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Israel kills four in Gaza attacks

8 November 2007


The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have escalated their military operations in the Gaza Strip. IOF have killed four Palestinians, including a father and his son, and injured four others, including a child, since Sunday 4 November 2007. In addition, IOF have also launched an incursion in the eastern part of the mid-Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, carried out several missile attacks, arrested fishermen and razed agricultural land. IOF also bombarded a factory in north Gaza twice, killing three of its workers. 

Gaza's hard place between Israeli and Palestinian violence

Rami Almeghari 7 November 2007


Since the Hamas-led government seized control of the Gaza Strip in mid-June, severe Israeli pressure has been imposed on the coastal region’s 1.4-million-strong population. Gaza has been sustaining the effects of such pressure at the same time as it has been absorbing the impact of the seemingly unending inter-Palestinian violence, which has claimed the lives of at least 400 Palestinians and continues to disrupt everyday life inthe already impoverished society. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari writes from Gaza. 

West Bankers get some medical care

6 November 2007


RAMALLAH, 6 November (IPS) - After packing the ambulance with medical equipment and bags full of medicine, Dr. Jameel Mashny, Dr. Rami Habash and their nurse, Maysa Youseff, all from the Palestine Medical Relief Society (PMRS), prepare themselves for the long day ahead. If it is business as usual, it will be a day of organized chaos. Screaming children will hide behind their mothers, elderly men will complain that they do not like the taste of their medicine — and a poor village will get desperately needed medical relief. 

Nothing less than our freedom

Mohammed Khatib 6 November 2007


For the people of our small village of Bil’in, which lies west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the planned negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli leaders in Annapolis, Maryland evoke mixed feelings. Like all Palestinians, we pray that our children will not spend their lives as we did, under Israeli military occupation. But our experience has been that Israel, the stronger party, exploits peace talks as a smokescreen to obscure facts that it is establishing on the ground. EI contributor Mohammed Khatib comments. 

Meet the Lebanese Press: Consensus or chaos?

Hicham Safieddine 6 November 2007


As the constitutional deadline of 24 November to elect a president looms large over Lebanon, the presidential race and the marathon rounds of meetings of political actors remained the overarching concern and topic of discussion in the Lebanese press (despite disturbing revelations about Nahr al-Bared camp mentioned in an article by Khaled Saghiyyeh). Marathon rounds of discussion may be a good omen in participatory or even representative democracies. But in a country governed by the necessity of consensus and the reality of sectarianism, seemingly endless talk can mean too little to agree on and a diplomatic denial of an impasse. 

When do we stop sitting shiva for the Holocaust?

Rita Corriel 6 November 2007


I marched and lobbied in DC last June to call for an end to forty years of Israeli occupation and the US policies that support it. The sign I carried posed a single question. It is one that urgently begs to be addressed, debated and answered. I believe it holds significant implications, not only for Jews, but for the entire Middle East. “When do we stop sitting shiva for the Holocaust?” EI contributor Rita Corriel asks. 

Video: The looting of Nahr al-Bared camp

Ray Smith 5 November 2007


In May 2007 the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, home to around 40,000 Palestinian refugees, became the site of a three-month battle between the Lebanese army and the extremist group Fatah al-Islam that had established itself in the camp. All 40,000 of the camp’s refugees were displaced. From the official end of the fighting in early September until 10 October the camp has been exclusively under the control of the Lebanese army. This video documents some of the refugees returning to Nahr al-Bared and the abuses by the Lebanese army. 

Audio: Crossing the Line speaks with activist in Nahr al-Bared

4 November 2007


This week on Crossing The Line: After months of conflict between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam, some of the residents of Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon are finally returning home. But with most of the camp’s infrastructure destroyed, unexploded ordnance remaining and Lebanese residents in the surrounding area blaming on the Palestinian refugees for the violence, their return to Nahr al-Bared has not been easy. Host Christopher Brown speaks with independent journalist and activist Caoimhe Butterly about the refugees’ return to Nahr al-Bared and what lies ahead. 

Where have all the trucks gone?

Jesse Rosenfeld Ramallah, West Bank 4 November 2007


The roads to Gaza were long, dusty and, apart from Israeli military vehicles, almost completely empty on 24 October as tanks doing military exercises were far more prevalent than trucks carrying goods towards the border. The crossings are the only way Gaza can receive goods and Israel has been blockading them since June, recently tightening the blockade further with cuts to fuel and pending cuts to electricity. The once busy checkpoint crossings now lie empty. EI contributor Jesse Rosenfeld writes from outside the Gaza Strip.