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Hajj pilgrims stranded in Egypt

Rami Almeghari Gaza City, Gaza Strip 1 January 2008


“We are in a prison. Our situation is so miserable in the arena the Egyptian authorities have placed us in. Yesterday a 45-year-old woman pilgrim died in front of us,” says Nayef al-Khaldi. The 55-year-old al-Khaldi is stuck at an arena turned into a shelter at the Egyptian border town at al-Arish along with more than 1,100 other Palestinians following the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza. 

Pollution without borders

31 December 2007


BEER SHEBA/RAMALLAH, 30 December (IRIN) - In what should be a dry river bed at this time of year, grey water flows, revealing the extent to which the River Hebron, which runs from the West Bank into Israel, is polluted. The stench underlines the problem. “Most transboundary streams in the region are contaminated and characterized by widespread pollution from Palestinian sources [typically raw sewage], as well as a variety of … sources from within Israel.” 

When is it the Palestinians' turn?

Christopher Brown Shatila refugee camp, Lebanon 1 January 2008


The four of us sat in the tight confines of a shop nestled in the curving alleyways of Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp established to house those whose families fled historical Palestine in 1948. Twenty-five years ago this then little-known camp — along with a nearby area called Sabra — was also the site of a bloody massacre that left more than 2,000 Palestinians dead at the hands of Phalangist militias backed by the Israeli army. EI contributor Christopher Brown writes from the Shatila refugee camp. 

B'Tselem: 373 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in 2007

30 December 2007


B’Tselem today releases its year-end report. According to B’Tselem data, the number of Israelis and Palestinians killed in clashes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip dropped. However, there has been deterioration in many other measures of the human rights situation in the occupied territories. The primary one is the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, which has declined to an all time low, following Israel’s siege on the area. 

Democracy: An existential threat?

Ali Abunimah and Omar Barghouti 30 December 2007


As two of the authors of a recent document advocating a one-state solution to the Arab-Israeli colonial conflict we emphatically intended to generate debate. Predictably, Zionists decried the proclamation as yet another proof of the unwavering devotion of Palestinian — and some radical Israeli — intellectuals to the “destruction of Israel.” Some pro-Palestinian activists accused us of forsaking immediate and critical Palestinian rights in the quest of a “utopian” dream. Ali Abunimah and Omar Barghouti comment. 

Palestinian dies in Israeli detention

30 December 2007


Palestinian prisoner Fadi Abd al-Latif Abu al-Rob (21) from the town of Qabatia near Jenin died in the Israeli prison of Jalbou’ on the evening of 28 December 2007. The prisoner was a member of Islamic Jihad detained on 29 June 2007. According to information gathered by PCHR, Fadi suffered an illness on the morning of the day he died. He was transferred to the prison clinic. However, his condition deteriorated and the Israeli Prisons Authority announced his death in the evening without specifying the cause. 

Israeli military clears itself of cluster bomb misuse in Lebanon

30 December 2007


JERUSALEM, 28 December (IRIN) - Israel’s military advocate-general, Brig-Gen Avihai Mendelblit, has said the military’s use of cluster munitions during the conflict in Lebanon in 2006 was in accordance with international humanitarian law. Human rights groups and the UN had previously condemned the use of the bombs. In a statement issued on 24 December, the Israeli military said it used cluster munitions to fight Hizballah, the Lebanese Shia militant group, which had “heavily camouflaged” its launching sites for firing rockets at Israel. 

Beware of Barak

Ran HaCohen 27 December 2007


The person who destroyed the Oslo process and initiated the second intifada, the person who demolished the Israeli peace camp from within, by spreading legends about a “generous offer” rejected by the Palestinians, by persuading the Israelis that he “unmasked” Arafat and that there was no Palestinian partner — this person still calls himself “the leader of the Israeli peace camp.” That’s one of Israeli “Defense” Minister Ehud Barak’s most dangerous traits: his inherent untruthfulness, his presenting himself as the very opposite of what he actually is. 

Egypt aid conditioned on enforcing Gaza siege

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani 27 December 2007


CAIRO, December 27 (IPS) - Last week, both houses of US Congress agreed to withhold 100 million dollars in financial assistance to Egypt following Israeli claims that Egyptian authorities were failing to prevent weapons smuggling to the Gaza Strip. Cairo, for its part, denounced the decision, while local political analysts saw the move as a heavy-handed pressure tactic on the part of Washington’s pro-Israel lobby. 

A Palestinian love story

Ghassan Abdullah Ramallah, West Bank 27 December 2007


A few months ago, a European professional in Ramallah threw a farewell party after completing part of the project for which he was recruited. The European himself, a Belgian, spent many years previously in the Palestinian territories and was very well liked locally, not least because he married a Palestinian woman, but that’s another story. A friend and old colleague of mine came up to me at the party and asked me discretely about A., a good-looking and outgoing woman who works with us.