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Gaza fishermen: "We are ready to work"

7 February 2008


“I’ve been a fisherman for thirty six years, ever since I was 15 years old. My original village, al-Jura, was famous for its fishermen. When my father migrated to Gaza in 1948, he came here by boat.” Jamal Mohammed Bassalla is the spokesman of the Rafah Fisherman’s Syndicate in the southern Gaza Strip. The syndicate represents around 450 local fishermen and its headquarters are on the beach just outside Rafah. This morning, however, Jamal and his crew are sitting under tarpaulin on the beach, drinking tea around a small driftwood fire. Conditions at sea are treacherous, and they’re waiting for the weather to improve. 

Rights orgs: Israel escalating Gaza collective punishment measures

6 February 2008


Beginning tomorrow (Thursday, 7 February), Israel will reduce supplies of electricity it sells to Gaza, as part of punitive measures taken against Gaza’s civilian population, with the approval of Israel’s high court. The cutbacks to electricity were permitted after the court last week rejected a petition by ten Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations challenging Israel’s planned reductions to the supplies of electricity and fuel it allows Gaza residents to purchase. 

Photostory: The month in pictures, January 2008

6 February 2008


January 2008 saw a tightening of Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ routing of Fatah there the previous June. Palestinians in Gaza have been cut off from the outside world and Israel has banned or severely restricted the import of basic needs such as fuel, medicine and medical equipment, food, school supplies and cement. In January, electricity cuts lasted more than 12 hours per day as lack of fuel forced the closure of the region’s sole power plant.The above slideshow is a selection of images related to the breaking the Gaza siege in January 2008 taken by MaanImages photographer Wissam Nassar. 

Why I will not participate in the Turin Book Fair

Tariq Ali 6 February 2008


When I agreed to participate in the Turin Book Fair, which I have done before, I had no idea that the “guest of honor” was Israel and its sixtieth birthday. But this is also the sixtieth anniversary of what the Palestinian call the Nakba: the disaster that befell them that year, when they were expelled from their villages, some killed, women raped by the settlers. These facts are no longer disputed. So why did the Turin Book Fair not invite Palestinians in equal numbers? Tariq Ali comments. 

Israeli Apartheid Week launches in Soweto

5 February 2008


Israeli Apartheid Week 2008 was officially launched on Sunday, 3 February in Soweto, South Africa. Exiled Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, Azmi Bishara, addressed his lecture on the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced from their land to become what remains one of the world’s largest refugee populations. Bishara spoke under the banner “Silenced in Apartheid Israel — Welcomed in Soweto” alongside prominent South Africans such as Eddie Maque, General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches. 

Fueling disaster

Rami Almeghari Gaza City, Gaza Strip 5 February 2008


At the bus stop at Palestine Square, in the bustling heart of Gaza City, 25-year-old Said Ramadan cried to passersby, “Fuel, fuel, fuel! Come and buy!” Last week Ramadan took advantage of the blasting through of the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt and the brief respite from months of siege to travel to the nearby Egyptian town of al-Arish and stock up on gallons of fuel. Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza. 

Continuing the struggle

Mika Minio-Paluello London, United Kingdom 4 February 2008


Since being deported from Palestine in the summer of 2005, I’ve been living and working in London. Yet even here, Palestine doesn’t leave you. At dawn on the morning of Friday, 25 January, a friend of mine was shot and left to bleed to death by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank’s Balata refugee camp. When I read the email sent from a friend at 10:23am that stated “I don’t know if you heard, Ahmed Sanaqra was killed yesterday in Balata,” my fist clenched and hit the wall. Mika Minio-Paluello writes from London. 

Beatles: don't let it be!

3 February 2008


The following is an open letter sent to the Beatles on 2 February 2008: Forty-three years ago, the government of Israel banned your performance in the country for fear you would corrupt the minds of Israeli youth. Now, Israel is extending an apology and an invitation to you, hoping you will forget the past and agree to help celebrate its 60th “birthday.” The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel urges you to say no to Israel, particularly since the creation of this state 60 years ago dispossessed and uprooted hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes and lands, condemning them to a life of exile and destitution. 

The loneliness of the One-Issue Voter

Laurie King 4 February 2008


There are lots of “One Issue Voters” out here: those who decide to support a candidate based on the sole criterion of abortion, or taxation, or gun control, or crime. For those of us who fall into the “Pro-Palestinian Rights” category of One Issue Voter-hood, it’s a particularly lonely and dispiriting time. It’s as though there’s this big progressive celebration going on, but we haven’t been invited. Laurie King-Irani comments.