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Israeli attacks on Gaza kill 14, injure 81

18 May 2007


The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) carried out a series of attacks against targets in the Gaza Strip since Wednesday 16 May 2007 killing fourteen Palestinians and injuring 81. Israeli tanks and ground troops stormed into several areas in the north and east of the Strip. Threats of aggressive, painful attacks, and cutting-off electricity and water, by Israeli government and army officials have been mounting. This escalation has increased as soon as a ceasefire between Palestinian factions came into effect last night. 

CPJ alarmed by gunfire outside Gaza news buildings

16 May 2007


The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that the safety of dozens of journalists was endangered by heavy factional fighting today around two Gaza City buildings housing several news organizations. According to CPJ sources and international news reports, Fatah gunmen took over the roofs of the Shawa and Hosari Tower - which houses the Ramattan news agency, the BBC, and Al-Jazeera, among other media outlets - and Al-Johara Tower - which houses the Turkish Ihlas News Agency, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, and other media outlets. 

The ghostly streets, the ghostly skies

Laila El-Haddad Gaza City, Palestine 18 May 2007


17 May 2007 —We’re used to things going from bad to worse very quickly here. But we never expected the situation to get as bad as it has over the past few days.After a terrifying 24 hours, we awoke this morning to sporadic gunfire, and ghostly streets. It was a welcome change. Sleep-deprived and anxious, my colleague Saeed, on his first visit to Gaza, and myself headed to Rafah in the southern part of the Strip to continue shooting a series of documentaries we are working on. 

UNHCR highlights Palestinian refugees' plight in desert camp

18 May 2007


Hundreds of Palestinian refugees stranded at al-Waleed makeshift camp in no-man’s land between the desert borders of Iraq and Syria are living in precarious conditions and people could die if they do not get medical treatment, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on 15 May.”We are particularly worried about the lack of medical facilities - many of the camp’s 942 residents need urgent medical attention, including a mother of seven who suffers from leukemia and a teenage diabetic boy,” UNHCR spokesperson, Jennifer Pagonis, said in a statement on Tuesday. 

Gaza violence hampering aid deliveries

18 May 2007


Humanitarian aid agencies are expressing concern as renewed intense Palestinian infighting between the Fatah and Hamas factions enters its fifth day, during which nearly as many ceasefires have been broken, and over 40 Palestinians killed. Two Israeli air strikes on Thursday in central Gaza City have left at least three Palestinians dead, and injured 30 more, including civilians, as Israel steps up its retaliatory actions against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. 

Cross Country: Leaving Iraq, Engaging Iran

Rob Anderson 14 May 2007


In the Christian Science Monitor, Ali Abunimah cites the successes of South Africa’s and Ireland’s unity governments as evidence that a single Israeli-Palestinian state could work: “In both places,” he observes, “it was only when the dominant group dropped its insistence on supremacy that a political settlement could be reached. What was once unimaginable happened.” 

Weekly Report on Human Rights Violations

17 May 2007


During the reporting period six Palestinians were killed by IOF in the Gaza Strip. Five of the victims were killed by IOF aerial attacks. Thirty-six Palestinians were wounded by IOF gunfire in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The IOF conducted 26 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, and one incursion into the Gaza Strip. Forty-three Palestinian civilians, including seven children were arrested in the OPT. 

The Jordan Valley and Israel's Invisible Wall

Anna Baltzer Jordan Valley 4 June 2007


15 May 2007 — A few weeks ago I attended an event commemorating Palestinian Prisoner’s Day at Al Far’a Refugee Camp in the Tubas area. To enter the theatrical and cultural spectacle we had to pass through a makeshift checkpoint with soldiers pointing their guns in our faces and screaming in Hebrew for us to get back. Although I knew these were Palestinian actors role-playing the harassment they experience daily, it was very frightening to have men with guns yell at me in a foreign language and stick killing machines in my face.