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Globalizing the Occupation

Jamal Juma' 8 July 2006


This year, the 9th of July is a bitter day for Palestinians. The Occupation Army besieges Gaza, massacres its people and attacks its infrastructure. The ghettos of the West Bank take shape as the Apartheid Wall edges closer to completion and the Palestinian exodus from Jerusalem has begun. Over 9000 Palestinians sit in Israeli prison cells whilst Palestinians who remain on their 1948 lands do so under the subjugation of the most vicious and discriminatory Apartheid system. The brief euphoria of two years ago, following the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Wall, is a distant memory. Some hailed a victory for international law in Palestine when the ICJ ruled the Wall illegal. 

Israel's Attacks on Gaza

8 July 2006


Israel is using weapons supplied by the United States to target Palestinian civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip in violation of the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, the Foreign Assistance Act and the Geneva Conventions. Israeli air force fighter squadrons are composed of Lockheed Martin F-16I Fighting Falcons and Boeing F-15Is, which fire U.S.-manufactured AMRAAM, Sidewinder, and Sparrow missiles. Between 2005-2005, the United States licensed to Israel at least $1.062 billion of spare parts, engines, and missiles for its F-15 and F-16 fighter planes. 

Palestinian Child Demands Protection for the Palestinian People at the UN

Riham Barghouti 8 July 2006


The 150 protesters organized a number of actions including a mock die-in where demonstrators lay down on the street and were covered with the Palestinian flags in solidarity with the Palestinians who are being killed on a daily basis in the Gaza Strip. In June 56 Palestinians, many of them civilians including children, were killed by Israeli Occupation Forces. In addition to singing Palestinian songs and chanting for an end to the occupation, international protection for the Palestinian people and sanctions against Israel, the demonstrators donned blindfolds and bound their hands to depict the plight of Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails. 

President Bush : AWOL (Again) in Gaza

Eugene Bird 8 July 2006


The Bush Administration has been A.W.O.L. when it comes to being an effective peacemaker between 4 million Palestinians and 6 million Israelis. Having locked itself into the untenable position of rejecting the results of the Hamas election six months ago in Palestine, the administration and Israel now find themselves facing a full-scale insurgency. Both countries have only a military solution. Several times in the past five years spokespersons for the administration have said that there is no military solution to the confrontation between Israel and Palestine. 

Mohammad Az Zanoun and the Spirit of Nonviolent Resistance

Nigel Parry 8 July 2006


The Electronic Intifada’s coverage of “Operation Summer Rain” — the code name for Israel’s massive destruction of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure — continues. EI is currently being updated several times daily from around the world. During the Gaza invasion, we are using all of our site’s five multimedia panels to point to the special BY TOPIC section of Key Events, “Israel invades Gaza (27 June 2006)”, and to showcase some of the incredible photographs from on the ground put out by the Ma’an News Agency. EI was saddened to learn this morning of the serious injury of 20-year-old Ma’an photographer Mohammad Az Zanoun in Gaza. 

Ma'an news agency Gaza photographer shot and seriously injured

8 July 2006


Young photographer Mohammad Az Zamoun was seriously shot and injured by shrapnel from Israeli projectiles. One hit his mouth and teeth and cut his finger. The other hit him on his body. In spite of that, he continued to work, strangely insistent. Then the Israeli soldiers aimed their weapons directly at him and shot him in the stomach. He fell instantly to the ground with his camera. Eyewitnesses said that he fell to the ground shouting, “Where is the camera? There are many photos in it which are witness to the killing of Palestinians; there are many photos of the Palestinians who have been killed.” 

IOF Offensive Continues in the Gaza Strip: Eleven More Palestinians Killed; Civilian Property Destroyed; Medical and Media Crews Attacked

8 July 2006


According to investigations conducted by PCHR, on Friday, 7 July 2006, IOF continued their wide scale incursion into the northern Gaza Strip for the second consecutive day. They moved into the north east of Beit Hanoun and razed large areas of Palestinian agricultural land. They also moved into the north of Beit Lahia, occupying the al-Salateen, al-‘Atatra and al-Israa’ neighborhoods. Moreover, IOF continued to shell civilian populated areas and seized control of dozens of houses, forcing hundreds of Palestinian civilians to leave their homes. PCHR’s field worker in the northern Gaza Strip reported that IOF detained at least 5000 people and endangered their lives by using them as human shields. 

Gaza Strip Situation Report No. 5

6 July 2006


In the last 24 hours (since 10pm on 5 July), at least 15 Palestinians have been killed and 66 injured in the Gaza Strip. The majority of these Palestinians have been killed and injured in confrontations with the IDF in Palestinian towns and villages, including Khan Younis in the south and Beit Lahia in the north. In Beit Lahia, one Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldier was killed and another injured and airlifted on Thursday. During the last 24 hours, the IDF expanded their military incursion into the Gaza Strip. The IDF moved additional troops and armour into the former northern settlement block. 

Are Israeli lives worth more than Palestinian?

7 July 2006


Arab Media Watch expresses its concern at the amount of coverage given to Israel’s killing yesterday of almost two dozen Palestinians, including civilians, compared with the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier on 25 June, as well as the continued portrayal of the current crisis as being triggered by the kidnapping. The Mail devoted 4 times as many words to the kidnapping (661, compared with 167), the Sun devoted just 79 words to the killings (105 for the kidnapping), and the Guardian devoted more than twice as many words to the kidnapping. Furthermore, the media is continuing to portray the current crisis as being triggered by the kidnapping, which is not the case. 

Bloody Day of Violence: 24 Palestinians killed by Israeli Occupation Forces in the Gaza Strip and 2 killed in the West Bank, 115 others injured

7 July 2006


PCHR’s preliminary investigation indicates that the past day has witnessed an IOF escalation unprecedented since the implementation of the disengagement plan nearly ten months ago. A total of twenty-six Palestinians were killed over a period of twenty-six hours: twenty-four in the Gaza Strip and two in the West Bank. This brings the number of Palestinians killed to thirty-six, since the capturing of the Israeli soldier on 25 June 2006. In addition, one hundred and fifteen Palestinians have been injured, most of them civilians.