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Gaza under large-scale attack

Mona El-Farra Gaza 28 June 2006


I am writing while the jet fighters are in the sky with their horrible sounds, bringing death and horror. It is 10:30 pm and I am still waiting, like everyone. I hope they will not go ahead with their operation into Gaza; the outcome could be horrible. The resistance movements are going ahead with their preparations too, but it is obvious which side holds the balance of power. Anyway, Israel - resistance or no resistance - is attacking us all the time, but this time will be different, and in the process many civilian lives will be lost. 

Gaza Invasion: EI co-founder and Shlomo Ben Ami on Democracy Now

28 June 2006


Israeli forces have invaded the Gaza Strip for the first time since withdrawing ten months ago. Israel says it launched the raid to recover a soldier captured by Palestinian militants. The strikes came just hours after Fatah and Hamas agreed on a document to implicitly recognize Israel within its 1967 borders. We go to Gaza to speak with Palestinian physician Dr. Mona El-Farra and we get comment from former Israeli foreign minister Shlomo Ben Ami and Palestinian activist Ali Abunimah. 

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Punish Palestinian Civilians in the Gaza Strip

28 June 2006


PCHR strongly condemns IOF retaliatory measures targeting Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, including the destruction of properties that are not classified as a legitimate military targets. The Centre calls upon the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention, to force IOF to respect the convention, which prohibits reprisals against protected persons, as stipulated in article 33. In addition, the convention prohibits the destruction of private properties belonging to individuals, groups, organizations or official bodies. 

Entry denied: Deporting witnesses of Israeli occupation and unilateralism

Maureen Clare Murphy 11 July 2006


In another Israeli move designed to further isolate Palestinians from the rest of the world community, it is being reported that the Israeli army will be declaring the West Bank closed to foreign nationals. The Gaza Strip has already been made virtually inaccessible to foreign nationals; those who wish to enter must apply to the Israeli authorities, weeks in advance, to receive elusive permits. The effect is that the plight of the Palestinian civilian population living under Israeli occupation becomes all the more invisible to the international community. 

A Welcome Spotlight on Palestinian Child Prisoners

Catherine Hunter 27 June 2006


The plight of Palestinian children arrested by the Israeli army has long been one of the neglected aspects of Israeli occupation, involving some 600 minors a year since the outbreak of the second Intifada in September 2000. Nearly all are held without access to legal support during questioning, often compelled to sign confessions in Hebrew, a language they don’t understand, while subjected to intimidation and mistreatment as a matter of routine course. It starts with the arrest itself, which can take place during night-time incursions or mass arrest campaigns, or at military checkpoints. 

Fatah-Hamas Armed Clashes Continue

27 June 2006


Over the past week, armed clashes between armed groups and security forces have escalated, leaving seventeen Palestinians injured, one injured seriously. Five people were also kidnapped and three vehicles were blown up. PCHR is gravely concerned over the continued escalation in the use of arms by armed Palestinian groups and individuals, which is part of the security chaos plaguing the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). The Centre calls upon the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), represented by the Attorney-General, to seriously investigate these crimes and to bring the perpetrators to justice. 

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Paralyze Lives of Civilians in the Gaza Strip

27 June 2006


PCHR views with gravity the collective punishment currently being imposed by IOF on the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. This punishment is being inflicted through the complete land and sea closure of the Gaza Strip, including the closure of Rafah International Crossing Point on the border with Egypt, prevention of fishermen from going out to sea and constant aerial surveillance. In addition, PCHR is apprehensive over the consequences of the current situation, fearing the possibility of a wide scale ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. 

Open Letter to Slavoj Zizek

27 June 2006


“Dear Slavoj Zizek, We at the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) have received with concern the news of your participation in the Jerusalem International Film Festival next month. Since a clear majority of Palestinian civil society has called upon international academics, artists, and intellectuals to boycott Israeli institutions due to their complicity in maintaining Israel’s occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people, we strongly urge you to reconsider your participation in this event.” The Palestinian Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is endorsed by over 170 Palestinian union, association and other civil society organizations. 

'Escalation', 'retaliation' and BBC double standards in Gaza

Jonathan Cook 26 June 2006


The killing by Palestinian militants of two Israeli soldiers and the capture of a third from an army post close to the Gaza Strip set the scene for Israeli “reprisals” and “retaliation”, according to the reports of BBC correspondents in Israel and Gaza at the weekend. We can ignore the weeks of shelling by the Israeli army of Gaza, the firing of hundreds of missiles into the crowded Strip that have destroyed Palestinian lives and property, while spreading terror among the civilian population. 

Lee Kaplan's distortions

Nigel Parry 17 June 2006


Reading Lee Kaplan’s various articles, in a variety of publications over the last several months, on the supposed links between organizations that work for Palestinian freedom, my primary reaction is how severely and routinely they are riddled with basic factual errors. He clearly knows next to nothing about what he is writing about. Where there is not error, there is speculation that bases its trajectory on error… One obvious reason that has given rise to all of this is that Kaplan has never once picked up the phone to ask myself or anyone else at EI the usual questions that journalists are supposed to ask before they put pen to paper.