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Political obfuscation and stranded Palestinians in Egypt

Serene Assir 1 August 2007


Seven weeks into their displacement from Gaza, up to 700 of 6,000 stranded Palestinians returned home this week via the border crossing at al-Oja, north Sinai, controlled by Egypt and Israel. Their return via this terminal, traditionally used for the transportation of goods into Israel, is described as a one-time-only solution designed to solve the immediate crisis. The plan was forged by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, with the approval of the Egyptian government. Serene Assir investigates from Egypt. 

One week in July

Sonja Karkar 31 July 2007


Despite the media’s fixation on Hamas and Bush’s renewed interest in “peace,” the truth of the matter is that nothing has changed on the ground for the Palestinians. Each week Israel rolls its tanks into the West Bank and fires its missiles on Gaza. These are specific attacks on people that will be recorded as statistics; the stories of those affected will never be told. Sonja Karkar writes for EI. 

Ali Abunimah discusses Hamas and Fatah on Worldview

31 July 2007


On Friday, 27 August 2007, EI’s Ali Abunimah appeared on WBEZ Chicago’s Worldview, on which he discussed with host Jerome McDonnell the events that have transpired since Hamas routed Fatah in the Gaza Strip last month. Since then, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has created a new government of dubious legality with technocrat and US darling Salam Fayyad. The US and Israel have offered aid money and sent 1,000 M-16 weapons through Jordan to bolster Abbas’s forces while Fatah security head Mohammad Dahlan has resigned. 

Audio: Crossing the Line interviews Nahr al-Bared nurse

31 July 2007


This week on Crossing The Line: host Christopher Brown talks with Melad Salameh, a resident of Nahr al-Bared, who worked as a nurse while the fighting between militants of Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese army raged on around him. Now living in the Baddawi refugee camp, Salameh talks about the lingering hope that they might be able to return to their homes in Nahr al-Bared. 

Open letter: Suspend Israel from Euro 2008 competition

31 July 2007


The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) urges the Football Association (FA), the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) and the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) to take appropriate measures to suspend the national Israeli football team from all international fixtures until the state of Israel entirely complies with international law and relevant United Nations resolutions to end Israeli occupation. This should include a suspension of the Israeli team from the current Euro 2008 qualifiers. 

The closed gates to Gaza

Laila El-Haddad 30 July 2007


We had planned to leave Gaza around the beginning of June, with tickets booked out of Cairo 7 June. My parents were to come along with us for a visit. As is often the case in Gaza, things don’t always go according to plan. Rafah was open erratically during the month of May, and closed entirely the week prior to our departure. Wonderful, we thought — at least we could make our flight, if only barely. Laila El Haddad recounts barely squeezing out of Gaza early June only to have the gates to the Strip lock behind her and the thousands of other Palestinians currently stranded in Egypt. 

Rights groups: Rafah border crossing must be opened

30 July 2007


Israeli, Palestinian and European human rights organizations today issued a joint declaration calling on Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the European Union, and Egypt, to immediately open Gaza’s borders to passenger traffic, irrespective of their political agenda concerning Hamas. The organizations jointly stated that residents of the Strip must not be used as pawns in the struggle for control in Gaza. 

The Nakba in Israeli textbooks and official discourse

Ben White 1 August 2007


The contents of school textbooks in Palestine/Israel have often been the cause of controversy, normally when a report is published purporting to reveal “shocking revelations” about the alleged indoctrination of Palestinian schoolchildren. Last week, however, it was Israeli textbooks in the spotlight, as the Ministry of Education approved a new textbook with a difference. EI contributor Ben White finds that the inclusion of the term “Nakba” in Israeli textbooks is a perfect opportunity to see how the event is viewed in “official” discourse in the West and within Israel itself. 

Three years after ICJ wall ruling, access to land still denied

28 July 2007


QALQILYA, 26 July 2007 (IRIN) - Three years ago, in July 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague issued an advisory opinion, which, by a vote of 14 to one, declared the barrier illegal, and expressed particular concern that parts of it were being built within the occupied Palestinian territory. In the Qalqilya district of the northern West Bank, many Palestinians were separated from their agricultural land and livelihood, because the barrier did not always follow the internationally recognized “green line” between Israel and the Palestinian area. 

Dry twigs

Smadar Lavie 2 August 2007


The following is a speech delivered by activist Smadar Lavie at a rally against the demolition of 30 families’ homes in Kfar Shalem, Israel, 7 July 2007: No one has ever forced the kibbutzniks or the residents of the spiffy neighborhoods erected on the ruins of Palestine’s Nakba villages to keep on living in the precarious indeterminacy typical of Kfar Shalem. Mizrahim were forced to make Kfar Shalem their home from 1948 on, so that the Palestinians would have no place to return to, and for 60 years. Now the Mizrahim too are forced to vacate this land, their homes, in favor of the Ashkenazi real estate barons.