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The closed gates to Gaza

Laila El-Haddad 30 July 2007


We had planned to leave Gaza around the beginning of June, with tickets booked out of Cairo 7 June. My parents were to come along with us for a visit. As is often the case in Gaza, things don’t always go according to plan. Rafah was open erratically during the month of May, and closed entirely the week prior to our departure. Wonderful, we thought — at least we could make our flight, if only barely. Laila El Haddad recounts barely squeezing out of Gaza early June only to have the gates to the Strip lock behind her and the thousands of other Palestinians currently stranded in Egypt. 

Rights groups: Rafah border crossing must be opened

30 July 2007


Israeli, Palestinian and European human rights organizations today issued a joint declaration calling on Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the European Union, and Egypt, to immediately open Gaza’s borders to passenger traffic, irrespective of their political agenda concerning Hamas. The organizations jointly stated that residents of the Strip must not be used as pawns in the struggle for control in Gaza. 

The Nakba in Israeli textbooks and official discourse

Ben White 1 August 2007


The contents of school textbooks in Palestine/Israel have often been the cause of controversy, normally when a report is published purporting to reveal “shocking revelations” about the alleged indoctrination of Palestinian schoolchildren. Last week, however, it was Israeli textbooks in the spotlight, as the Ministry of Education approved a new textbook with a difference. EI contributor Ben White finds that the inclusion of the term “Nakba” in Israeli textbooks is a perfect opportunity to see how the event is viewed in “official” discourse in the West and within Israel itself. 

Three years after ICJ wall ruling, access to land still denied

28 July 2007


QALQILYA, 26 July 2007 (IRIN) - Three years ago, in July 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague issued an advisory opinion, which, by a vote of 14 to one, declared the barrier illegal, and expressed particular concern that parts of it were being built within the occupied Palestinian territory. In the Qalqilya district of the northern West Bank, many Palestinians were separated from their agricultural land and livelihood, because the barrier did not always follow the internationally recognized “green line” between Israel and the Palestinian area. 

Dry twigs

Smadar Lavie 2 August 2007


The following is a speech delivered by activist Smadar Lavie at a rally against the demolition of 30 families’ homes in Kfar Shalem, Israel, 7 July 2007: No one has ever forced the kibbutzniks or the residents of the spiffy neighborhoods erected on the ruins of Palestine’s Nakba villages to keep on living in the precarious indeterminacy typical of Kfar Shalem. Mizrahim were forced to make Kfar Shalem their home from 1948 on, so that the Palestinians would have no place to return to, and for 60 years. Now the Mizrahim too are forced to vacate this land, their homes, in favor of the Ashkenazi real estate barons. 

Reclaiming Palestine

Osamah Khalil 30 July 2007


Today, Palestine and the Palestinians are divided as never before. The West Bank and Gaza are geographically and politically separated, divisions which are exacerbated by the political rift between Fatah and Hamas and the specter of civil war. Meanwhile, stateless Palestinian refugees are largely disconnected from their brethren in Palestine and the Diaspora, as well as from any semblance of a representative national movement. EI contributor Osamah Khalil argues that the time is ripe for Palestinians to reclaim their national movement by demanding the dissolving of the PA and the reviving of the PLO. 

Gaza "almost completely" aid-dependent

28 July 2007


JERUSALEM, 27 July 2007 (IRIN) - “There is no doubt, Gaza is becoming aid-dependent,” said Liz Sime from CARE International, in light of the continued closure of all crossing points, except for basic food commodities and humanitarian aid. With the borders shut, raw materials cannot get in and finished goods cannot be exported. Factories in the Gaza Strip are folding like dominos and unemployment is soaring. “People hate having to ask for assistance. People want work,” said Sime. “They want aid in the form of job-creation programs.” Such programs may remain a pipe dream if the borders stay shut. 

Frustration mounts amongst the stranded at al-Arish

Rami Almeghari al-Arish, Egypt 26 July 2007


Any patience we might have once had has dissipated during the past weeks we’ve been stranded here in Egypt — any patience that would have held us over as we have been badly missing our loved ones in Gaza, the patience we might have once had steadily running out along with our money. To learn about these seemingly forgotten Palestinians, EI correspondent Rami Almeghari, also stuck in Egypt, heard the accounts of some of the thousands of people trying to return to their homes and lives in Gaza. 

Audio: Crossing the Line interviews Ali Abunimah

26 July 2007


This week on Crossing the Line: Ali Abunimah co-founder of The Electronic Intifada breaks down the hegemony of Israel and the United States in regards to supporting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah in the aftermath of Hamas’ takeover of Gaza. Plus Dr. Marcy Newman gives an update on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared. 

Dubious EU support to US challenged

David Cronin 26 July 2007


BRUSSELS, Jul 25 (IPS) - The European Union’s foreign policy supremo Javier Solana this week declared himself “fully behind” the call for an international conference on the Middle East made recently by US President George W. Bush. But is it time for the EU to cease being guided on the Israeli-Palestinian question by the United States, which as the main supplier of weapons to the Israeli military is partisan by definition? Nathalie Tocci from the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels contends that the EU is “working on the margins of US-dictated policies” in the Middle East and that this has proven counterproductive.