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Divide and rule, Israeli style

Jonathan Cook 26 June 2007


What if regime change was not the point of the sanctions on the Hamas government? And if so, what goals were Israel and the US pursuing? The parallels between Iraq and Gaza may be instructive. After all, Iraq is the West’s only other recent experiment in imposing sanctions to starve a nation. And we all know where it led: to an even deeper entrenchment of Saddam Hussein’s rule. True, the circumstances in Iraq and Gaza are different. Nevertheless, it may be that the US and Israel drew a different lesson from the sanctions experience in Iraq. Jonathan Cook analyzes the US and Israel’s designs on Palestine. 

UNISON supports boycott of Israel

20 June 2007


Conference notes that, during 2006, Israel invaded Lebanon and Gaza, withheld tax revenues form the Palestine Authority and refused dialogue with the elected Authority following the democratic elections of January 2006, re-sealed the borders of Gaza, expanded illegal settlements in the West Bank, and continued the construction of the illegal Apartheid Wall. Israeli policy represents a calculated defiance of international law and the United Nations (UN), with the collusion of the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU) which cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority. 

Foes in Gaza, roommates in Cairo hospital

Rami Almeghari Cairo, Egypt 25 June 2007


“You see, both Ahmad and I are staying in the same room at this hospital, where we are being treated for wounds we have sustained during infighting. I am a Hamas supporter, while he is with Fatah,” said Ibrahim, who was shot with several bullets in his body. Ahmad, the Fatah supporter and preventive security personnel of the al-Tuffah neighborhood in central Gaza City, said it all with his sad eyes. “What fault has my son committed to be in such a situation? May God take revenge on those who have beaten him,” said a bearded man, Ahmad’s father. EI contributor Rami Almeghari reports from Cairo. 

Gazans stranded at Rafah border, North Sinai towns

25 June 2007


Up to 2,500 residents of the Gaza Strip are stranded on the Egyptian side of the border crossing at Rafah and in the towns of al-Arish and Rafah in the North Sinai governorate, aid agencies say. The border area between Egypt and the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT), which has been sealed off to media and tourists following an escalation in violence in Gaza, is continuing to host Palestinians unable either to cross to their home territory or return to Cairo. Many of the travellers are attempting to return following medical treatment in the Egyptian capital. 

Finkelstein case: Academic freedom loses to Israeli lobby

Matthew Abraham 25 June 2007


As an untenured assistant professor on this campus, who thought serious scholarship would find a site of articulation within the university named after St. Vincent de Paul, I have questioned not only my DePaul colleagues’ commitment to academic freedom, but the motivations and rationalizations of many of my colleagues who remain silent in the wake of the grave injustice that took place on 8 June 2007, when Finkelstein and Larudee received their denial letters from President Dennis Holtschneider. Matthew Abraham writes for The Electronic Intifada. 

UN warns of food shortages unless key crossing point reopened

22 June 2007


JERUSALEM, 21 June 2007 (IRIN) - The Gaza Strip will face a general food shortage within two-four weeks if the main commercial Karni Crossing is not reopened, the UN has warned. “For a crisis to be avoided, commercial and humanitarian food stocks must be replenished regularly and reliably,” a report on the humanitarian situation in the Gaza strip issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on 20 June said. Aid workers say most food supplies in Gaza arrive through Karni Crossing. 

Collective punishment of Palestinian civilians in Lebanon

Sophie McNeill 22 June 2007


As Mohammad trudged towards the Lebanese army checkpoint on the outskirts of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, he thought the nightmare of the last three weeks was finally over. Unable to flee as gun battles and shelling razed their neighbors’ homes, Mohammad’s family had been stuck inside the camp since fighting first broke out between the Islamic militant group Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese army. The army checkpoint was supposed to provide a safe haven for these desperate Palestinian civilians. Instead, Mohammad claims, this is where his journey of torture began. Sophie McNeill reports for Electronic Lebanon. 

Challenges of returning refugees to destroyed camp

22 June 2007


BEIRUT, 22 June 2007 (IRIN) - Aid groups are preparing to return Palestinians to the ravaged Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon, though it remains unclear whether a breakthrough in talks between the army and Fatah al-Islam is imminent. Even if fighting between the army and Sunni militant group Fatah al-Islam does end soon, tough challenges remain, aid agencies warn. Unexploded ordnance and rubble imperil the refugees’ way home. 

Everything is possible

Yigal Bronner 22 June 2007


Is a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict possible? Some say that the reality that Israel has created on the ground is irrecoverable and that the partition of the historical Palestine into two states is no longer practical. Others argue that it is the one-state solution which is infeasible, as Israelis will never agree to a power-sharing deal of the Northern Ireland type. Both arguments are wrong — nothing is impossible, comments Yigal Bronner; as we do not know the future, we have no way of ascertaining the impossible. 

The desecration of democracy

Philip Rizk Gaza City, Palestine 22 June 2007


Hamas’ violent takeover of the Gaza Strip last week resulted in two governments: the Hamas leadership headed by deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza and a new emergency cabinet led by the Western-backed economist Salam Fayyad in the West Bank. Both are calling the other the perpetrators of a coup. What are the sources of this division? A fear overtook the Gaza Strip after Hamas took control of institutions this past week, which are rightfully theirs to control. EI contributor Philip Rizk writes from Gaza.