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Resolving Israeli-Palestinian conflict, restoring calm in Iraq among Middle East challenges, UN GA told

1 December 2003


The General Assembly today kicked off its debate of the situation in the troubled Middle East, focusing on a host of challenging issues, from the importance of restoring calm in Iraq, to quelling tensions in the Syrian Golan and bringing an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — which many believed was the key to ensuring peace throughout the entire region. The General Assembly met today to continue its consideration of the question of Palestine and to begin its consideration of the situation in the Middle East. 

Nineteen donor countries pledge $72 million for activities of UNRWA

2 December 2003


Nineteen donor countries pledged $72 million for the 2004 budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) at this morning’s meeting of the General Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee for Voluntary Contributions. Despite an increasing beneficiary base, the 2004 budget had declined by some 5 per cent in real terms to $330 million. The 2004 budget would minimally cover the Agency’s financial needs, he continued, including $4 million in salary increases and $7 million in working capital requirements. 

A campaign against "incitement"

James J. Zogby 9 July 2001

Schumer and Clinton displayed clear bias and a lack of good judgement in accepting as fact a distortion created by a pro-Israeli group. They compounded their error by further exaggerating this claim in their comments to the press and in their letter to President Bush. In doing so they did a disservice to their positions as U.S. Senators and to the pursuit of truth and peace. 

Growing up under curfew

30 April 2003

The tragic situation faced by children in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is the subject of a report put together by staff from Save the Children UK and Sweden who have joined forces and plan to launch it at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva in April 2003. 

Education under occupation

31 March 2002

Since September 2000, there has been a dramatic deterioration of children’s rights in the Palestinian Territories. This study was conducted by Save the Children between April and June 2001. It examines the effects of this deterioration on the education system and calls for better monitoring of children’s rights in the Palestinian Territories. 

Origins of the Middle East crisis: Who caused the Palestinian Diaspora?

George Bisharat 3 December 2003


In 1948, three quarters of a million Palestinians were driven from what became Israel, their homes, land and possessions taken over by the new Jewish state. The pointed silence regarding the Palestinian right of return means that an important opportunity has been missed to apprise Israelis, and the world, of a critical reality. No real or lasting peace will be achieved in the area until Israel finally admits the long-denied truth, accepts moral responsibility and apologizes for its forcible exile of Palestinian refugees 55 years ago. Law professor George Bisharat looks at the issue. 

Israeli forces kill four Palestinian civilians, including a child

1 December 2003


In the early hours of Monday, 1 December 2003, Israeli occupation forces, using excessive and indiscriminate force, killed four Palestinian civilians during several incursions into the West Bank.  These unlawful killings represent the most recent war crimes perpetrated by Israeli occupation forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Two of the victims were killed when Israeli occupation forces detonated explosive devices inside a house in the Sharafa area east of Al Amari refugee camp, near Ramallah. A six year old child and another Palestinian were also killed. 

UN observes International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People

1 December 2003


The United Nations today observed the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People with a series of resolutions and speeches calling for a peaceful settlement of the Middle East conflict. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in remarks to the General Assembly’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, said recent peace initiatives by Palestinian and Israeli civil society leaders show a settlement can be reached to the conflict. 

The False Hope of the Geneva Accord

Ali Abunimah 3 December 2003


It has been almost two months since the last deadly attack on Israeli civilians by a Palestinian suicide bomber, but in the meantime, the Israeli army has killed more than 70 Palestinians, among them 17 children. Amidst the hopelessness, some people have turned to the so-called “Geneva Accord” as a way out. In his commentary published in The Chicago Tribune, EI’s Ali Abunimah says that the accord offers only false hope, however, he sees prospects for long-term peace between Israelis and Palestinians in their common homeland. 

ICRC ends large-scale relief for Palestinians

20 November 2003


The ICRC’s large-scale distributions of relief aid to several hundred thousand Palestinians living in the towns and villages of the West Bank came to an end in mid-November 2003. Since June 2002, the ICRC had provided urgently needed aid to 300,000 people struggling to make ends meet. However, humanitarian aid is no longer the best way to help them. It is essential that the West Bank Palestinians’ basic rights under international humanitarian law are respected. In the long term, humanitarian aid cannot be a viable solution to the crisis.