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Chronic disease sufferers in refugee camps urgently need medication

28 May 2007


BEIRUT, 28 May 2007 (IRIN) - Thousands of elderly and sick refugees in Nahr al-Bared refugee camp and neighbouring Badawi camp in northern Lebanon are in urgent need of chronic disease medication currently unavailable to aid agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) told IRIN. ICRC representatives at the military checkpoint to the south of the camp say thousands of people are in need of treatment for chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney failure. 

Israeli strike on Jabalya camp damages civilian property; human rights offices

28 May 2007


At approximately 23:00 on Saturday, 26 May 2007, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a security room belonging to the Executive Force of the Palestinian Ministry of Interior near Timraz fuel station in the center of the densely populated Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. The missile hit the room from the south and penetrated its roof. It then hit the ground causing heavy damage to PCHR’s branch office in Jabalya, nearly 40 meters away, and to dozens of houses and shops. 

IOF offensive continues; 47 Killed and 189 wounded in Gaza

27 May 2007


The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continued its offensive on Gaza which started on 15 May 2007. Air strikes against Executive Force targets and other civilian facilities have been focused on Gaza City and occurred with more intensity at the late night hours. Al Mezan has documented that 47 Palestinians have been killed and 189 others injured since the start of the offensive. Dozens of homes have been destroyed or damaged from the 58 air strikes and 19 artillery and heavy machine gun attacks on different locations around the Gaza Strip. 

Boycott the Israeli Academy Now!

26 May 2007


The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) salutes the courage and moral consistency of British academics who support an institutional academic boycott of Israel similar to that imposed on apartheid South Africa in the past. We specifically welcome the motions submitted to the upcoming University and College Union (UCU) Council in Bournemouth that recognize the complicity of the Israeli academy in the occupation, and urge academics “to consider the moral implications of existing and proposed links with Israeli academic institutions.” 

On the Academic Boycott of Israel

Virginia Tilley 27 May 2007


In very exceptional cases, an academic boycott comes onto our agenda. This happens when a country’s universities are recognized as central players in legitimizing a regime that systematically inflicts massive human rights abuses on its own people and any pretence that the universities are independent fortresses of principled intellectual thought becomes too insulting to the human conscience. But since universities in many oppressive regimes fit those criteria, in practice a second condition is required: their faculties have the freedom to act differently. 

Lebanese Army imposes restrictions on coverage of camp siege

26 May 2007


The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that journalists have been prevented since Monday from entering a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon during clashes between Islamist militants and the Lebanese Army. The Lebanese Army restricted public access to the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon, near Tripoli, the day after fighting broke out between Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese Army. Journalists, both local and foreign, are covering the clashes and their effect on more than 30,000 Palestinian refugees caught up in the fighting 

Solidarity in Shatila

Mayssoun Sukarieh Shatila refugee camp 26 May 2007


Coming into Shatila, I heard loudspeakers calling for donations for the displaced from the Nahr al-Bared camp. “Help us help the families hosting their relatives from Nahr al-Bared; any donations would be appreciated,” the person on the loudspeaker called out. I went to the site appointed for donations collection, and met a woman asking if clothes were among the needed items. “These are old clothes, like the ones we wear, I swear, I am not differentiating between my family and them. I wish I had money but this is all what I could find at home,” she said. 

"They may accept us for a day or two but for how long?"

Rania Masri and Jackson Allers Baddawi Refugee Camp 25 May 2007


“We left yesterday. What can I say? The fighting wasn’t against Fateh al-Islam. The fighting was against our homes. Our homes were destroyed. If you were to go inside the camp, and see the camp for yourself, you would say the same. No homes [are] left. The homes on the extremity of the camp have all been destroyed. People left the extremity of the camp and went into the center of the camp, and the bombing followed them. We, in the center of the camp, received two bombs on our home. Our son was hit.” Rania Masri and Jackson Allers interview those who fled the siege on Nahr al-Bared refugee camp. 

Nahr al-Bared Flees to Beirut

Marcy Newman 26 May 2007


As we walked in to Shatila refugee camp in Beirut this morning we were approached by a family from Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in Tripoli who was wandering the streets of the camp in search of a place to live. They fled the violence in their camp and made it to Beirut to seek shelter. This family is one of 100 families who are now residing in Palestinian homes inside Shatila camp, with around 30 people to each two-room flat on top of the already family living in these homes and some of these homes have no electricity. 

Israeli Attorney General supports persecution of Palestinian citizens

26 May 2007


On 20 May 2007, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz responded to a letter sent by Adalah on 22 March 2007 demanding the initiation of a criminal investigation into the General Security Services’ (GSS) interference in the issue of political and legal documents recently published by Arab NGOs and academics in Israel. According to the GSS, as noted in a letter dated 15 March 2007, “The Shin Bet (GSS) is required to thwart the subversive activity of entities seeking to harm the character of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, even if their activity is conducted through democratic means.”