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Tension between Fatah and Hamas continues

5 June 2006


In the latest clash between armed groups in the Gaza Strip, unidentified gunmen fired at Abdel Hadi Seyam, a member of the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades in Gaza City. He was seriously injured in the chest. Prior to this incident, nine people were injured, including a child, in armed clashes between members of the Preventive Security Apparatus and members of the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades in Khan Yunis. Unknown gunmen also shot Khader Afana, an officer in the Preventive Security Apparatus, in Gaza City. He died of serious injuries sustained in the attack. 

The Boycott of Palestinian Education: Can the Anti-Boycotters Please Stand Up?

3 June 2006


In the flurry of letters and comments against the boycott of Israeli academics who, according to Natfhe, are complicit through their work or silence, in the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the reality facing the other side of the coin, that of Palestinian academics, researchers and educational institutions, has been ignored. Under Israeli occupation, all eleven Palestinian universities have been closed, the longest being Birzeit between 1988 and 1992, and the most recent Hebron Polytechnic which was closed by military order for 8 months in 2003. 

We Need Justice

Fida Qeshta 3 June 2006


My family and I live in Rafah. On January 21, 2004, our neighbor, Abu Jamil, woke us at 2:00 AM. He asked for help because the Israeli military came to bulldoze his home. My mother and I helped his family to empty their house. By 6:00 AM it was demolished. Since 1967 Israel has demolished 12,000 Palestinian homes. During this uprising, Israel has demolished 2000 homes in Rafah, mostly near the border with Egypt, and 3,000 houses in the Gaza Strip. In Rafah 3,000 people remain homeless. 

The Myth of Unilateralism and Convergence

Am Johal 2 June 2006


What Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is attempting to pull off through unilateralism is historically unprecedented – to take a disputed territory and mark its own borders without taking in to account historical aspirations or negotiations. Convergence is a public relations term rather than something to be taken as seriously as diplomacy. It will more than likely perpetuate the vicious circle which has gone on since 1993 and could stoke the fires of a third intifada. 

How Olmert conned Washington over convergence

Jonathan Cook 1 June 2006


Israelis have a word for it: “hasbara”. It is often misleadingly translated as “advocacy for Israel”. But what the word signifies more deeply for Israel’s supporters is the duty, when the truth would be damaging, to dissemble or to disseminate misinformation to protect the interests of Israel as a Jewish state — that is, a state with an unassailable Jewish majority. If hasbara is expected of the lowliest members of Israel’s international fan club, it is a duty of the first order for the country’s prime minister. 

The Hamas Government Should be Recognized

Tanya Reinhart 31 May 2006


The U.S. and Europe decided, despite Israel’s opposition, to permit the Palestinian people to hold democratic elections. According to Jimmy Carter’s report in the “Herald Tribune”, the elections were “honest, fair, strongly contested, without violence and with the results accepted by winners and losers. Among the 62 elections that have been monitored by… the Carter Center, these are among the best in portraying the will of the people.” In a just and well-ordered world, it would be unthinkable for a government that was elected in this way to be disqualified because Israel does not like the choice of the electorate in question. 

"Three Arab Painters in New York" to open in New York City

Maymanah Farhat 31 May 2006


Three Arab Painters in New York is an art exhibition that features the work of three leading New York-based Arab painters. Samia Halaby, Sumayyah Samaha and Athir Shayota have been contributing to contemporary American art for decades and have exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States. Varied in style, technique, medium, scale and artistic influence, the three present a glimpse into the diverse and complex nature of the Arab World’s art and visual culture. 

2 Citizens Killed by Gunmen in Nablus

31 May 2006


Yesterday evening, Jefal Mahmoud Ayesh (25) and Wedad Ghazi Abu Mustafa (28), from Balata refugee camp near Nablus, were extra-judicially executed in two separate crimes perpetrated by armed Palestinian groups. The perpetrators claimed that the victims had been informants for the Israeli security services. PCHR’s preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 15:30 on Tuesday, 30 May 2006, a number of gunmen from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, shot Jefal Ayesh near the northwestern entrance of Balata refugee camp. 

Gaza artist opens "Fathers" exhibition

Sami Abu Salem 31 May 2006


Mr. Alain Rémy, the French Consul General in Jerusalem, and Moein Sadeq, the deputy general of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquity (MTA) joined many people, including children, to gather under fluttering Palestinian and French flags at the door of the little museum of Qasr Albasha in the old city of Gaza. They gathered not for politics, but to celebrate the new exhibition, “Fathers,” by the Gazan artist Taysir Batniji, hosted at the museum under the patronage of the French Cultural Centre (CCF) and the MTA. 

Israeli Authorities Deport Al-Haq Human Rights Defender

31 May 2006


In the late afternoon of 28 May 2005, Al-Haq human rights defender and American citizen Maureen Murphy arrived at Ben Gurion airport in Israel, on her way back from the USA to Ramallah in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). She was questioned, denied entry into Israel, declared persona non grata and deported on a plane at 00:55 am on 29 May. Maureen’s case is emblematic of an increasing pattern of international human rights defenders being denied access to the OPT. EI Note: Maureen Clare Murphy is arts editor of the Electronic Intifada.