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Twenty countries pledge $73 million for UNRWA

6 December 2005


Twenty countries pledged approximately $73.5 million for the 2006 budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), during a meeting this morning of the General Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee for Voluntary Contributions. As he opened the meeting, General Assembly President Jan Eliasson ( Sweden) said the international community had spent 56 years seeking a lasting solution to the Palestine refugee situation and remained morally obliged to sustain that commitment. Indeed, the refugee population doubled every 20 years and had increased 500 per cent since UNWRA had begun its work. 

Al Jazeera reporter arrested in West Bank

2 December 2005


Reporters Without Borders has condemned the arrest of Palestinian journalist Awad Rajoub on 30 November 2005 at his home in Doura, 10 km from the West Bank city of Hebron. The organisation called on the Israeli military to explain why he is still being held. Rajoub reports for the Arabic-language website of the pan-Arab satellite television station Al Jazeera. “The Israeli army, which claims this has nothing to do with Rajoub’s work as a journalist, must say what it knows at once, otherwise there is no reason for holding him and he must be freed immediately,” the press freedom organisation said. Israeli soldiers took Rajoub’s computer and mobile phone when they arrested him. 

Former director of Israel's General Security Service sued in New York for death and injury of over 165 in Gaza

8 December 2005


The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) brought a class action lawsuit today against Avi Dichter, the former Director of Israel�s General Security Service (GSS), on behalf of the Palestinians who were killed or injured in a 2002 air strike in Gaza. The attack occurred just before midnight on July 22, 2002, when the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) dropped a one-ton bomb on al-Daraj, a residential neighborhood in Gaza City in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The attack killed seven adults and eight children, including plaintiff Ra�ed Matar�s wife and their three young children and plaintiff Mahmoud Al Huweiti�s wife and two of their young sons. It injured over 150 others, including plaintiff Marwan Zeino, whose spinal vertebrae were crushed. 

Haaretz.com runs ad discouraging Jewish abortions as "only solution" to Arab population growth

Nigel Parry 6 December 2005


In an incredible example of how acceptable even the most extreme manifestations of anti-Arab racism have become in Israel, the website of the leading English/Hebrew daily, Ha’aretz today ran a front page advertisement that warned: “If the Arab population in Israel will reach 40% the Jewish State will be nullified. For the only solution press here.” The link lead to the website of an Israeli group that campaigns against abortion and offers material and emotional support to pregnant mothers before and after their babies are born. 

A week of Palestinian calls for the release of the CPT hostages in Iraq

6 December 2005


Over the last week Palestinians from across the political spectrum have issued impassioned appeals and demonstrated for the release of the four Christian Peacemaker Team volunteers who were taken hostage in Iraq, three of whom had previously served in Palestine with CPT and ISM. Demonstrations calling for the release of the CPT volunteers were held in Hebron, At-Tuwani and Ramallah. More are planned over the next week in Nablus (tomorrow at 11am) and Ramallah (tomorrow at 4:30pm). 

WaPSR Delegation Diary 4: Hebron - Kiryat Arba settlement and the struggle for the heart of an ancient city

Bill Dienst Palestine 6 December 2005


After our visit with Elyakim Ha’itzni, we visit the gravesite of Dr. Baruch Goldstein. Dr. Goldstein was a physician born and raised in Brooklyn who became a Kiryat Arba settler. In 1994, he opened fire on Muslims worshiping at the mosque of Ibrahim, killing 29 worshippers and injuring more than 100, before he was bludgeoned to death by the crowd. In Kiryat Arba he is treated as a hero. Downtown Hebron looks like a ghost town. Yesterday, two Israeli soldiers were shot, so now the entire center of the city is under curfew and Palestinians cannot leave their homes. 

New documentary a family tale older than Israel itself

Jim Quilty 2 December 2005


Nizar Hassan’s latest documentary is a hybrid. Part oral history project, part detective story, Karem Abou Khalil (Abou Khalil Grove) tells one Palestinian family’s history from the Ottoman to the Israeli periods. It’s also an amused study of misplaced premises and faulty representation. It’s not a story of burning tires and bulldozed houses - a la Ijtiah, Hassan’s 2002 documentary on the Jenin invasion. It’s a family tale older than Israel, though its telling is fenced in by the tense courtesy of life under Israeli domination. 

General Assembly underscores need for international support to revitalize Middle East peace process

1 December 2005


The General Assembly today wrapped up its annual consideration of the question of Palestine and the situation in the wider Middle East, adopting six traditional resolutions, underscoring, above all, that sustained international involvement was urgently needed to support both the Palestinian and Israeli sides in revitalizing the peace process and towards the speedy resumption of negotiations leading to a final settlement. Convinced that achieving a final and peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine –- the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict –- was the key to stability in the Middle East, the Assembly adopted, by vote of 156 in favour to 6 against, a text stressing the need for Israel’s withdrawal from the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967. 

UN seeks $215 million in aid for humanitarian aid in Palestine

30 November 2005


For the fourth consecutive year humanitarian agencies are appealing to donors for funding for the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). The unfortunate need for yet another appeal stems from a largely unchanged humanitarian situation. Poverty rates have increased in 2005 compared to 2004, largely because the quality of work is lower and households’ coping mechanisms are increasingly fragile. Until improvements occur the need for humanitarian assistance remains crucial. Cutting back on assistance will put extreme stress on these already-stretched strategies and increase poverty. The total request to donors in 2006 is US$ 215 million down from US$ 302 million in 2005. 

UN observes day of solidarity with Palestinian People

29 November 2005


As the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People was observed at Headquarters today, Secretary-General Kofi Annan told delegations that, while a solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict had proved elusive, with Palestinians yet to see the beginnings of their own State and Israelis yet to feel secure in theirs, the agreement two weeks ago on the Rafah crossing had created a new opportunity to cooperate and bring tangible benefits for ordinary people — particularly among Palestinians. Committee Chairman, Paul Badji ( Senegal), read out the names of the many Heads of State and Government, ministers and other officials who had sent messages of support and solidarity.