005


“How illegal is it to vandalize a wall,” asks Banksy in his website introduction to his Wall project, “if the wall itself has been deemed unlawful by the International Court of Justice? The Israeli government is building a wall surrounding the occupied Palestinian territories. It stands three times the height of the Berlin wall and will eventually run for over 700km - the distance from London to Zurich. The International Court of Justice last year ruled the wall and its associated regime is illegal. It essentially turns Palestine into the world’s largest open-air prison.” 

Israeli Army stops West Bank mural project, citing Gaza disengagement

31 August 2005


A Palestinian family from the town of Mas’ha, recently collaborated with US, Palestinian, International and Israeli artists and activists to paint a mural of hope and resilience on the 280 feet long by 24 feet high Occupation Wall that faces their front door. On 22 August 2005, the Israeli commander of the Salfit region threatened to take away the key that lets the family out of their home if the US, Palestinian and Israeli artists did not cease painting immediately and vacate the premises. He considered the mural of trees, flowers and birds a “provocation” to the Gaza settlers being relocated to the West Bank. 

Freedom for Palestine: Ticket-holders only?

Maureen Clare Murphy 31 August 2005


Invitations clutched in their hands, last week the audience members of the East West Diwan Orchestra squeezed past uniformed, armed guards and headed into the Ramallah Cultural Palace auditorium. The concert, performed by both Israeli and Palestinian musicians and conducted by world-renowned Israeli musician Daniel Barenboim, was definitely one of the more newsworthy cultural events in Palestine this year. Yet it was unadvertised, and only at the last minute were local photographers allowed to document the event for Palestinian papers. 

Rushing after a mirage

Hasan Abu Nimah 31 August 2005


There are striking similarities between Israel’s departure from southern Lebanon in May 2000 and the events in Gaza over the past two weeks. This is no surprise, as events in the Arab-Israeli conflict have been seemingly moving in circles for years, writes EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah. The peace process industry of EU, American and UN officials, donor agencies, government-funded think tanks and NGOs, supported by the media, have created euphoria and false optimism following the passing away of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat last November, which has done much to pollute the political climate. With no lessons learned, the same forces are doing it again in the name of Gaza “disengagement.” 

In the wake of the Gaza disengagement, enforce a ban on settlements

George Bisharat 31 August 2005


“Palestinians observed Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip with a mix of contradictory emotions. Paramount, perhaps, was relief. Nearly 9,000 Israeli settlers, who had occupied a third of the land there while confining 1. 3 million Palestinians to the rest, were finally gone.” However, argues George E. Bisharat, “the Israeli design for permanent colonization of lands reserved by the international community for a Palestinian state is a formula for decades of conflict and violence.”