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Aid agencies assist families displaced from Nahr al-Bared camp

31 May 2007


BEIRUT, 31 May 2007 (IRIN) - With no immediate end in sight to the stand-off between the army and Islamist militants in Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon, and with neighbouring Beddawi camp already full to bursting, aid agencies have delivered relief to several hundred families displaced further to the east and south of the country. According to figures from the UN Palestinian relief organisation UNRWA about 1,500 people, have fled Nahr al-Bared for camps located in and around Beirut. 

Separating the Waters (Part 1)

Clemens Messerschmid 1 June 2007


The main water objective of the wall is not to steal a handful of wells, but to prevent any future expansion of Palestinian capacity to mine the Western Aquifer. That is the purpose of the facts on the ground currently being created. Once those facts have been created, they will make it impossible for Palestinian society in the fertile regions along the former Green Line to know any form of development, or even a return to something like their former ‘normal’ life. Hydrology expert Clemens Messerschmid analyzes the impact the northern section of the wall will have on Palestinians’ access to water. (Part 1) 

Separating the Waters (Part 2)

Clemens Messerschmid 1 June 2007


The main water objective of the wall is not to steal a handful of wells, but to prevent any future expansion of Palestinian capacity to mine the Western Aquifer. That is the purpose of the facts on the ground currently being created. Once those facts have been created, they will make it impossible for Palestinian society in the fertile regions along the former Green Line to know any form of development, or even a return to something like their former ‘normal’ life. Hydrology expert Clemens Messerschmid analyzes the impact the northern section of the wall will have on Palestinians’ access to water. (Part 2) 

Plight of Workers in Palestinian Territories Has "Worsened Dramatically"

Gustavo Capdevila 31 May 2007


GENEVA, 28 May (IPS) - Workers in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel have suffered another year of drastic decline in living standards and rising poverty, unemployment, social disintegration and political chaos, the ILO said in a new report.The proportion of households below the poverty line increased 26 percent between March 2006 and March 2007, according to the report released Monday, which is based on the findings of high-level missions sent by the ILO in April to Israel and the occupied Arab territories. 

Trócaire campaigns to knock the wall

21 May 2007


June 5th 2007 marks the 40th year of Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. The impact of this occupation, which includes poverty, violence, social disintegration and internal conflict, continues to this day. As part of this occupation, Israel began the construction of a 700-kilometre wall that cuts through Palestinian communities, dividing families and their lands, keeping farmers from their crops, children from their schools, the sick from urgent medical care and denying people freedom of movement. 

Heavy Nahr al-Bared fighting continues; UN to vote on Hariri tribunal

30 May 2007


LEBANON, 30 May 2007 (IRIN) - The heaviest fighting in a week between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam militants in Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon has raised security concerns for humanitarian workers delivering relief to thousands of Palestinians remaining in the camp. “We have had access every day for the past few days to deliver humanitarian assistance but we remain very worried about security conditions for the civilians in the camp,” Virginia La Guardian, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Beirut told IRIN. 

Ali Abunimah discusses the recent fighting in Lebanon on Flashpoints

30 May 2007


EI co-founder Ali Abunimah was interviewed on Flashpoints Radio on Wednesday, 23 May 2007. He joined host Nora Barrows-Friedman to discuss the corporate media’s response to the refugee issue in Lebanon within the context of the latest fighting in Nahr al-Bared camp between the Lebanese military and Fatah al-Islam. Abunimah told Barrows-Friedman, “It’s amazing how much context is missing from the corporate media … I have seen them [Fatah al-Islam] portrayed in the US media as a Palestinian group, they are not a Palestinian group.” 

British academics endorse logic of boycott

30 May 2007


The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) salutes the historic decision by the University and College Union (UCU) Congress today to support motions that endorse the logic of academic boycott against Israel, in response to the complicity of the Israeli academy in perpetuating Israel’s illegal military occupation and apartheid system. Academic boycott has been advocated in the past as an effective tool in resisting injustice. 

Israel's house of horrors

Ali Abunimah Chicago, United States 30 May 2007


Reading an account of an Israeli cabinet meeting in Ha’aretz is like a trip through a House of Horrors. Here is a choice excerpt: “Ministers Meir Sheetrit and Rafi Eitan proposed Wednesday that Israel produce its own version of the Qassam rocket to be fired at targets inside the Gaza Strip in response to Palestinian rocket fire on its southern communities.” EI’s Ali Abunimah asks: Which other government could openly hold such discussions to such overwhelming silence from the so-called “international community”? 

'Rockets of futility'?

Hasan Abu Nimah 30 May 2007


The Palestinian rockets may indeed be futile when compared to the superior Israeli military capabilities, but they still cause harm and panic, as stones did before. They are also likely to become more advanced and lethal, otherwise why should the Israeli retaliation be that intense and violent. The life of even one victim of 200 rocket attacks, on the other hand, should be valuable too, although continuing violence and wholesale murder in as many war theatres in the region has got us accustomed to undermining the meaning and the value of human life. EI regular contributor Hasan Abu Nimah comments.