All Content

Divide and destroy

Alex Klaushofer 4 December 2003


Israel’s separation wall is creating a new kind of humanitarian crisis for the Palestinians who live in its shadow. Cutting into Palestinian lands by up to six kilometres, the barrier takes different forms along its length - here an imposing concrete construction, there a steel fence and a tangle of barbed wire. The new dependency emerging in the communities destroyed by the barrier is yet another example of how the poverty afflicting the Palestinians is a human creation. Christian Aid’s Alex Klaushofer witnesses the devastation of communities. 

Palestinian museum exhibition "lost" by American Airport Security

4 December 2003


On 1 November 2003 the Palestinian Costume Archive’s exhibition, Symbolic defiance: Palestinian costume and embroidery since 1948, was taken for a security check/ x-ray at Los Angeles airport’s Terminal 4 and has not been seen since. All attempts by the Palestine Costume Archive, Qantas, Alaskan Airlines and MESA to locate the exhibition over the last three weeks failed and the search has been abandoned. The “loss” of this exhibition raises major concerns for all museums and curators worldwide currently touring Middle Eastern exhibitions in the United States. 

OPEC Fund extends US$570,000 grant to help finance capacity building projects in Palestine

1 December 2003


The OPEC Fund for International Development today approved a grant of US$570,000 to help finance four capacity building projects designed to address some of the most urgent needs of the poorest, hardest hit communities in the West Bank. The aim is to enable them to secure a decent standard of living. This is the fifth grant approved under the Fund’s Special Grant Account for Palestine, which was set up with an initial endowment of US$10 million. The first grant was approved in December 2002 to provide financial support to Palestinian universities and students. 

Resolving Israeli-Palestinian conflict, restoring calm in Iraq among Middle East challenges, UN GA told

1 December 2003


The General Assembly today kicked off its debate of the situation in the troubled Middle East, focusing on a host of challenging issues, from the importance of restoring calm in Iraq, to quelling tensions in the Syrian Golan and bringing an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — which many believed was the key to ensuring peace throughout the entire region. The General Assembly met today to continue its consideration of the question of Palestine and to begin its consideration of the situation in the Middle East. 

Nineteen donor countries pledge $72 million for activities of UNRWA

2 December 2003


Nineteen donor countries pledged $72 million for the 2004 budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) at this morning’s meeting of the General Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee for Voluntary Contributions. Despite an increasing beneficiary base, the 2004 budget had declined by some 5 per cent in real terms to $330 million. The 2004 budget would minimally cover the Agency’s financial needs, he continued, including $4 million in salary increases and $7 million in working capital requirements. 

A campaign against "incitement"

James J. Zogby 9 July 2001

Schumer and Clinton displayed clear bias and a lack of good judgement in accepting as fact a distortion created by a pro-Israeli group. They compounded their error by further exaggerating this claim in their comments to the press and in their letter to President Bush. In doing so they did a disservice to their positions as U.S. Senators and to the pursuit of truth and peace. 

Growing up under curfew

30 April 2003

The tragic situation faced by children in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is the subject of a report put together by staff from Save the Children UK and Sweden who have joined forces and plan to launch it at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva in April 2003. 

Education under occupation

31 March 2002

Since September 2000, there has been a dramatic deterioration of children’s rights in the Palestinian Territories. This study was conducted by Save the Children between April and June 2001. It examines the effects of this deterioration on the education system and calls for better monitoring of children’s rights in the Palestinian Territories. 

Origins of the Middle East crisis: Who caused the Palestinian Diaspora?

George Bisharat 3 December 2003


In 1948, three quarters of a million Palestinians were driven from what became Israel, their homes, land and possessions taken over by the new Jewish state. The pointed silence regarding the Palestinian right of return means that an important opportunity has been missed to apprise Israelis, and the world, of a critical reality. No real or lasting peace will be achieved in the area until Israel finally admits the long-denied truth, accepts moral responsibility and apologizes for its forcible exile of Palestinian refugees 55 years ago. Law professor George Bisharat looks at the issue. 

Israeli forces kill four Palestinian civilians, including a child

1 December 2003


In the early hours of Monday, 1 December 2003, Israeli occupation forces, using excessive and indiscriminate force, killed four Palestinian civilians during several incursions into the West Bank.  These unlawful killings represent the most recent war crimes perpetrated by Israeli occupation forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Two of the victims were killed when Israeli occupation forces detonated explosive devices inside a house in the Sharafa area east of Al Amari refugee camp, near Ramallah. A six year old child and another Palestinian were also killed.