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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. 

Subverting democracy

Joseph Massad 4 July 2007


As the enemies of the Palestinian people have been attacking them on every front – Israel with its inquisition against Azmi Bishara and with him Palestinian resistance to the racist basis of the Jewish state inside the green line, or Hariri Inc. and its 14 March allies intent on proving the might of the Lebanese army at the expense of Palestinian civilian lives in Nahr al-Bared, and the continued siege by the Israeli military occupation and its US sponsor of the occupied territories – the latest attack came from Palestinian collaborators with the enemy: the Fatah leadership abetted by the United States. 

Nine university students kidnapped in Gaza

3 July 2007


On Monday morning, 2 July 2007, nine students of the Islamic University in Gaza were kidnapped by militants from the “Army of Islam” in response to the abduction of one of its leaders by the Executive Force. According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 01:30 on Monday, 2 July 2007, a number of militants from the “Army of Islam” raided a house near al-Salam Mosque in al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City and kidnapped a number of members of the Student Council of the Islamic University who live in the house. 

UNHCR calls for evacuation of seriously ill Palestinian children

3 July 2007


BAGHDAD, 2 July 2007 (IRIN) - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has called for an immediate evacuation of at least a dozen seriously ill Palestinians, mostly children who are stuck in Baghdad and in a makeshift camp on the Iraq-Syria border. The agency said the children could die if they are not evacuated. “We currently have 12 cases in urgent need of medical evacuation, the youngest just 15 months old. Without evacuation and life-saving medical help, they could die or suffer lifelong complications,” UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond said on 29 June. 

Al Jazeera interviews EI's Ali Abunimah

Laila El-Haddad 3 July 2007


For nearly 20 years, the two-state solution has been promoted as the agreed framework for negotiations and ultimately peace to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. But two decades on, it has failed to bear fruit. Co-founder of the Electronic Intifada and author of the book, One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse, discusses his book with Al Jazeera’s Laila El-Haddad. 

Concern for Gaza patients who cannot go abroad for treatment

2 July 2007


JERUSALEM, 2 July 2007 (IRIN) - Many Palestinian patients in the Gaza Strip have been unable to access health care and advanced medical treatment since 9 June, when the Rafah crossing to Egypt was closed. The medical infrastructure in Gaza is not able to provide certain services to its residents, including many types of surgery, and the Palestinian ministry of health refers patients to hospitals in countries such as Egypt and Israel. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2003 some 7,844 cases were referred abroad, of which 62.5 percent were sent to Egypt for treatment via Rafah.