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Gaza fishermen's livelihood on the line

Laila El-Haddad 2 August 2005


Though one of Gaza’s oldest active fishermen, Suheil Sa’dallah spends most of his time loitering around Gaza’s makeshift fisherman’s port, where dozens of docked boats, including his own, bob gently in the sea. In the face of stringent Israeli restrictions on Palestinian fishing zones, and the absence of a modern industrial port, many fishermen there, like Sa’dallah, can no longer make a living. He talks about the days their catches exceeded 700kg a day “of every fish your heart desires”, when the only limit on fishing zones were as far as the eye could see. A new port would mean better equipment, modern storage facilities for importing and exporting fish, and assuming Israeli restrictions are lifted, improved catches. 

Israeli soldier kills four in bus attack

Khalid Amayreh 5 August 2005


An Israeli soldier has been stoned to death by an angry crowd after he killed four Israeli Arabs and injured 13 others on board a bus. The shooting on Thursday took place on bus 165, which shuttles between a Druze neighbourhood of the northern Israeli Arab town of Shafa Amr and nearby communities. Four people were killed, including the driver. Police said the four apparently were all Shafa Amr residents. Israel Radio said the gunman - who police said wore a skullcap, identifying him as an Orthodox Jew - was later bludgeoned to death by an angry crowd. Medical sources said three of the wounded were listed in critical condition. Two policemen were among the wounded. 

UN Experts mark anniversary of ICJ "Wall Opinion"

4 August 2005


Eight Special Procedures mandate holders of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights issues an appeal shortly after the one-year anniversary of the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion (“Wall opinion”), concerning the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In August 2004, the General Assembly called upon Israel and other parties to comply with their legal obligations as mentioned in the Opinion. Further to that resolution, the Secretary-General is taking steps to compile a register of the persons who have suffered as a result of the construction of the wall. However, neither the General Assembly nor the Security Council have considered the Opinion since. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

28 July 2005


This week, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, including a child who was run down by an Israeli settler vehicle. Israeli forces wounded 19 Palestinians among them a mother and child and seven other children. Israeli forces conducted various incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces raided Palestinian homes and arrested 33 Palestinian civilians. Israel imposed a total siege on the occupied Palestinian territories and isolated the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Israel prevents Palestinians aged 16-35 from traveling through the Rafah crossing. Israel arrested twelve Palestinians, including two women and a child at military checkpoints in the West Bank. 

UNICEF boosts aid deliveries before Gaza disengagement

Michael Bociurkiw 28 July 2005


With less than a month remaining before Israel’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip, UNICEF has completed final deliveries of aid supplies to some of the most isolated enclaves in the area. In preparation for the mid-August disengagement, the organization has also expanded activities in psychosocial support, health and education. The disengagement plan calls for the evacuation of some settlements and installations. Because of their close proximity to the soon-to-be-evacuated settlements, many enclaves in Gaza are being sealed off, making humanitarian aid deliveries virtually impossible for the next several weeks. This is why special attention has been devoted to these areas, some of which are currently accessible only by a single gate for a few hours a day. 

Building to resist

Maureen Clare Murphy 30 July 2005


Salim Shawamreh describes July 9, 1998, as “the blackest day of my life. … I was sitting with my family and eating lunch when my house was surrounded by Israeli soldiers. I was given fifteen minutes to take my possessions and family out of the house… They left us with nothing.” That was the first time Shawamreh’s house in Anata, a village near Jerusalem, was destroyed by Israeli bulldozers. It would happen three more times. He tells the story while sitting in the fifth incarnation of the house, which currently doubles as a peace and activism center. The walls are hung with pictures of Shawamreh being beaten and his family in tears as a reminder of the history of the building. 

Palestinians protest Gaza smokescreen

Laila El-Haddad 28 July 2005


Palestinians have burned rubber tyres along the trail of the Israeli separation barrier in the West Bank in a symbolic protest against its ongoing construction under the smokescreen of the Gaza pullout. Black smoke seen rising along the wall’s path from the areas of Marda to Qalandia in the Central West Bank on Thursday was an “SOS to the world” to take action to stop Israel’s annexation of their land and “imprisonment of the Palestinian people”, according to Ayed Morrar, coordinator of the Popular Committee to Resist the Wall in Ram Allah. 

Lebanon / Syria: Border Lock Down....

Stefan Christoff 27 July 2005


Thousands of transport trucks line the winding highways of Akkar, an impoverished region in northern Lebanon which borders Syria. Currently all land border crossings into Syria are shutdown to economic traffic, dealing a serious blow to Lebanon’s already unstable economy. The Syrian government has publicly justified this border lockdown in the name of regional “security”, as Syria is under intense international political pressure mainly from the U.S. to introduce tighter border controls. In Lebanon, the newly formed government and various unions representing impacted sectors, have painted the border crisis as an attempt to hit the country economically after the forced withdrawal of upwards of 15 000 Syrian soldiers from Lebanon in April 2005 and the recent election results. 

After Seven Years, Arab Bedouin Family Allowed to Build Home on their Own Land in the Galilee

25 July 2005


After seven years of legal and bureaucratic struggle, on 30 June 2005, the Northern District Appellate Committee decided to accept Adalah’s appeal on behalf of Adel and Itaaf Sawaed and to grant a permit to the couple to build a family home on their privately-owned land in the Jewish community town of Kamoun, in the north of Israel. The NDAC acceptance of the appeal is subject to the fulfillment of a number of conditions, toward which the Sawaed family is currently working. Adel and Itaaf Sawaed, both of whom are Palestinian Bedouin citizens of Israel, are currently living with their children in a temporary home constructed on their land in Kamoun. 

Film review: "Private"

Arjan El Fassed 26 July 2005


Winner of a Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival (Best Film) and Bronze Leopord (for Mohammad Bakri’s performance), “Private” is a thought provoking, psychological drama, based on real events. Mohammad, played by famous Palestinian actor Mohammad Bakri is a Palestinian teacher and active pacifist. He lives with his family in a home located in an area between a Palestinian village and Israeli settlements. His wife Samia (Areen Omari) feels unsafe in these surroundings and would like to move, but Mohammad’s pride does not allow him and his middle class family to be labeled with the status of refugee. He decides to stay.