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Top EU official backs Israel's crimes in occupied Gaza

Ali Abunimah 24 January 2008


A top European Union official has offered full backing for Israel as it continues its illegal blockade of fuel, food, medicine and other vital supplies to the occupied Gaza Strip that has led to a growing humanitarian crisis. At a conference in the Israeli town of Herzliya on 22 January, Franco Frattini, the vice president of the European Commission, stated that “the steps leading up to the Gaza blackout cannot be construed as a war crime,” according to a report on Ynetnews.com, 

US stymies Security Council action on Gaza

Haider Rizvi 23 January 2008


UNITED NATIONS, 23 January (IPS) - Despite intensifying calls for international pressure to address the fast deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip, observers and some diplomats say the UN Security Council has proved as ineffective as it has been for many years concerning issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On Tuesday, the Council called an emergency meeting during which a vast majority of delegates strongly condemned Israel’s blockade of the occupied Palestinian areas and charged that it was violating international humanitarian law. 

Sovereignty by stealth: Eyal Weizman's "Hollow Land"

Ben White 23 January 2008


The architecture of occupation is thoroughly analyzed in the Israeli-born architect Eyal Weizman’s Hollow Land. The study takes us to the heart of a conflict which has always been about land, where “the mundane elements of planning and architecture have become tactical tools and the means of dispossession.” Behind the headlines, the reality on the ground (as well as above and beneath it) continues to be reshaped daily. Ben White reviews. 

Sword dancing while Gaza starves

Osamah Khalil 23 January 2008


A staggering disparity in images has emanated from the Middle East over the past two weeks. While US President George W. Bush received a warm welcome during his tour of the Persian Gulf, Israel pounded Gaza killing over 40 Palestinians, nearly half of them civilians. Bush participated in sword dancing ceremonies, watched the prowess of hunting falcons, and in the United Arab Emirates he was finally greeted with the flowers that he once believed American troops would receive in Iraq. Osamah Khalil comments. 

Palestinians force open parts of border with Egypt

23 January 2008


GAZA/JERUSALEM, 23 January (IRIN) - In the early morning of 23 January Palestinian militants blew up sections of the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, effectively allowing tens of thousands of Palestinians to freely leave or enter the enclave for the first time since last June 2007. “I’m going to al-Arish to see my married daughter. I have not seen her in four years,” said Um Muhammed, as she prepared to go through a two-meter-wide hole in the border wall. “I hope I can see her.” 

Deminers find new cluster bomb sites without Israeli data

22 January 2008


ZAWTAR WEST, 22 January (IRIN) - Deminers clearing Israeli-dropped cluster bombs in south Lebanon are turning up an average of 10 new sites per month, while Israel continues to ignore requests for data that would assist clearing the estimated one million unexploded bomblets, which continue to kill and maim civilians and decimate rural livelihoods. A single cluster bomb can disperse hundreds of bomblets. 

Gaza's last gasp

Sonja Karkar 23 January 2008


Israel might find that giving the Palestinians their freedom and allowing them the dignity of self-determination in their own land might be far more effective in bringing about a peaceful solution than all this bloodshed and misery. Fifty years have passed since Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan said, “How can we complain about Gaza’s hatred towards us? For eight years, they have been sitting in refugee camps while right in front of them, we are turning the land and villages of their forefathers into our home.” Sonja Karkar comments. 

Gaza siege intensified after collapse of natural gas deal

Mark Turner 22 January 2008


Israel claims its recent moves are retaliation for continued rocket attacks originating in Gaza that despite their consistency cause scant damage and few actual casualties. But the reasons may include motivations with roots back in 2000, when the British firm British Gas Group (BG) discovered proven natural gas reserves of at least 1.3 trillion cubic feet beneath Gazan territorial waters worth nearly $4 billion. Mark Turner writes. 

Soldiers assault and arrest B'Tselem worker in Hebron

20 January 2008


Soldiers assaulted and arrested Issa ‘Amro, a B’Tselem fieldworker, in Hebron yesterday. ‘Amro was arrested while filming a disturbance by settlers in the Wadi Hsein neighborhood in East Hebron. Yesterday evening (19 January), a group of settlers began throwing stones at a Palestinian home and trying to forcefully enter it. Although a large force of soldiers and police were present, they did nothing to protect the Palestinians and remove the settlers. 

No rights, little mercy

Mohammed Omer 21 January 2008


GAZA CITY, 21 January (IPS) - Seventy-six-year-old Mustapha al-Jamal goes door to door, looking for help in finding medicines for his son. At home, the 53-year-old son Yahya al-Jamal lies back, staring at the ceiling. By his side, an oxygen cylinder keeps him going for now. “My son’s condition continues to worsen,” Mustapha says. “We’ve been waiting two months for the medicines.” Last year Mustapaha’s 44-year-old daughter, a mother of six, died of breast cancer. She had been recovering, but the Israeli siege blocked supply of medicines, and no one could then save her.