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With Jerusalem not its capital

Rima Merriman Ramallah 30 June 2005


As with all dialects spoken by people who are close to the land in their daily cycle, the fallahee Palestinian dialect has a homely feel to it. Like the embroidered dresses that older fallahee women still wear in Palestinian refugee camps, villages and cities, this dialect, with its warmth and earthiness, is a national locus for a people whose identity the Zionist project in the Middle East has long tried to suppress, writes EI contributor Rima Merriman. In a PR stunt, Israel has placed people at checkpoints who speak the Palestinian dialect. But despite the smooth talk, what is Israel really saying to the people of Palestine? 

Judging Abbas

Mark Perry 30 June 2005


The silence from the Middle East, and particularly from the new Palestinian leadership, following Bush’s shift in language at the May 26 Abbas-Bush press conference might be understandable. After all, this would not be the first time that Bush gave a significant statement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and then retired, self-satisfied, to the Oval Office. A former senior American foreign policy advisor gave his judgment of the Bush administration’s policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “When George Bush gives a policy speech on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, everyone stop talking and listen very closely. Because what he says is policy.” Mark Perry analyzes the situation for the Palestine Report. 

The Killing of Iain Hook: Why the Time for Justice is Now

Jonathan Cook 1 July 2005


This week the Israeli soldier who shot and killed Tom Hurndall, a 22-year-old British peace activist, in Rafah in the Gaza Strip was convicted by an Israeli court of manslaughter. The judgment was a belated and incomplete victory for Tom’s parents. Journalist Jonathan Cook investigated a much earlier killing of a British citizen by an Israeli soldier, who has gone unpunished to this day. Iain Hook, a 54-year-old United Nations worker in Jenin refugee camp, was killed in cold blood by an Israeli marksman in November 2002. Both the Israeli army and the United Nations investigated the killing but the matter was quietly dropped by both sides. 

The Power of Belief and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Avigail Abarbanel 29 June 2005


Apologists for Israel are deeply relieved when they can find a flaw in anyone who criticises Israel. If you are a non-Jew you must be an antisemite, they would argue. If you are a Jew then you must be crazy or a ‘self-hater’. Being a former Israeli from Jewish background, and a supporter of a one-state solution I regularly receive hate-mail. There is always a sense in Israel that nothing short of complete military and political superiority will be sufficient for Israel’s safety and survival. The only way to save the Palestinian people is through international sanctions as was done in the South African case. We do not have much time left for any other option. 

Dancing to Sharon's tune

Hasan Abu Nimah 29 June 2005


EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah examines the Israeli plan for “disengagement” from Gaza. While American, European and Arab diplomats pretend the Gaza plan is an achievement of the “peace process” and a step in fulfilling the Road Map, Abu Nimah argues that it is nothing of the sort. Israel is being forced to withdraw only because of stiff Palestinian resistance. At the same time, Israel is trying to extract a price for leaving Gaza and impose additional costs, burdens and conditions on the Palestinians. Will Israel be allowed to turn defeat into victory? 

New Israeli bill would deny compensation for death or injury caused by Israeli soldiers

26 June 2005


Members of the Israeli Knesset are debating a bill that would prohibit residents in the Occupied Palestinian Territories from seeking compensation for death or injury at the hands of Israeli soldiers, even if the soldiers are found to have acted unlawfully. Human Rights Watch said that Israel has not upheld its obligation under international law to provide an effective remedy to victims of human rights abuses in the Territories, and this bill is yet further evidence of that. The bill would give the minister of defense the authority to define all of the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a “conflict zone,” thus precluding compensation for all Palestinians but it will exclude settlements, thus preserving compensation rights for Israeli citizens. 

Disengagement begins with destruction of Palestinian buildings

28 June 2005


In a dry-run for the disengagement plan Israeli forces moved into the al Mawasi area of the Gaza Strip and demolished 11 Palestinian buildings. Israeli settlers destroyed near-by farm-land and closed down a local health clinic. They established a new settlement called Tam Yam. Early in the morning of Sunday June 26, a number of Israeli settlers moved into two buildings, which belonged to Khan Yunis municipality, close to a small pier for Palestinian fishermen in the Khan Yunis part of al Mawasi. In the recent past settlers have been locating themselves in these buildings at certain times before again evacuating the buildings. 

Veteran relief official named head of UN agency for Palestinian refugees

28 June 2005


After consulting the members of the Advisory Commission for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to appoint the Deputy Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Karen AbuZayd, as the new Commissioner-General of the Agency.  Ms. AbuZayd, a national of the United States, succeeds Peter Hansen of Denmark. In August 2000, Ms. AbuZayd was appointed to the post of Deputy Commissioner-General of UNRWA.  On 1 April 2005, she became the Acting Commissioner-General.  From her base in Gaza, she helped to oversee the education, health, social services and microenterprise programmes for 4.1 million Palestinian refugees. 

Israeli soldier convicted for killing Tom Hurndall

28 June 2005


On Monday 27 June 2005 a military court convicted Israeli Sergeant Taysir Wahid of the “manslaughter” of British peace activist and photographer Tom Hurndall. On April 11, 2003, Hurndall was shot in the head and suffered irreversible brain damage, dying from his wound a year later. Wahid was convicted of a total of six charges, including obstructing justice and providing false testimony as well as conduct unbecoming a soldier. A sentencing hearing is to be held on July 5. The court found that Taysir shot Hurndall with a sniper rifle using a telescopic sight, adding that the soldier gave a “confused and even pathetic” version of events. 

Life in Khan Yunis

Laila El-Haddad Khan Younis, Palestine 28 June 2005


It’s interesting to read the news from this perspective. I mean, when you are the news, or when you are living the news that is being reported. On Monday I visited the Khan Yunis refugee camp, the target of many an attack by Israeli forces, to talk to Palestinian refugees there, to hear their thoughts on Israeli disengagement. It was quite an incongruous-and bleak-scene, as is often the case in Gaza. Crumbling refugee homes with pockmarks the size of apples stand like carcasses in front of the Neve Dekalim settlement, part of the Gush settlement bloc. It is shaded with palm trees, red-roofed villas, and the unspoilt pristine sands of the Khan Yunis beach, accessible to all but the Palestinians now.