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Fatah Chapter Closed: Creating a Palestinian National Congress

Rifat Odeh Kassis 27 March 2006


The current calls to emphasise the role of the PLO coming from Fatah and the other political factions cannot be very convincing to the Palestinian people. Fatah bears the bulk of responsibility in destroying the PLO and marginalizing it. Whichever the motives, Fatah and all Palestinians must recognise that trying to revive the PLO as it stands is not the answer. The structure and methodology is outdated. There is no other way but to build up a different political body to represent the Palestinians everywhere, writes Rifat Odeh Kassis. 

Rachel's Words Live On

Remi Kanazi 27 March 2006


On March 22, a congregation of ardent supporters gathered to commemorate Rachel’s life and spread her words at the Riverside Church, the very church Martin Luther King first spoke out against the war in Vietnam. This event came out of controversy. The critically acclaimed play My Name is Rachel Corrie was canceled by the New York Theater Workshop. Just weeks after the cartoon controversy and the mass trumpeting of free speech worldwide, Rachel Corrie was being silenced. The New York Theater Workshop attempted to crush her memory but her words live on. 

Palestinian refugees at Iraq-Jordan border receiving assistance

26 March 2006


Palestinian refugees fleeing Iraq, who were refused entry into Jordan last week, are now receiving assistance from UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the Iraqi Red Crescent Society. On Sunday, Ehab Taym, one of 88 Palestinian refugees who recently fled Baghdad, speaking from the Iraqi side of the border, said that the IRCS and UNHCR-Amman had sent blankets, tents, food and water. After having been moved from the “No Man’s Land” border area to the Iraqi side of the frontier, Taym said they were now housed in 20 tents provided by the aid agencies. They now await their fate. About a week’s worth of humanitarian assistance in the form of food, mattresses and blankets was provided to the refugees on Thursday. 

Death threats cause panic in Baghdad's Palestinian refugee community

24 March 2006


Panic has overtaken the Palestinian refugee community in Baghdad after more than one hundred families in the city have received death threats from groups calling them traitors. Many of the Palestinians, who have been living for years in Baghdad, are in a state of shock and panic and are taking the intimidation very seriously, UNHCR told journalists in Geneva on Friday. There are an estimated 34,000 Palestinians in Iraq, of whom 23,000 have been registered by UNHCR in Baghdad. The Palestinian refugees came to Iraq in three main waves - in 1948, in 1967 and in 1991. Palestinians have in the past few years faced evictions, threats and harassment. 

UNHCR increasingly concerned for Palestinians in Baghdad

24 March 2006


UNHCR is increasingly concerned about the situation of Palestinians in Baghdad. On Thursday, we heard from the Palestinian community in Baghdad that reportedly over 100 families had received written death threats and that many are in a state of shock and panic. This panic may spread and lead to more Palestinians fleeing Baghdad. They are feeling increasingly trapped, and for security reasons many have stopped going to work and have taken their children out of school. While Iraqis are also affected by the general insecurity in Iraq, Palestinians feel especially vulnerable and targetted as they were perceived to have been treated favourably by the previous regime. 

UN food aid agency calls for permanent opening of crossing from Israel to Gaza

24 March 2006


With the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip deteriorating and food and other supplies running short due to Israeli closures, the United Nations World Food Programme warned today that it was crucial for this week’s 48-hour opening of the Karni crossing point to become permanent. WFP, which provides food aid to some 160,000 Palestinians in Gaza, was able to bring in 16 containers, containing 300 tons of food, mainly beans and vegetable oil, but this was a very limited amount, agency spokesperson Christiane Berthiaume told a news briefing in Geneva. A further problem was that the Israeli authorities were not allowing WFP to bring out the empty containers, and the agency needed to fill them again and bring them back in. 

Faith-based coalition explores Israeli-Palestinian issue

Kathrynne Skonicki 2 March 2006


The second keynote speaker, Ali Abunimah, compared the current status of Palestinians to the apartheid of South Africa. The writer and commentator on Middle East and Arab-American affairs called for action on the part of Americans. He said, “If you don’t want violence, it’s up to you to provide an alternative.” Abunimah called for boycotts of Israeli products and investments. He also urged those present to contact American legislators who are appropriating funds to the Israeli government. He concluded, “It’s not an option to stay neutral between the strong and the weak because then you are siding with the strong.” 

Rewriting H.R. 4681 so that it actually produces peace

Rima Merriman 24 March 2006


Palestinian newspapers are full of the faces of the new Palestinian government, smart men and one woman, who will come in to lead an already impossible task. There is not one terrorist among them, but that makes no difference to the US which has already started undermining the new government in the name, outrageously, of promoting “the development of democratic institutions in areas under the administrative control of the Palestinian Authority, and for other purposes”. This is the language of an anti-Palestinian bill (H.R. 4681) just introduced in the US House of Representatives. Rima Merriman suggests a rewrite. 

Blaming the lobby

Joseph Massad 24 March 2006


In the last 25 years, many Palestinians and other Arabs, in the United States and in the Arab world, have been so awed by the power of the US pro-Israel lobby that any study, book, or journalistic article that exposes the inner workings, the substantial influence, and the financial and political power of this lobby have been greeted with ecstatic sighs of relief that Americans finally can see the “truth” and the “error” of their ways. “But,” asks Jospeh Massad, “when and in what context has the United States government ever supported national liberation in the Third World?” 

Israeli Elections: A Vote for Separation

Jonathan Cook 23 March 2006


A few weeks after Ariel Sharon broke up his Likud party to form a new “centrist” faction, Kadima, his advisers conducted a poll to find out how potential voters would respond if its list of candidates included an Arab. The results were unequivocal: Kadima would lose votes equivalent to between five and seven seats in the 120-member Knesset from Israeli Jews worried that they might be helping to elect an Arab. Kadima appears to be on a winning streak. Separation of the crudest and most ruthless kind is now, as the polls all too clearly demonstrate, precisely what the Israeli consensus demands, writes Jonathan Cook.