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A state of war and peace

Hasan Abu Nimah 20 February 2008


The car bomb assassination in Damascus of Imad Mughniyeh has created a heightened state of tension in the region. Almost every commentator, no matter what perspective he/she comes from, expects the killing to spark a fresh round of deadly violence; as if the region had room for more. It is hard to speculate on the outcome of this serious development, but it is very unlikely that it will pass without dire consequences, for Lebanon and the region. Hasan Abu Nimah comments. 

House demolitions force Palestinians from village

19 February 2008


BEQAA, WEST BANK, 19 February (IRIN) - A small, overcrowded Palestinian village in the southern West Bank, under threat from Israeli-conducted house demolitions and land confiscations, is rapidly becoming poorer. “Every house here has one child at least who left because we can’t build new homes. Some went to Hebron, but others left for Amman [Jordan] and places abroad” said Ghassan, a young man from Beqaa village, who is a refugee registered with the UN. 

London School of Economics student union votes for divestment

19 February 2008


The London School of Economics Students’ Union (LSESU) on 14 February voted overwhelmingly to call on its university and the National Union of Students (NUS) to divest from companies that provide military and commercial support for the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, condemning the decades of human rights abuses and systematic oppression that has occurred as a result. 

Woman dies after being denied passage through Israeli checkpoint

18 February 2008


On Thursday, 13 February, Fawzia Abd al-Fattah al-Darak (59) from Deir al-Ghosoun north of Tulkarm died when Israeli forces prevented an ambulance from taking her to a hospital in Tulkarm. Mohammad al-Darak, her husband, testified that his wife started to experience severe chest pain. They called the emergency department of the Palestine Red Crescent Society in Tulkarm in order to transport her to a hospital. 

YMCA headquarters attacked in Gaza City

15 February 2008


The undersigned civil society organizations utterly condemn an attack on the YMCA headquarters in Gaza City in the early hours of the morning of 15 February 2008. Unidentified militants broke into the YMCA headquarters, planted explosive devices and subsequently completely destroyed the library. The undersigned organizations ask the dismissed government to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into this crime, which is a continuation of a number of similar attacks targeting national, cultural and civil society organizations in the Gaza Strip. 

Living with the certainty of war

Rania Masri Beirut, Lebanon 18 February 2008


For a while now, we’ve been talking about it. For a while now, I’ve been talking about it. Yes, there will be another war. I have said so during radio interviews, during dinner conversations, during phone calls with my family in the US. Yes, there will be another war of Israeli aggression on Lebanon. It is just a question of time, this summer or next summer, this year or next year, but, yes, there will be another war. Rania Masri writes from Beirut. 

Nahr al-Bared and the right of return

Hannah Mermelstein Ramallah, West Bank 19 February 2008


I left Lebanon more than a week ago and am only now starting to find words. I have never before been in a place that has seen so much war. Occupation, yes. Injustice, yes. Death and destruction and uncertainty, perhaps. But something felt different about Lebanon. I have not wrapped my mind around it enough to feel confident that what I write will accurately represent my own thoughts, let alone the actual situation. But I do want to tell you about Nahr al-Bared. Hannah Mermelstein writes. 

Gaza civilians die along with assassinated leader

Mohammed Omer 18 February 2008



GAZA CITY, 16 February (IPS) - Human remains mix with debris following the latest Israeli assault Friday on Bureij camp in Gaza Strip. Early reports listed nine dead and more than 50 injured. A targeted leader was killed, but many others were killed too. “It’s very hard for us to rescue, or even locate bodies beneath the building,” said a medical relief worker from the local Bureij hospital. Israel has not confirmed responsibility for the missile attack by F-16 aircraft. 

Meet the Lebanese Press: A cold civil war

Hicham Safieddine 18 February 2008


Commentary in the Lebanese press affirms that the regional dimension has become more important following the assassination of Hizballah figure Imad Mughniyeh, which could translate into a change in the rules of engagement of all parties to Lebanon’s brewing internal conflict. And in this new framework, the international tribunal’s inquiry into the 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri will become more significant as a tool of international pressure and as a stage on which Syria is battling its rivals.