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UNICEF estimates 20,000 children affected by conflict in camp

12 June 2007


BEDDAWI CAMP, 11 June 2007 (IRIN) - Seven-year-old Omar Mohammed Mallas may pretend the bombs and bullets that slammed into his home from the clashes outside did not scare him much, but spend a little time with the young resident of north Lebanon’s besieged Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, and he quietly confesses his fears. “I saw the tanks and heard the explosions and I told my Mum: ‘Let’s get out of here.’ On the way I found a piece of shrapnel that I liked but I’ve lost it now. I’m really looking forward to going home,” said Omar. 

Patients killed as gunmen storm Gaza hospitals

12 June 2007


TEL AVIV, 12 June 2007 (IRIN) - Patients are dying in crossfire as hospitals have been overrun by gunmen in a new wave of Gaza violence, which the UN has warned is jeopardising the delivery of essential humanitarian aid. The violence has claimed 17 lives and ambulance teams are being prevented from evacuating the wounded from combat zones by checkpoints manned by armed fighters across the Strip, medical organisations said. Hamas stormed the hospitals because it was worried Fatah would target its wounded fighters. 

No justice without right of return

Mona El-Farra 12 June 2007


The following is a speech made by Dr. Mona El-Farra at a special meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York marking 40 years of occupation by Israel of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip: It is my honour to be amongst you today, despite the gravity of the occasion being commemorated, on this 40th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. First, let me say that 2007 is the 59th anniversary of the brutal occupation of the Palestinian people. 

The Writing on the Wall

Miko Peled 12 June 2007


Jamil Hilal’s book Where Now for Palestine, the Demise of the Two State Solution is like the biblical Daniel interpreting the writing on the wall. Thorough and compelling, this book contains eleven illuminating essays with razor sharp analysis on the current state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the demise of the two-state solution. “The policy imperatives of political Zionism have been oriented towards occupying land with no, or the minimum of, Palestinians.” Hilal writes. EI contributor Miko Peled reviews. 

Gaza battles kill 21, injure 150

12 June 2007


For the third consecutive day, Gaza City has witnessed unjustifiable violent internal fighting, and an atmosphere of tension has spread over Gaza that is not less violent than that which has spread as a result of the offensive that has been launched by Israeli Occupation Forces for nearly a month. Since Monday evening, violence has extended to most areas in the Gaza Strip from the north to the south, and militants have deployed in the streets, at the entrances of towns and near governmental headquarters and security compounds. 

Testimony: Man used as human shield injured in Jenin camp

11 June 2007


I am a student at An-Najah University and live with my family in the entrance of the Jenin refugee camp. I was studying for my final exams on Tuesday, 15 May 2007 around 1:30am when I heard military vehicles coming into the neighborhood and parking in front of our house. The soldiers called to us on loudspeakers to leave the house. One of the vehicles stopped before our entrance, lighting up the house — I understood that the soldiers meant for us to leave. I went into my parents’ room and found them awake. I went to the front door and opened it, and the soldiers ordered everyone in the house to come out. 

One in three Lebanese wants to leave

11 June 2007


BEIRUT, 10 June 2007 (IRIN) - Researchers warn that economic instability and persistent security threats are driving ever more young, educated Lebanese abroad, creating a brain drain that threatens the country’s economic and social future. “We’re suffering a huge brain drain,” Kamal Hamdan, head of the Lebanese Centre of Research and Studies, told IRIN. “Those who have the brains take their diplomas and leave. They are the young people who would go on to be middle executives and entrepreneurs. In the long term, their absence means we may face a serious shortage of policy developers and managers.” 

Three Flat Tires

Marcy Newman Beirut 8 June 2007


The Nahr al-Bared Relief Campaign loaded up a truck from its center in Shatila refugee camp in Beirut yesterday to take a shipment of baby formula, medicine, and food aid to Nahr al-Bared refugees in Baddawi refugee camp near Tripoli. There were three of us: our driver from Shatila, a Lebanese, and me, an American. The extra people in the car were there, in part, to ensure that our driver would not be picked up by the army and detained at a checkpoint for driving while Palestinian (think driving while Black in an American context), which is increasingly becoming a problem. Dr. Marcy Newman writes from Lebanon. 

Unexploded ordnance hampering aid deliveries to refugees

7 June 2007


BEIRUT, 7 June 2007 (IRIN) - Unexploded ordnance and booby-trapped buildings are hindering an already highly restricted relief effort trying to provide vital food and water and evacuate the injured from the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon. Up to 8,000 people remain caught in a deadly stand-off there between the military and Islamist militants. “It is becoming extremely difficult to mount relief operations, not only because of the deteriorating security conditions, but also because debris, rubble and unexploded ordnance on the camp’s roads are obstructing the way for ambulances and relief vehicles,” said Jordi Raich Curco, the ICRC head of delegation in Lebanon. 

It's not just the occupation

Ali Abunimah 7 June 2007


“Forty years ago today was the last day the citizens of Israel were a free people in their own land,” wrote Ha’aretz columnist Akiva Eldar on June 4. “It was the last day we lived here without living other peoples’ lives.” This sums up the cherished mythology of what is still called the Israeli left and much of the international peace process industry — that prior to the 1967 war, Israel was pure and on the right path. EI’s Ali Abunimah challenges the idea that had Israel not “become an occupier” the region would have had a happier history.