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Palestinian refugees from Iraq heading to Brazil

9 July 2007


AMMAN, 4 July 2007 (IRIN) - After spending over four years languishing in a refugee camp in the Jordanian desert, 100 Palestinian refugees from Iraq will finally be heading to their new home — Brazil. A statement by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said the group, which includes children and the elderly, will start moving from Rweished refugee camp, 60km from the Jordanian-Iraqi border, to Brazil by September. “The UNHCR is grateful to … the government of Brazil for resettling an estimated 100 Palestinian refugees who formerly lived in Iraq.” 

The Israeli police state

Avigail Abarbanel 9 July 2007


On Friday, 8 June 2007, my husband Ian flew to Israel. He is in fact on his way to an IT conference in Vienna, but we thought that it would be nice for him to make a short three-day detour to Tel-Aviv to visit my brother and his family and in particular meet my seven and five year old nieces for the first time. At Ben-Gurion airport Ian’s Australian passport was confiscated with no explanation. He was taken to a small interrogation room and had to endure an intimidating questioning about non-existent Saudi and Lebanese visas in his passport. 

The revolution starts now

Osamah Khalil 6 July 2007


No time in the recent history of the Palestinian people has appeared darker or more devoid of hope. Internally divided, splintered across the globe, and lacking effective representation, the Palestinian national movement is arguably at the lowest point in its history. Moreover, Palestine today serves as the harbinger of the future of an Arab world under siege, occupied by external forces allied with internal collaborators intent on sowing and feeding divisions. Yet, if there is to be hope it is in the desiccated and ostensibly defunct Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to which Palestinians must turn. 

Hamas has hopes from release of BBC reporter

Peter Hirschberg 5 July 2007

***Image1***JERUSALEM, 5 July (IPS) - It was the achievement Hamas had been waiting for ever since it vanquished the Fatah movement in Gaza and seized control of the coastal strip last month. Now, the Islamic movement is hoping that the release Wednesday of BBC reporter Alan Johnston, held captive in Gaza for almost four months, will convince the international community that it is a serious partner and is able to impose order on the chaos-ridden, lawless streets of the densely populated strip. 

At the doors of Gaza

Husam El Nounou al-Arish, Egypt 5 July 2007


I considered myself lucky to be able to rent a small “chalet” in al-Areesh and to have the money to manage my expenses. This, however, is not the case for about 5,000 Palestinians who are stuck in Egypt and were not allowed to go back home. The humanitarian situation for the Palestinians in al-Areesh here is very harsh. You can find hundreds walking or sitting in the streets, some sleep in the mosques or the public garden after running out of money. The grocer from whom I buy things told me that every day dozens of men come proposing to sell their cell phone or hand watches to him. 

Alan Johnston released after 114 days of captivity

4 July 2007


Reporters Without Borders is overjoyed at the news that British journalist Alan Johnston was released in the early hours of 4 July 2007 in Gaza as a result of the intervention of senior Muslim clerics and negotiations between Hamas and his kidnappers. The BBC correspondent had been held hostage for 114 days. “Seeing Johnston free and in good health is an immense relief and a great joy,” the press freedom organisation said. “During the 16 weeks he was held, we became more and more concerned at the increasingly grave threats from his abductors and the apparent inability of the Palestinian authorities to find a solution.” 

Israeli forces kill six in Gaza camp offensive

5 July 2007


Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have killed six activists of the Palestinian resistance and have wounded four others and six civilians, including two children and a journalist, in the context of an offensive on al-Boreij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip that has been ongoing since Thursday morning, 5 July 2007. According to investigations conducted by PCHR, IOF have prevented Palestinian medical crews from attending the wounded. 

Deminers urge patience as Palestinians grow restless for return

4 July 2007


BEIRUT, 4 July 2007 (IRIN) - The demining agency tasked with neutralizing unexploded ordnance (UXO) from the six-week conflict between militants and the Lebanese army in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp has said the removal of immediate UXO threats will take at least a month. This raises the specter of further unrest among displaced refugees increasingly desperate to return home. “The operation should take around four weeks to eliminate the immediate threats, but there is bound to be UXO still found,” David Horrocks, Lebanon Country Programme Manager for the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), told IRIN. 

Investigation: Israel conducting military training exercises in the West Bank

4 July 2007


As a Palestinian organization dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Al-Haq would like to raise its serious concern regarding the ongoing use by Israeli occupying forces of Palestinian homes and villages in the West Bank to carry out military training exercises. Over the course of the last four months, Al-Haq has documented a number of incidents in different areas in the West Bank, the facts of which are summarized below. 

Hello from Rafah

Yassmin Moor Gaza, Palestine 3 July 2007


Here in Gaza, we’re all listening to the radio and watching the news every hour (our only way of knowing what’s happening in the outside world), waiting to see what Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas), Israel and the US are planning for us, and where our fate will take us. This has become more than a prison for the people of Gaza. It’s hard not to feel like animals in a zoo, where we are caged and have enough food for two weeks at a time to keep us alive, but not well or free while someone decides what to do with us.