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A bankrupt Ramadan in Gaza

Rami Almeghari Gaza Strip 18 September 2007


The situation is desperate here in Gaza, the coastal strip that is abundant with nothing except human beings. Just a couple of hours before Iftaar, the time of day after sunset when Muslims break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims around the globe shop to prepare. Gaza’s crowded Khan Younis is no exception. However, though they may be thronged with people, Gaza’s markets are lacking any holiday festivity or commerce. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza. 

A double standard on academic freedom

George Bisharat 17 September 2007


Two hundred thousand Palestinian children began school in the Gaza Strip this month without a full complement of textbooks. Why? Because Israel, which maintains a stranglehold over this small strip of land along the Mediterranean even after withdrawing its settlers from there in 2005, considers paper, ink and binding materials not to be “fundamental humanitarian needs.” George Bisharat comments. 

The forgotten faithful

Timothy Seidel 27 September 2007


On a pleasant Sunday afternoon in July 2000, members and pastors belonging to local Palestinian Evangelical congregations from the Palestinian territories gathered at the Bethlehem Hotel to celebrate the formation of their council. An American woman who was present at the meeting approached one of the pastors and asked him if she could say a few words to the assembly … When the lady took the microphone, I couldn’t believe the words that came out of her mouth. Timothy Seidel comments from Bethlehem. 

Turning our tongues: Journals from Dheisheh

Dina Awad 16 September 2007


“Palestinian girls have a lot of power,” said 17-year-old Haneen Owdeh on a hot summer day in the Dheisheh refugee camp near the West Bank city of Bethlehem. She then added, “but they don’t know how to use it. They need someone to point them to ways on how to use it, to show them what to do.” Haneen Owdeh and her friends, 18 young Palestinian women in total aged 16-19, form a grassroots girls’ art collective in the Dheisheh camp, where over 10,000 refugees live on one-and-a-half square kilometers of land. Dina Awad writes from Dheisheh. 

Shoot and cry: Liberal Zionism's dilemma

Ben White 19 September 2007


Liberal Zionists desperately wish to “acknowledge” and embrace the Palestinian “feeling” of suffering and dispossession, yet at the same time, help to solidify the Zionist mythology that was, and is, used to justify the Palestinians’ dispossession. Perhaps it is not quite strictly accurate to call it a “dilemma,” since for the Zionist — liberal or otherwise — there is no doubt when it comes to the crunch question of whether to support or oppose the ongoing colonization of Palestine and the dispossession of its people. Ben White comments for EI. 

Palestinian Diaspora: With or against collaboration?

Laith Marouf 14 September 2007


In the past few months, Palestinians in the Diaspora have watched with horror the latest developments in their homeland. There has been a flurry of articles about what to do, but overall there is a feeling that they are helpless to affect the situation on the ground. What has been missing is an understanding that Palestinians in the Diaspora must undertake a clear assessment of their own situation if they are to have any impact at all. Laith Marouf comments for EI. 

UN report: Settlements squeezing out Palestinians

12 September 2007


HEBRON HILLS, WEST BANK, 11 September (IRIN) - Israeli settlements in the West Bank are having a severe humanitarian impact on rural Palestinian areas, according to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on 30 August. The settlements disconnect Palestinians from agricultural land and limit their movement, restricting access to markets and water resources, the report, entitled “The Humanitarian Impact of Israeli Infrastructure in the West Bank,” said. In the southern Hebron Hills area a conflict between Israeli settlers and Palestinians over land and water resources is apparent. 

After 25 years, who remembers?

Franklin Lamb Sabra-Shatila camp 13 September 2007


Dearest Janet, It’s a very beautiful fall day here in Beirut, 25 years ago this week since the 16-18 September 1982 Massacre at the Palestinian refugee camps at Sabra-Shatila. It actually rained last night, enough to clean out some of the humidity and dust. Fortunately, not enough to make the usual rain-created swamp of sewage and filth on Rue Sabra, or flood the grassless burial ground of the mass grave where you once told me that on Sunday, 19 September 1982, you watched, sickened, as families and Red Crescent workers created a subterranean mountain of butchered and bullet-riddled victims from those 48 hours of slaughter. Franklin Lamb writes from Beirut. 

Hebron settlements make Palestinian life nearly impossible

10 September 2007


HEBRON, 9 September (IRIN) - Israeli policy in Hebron city center has led thousands of Palestinians to leave their homes and some 1,829 businesses have been shut down since 1994, a report by the Israeli human rights organizations B’Tselem and the Association for Civil Rights has charged. Entitled “Ghost Town”, reflecting the two groups’ opinion of what has befallen the once vibrant center of Hebron, the report surveys Palestinian life in the divided city. “Israel’s policy severely impacts thousands of Palestinians by violating the right to life, liberty, personal safety, freedom of movement, health, and property, among other rights,” said the report.