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Let our people move

Daoud Kuttab 28 November 2006


A little over a year ago, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Quartet envoy James Wolfensohn, Israeli defense minister Shaul Mofaz, the PA’s Muhammad Dahlan and the EU reached an agreement to allow Palestinians free movement in and out of the Gaza Strip. The Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA) signed on November 15, 2005 promised Palestinians freedom of movement of people and goods. A detailed fact sheet published by the Palestinian Monitoring Group shows that since last year, none of the agreement’s provisions have been fully implemented by Israel. In July, seven Palestinians waiting to be let into Gaza from Egypt died as a result of heat and the absence of shelter. 

On International Day of Solidarity - Occupation is the Issue

28 November 2006


On 29 November 2006, the international community observes the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. As a Palestinian organisation dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), Al-Haq takes this opportunity to emphasise that the root cause of the pervasive violations of human rights and humanitarian law in the OPT is the almost 40-year-old Israeli occupation. Both Israel and the international community have repeatedly failed to meet their international legal obligations with regard to the OPT. Consequently, the full realisation of the fundamental rights of Palestinians, including the right to self-determination, remains as distant as ever. 

Media conference criticizes discrimination against Arab media

28 November 2006


The Mossawa Center has criticized the Israeli Cinema Council, large private companies, the government advertisement office, the Ministry of Transportation and the First and Second Broadcasting Authority for their discrimination against Arab media. This discrimination marginalizes Arab citizens and negatively affects their right to knowledge and their ability to express their needs and present them to the Arab and Jewish public. Insufficient allocation of advertising budgets to written and visual media, Internet, radio, television, cinema and even phone services has proved to be a method of further marginalizing Arab society. 

Ghettos form in shadow of the wall

28 November 2006


Israel began building an eight-metre high, 703km-long concrete barrier through the West Bank in the occupied Palestinian territories in 2002. To date, some 670km of it has been completed. In July 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague ruled that the barrier’s route, which weaves around the western border of the majority occupied territory was illegal under international humanitarian and human rights law, because it ‘gravely’ infringes on a number of rights of Palestinians living in the West Bank. Barely five kilometres separate holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where Christians believe that Jesus Christ was born. 

Gaza's teetering tower of debt

28 November 2006


Abu Khamis’s credit book is seeing a lot of use these days. The scribbled notes account for 45,000 shekels (US$10,000) owed for goods he has advanced to his penniless customers. “I have two credit books full of debt. I’m getting women coming in and offering to sell their jewellery, even their wedding rings. People simply have no money,” the clothes trader, who works in the central market of Gaza’s teeming Jabalia refugee camp, said. But Khamis’s credit line has almost run out. “I can carry on like this for about another month - and then I will have to stop lending,” he said. “And it’s not just me - it’s every shop in Jabalia.” 

One Palestinian killed, one wounded, in misuse of weapons

27 November 2006


According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 21:00 on Saturday, 25 November 2006, medical sources at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City declared that ‘Ali Saleh Sarsour, 19, from the central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah, died from a wound he had sustained on Wednesday evening, 22 November 2006. Sarsour was hit by a live bullet to the head from an unknown source, when he was near his house in Deir al-Balah. Earlier on Saturday, at approximately 19:30, Sa’ed Mufeed ‘Awadallah, 21, from al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City, was evacuated to Shifa Hospital in the city, after he had been wounded by a live bullet to the right foot. 

Lebanon: damage to agriculture, fisheries and forestry estimated at around $280 million

27 November 2006


Damage and losses to agriculture, fisheries and forestry in Lebanon as a result of last summer’s hostilities are estimated at around $280 million, according to an FAO damage assessment report issued today. The conflict affected the agriculture sector directly, with crops, livestock and equipment damaged by the bombing. But much more important, according to the report, was the indirect economic impact in terms of lost markets and labour opportunities. The biggest economic losses were attributed to the lack of access to fields during the conflict period, the peak time for the harvest of some crops (mainly stone fruit and potatoes) destined for export. 

Palestinian homes abandoned in flight across Israel's wall

27 November 2006


Israel began building an eight-metre high, 703km-long concrete barrier through the West Bank in the occupied Palestinian territories in 2002. To date, some 670km of it is completed. Israel says the wall is a security measure to protect Israeli citizens from terrorist attacks by Palestinian militants. When the barrier is completed, about 10 per cent of the West Bank will be inside Israel. In July 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague ruled that the barrier’s route, which weaves around the western border of the occupied territory, was illegal under international humanitarian and human rights law because it “gravely” infringes on a number of rights of Palestinians living in the West Bank. 

Gazans want to protect homes, say rights activists

22 November 2006


Palestinian human rights activists have said that using citizens as human shields to protect the homes of suspected militants is wrong, but said Gazans are simply protecting each other and their houses because they believe no one else will. The comments came after the US-based watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement on Wednesday condemning Palestinian armed factions for encouraging civilians to gather in and around suspected militants’ homes targeted by the Israeli military. Jaber Oshaah of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza told IRIN that he agreed with HRW’s statement but could understand why this strategy was being used. 

Accident reveals newly laid Israeli mines, UN says

26 November 2006


The Israeli army sowed landmines in south Lebanon during its summer conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the United Nations said on 25 November. The claims came after British and Bosnian bomb disposal experts each had a foot amputated after a newly laid Israeli-made anti-personnel landmine exploded on Friday, according to a statement by the UN’s Mine Action Coordination Centre in South Lebanon (UNMACC SL). Israel has not yet established whether its forces laid landmines in Lebanon during its recent conflict, officials speaking on condition of anonymity at the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) told IRIN.