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Rifkah and my mother

Tala A.Rahmeh Ramallah, Palestine 5 August 2007


Today was the first time in the past seven years that I entered Jerusalem legally. I have a green West Bank Palestinian ID, which means that since the 2000 intifada started and the wall was built, I’m forbidden from entering any part of Israel as well as Jerusalem, which is only 20 minutes away from my home town of Ramallah. However, this hasn’t stopped me from going there. I would climb sandy hills opposite to Qalandia checkpoint (the main checkpoint at the entrance of Jerusalem), hide behind buildings from the sight of the Israeli soldiers, and sneak into Jerusalem. 

Senior Palestinian officials still in wrongful Israeli detention

2 August 2007


Shortly after the abduction of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, in June 2006, Israel detained dozens of Palestinians holding senior positions in the Palestinian Authority, some of them ministers in the Hamas government, and most of the members of the Palestinian Legislative Council on behalf of Hamas in the West Bank. The Judge Advocate General’s Office informed B’Tselem that forty-five members of the PLC had been detained. According to B’Tselem’s information, at least twenty-two of them remain in detention. 

Dreaming of Nahr al-Bared

Marcy Newman Beirut, Lebanon 4 August 2007


Last week a group of international activists, people from Shatila refugee camp, and a group of people from the Nahr al-Bared displaced committee held a meeting to discuss how to break the media blackout about the siege on Nahr al-Bared refugee camp. One of the men at the meeting asked us, “How do we get the story of our situation into the media on a daily basis so that people will go to sleep at night dreaming of people from Nahr al-Bared?” 

Report: Israel plundering the Jordan Valley

Adri Nieuwhof 7 September 2007


Agrexco has become a target in international campaigns for a boycott of Israeli goods. Fruit and vegetable exporter Agrexco is fifty-percent owned by the Israeli state, and is responsible for the export of 60-70 percent of all settlement produce, including that from the Jordan Valley. The report “To exist is to Resist, Eye on the Jordan Valley” was recently published by MA’AN Development Center and the Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign and offers detailed information on the ongoing Israeli colonization of the highly fertile lands of the Jordan Valley. 

Political obfuscation and stranded Palestinians in Egypt

Serene Assir 1 August 2007


Seven weeks into their displacement from Gaza, up to 700 of 6,000 stranded Palestinians returned home this week via the border crossing at al-Oja, north Sinai, controlled by Egypt and Israel. Their return via this terminal, traditionally used for the transportation of goods into Israel, is described as a one-time-only solution designed to solve the immediate crisis. The plan was forged by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, with the approval of the Egyptian government. Serene Assir investigates from Egypt. 

One week in July

Sonja Karkar 31 July 2007


Despite the media’s fixation on Hamas and Bush’s renewed interest in “peace,” the truth of the matter is that nothing has changed on the ground for the Palestinians. Each week Israel rolls its tanks into the West Bank and fires its missiles on Gaza. These are specific attacks on people that will be recorded as statistics; the stories of those affected will never be told. Sonja Karkar writes for EI. 

Ali Abunimah discusses Hamas and Fatah on Worldview

31 July 2007


On Friday, 27 August 2007, EI’s Ali Abunimah appeared on WBEZ Chicago’s Worldview, on which he discussed with host Jerome McDonnell the events that have transpired since Hamas routed Fatah in the Gaza Strip last month. Since then, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has created a new government of dubious legality with technocrat and US darling Salam Fayyad. The US and Israel have offered aid money and sent 1,000 M-16 weapons through Jordan to bolster Abbas’s forces while Fatah security head Mohammad Dahlan has resigned. 

Audio: Crossing the Line interviews Nahr al-Bared nurse

31 July 2007


This week on Crossing The Line: host Christopher Brown talks with Melad Salameh, a resident of Nahr al-Bared, who worked as a nurse while the fighting between militants of Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese army raged on around him. Now living in the Baddawi refugee camp, Salameh talks about the lingering hope that they might be able to return to their homes in Nahr al-Bared. 

Open letter: Suspend Israel from Euro 2008 competition

31 July 2007


The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) urges the Football Association (FA), the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) and the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) to take appropriate measures to suspend the national Israeli football team from all international fixtures until the state of Israel entirely complies with international law and relevant United Nations resolutions to end Israeli occupation. This should include a suspension of the Israeli team from the current Euro 2008 qualifiers. 

The closed gates to Gaza

Laila El-Haddad 30 July 2007


We had planned to leave Gaza around the beginning of June, with tickets booked out of Cairo 7 June. My parents were to come along with us for a visit. As is often the case in Gaza, things don’t always go according to plan. Rafah was open erratically during the month of May, and closed entirely the week prior to our departure. Wonderful, we thought — at least we could make our flight, if only barely. Laila El Haddad recounts barely squeezing out of Gaza early June only to have the gates to the Strip lock behind her and the thousands of other Palestinians currently stranded in Egypt.