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Internally displaced Palestinians struggle for recognition

6 August 2007


EIN HOUD, 5 August 2007 (IRIN) - Residents of Ein Houd village have been without electricity for almost 60 years but now Muhammed Abu al-Haija’s house has been connected to Israel’s electric grid. “So far, I’m the only one with electricity,” said Al-Haija, who, like the other 250 residents, is an Israeli citizen. “But I hope the whole village will get it soon.” Al-Haija said the villagers had been campaigning to be connected to the electricity grid for almost 30 years. 

Rival Islamist groups vie for control of refugee camp

6 August 2007


EIN AL-HILWEH, 5 August 2007 (IRIN) - Ein al-Hilweh, Lebanon’s largest and most lawless refugee camp, has a street called Sharia Bustan Yahoudi (Jewish Park Street); the irony is a small instance among a litany of indignities suffered by the Palestinian refugees living there. “It’s named after the Jews who used to live around Sidon,” Khoder Abdel Aziz, a 24-year-old resident of the street, tells us, referring to the neighboring port city, 45 kilometers south of Beirut. 

Audio: Crossing the Line interviews journalist Glen Ford

6 August 2007


This week on Crossing The Line: Host Christopher Brown speaks with Glen Ford of the Blackagendareport.com about the ever-growing complicity of Black lawmakers with regards to the Israel/Palestine issue. The Congressional Black Caucus — at one time the conscious of the Congress — now does nothing to question Israel’s injustice against Palestinians. 

Israel's Jewish problem in Tehran

Jonathan Cook 6 August 2007


There is an interesting problem with selling the “Iran as Nazi Germany” line. If President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad really is Hitler, ready to commit genocide against Israel’s Jews as soon as he can get his hands on a nuclear weapon, why are some 25,000 Jews living peacefully in Iran and more than reluctant to leave despite repeated enticements from Israel and American Jews? EI contributor Jonathan Cook asks, what is the basis for Israel’s dire forecasts — the ideological scaffolding being erected, presumably, to justify an attack on Iran? 

US evangelicals at odds on embracing Israel

Bill Berkowitz 3 August 2007


OAKLAND, Aug 2 (IPS) - It was business as usual during Christians United for Israel’s recent “Israel Summit,” its highly-publicized second summer sojourn to Washington. There were thousands of supporters in attendance, including an impressive array of Republican Party elected officials and political leaders. There were a series of seminars and workshops aimed at solidifying pro-Israel talking points, and growing the organization’s political effectiveness. 

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.