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Bush's "vision" is Palestine's nightmare

Sam Bahour al-Bireh, West Bank 9 January 2008


Much more important issues than the siege on Gaza were on Bush’s agenda. The need to realize and work on a “vision” for the future was in the forefront of Bush’s mind. “The parties” should now sit down and “negotiate a vision” — the parties being Israel, the fourth strongest military might in the world and a forty-year-long occupier, and the Palestinians, a stateless people who have been dispossessed by Israel for sixty years and under brutal military occupation by their colonizers for over four decades. Sam Bahour comments from al-Bireh/Ramallah. 

George W. Bush: You are not welcome

Mohammed Ali Gaza Strip, Palestine 9 January 2008


While I was driving in the car the other day, there was a radio report that the Israeli high court has approved to cut off the electricity from Gaza and leave Gaza in darkness to intensify the collective punishment on Gaza. When the Israeli high court previously agreed to ban the transfer to Gaza of fuel to supply the main power plant, there were power cuts for at least eight hours a day. Power and fuel cuts mean that hospitals, factories and other essential services suffer as a result. Mohammed Ali writes from Gaza. 

Only pressure will lift Gaza medical siege

9 January 2008


A delegation of four Israeli members of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel), including three doctors and PHR-Israel’s Clinic Manager, entered Gaza this morning. At the same time, an emergency dispatch of medical supplies at a value of approximately US $40,000 was delivered by PHR-Israel into Gaza, for the purpose of distribution to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City and the European Hospital in Khan Younis, both of which are suffering from severe shortages. 

Double standard on divestment

Josh Reubner 10 January 2008


Today, two movements for the promotion of human rights in Sudan and Palestine seek to emulate the successful role played by boycotts, divestment and sanctions in achieving democracy and equality in South Africa. The two movements, however, have received radically different receptions on Capitol Hill. This double standard testifies to official Washington’s selectivity when it comes to promoting human rights around the globe and its tendency to overlook the faults of its allies while using human rights as a pretext to punish its adversaries. Josh Reubner comments. 

Pilgrims' progress breaks Gaza siege

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani 9 January 2008


CAIRO, 9 January (IPS) - More than 2,000 pilgrims have finally returned to the Gaza Strip via Egypt’s Rafah crossing after being stuck on the border for five days. The repatriation followed their staunch refusal to return home via alternate, Israeli-controlled border crossings. “The pilgrims’ insistence to cross via Rafah forced the Egyptian government to bring a quick resolution to the problem,” Magdi Hussein, secretary-general of Egypt’s frozen Socialist Labour Party and leader of the unofficial Committee to Break the Gaza Siege, told IPS. 

On Veolia, Bernard Kouchner and humanitarian action

Philippa Burton 9 January 2008


I am writing in response to Adri Nieuwhof’s various articles on Veolia Transport, and in particular her article on Institut Veolia Environment of 8 December 2006, in which she urges all international experts collaborating with the Institut to end their relationship with it. In the article, Nieuwhof comments: “It is likely that the international experts are not aware of Veolia’s involvement in the illegal tramline project in East Jerusalem. A number of them have a track record of respect for international law and human rights, for instance … Bernard Kouchner … founder of Medecins Sans Frontieres.” 

An American President and the outposts of Zion

Ben White 8 January 2008


This week US President George W. Bush embarks on a tour of some of the US’ Middle East allies, including his first visit while in office to Israel. The trip has been presaged by a lot of media guesswork about what exactly Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will discuss, and one of the likely topics will apparently be the so-called “illegal outposts.” EI contributor Ben White finds that the recent focus on so-called “illegal outposts” risks clouding far more crucial issues that go to the heart of the conflict. 

Crossing the Line features a speech by Michel Shehadeh

8 January 2008


This week on Crossing The Line: host Christopher Brown airs a speech given by Palestinian activist Michel Shehadeh. Shehadeh was a member of what the media dubbed, the Los Angeles Eight (LA8), who were a group of individuals accused of aiding a member group of the Palestinian Liberation Organization which the US government considers a terrorist organization. Shehadeh spoke on 29 November 2007 — the international day of solidarity with Palestine — in San Francisco about the Palestinian struggle for liberation. 

A living martyr

Rami Almeghari Shati' refugee camp, Gaza Strip 7 January 2008


“He insisted that we all take a photo; it was the first in the last 12 years since we got married, as if he was feeling his death was approaching,” says Ghada al-Khatib, widow of Awni al-Khatib at their home in al-Shati’ refugee camp in western Gaza City. Awni al-Khatib died a few days of the brain damage he suffered since 1990 when he was shot in the head by an Israeli-fired, rubber-coated steel bullet. Awni is one of thousands of Palestinians who sustained injuries from such bullets during the first intifada that broke out in 1987. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza’s Shati’ refugee camp.