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Gaza teachers trapped between Fatah and Hamas

Mohammed Omer 15 September 2008


GAZA CITY (IPS) - A strike call has trapped thousands of teachers between Fatah unions and a Hamas government. The strike in Gaza called by the Palestine Teachers’ Union — a non-elected body supported by the government of Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank — continues into its third week. Of the Palestinian territories, Gaza strip is ruled by the Hamas government and the West Bank by the Fatah Party led by Abbas. 

Don't dance for apartheid

Omar Barghouti 15 September 2008


Israeli security officers at Ben-Gurion Airport last week forced an African-American member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to perform twice for them in order to prove he was a dancer before letting him enter the country. Abdur-Rahim Jackson felt humiliated and “deeply saddened,” particularly because his Arab/Muslim sounding first name was the reason that he was the only member of his company subjected to this typical Israeli ethnic profiling. Omar Barghouti comments. 

Israel's dark arts of ensnaring collaborators

Jonathan Cook 12 September 2008


Israel’s enduring use of Palestinian collaborators to entrench the occupation and destroy Palestinian resistance was once the great unmentionable of the Middle East conflict. When the subject was dealt with by the international and local media, it was solely in the context of the failings of the Palestinian legal system, which allowed the summary execution of collaborators by lynch mobs and kangaroo courts. Jonathan Cook comments. 

The right of no return

Hasan Abu Nimah 11 September 2008


The debate on the Palestinian refugee problem has been confused and badly mishandled. While Israel maintains a consistent position, the Palestinians and the Arabs are often contradictory, vague and inconsistent. The Palestinian refugee problem should therefore be placed in its proper perspective. Instead of solely talking about the right of return, both Palestinian and Arab discourse should emphasize refugee rights, of which the right of return, which is inalienable and fundamental, but represents only one aspect. Hasan Abu Nimah comments. 

Harvesting with hope in Gaza

11 September 2008


On a hot afternoon during the month of Ramadan, there are few better places to be than resting beneath the shade of an orchard of guava trees, with the scent of fresh ripening fruit wafting around you. Farmer Sa’id al-Agha sits quietly, his eyes resting on his fruit trees. “My father and my grandfather both grew up here, farming guavas, and I’ve lived here all my life” he says. “This land is in my blood.” 

Israel imposes more severe permit regime

10 September 2008


In the past year Israel has escalated its policy of separating the Palestinian populations of the Gaza Strip and West Bank from each other. The separation regime tears families apart, puts thousands at risk of expulsion to the Gaza Strip and turns Palestinians into “illegal aliens” in their own home. This policy is revealed in a position paper published today (Wednesday 10 September) by human rights organizations HaMoked and B’Tselem.