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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.” 

Happy to be going back to school

Monica Awad 29 August 2005


For 12-year-old Sahl, riding a bicycle to school is a dream come true. Sahl lives in Aba’a which is a small picturesque village near Jenin. The vast majority of the 400 or so residents are kids below the age of 18. Ordinarily, the drive to Aba’a from Jenin would take less than five minutes. However, villagers avoiding the Israeli checkpoints have to travel more than 35 km. Poverty is pervasive in a community where most families depend on farming. Aba’a is surrounded by two small Israeli settlements – Jannim and Kaddim – among the hundreds that dot the West Bank. During the past years, the villagers at Aba’a have not had any problems with the nearby settlements. 

The Absence of National Unity: An Interview with Bassam Shaka

Arjan El Fassed 29 August 2005


In an exclusive interview with The Electronic Intifada, former and last elected mayor of Nablus, Bassam Shaka, stated that the Palestinian Authority has tried to coordinate the disengagement with Israel without results. Shaka has been a critic of the Oslo agreements, arguing they divided the Palestinian struggle for national independence into separate issues, thus dividing Palestinians and distracting attention from the national and human dimensions: “The Oslo agreements have left both sides disputing over the occupied territory and have given the security of Israel central importance. The construction of the Wall, along with other problems facing the Palestinians, will lead to the disintegration of the Palestinian cause as a national issue”. 

Behind the images of children with guns

29 August 2005


The event marked forty days since the assassination of the resistance fighter Mohammed Sufwat Al Assi (Nino), the shooting of sixteen-year-old fighter Khalid Mohammed Msyme and the anniversaries of many more killings. The last time the young girls in the traditional Palestinian embroidered dresses performed, Nino himself was on the stage. Then the girls sang in tribute to Nino’s friend Kalil Marshood, marking a year since his assassination by the Israeli occupation forces. Within a month of Kalil’s anniversary ta’been, Nino too was assassinated. Yesterday, the girls were singing again. This time, they had guns. 

In spite of doctor’s recommendation: three year old cancer patient without electricity

21 July 2005


Following the state’s refusal to connect her family’s home to the power grid, it is impossible to air condition the home of a three year old cancer patient – this leads to an unhygienic environment, which can cause further and fatal illnesses to the child. The family must keep her injections in a vessel which is refilled daily with ice. The father, a pediatrician who treats dozens of children each day stands astounded while the state turns its back on his sick child. Three year old Enass Al Atrash was diagnosed several months ago with cancerous growths in her chest and since then has been undergoing chemotherapy treatment at Soroka hospital. 

Failure to connect home of Palestinian child diagnosed with cancer to electricity may result in risk to her life

25 August 2005


The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel petitioned the High Court of Justice yesterday against the Minister of Health, the Minister of National Infrastructure and the Minister of the Interior, and demanded to connect the child�s house to the national electric grid and provide her house with electricity on a regular basis. The petition was written by Attorney Sonia Boulos from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. Three-year-old Enass from an unrecognized village in the Negev, where the Al-Atrash family resides, was diagnosed in January 2005 with a form of cancer-Rhabdomyosarcoma - which was detected in her chest cavity. The cancer was diagnosed at a very late stage and, as a result, doctors had to treat it with aggressive chemotherapy followed by surgery. 

Palestinian civilians living near Gaza settlements pay the "disengagement" bill

28 August 2005


Israeli forces have continued to demolish structures in the evacuated settlements in the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. The demolition process is taking place while a suffocating closure is being imposed on Palestinian communities in the areas close to the evacuated settlements. In addition, Israeli forces have started to dismantle some military facilities in the Gaza Strip and replace them with tanks. Israeli forces have continued to impose a tightened siege on al-Sayafa area. In the past three days, Israeli forces raided and searched Palestinian houses in the area. Fieldworkers from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights report from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.