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Jabalia: "Hamdulillah Assalamah"

Sami Abu Salem Jabalia refugee camp, Palestine 13 October 2004


WAFA — “Hamdulillah Assalama” (“Praise God for your safety”), the residents of Jabalia Refugee Camp repeat whenever they meet each other in the dusty roads and lanes of the camp. Groups of people are paying condolence visits at dozens of condolence tents scattered in the camp. The scene is eerily similar to theway that people here celebrate and congratulate each other on major religious holidays, such as Eid al-Fitr. Sand mixes with the ash of tyres scattered along the roads of the camp. Every night, the residents burn the tyres in order to create a shield of smoke thick enough to jam the signals of the Israeli drones crisscrossing the sky. Sami Abu Salem reports from northern Gaza. 

Medical impact of Israel's military assault on northern Gaza

12 October 2004


The Israeli army entered northern Gaza with a large force on 28 September 2004. Large numbers of Palestinians have been killed and injured, many of them civilians. As of 13 October, the UN reported a total of 94 killed, 417 injured in north Gaza, more than 25% persons 18 years or younger. Five Israelis have died, including two children. Two small hospitals in the north, Kamal Adwan and Al Awda, have cared for most of the casualties, before transferring the more serious cases to Shifa and Al Quds hospitals in Gaza City. Many of the dead bodies were in pieces, and the majority of casualties have suffered potentially disabling injuries, due to the frequent Israeli use of heavy weapons such as missiles. 

Israel withdraws charge that driver loaded rocket into UN ambulance

13 October 2004


The Israeli Government has withdrawn its charge that video footage showed a United Nations ambulance driver handling a rocket, acknowledging that the object was a stretcher as the world body had asserted. Responding to the reversal, a spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a statement calling for correct handling of any further issues which might arise. “The Secretary-General expects the Government of Israel to share with the United Nations, through normal diplomatic channels, any information it might have so that the matter may be properly investigated.” 

EU launches new initiative as deportation of Palestinians is extended

Arjan El Fassed 3 November 2004


The European Union is on the verge of introducing a major new policy designed to bring member states closer to their neighbors. Launching a new initiative towards Israel and the Palestinian Authority and concluding negotiations on a new bilateral agreement with Israel, the EU this week also adopted a common position to extend the permits of Palestinians deported from Bethlehem in May 2002 for a further period of twelve months. EI co-founder Arjan El Fassed argues that the EU has never taken concrete steps to enforce international law in Occupied Palestine. A serious EU step towards enforcing international law should start with respecting the law itself. 

Of settler crimes and media silence

13 October 2004


If Americans appreciated the scale of human rights abuses committed by Israeli colonists in the occupied territories, they would condemn the journalists who keep them in the dark, a US peace activist says. Kim Lamberty, a member of the Christian Peacemakers Teams (CPT), has told Aljazeera.net on Tuesday that a cruel and criminal practice is largely going unreported: settlers are routinely attacking children on their way to school. And Lamberty should know. Unable to walk since a vicious attack on 29 September by Jewish colonists, she says physical assaults on schoolchildren and the volunteers who escort them have all increased in the past two weeks. 

PCBS releases 2004 "Computer, Internet and Mobile Phone" survey

13 October 2004


The Computer, Internet and Mobile Phone Survey is a random sample survey implemented by the Paestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in the period 20 July–24 August 2004. The sample size is 7,557 households, 4,992 households in the West Bank and 2,565 households in Gaza Strip. This year’s survey revealed that 35.7% persons aged 10 years and over use a computer, 33.3% have access to the Internet, and 30.0% own a mobile phone. In the Arab World, Palestine thus tops the list of countries whose Internet usage has reached the largest percentage of the population, with the UAE at 33.2% Internet access. 

CKUT Radio: War Crimes in Jabaliya Refugee Camp

Stefan Christoff 13 October 2004


Listen to an interview with Al-Jazeera’s English Gaza correspondent Laila El-Haddad, who has been reporting from Jabaliya refugee camp throughout the recent Israeli incursions. The interview provides a first hand account on the current crisis in Jabaliya, while also focusing on the growing movement throughout the world to introduce an economic boycott toward Israel. Interviewer: Stefan Christoff. Format: MP3, 16:27 minutes. 

Strangulation

Samia A. Halaby Jerusalem, Palestine 12 October 2004


“The news from Palestine is so bad and the process of strangulation applied by Israel is so constant and murderous that one expects the worst. But I always find silent resistance, the natural tenacity of life, and the stubbornness of the Palestinians erasing my mental pictures of doom. Still yet, the disastrous applications of the Israelis take my breath away.” Samia Halaby, who was forced to leave Palestine in 1948. Her family emigrated to the United States where she became an artist and taught at American Universities, including the Yale School of Art. These days she is back in Palestine and writing about her experiences. 

Gaza Daily Update, 7.00 PM

11 October 2004


Since the wide-scale Israeli military assault on the northern part of the Gaza Strip, 115 Palestinians have been killed, including 29 children and 17 Palestinians in other parts of Gaza. At least 381 Palestinians, including 127 children were injured. Numerous homes and private property have also been destroyed as IOF utilize air force and heavy tanks in this military operation. In addition, as the incursion continues, the civilian population of the area suffer shortage in food and water supply. In the areas which IOF occupy civilians lack the most basic needs. Al Mezan is still receiving plights from people who have been in urgent need for medicine and water. 

Gaza Daily Update, 7.00 PM

12 October 2004


Since the wide-scale Israeli military assault on the northern part of the Gaza Strip, 116 Palestinians have been killed, including 29 children and 18 Palestinians in other parts of Gaza. At least 381 Palestinians, including 128 children were injured. Numerous homes and private property have also been destroyed as IOF utilize air force and heavy tanks in this military operation. In addition, as the incursion continues, the civilian population of the area suffer shortage in food and water supply. In the areas which IOF occupy civilians lack the most basic needs. Al Mezan is still receiving plights from people who have been in urgent need for medicine and water.