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Uprooted and displaced

Jesse Rosenfeld Ramallah, West Bank 13 November 2007


Standing on a hill at the edge of Idhna with the displaced farmers Muhammad Talab and Muhammad Ibrahim Natah, the only visible remnants of their destroyed village is a patch of white dust just on the other side of Israel’s wall. Despite being part of the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military destroyed the 267-person farming village of tents and tin houses west of Hebron on 29 October and allegedly ordered villagers to relocate to Idhna. EI contributor Jesse Rosenfeld reports from the occupied West Bank. 

Visiting Palestine

Deborah Agre East Jerusalem 15 November 2007


Yacoub Odeh was the guide for Middle East Children’s Alliance’s twelve-day tour through Palestine/Israel. He became a friend who told me and showed me things I know I will never forget. At age 67, Yacoub seems to carry with him the whole history of modern Palestine. And that is above all a history — and ongoing experience — of terrible loss. Deborah Agre writes about his story. 

Audio: Crossing the Line focuses on the right of return

11 November 2007


This week on Crossing The Line: Presently there are around seven million Palestinian refugees around the world. Host Christopher Brown speaks first with activist Adam Shapiro, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement. Next Brown speaks with Diana Buttu, legal adviser, and former spokesperson for the PLO about the most contentious issue with regards to peace between Palestinians and Israelis. 

Palestinian, Israeli scholars to advance one-state solution in London

11 November 2007


Leading Palestinian and Israeli scholars and activists will be among the speakers at an unprecedented conference to explore a one-state solution, at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London on 17-18 November. Organized by the London One State Group and the SOAS Palestine Society, the conference, “Challenging the Boundaries: A Single State in Israel/Palestine,” will explore new models for a just peace including binationalism, secular democracy, a ‘state of all its citizens’ and federalism. 

Abed the martyr

Ella Smom Nablus, West Bank 11 November 2007


Abed Shinawi has died. In the words of the Palestinians, among others, he was martyred. Martyr in Palestine refers to anyone who has died as a result of the Israeli occupation, as with the 38-year-old handicapped, wheelchair-bound man killed in an IOF invasion Nablus’ al-Ain refugee camp a month and a half ago. Or it refers into the elderly man shot five times in the chest after he opened his door to IOF assurances of his safety during the same 16 October Israeli invasion that eventually claimed Abed’s life. A friend of Abed’s writes about the young man and resistance fighter who was recently killed in Nablus. 

Campaign: End the siege on Gaza

10 November 2007


On 25 October, a Palestinian patient died at Erez crossing while awaiting being allowed to cross to an Israeli hospital. A week ago, a woman died in Gaza hospital with her newly born baby, while awaiting a permit to be transferred to Israel for medical treatment. These are not the first victims, and will certainly not be the last should the current situation continue to prevail. A statement from a new Palestinian campaign called, “End the Siege,” calls for Palestinians and internationals to take action against Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. 

Petitioners: Cutting Gaza supplies collective punishment

10 November 2007


JERUSALEM, 8 November (IRIN) - Israel’s highest court on 7 November ordered the state to explain within one week how it planned to ensure that the latest sanctions imposed on Gaza, including fuel and power cuts, would not have a negative humanitarian impact. The court was hearing a petition lodged by 10 Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, and the deputy-director of the Gaza Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), demanding an end to the restrictions. 

Israel kills four in Gaza attacks

8 November 2007


The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have escalated their military operations in the Gaza Strip. IOF have killed four Palestinians, including a father and his son, and injured four others, including a child, since Sunday 4 November 2007. In addition, IOF have also launched an incursion in the eastern part of the mid-Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, carried out several missile attacks, arrested fishermen and razed agricultural land. IOF also bombarded a factory in north Gaza twice, killing three of its workers. 

Gaza's hard place between Israeli and Palestinian violence

Rami Almeghari 7 November 2007


Since the Hamas-led government seized control of the Gaza Strip in mid-June, severe Israeli pressure has been imposed on the coastal region’s 1.4-million-strong population. Gaza has been sustaining the effects of such pressure at the same time as it has been absorbing the impact of the seemingly unending inter-Palestinian violence, which has claimed the lives of at least 400 Palestinians and continues to disrupt everyday life inthe already impoverished society. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari writes from Gaza.