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Refugee Resentment Simmers as Fighting Escalates

Jackson Allers 4 June 2007


BADDAWI CAMP, Lebanon, Jun 4 (IPS) - Fighting escalated Sunday and Monday in Lebanon as the Sunni Islamic group Jund al-Asham attacked army positions outside Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, Ain al-Hilweh, in the south. Meanwhile, the top Palestinian leadership in Lebanon says it cannot guarantee it can control the reaction of the more than 400,000 Palestinians living in the 12 official refugee camps throughout the country if the Lebanese army’s all-out assault on the besieged Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in the north causes a heavy civilian death toll. 

UNRWA appeals for $12.7m as camp clashes spread south

4 June 2007


BEIRUT, 4 June 2007 (IRIN) - The UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) launched a global appeal for US$12.7 million on Monday in an effort to raise funds to meet the humanitarian needs of more than 27,000 Palestinians displaced from the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon. Since 20 May the Lebanese army has laid siege to the camp after Islamist militants from a relatively unknown group called Fatah al-Islam killed dozens of its soldiers. The army has intensified its bombardment of the camp since 1 June, describing its actions as the “beginning of the end”. 

The State of Israel vs. Former MK Azmi Bishara

20 May 2007


On May 2, 2007 the Israeli Police announced that former Member of Knesset (MK) Azmi Bishara, head of the National Democratic Assembly (NDA), was under investigation and suspected of the following: assistance to enemy in war; delivery of information to the enemy; and contact with a foreign agent. In Israeli law, the offense of “Assistance to the enemy during war” is punishable by death. This chilling announcement came after multiple attempts by the NDA to lift the gag order imposed on the investigation since it began. 

Die-in at Lebanese army checkpoint at Nahr al-Bared entrance

Marcy Newman Beirut 4 June 2007


We drove up to Baddawi refugee camp Sunday morning at the request of the women of Nahr al-Bared refugee camp who are now among the thousands of internally displaced Palestinians (IDPs) in Lebanon. They asked Lebanese and internationals to join them in a die-in at the southern checkpoint of the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp. We painted our t-shirts with red paint and we made signs in English and in Arabic; each sign had one of the seventeen known names of Palestinians who have died as a result of the Lebanese army’s siege of the Nahr al-Bared camp. 

Three-day bombardment of camp cuts off vital aid supplies to terrified residents

3 June 2007


NAHR AL-BARED, 3 June 2007 (IRIN) - Aid agencies and emergency services have been unable to access the besieged Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon for three days to either evacuate the injured or deliver vital supplies of water and food to trapped residents. “If we don’t get into camp today or tomorrow the situation will be really critical,” Dr Yousef Assad of the Palestine Red Crescent (PRC) told IRIN on Saturday. 

For a Secular Democratic State

Saree Makdisi 3 June 2007


For, having unified all of what used to be Palestine (albeit into one profoundly divided space) without having overcome the Palestinian people’s will to resist, Zionism has run its course. And in so doing, it has terminated any possibility of a two-state solution. There remains but one possibility for peace with justice: truth, reconciliation — and a single democratic and secular state, a state in which there will be no “natives” and “settlers” and all will be equal; a state for all its citizens irrespective of their religious affiliation. Saree Makdisi comments. 

Children playing with kite, man on bike killed by Israeli forces in Gaza

3 June 2007


On 1 June 2007, an IOF infantry unit positioned on a wooden land in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia, nearly 100 meters away from the beach, opened fire at four Palestinian children, who were playing with kites near the beach. Three children were wounded, whereas the fourth one was able to escape. Two of the children were left in the area bleeding to death. According to the third child who was wounded, 16-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim al-‘Atawna, from Jabalya refugee camp, a kite fell near the area where IOF soldiers were hiding, and when they went to bring it, IOF soldiers opened fire at them. 

Amnesty International: No security without basic rights

3 June 2007


On the eve of the 40th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Amnesty International today called on the Israeli authorities to end the land-grabbing, blockades and other violations of international law carried out under the occupation. These have resulted in widespread human rights abuses and have also failed to bring security to the Israeli and Palestinian civilian populations. A 45-page report published today, Enduring Occupation: Palestinians under siege in the West Bank, illustrates the devastating impact of four decades of Israeli military occupation. 

To be Palestinian in Lebanon is to be wished a thousand deaths

Sami Hermez Baddawi Refugee Camp 2 June 2007


1 June 2007 — In the Lebanese daily An-Nahar, on 31 May, there was a single story that only reported the details of the deaths of Lebanese soldiers. The official number from the Lebanese army over last weekend was a resounding one civilian death. By denying Palestinian civilian deaths we effectively commit a double crime: The first is the indiscriminate death of the victim; the second is the denial of this original crime. I suppose the victim is meant to carry a camera and document her own death to truly confirm it in the public’s eyes. EI contributor Sami Hermez comments. 

Visiting The Dead in Gaza

Philip Rizk Gaza City, Palestine 2 June 2007


Jamal’s car was sounding more and more rickety I noticed as we drove to his house for lunch. He was late since he had spent the entire day at the Rafah border with some neighbors who were trying to cross to Egypt for medical care. They had gotten there at the crack of dawn only to turn back in the late afternoon without success. Of the thousands gathered a select few had made it across, but they were not among the lucky few. I have to be honest, I have no idea what the hell must be like crossing that border because I have never had the privilege or bad fortune to attempt to do so.