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In Gaza, Santa is insolvent

Mohammed Omer 25 December 2007


GAZA CITY, December 24 (IPS) - “Santa Claus is empty handed this year … insolvent,” says Father Manuel Musallam, head of the Holy Family School in Gaza City. “All forms of celebration are absent,” he says, raising his empty palms skywards. “We Christians and Muslims all live in fear and instability. The Israeli tanks, bulldozers and warplanes have laid siege on us all.” His school, which has both Muslim and Christian students, likes to celebrate including all; this year few celebrations were planned, for fewer children. 

Israel denies entry to Christian clergy

25 December 2007


Israeli authorities are arbitrarily denying entry to clergy and volunteers belonging to or working for Christian institutions and service providers. The clergy being harassed and denied entry to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory join tens of thousands of ordinary foreign passport holders of Palestinian and non-Palestinian origin who wish to be with their families, work or study, as well as tourists and pilgrims. 

In the same prison together

Sonja Karkar 24 December 2007


The tranquil Christmas nativity scene so familiar to us is not at all evident in Bethlehem today. Bethlehem does not lie still, and peace on earth and goodwill towards all is as elusive as ever. The tyranny of Israel’s occupation and its colonial expansionism is crippling the lives of both Palestinian Christians and Muslims alike. Yet, many Christians will again ignore the misery suffered by the Palestinians in the Holy Land and will celebrate Christmas without remembering that it was amongst this people and in their land that Jesus was born. Sonja Karkar comments for EI. 

Refusing to accept apartheid in Beit Jala

Adri Nieuwhof and Amer Madi Beit Jala, West Bank 21 December 2007


Last night the rains finally arrived in Beit Jala, a small town in the West Bank, one kilometer west of Bethlehem and about eight kilometers south of Jerusalem. Its alluring hills are covered with olive trees, vineyards and apricots. In 1967 Israel confiscated 22 percent of Beit Jala’s land. Now, the construction of Israel’s separation wall is in full swing and will cut off another 45 per cent of Beit Jala’s land. We went to visit the area to feel the impact of the wall and listen to the stories of the farmers who didn’t sell their land and choose to resist the its confiscation. Adri Nieuwhof and Amer Madi report from Beit Jala. 

Palestinian shepherds forced to move on

21 December 2007


IDHNA, SOUTHERN WEST BANK, 19 December 2007 (IRIN) - “The best thing about Khirbet Qassa was the grazing land. We had open spaces. Now we’ve become dependent on other people and their land,” said Abdel Halim Nattah, a shepherd in the southern West Bank. Several weeks earlier he and all his fellow villagers, 37 families numbering 272 people, were evacuated by the Israeli military from Qassa and told to find a new home somewhere else. The Israel Civil Administration said the land the Palestinians were living on was an archaeological site under state auspices, and the villagers had been given warnings about the impending evacuation. 

Egyptian government, not people, recognize Israel

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani 20 December 2007


CAIRO, 19 December (IPS) - Thirty years after late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s historic trip to Israel, Egyptian diplomatic relations with the Hebrew state remain cordial. On a popular level, however, the relationship — buttressed by the 1979 Camp David peace agreement — still represents a major source of contention. “The so-called peace between Egypt and Israel continues to lack popular approval,” Ahmed Thabet, professor of political science at Cairo University told IPS. “Meanwhile, Israel has exploited the situation to maintain racist, expansionist policies.” 

Gazans say this Eid is the worst ever

Rami Almeghari Gaza Strip 20 December 2007


A 500-meter-long street in the heart of Gaza City is empty of cars and vehicles, but full of men, women and children. Omar al-Mokhtar Street is considered the largest commercial area in Gaza where people from all over the coastal region have always come to shop, especially during the holiday season. In recent days, Gaza, like other Islamic communities around the world, prepared to celebrate Eid al-Adha, a major holiday marking the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj. Normally a time of joy, this year’s Eid is different from past years because Gaza suffers from the tight Israeli closures on all travel and commercial crossings. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza. 

Palestinians brave a hazardous profession

Rebecca Murray 18 December 2007


TYRE, Lebanon, 18 December (IPS) - Kamel Mohammed was pruning lemon trees last winter when his red electric saw detonated an unexploded cluster bomb, blasting shrapnel all over his body. After an operation to remove the metal shards from his chest, Mohammed, a 44-year-old father from the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidieh in south Lebanon, went straight back to work cultivating fields and chopping wood for coal. Not so lucky was his neighbor and fellow family man, Ahmad Huwaidi, 36, killed instantly when the remaining explosives in an old metal rocket he was cutting to sell ignited from the heat. 

Palestine's universities: partners or prisoners?

Rima Merriman 18 December 2007


At a workshop conducted at Birzeit University (BZU) on December 13 by AMIDEAST (American-MidEast Educational and Training Services) for Palestinian universities through its Faculty Development Program, the talk turned from the announced topic of the workshop (Palestinian-American University Partnerships) to the question of Palestinian-Palestinian university partnerships or the lack thereof. The occasion had brought together important representatives (at the level of Deans and VPs) from every Palestinian West Bank University. Gaza was unrepresented, however. Rima Merriman reports. 

The end of Israel?

Hannah Mermelstein 18 December 2007


I am feeling optimistic about Palestine. I know it sounds crazy. How can I use “optimistic” and “Palestine” in the same sentence when conditions on the ground only seem to get worse? Israeli settlements continue to expand on a daily basis, the checkpoints and segregated road system are becoming more and more institutionalized, more than 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners are being held in Israeli jails, Gaza is under heavy attack and the borders are entirely controlled by Israel. We can never forget these things and the daily suffering of the people, and yet I dare to say that I am optimistic. Hannah Mermelstein comments.