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Rights org: "Fog of war" no cover for Gaza killings

18 May 2008


At approximately 9:15 am on 14 May 2008, 17-year-old Hamdi Salemeh Khader was riding his bicycle on al-Karama Road near a local cement factory in the northern Gaza Strip when he was shot twice (once in the shoulder and once in the upper right quadrant of the chest) by machine gun fire emanating from the tanks, killing him instantly. Hamdi’s death is just one of many willful killings perpetrated by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip. 

Israeli settler kills Palestinian civilian near Ramallah

18 May 2008


On the afternoon of Friday 9 May 2008, five young Palestinian men and a 13-year-old boy set out to hunt birds in the hills of Deir Dibwan village, east of Ramallah city. Upon their arrival to the hills, they noticed a group of people, including young children, on an opposite hill, approximately 150 meters away. Based on testimony Al-Haq collected from the Palestinian men, they initially thought that this group was also Palestinian, and paid little attention to them. 

Film review: "Shadow of Absence"

Isabelle Humphries 16 May 2008


“Born in Palestine. Died in Lebanon.” “Born in Palestine. Died in Syria.” “Born in Palestine. Died in Jordan.” The camera pans across an endless row of white tombstones. Shadow of Absence takes death as its subject yet in doing so presents a powerful statement about Palestinian life. Isabelle Humphries reviews director Nasri Hajjaj’s new documentary for EI. 

The Nakba march

Jonathan Cook Nazareth 16 May 2008


Israel’s Palestinian minority staged a procession to one of more than 400 Palestinian villages erased by Israel in a monumental act of state vandalism after the fighting. In a sign of how far Israel still is from coming to terms with the circumstances of its birth, EI contributor Jonathan Cook reports that the march was forcibly broken up by the Israeli police. 

Remembering the Nakba, 60 years later

15 May 2008


“I am not sure what year I was born. But it was around 78 years ago, in Palestine.” Handuma Rashid Najja Wishah sits on the patio overlooking her large garden, recalling the turbulent story of her long life. “I am a Palestinian from the village of Beit Affa” she says, tucking her long white scarf under her chin. “It was a beautiful village and we had a good life there. There was a small Jewish settlement nearby, called Negba, and we had a good relationship with the Jews. 

Crossing the Line interviews author Phyllis Bennis

15 May 2008


This week on Crossing The Line: Former US President Jimmy Carter met with the political head of Hamas in Syria while insisting that Hamas must be included in any future Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. The visit has drawn criticism from both the US and Israel which until now have refused to take part in any official negotiations with the Hamas government. What does Carter’s meeting with Hamas mean? Is it as “historic” as some are calling it? Host Naji Ali speaks with author on Middle East issues, Phyllis Bennis about Carter’s controversial visit to the Middle East. 

Siege hits Palestinians before they are born

Mohammed Omer 15 May 2008


GAZA CITY, 14 May (IPS) - The Israeli siege of Gaza that has restricted access to food, water and medicine is now beginning to hit unborn children and newborn babies. “Many babies are born suffering from anaemia that they have inherited from their mothers,” Dr Salah al-Rantisi, head of the women’s health department at the Palestinian ministry of health in Gaza told IPS. And the mothers are becoming anemic because they do not now get enough nutrition through pregnancy. 

Photostory: Shattered remains

Adam Beach 15 May 2008


“There is, here, a timeless present, and here no one can find anyone. No one remembers how we went out the door like a gust of wind, and at what hour we fell from yesterday, and then yesterday shattered on the tiles in shards for others to reassemble into mirrors reflecting their image over ours.” Adam Beach’s photographs document life in the occupied territories. 

There is no alternative to the right of return

14 May 2008


To the People of Palestine, Whether you live within the “Green Line,” in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, or in exile, you shall return, there is no doubt that you shall return. Today the skies will echo as you state with one united voice: “There can be no alternative to our return,” all sounds will melt away as your voice rises to say “There can be no peace without our return to our original lands and homes.”