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Hamas has hopes from release of BBC reporter

Peter Hirschberg 5 July 2007

***Image1***JERUSALEM, 5 July (IPS) - It was the achievement Hamas had been waiting for ever since it vanquished the Fatah movement in Gaza and seized control of the coastal strip last month. Now, the Islamic movement is hoping that the release Wednesday of BBC reporter Alan Johnston, held captive in Gaza for almost four months, will convince the international community that it is a serious partner and is able to impose order on the chaos-ridden, lawless streets of the densely populated strip. 

At the doors of Gaza

Husam El Nounou al-Arish, Egypt 5 July 2007


I considered myself lucky to be able to rent a small “chalet” in al-Areesh and to have the money to manage my expenses. This, however, is not the case for about 5,000 Palestinians who are stuck in Egypt and were not allowed to go back home. The humanitarian situation for the Palestinians in al-Areesh here is very harsh. You can find hundreds walking or sitting in the streets, some sleep in the mosques or the public garden after running out of money. The grocer from whom I buy things told me that every day dozens of men come proposing to sell their cell phone or hand watches to him. 

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.