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Palestinians in Gaza largely cut off from outside world

6 September 2006


Israel’s continued closure of the Gaza Strip’s only international border crossing is isolating Gaza’s 1.4 million residents. As Gaza’s only international border crossing, Rafah is the only route for ordinary Palestinians to cross from Gaza to Egypt to go back to their jobs and universities across the world - and to get back in to see their families. All other crossings into Israel have been closed since the start of a second intifada in 2000. Many stuck in Gaza face losing their jobs if they cannot travel when they planned to. Palestinians unable to cross into Egypt risk losing money spent on airline tickets from Cairo to countries in the Gulf and elsewhere. 

Lebanon health facilities have suffered considerable damage

6 September 2006


A newly-published assessment of health facilities in Lebanon shows that a quarter of those examined are not functioning due to physical damage, lack of staff or lack of accessibility, and that water and fuel shortages remain a serious concern. At the same time, demands on the health system are growing given the numbers of people injured during the conflict, and people returning to their communities requiring health care. The assessment, by the Lebanon Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization, looked at more than 400 health facilities in Lebanon in the areas most affected by the conflict. 

Middle East crisis expected to top Security Council agenda in September

5 September 2006


The crises and problems of the Middle East will be at the forefront of a busy Security Council programme this month, Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis of Greece, which holds the Council presidency for September, said today as he outlined the 15-member body’s schedule. The situation in Lebanon following the cessation of hostilities last month between the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and Hizbollah, events in the occupied Palestinian territory, and the question of Iran’s nuclear ambitions are among the issues likely to be discussed. Secretary-General Kofi Annan may brief the Council on his current trip to the Middle East after he returns to UN Headquarters in New York. 

Six months without pay sparks teachers' strike in Gaza and West Bank

Rachel Bonham Carter 5 September 2006


Just days into the start of the new school term most schools in Gaza are closed due to a strike by government workers, including teachers, who haven’t been paid for six months. 750,000 pupils are affected. The strike is open-ended and currently most of the 1,726 public schools in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) are either partially or completely closed. At Azzoun Itmeh School for Girls in the Northern West Bank, only 7 out of 22 teachers turned up for work on Sunday. A similar story is being played out across the region with teachers struggling to get by. Around 70 per cent of all students in oPt are affected by the strikes. 

Unexploded bombs hamper rural recovery

5 September 2006


Now that war is over, farmers are returning to their land in southern Lebanon only to find their crops destroyed and their livelihoods ruined while unexploded bombs are hampering recovery. Wafi Al-Khishin fled his banana plantation in Ras Al-Ain, outside Tyre in southern Lebanon, when Isreali air-strikes began in July to stay with relatives some 80 km away in the capital Beirut. “When we came back, we found much of our land and crops burnt,” said Al-Khishin. “And what was not destroyed directly has died because of a lack of irrigation throughout the war.” 

Amid the rubble, a Lebanese family works to rebuild normal life

Astrid van Genderen Stort 5 September 2006


Adeeb Rahma is welcoming and her spirit undiminished despite the five-week war that destroyed most of her home town of Aita Ech Chaab and forced her family to move for now to another town. “My husband and our eight children were told by the Israelis through loudspeakers to leave Aita Ech Chaab and our homes immediately … my daughter was still barefoot when we raced off in our pick-up,” said Adeeb, who had lived her whole life in the town. “We stayed 15 days in Rmaich with 55 people in a house, then 15 days in Sidon,” she said. “When we came back to Aita the inside of our house had been [destroyed] …” 

Civil Servant Strike Continues in the OPT

5 September 2006


Civil servants working in all governmental institutions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including the education and health sectors, started an open general strike on Saturday, 2 September 2006. They are requesting the immediate payment of their salaries, which have not been paid for more than six months, and the regular payment of their salaries in the future. Most ministries and governmental institutions have stopped work, especially the education and health sectors. An estimated 60-90% of the work was halted in these institutions throughout the OPT. 

Power shortages could last months in south

3 September 2006


Thirty-four days of Israeli bombardment have left many residential areas in south Lebanon without power. Towns and villages, particularly those nearest the border with Israel, are strewn with damaged power lines along the roads. “This is what remains of our electricity lines,” said 12-year-old Ali, resident of Qantara village, pointing to lines a few feet away from him. “Nothing.” Qantara is about 70 km south of Beirut and just a few kilometres north of the Israeli border. South Lebanon bore the brunt of Israel’s military offensive against the armed wing of Hezbollah, a Lebanese political party. 

Despite war damage, hospitals meet patients' needs

4 September 2006


In spite of damage caused to Lebanon’s health sector by a 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah, its primary health care sector is coping, according to aid agencies. “People now have access to primary health services in most affected areas,” said Dr Sarmad Suleiman, World Health Organisation (WHO) team leader in Tyre, 80 km south of the capital Beirut. With a United Nations-brokered ceasefire in place since 14 August, humanitarian assistance from the Lebanese government and international aid agencies has been reaching the majority of areas most affected by the conflict with vastly greater ease. 

Will Robert Fisk tell us the whole story?

Jonathan Cook 5 September 2006


More than a little uncomfortably, I find myself with a bone to pick with one of our finest champions of humanitarian values and opponents of war. During Israel’s attack on Lebanon this summer, the distinguished British journalist Robert Fisk did sterling work — as might have been expected — debunking some of the main myths that littered the battlefield almost as dangerously as the tens of thousands of US-made cluster bombs that Israel dropped in the last days of the fighting. But possibly in an attempt at even-handedness, Fisk has also muddied the picture in relation to the actions of Hizbullah and thereby contributed towards the very mythical narratives he seeks to undermine.