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Mahmoud Abbas' war against the Palestinian people

Ali Abunimah 10 August 2007


A source who works directly with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ ministers in the unelected and illegal “emergency government” of Salam Fayyad in Ramallah wrote to me that “Abbas has explicitly ordered the Rafah border to close and remain closed with the purpose of strangling Hamas.” The source, who was motivated to speak out by his outrage, but requested anonymity because he fears reprisals, added that Abbas “is ready to see his own people die for his political games.” Ali Abunimah comments on the effects of Abbas’ policy of colluding with Israel. 

Palestinian doctor paints picture of Gaza under siege

Mark Almberg 13 August 2007


Sometimes it’s the little things that reveal the horror of oppression most vividly. Dr. Mona El-Farra, speaking in Chicago as part of a 17-city US tour, related how recently a Palestinian woman in the Occupied Territories had gone into labor and was heading to a hospital. “She was about to give birth, but she was detained at an Israeli checkpoint for three hours,” El-Farra said. “Amazingly, she eventually got through and was able to deliver her child.” Mark Almberg reports on El-Farra’s description of the current situation in occupied Palestine, particularly Gaza. 

"Her injuries are forever, for the rest of her life"

9 August 2007


JERUSALEM, 9 August 2007 (IRIN) - On a Saturday morning in mid May 2006, Hamdi Aman, aged 30 from Gaza, had his world turned upside down. Four members of his family died in an Israeli air strike aimed at an Islamic Jihad activist in Gaza. He is concerned that his daughter, Maria, set to celebrate her sixth birthday next week, will be forced to leave the Israeli hospital where she is being treated for serious injuries sustained in the attack. The authorities want her to go to Ramallah, in the West Bank, but medical workers and Hamdi are worried this will harm Maria. 

Book review: The fantasy of hermetic closure

Ali Abunimah 13 August 2007


The image of the separation wall that Israel began building in the occupied West Bank in 2002 has emerged as a trope in literature about Palestine. Its concrete slabs are found on covers of recent books, including Jimmy Carter’s Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, Norman Finkelstein’s Beyond Chutzpah, Rashid Khalidi’s The Iron Cage, Joseph Massad’s The Persistence of the Palestinian Question, and Tanya Reinhart’s The Roadmap to Nowhere. Ali Abunimah reviews two recent books that take the wall itself as their central subject. 

When Olmert and Abbas shake hands

Nora Barrows-Friedman Dheisheh refugee camp, Palestine 10 August 2007


On Monday, Israeli occupation authority Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and occupied Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas once again met and shook hands, each promising respective constituents that a so-called “peaceful solution” is near. Olmert “agreed” that cooperation between Israel and the PA will expand, something that is not lost on the millions of occupied Palestinians who continue to suffer each day as many other things expand beneath their feet — the settlement colonies, the apartheid wall, the egregious acts of violence and oppression enacted by the Israeli occupation military. 

Deconstructing the Jordan option

Osamah Khalil 13 August 2007


Last month the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the US and Israel were considering a revival of the “Jordan option.” In spite of the fervent denials emanating from Amman, the report caused a rash of speculation and concern among Palestinians. Many fear that if implemented it would mark the end of hopes for an independent Palestinian state. Resurrecting the Jordan option, in which the West Bank and possibly Gaza would be united in a political and economic confederation with Jordan, demonstrates not just the poverty of ideas in Washington and Israel, but their desperation as well. Osamah Khalil comments for EI. 

Radio Tadamon! reflects on Lebanon war

11 August 2007


This special edition of Radio Tadamon!, a monthly hour-long radio program broadcasted in Montreal and uploaded to the Internet, focuses on commemorating the July 2006 Israeli military assault on Lebanon. The 34-day war left over 1,300 Lebanese civilians dead, large parts of the national infrastructure destroyed and southern Lebanon littered with over a million unexploded cluster bombs. The program features multiple testimonies and reflections on the 2006 war on Lebanon recorded at a Montreal community commemoration event that attracted hundreds of participants from the Montreal region. 

European hypocrisy

Saifedean Ammous 9 August 2007


While in Paris a few weeks ago, whenever the Middle East came up EI contributor Saifedean Ammous would be met with the traditional refrains of classical anti-Americanism: “they have no culture and deal with the world as if it had no culture,” “they have no morality in their foreign policy,” “they go to war for oil and money” and so on with inane over-simplified stereotypes. Soon after would come the cackle of self-righteous pride: “we Europeans are different,” “we want our foreign policy based on a concept of morality,” “we attempt to promote justice in the world and fix up the mess left behind by the Americans.” 

Villagers face evacuation orders, movement restrictions

8 August 2007


AL-HADIDIYA, 8 August 2007 (IRIN) - Palestinian residents of al-Hadidiya village in Jordan Valley (in the West Bank), live without electricity or running water and most importantly, they say, face demolition and evacuation orders. “Five families tried to fight the orders in an Israeli court,” said Ali Bsharat, an al-Hadidiya resident. “They lost.” The five then had to sign documents and commit to leave the area. “We don’t want to leave,” Bsharat said, but implied that it may just be a matter of time before all the residents are forced to do so. 

Rights group: Journalist's killers must be prosecuted

6 August 2007


Legal deliberations on the murder of UK citizen James Miller have continued since he was killed on 2 May 2003 at the border line between Gaza and Egypt. Miller and a small crew were filming in the area for a documentary on children’s lives. According to investigations by Al Mezan, then-47-year-old Miller was killed by Israeli troops at approximately 11 pm on 2 May 2003 in the al-Shair neighborhood in Rafah. He was with three other persons, including his colleagues Saira Shah and Daniel Edge, and a Palestinian interpreter, Abedul Rahman Abdullah.