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Crossing the Line interviews author Phyllis Bennis

15 May 2008


This week on Crossing The Line: Former US President Jimmy Carter met with the political head of Hamas in Syria while insisting that Hamas must be included in any future Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. The visit has drawn criticism from both the US and Israel which until now have refused to take part in any official negotiations with the Hamas government. What does Carter’s meeting with Hamas mean? Is it as “historic” as some are calling it? Host Naji Ali speaks with author on Middle East issues, Phyllis Bennis about Carter’s controversial visit to the Middle East. 

Siege hits Palestinians before they are born

Mohammed Omer 15 May 2008


GAZA CITY, 14 May (IPS) - The Israeli siege of Gaza that has restricted access to food, water and medicine is now beginning to hit unborn children and newborn babies. “Many babies are born suffering from anaemia that they have inherited from their mothers,” Dr Salah al-Rantisi, head of the women’s health department at the Palestinian ministry of health in Gaza told IPS. And the mothers are becoming anemic because they do not now get enough nutrition through pregnancy. 

Photostory: Shattered remains

Adam Beach 15 May 2008


“There is, here, a timeless present, and here no one can find anyone. No one remembers how we went out the door like a gust of wind, and at what hour we fell from yesterday, and then yesterday shattered on the tiles in shards for others to reassemble into mirrors reflecting their image over ours.” Adam Beach’s photographs document life in the occupied territories. 

There is no alternative to the right of return

14 May 2008


To the People of Palestine, Whether you live within the “Green Line,” in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, or in exile, you shall return, there is no doubt that you shall return. Today the skies will echo as you state with one united voice: “There can be no alternative to our return,” all sounds will melt away as your voice rises to say “There can be no peace without our return to our original lands and homes.” 

Army "under tremendous pressure" but still united

14 May 2008


BEIRUT, 13 May (IRIN) - The army’s pledge to use force if necessary to impose law and order puts the only fully functioning national institution into the centre of Lebanon’s violent crisis. But although strained, analysts say the military remains united. “There is no civil authority in the country now, so the army is under tremendous pressure,” said Timor Goksell, a security expert and former spokesman of UN peacekeeping forces who coordinate with the military in south Lebanon. 

Gaza lives being put at risk

13 May 2008


As the grueling Gaza fuel crisis continues, so does the strain on local public transport services, including ambulances, across the Gaza Strip. Approximately 15 percent of local public services are operating across Gaza, whilst up to 90 percent of private cars remain off the roads, and all of Gaza’s 450 fuel stations remain closed. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights speaks with medial professionals working under siege. 

Behind Beirut's Sport City

Rami Zurayk Beirut 13 May 2008


Najwa cleans the houses of the rich in Beirut. She lives with her son in the limbo spreading between the Stadium (Cite Sportive) and the Sabra Palestinian camp. Sociologists often refer to the Palestinian camps in Lebanon as a “space of exclusion”: the laws governing life in the camps are different from those governing life in the rest of Lebanon. Najwa’s neighborhood is an exclusion from the exclusion: no laws apply there. Rami Zurayk writes from Beirut. 

Washington rallies behind embattled Lebanese government

Khody Akhavi 12 May 2008


WASHINGTON, 12 May (IPS) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged her administration’s support for the Lebanese government Friday in the aftermath of Hizballah’s takeover of West Beirut, accusing the Iranian-backed group of “killing innocent civilians” in a bid to “protect their state-within-a-state.” Three days of intense clashes between government and opposition supporters last week left at least 18 people dead and 38 wounded 

Lebanon violence moves outside of Beirut

12 May 2008


BEIRUT, 12 May (IRIN) - Sporadic clashes between pro- and anti-government forces continued on 12 May in areas around the northern port city of Tripoli and the eastern Bekaa Valley as the Arab League announced mediators would arrive in Beirut on 14 May. A security official reported Shia Hizballah gunmen had clashed with supporters of the government around Masnaa, the main border crossing into Syria in the Bekaa valley. 

Remembering 1948 and looking to the future

Ali Abunimah 12 May 2008


This month Israel marks the 60th anniversary of its founding. But amidst the festivities including visits by international celebrities and politicians there is deep unease — Israel has skeletons in its closet that it has tried hard to hide, and anxieties about an uncertain future which make many Israelis question whether the state will celebrate an 80th birthday. EI co-founder Ali Abunimah comments.