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Israeli offensive on the Northern Gaza Strip kills 12 Palestinians

25 October 2004


In the context of reprisals against Palestinian civilians and their property, since Sunday evening, 24 October 2004, 12 Palestinians, 6 of whom were civilians, including a child, have been killed, and 63 others, including 20 children, have been injured by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). In addition, IOF destroyed a house belonging to the family of a wanted Palestinians and 2 neighboring houses. They also destroyed some civilian property and areas of agricultural land. These attacks have taken place during an ongoing Israeli military incursion into al-Nimsawi neighborhood and Baten al-Samin area in the south of Khan Yunis. 

Electronic Intifada featured in book declaring dissent patriotic

24 October 2004


Electronic Intifada co-founder Laurie King-Irani is one of nearly forty authors featured in a new book, Patriotism, Democracy and Common Sense: Restoring America’s Promise at Home and Abroad, published by the Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation of Washington, DC. The book aims to educate Americans about alternatives to current US foreign, economic, Middle East, domestic, media, campaign finance, and voting rights policies. King-Irani’s chapter, “Awakening the American Political Debate on Palestine and Israel,” examines the role of the internet in building networks of citizen-activists to confront one of the most pressing issues of US foreign policy: the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. 

UNRWA Gaza field assessment of IDF Operation Days of Penitence

22 October 2004


Late on 28 September 2004 large numbers of Israeli Defence Force (IDF) tanks, bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers moved into Northern Gaza from permanent bases in Nissanit settlement, Erez Industrial Zone and the Eastern Border, tearing up roads and flattening homes and crops as they pushed forward. Israeli Army units established strategic positions on high ground overlooking the Jabalia, Izbet Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia areas; troops also deployed along the main road between Jabalia camp and Beit Hanoun and on the northern and eastern sides of Jabalia camp. 

"A failure by the Western media"

21 October 2004


“The book is based on a very long research study centered on public knowledge (from Europe and the US). We found that everybody in our sample had watched news on the conflict; they had memories of it, they could describe events they had seen. However, what we found was that, overwhelmingly, very few people understood the origins, the causes of the conflict.” Greg Philo, author of Bad News From Israel, explains in an interview with the Palestine Report his troubling research findings regarding media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the U.S. and the U.K.
 

Weekly report on human rights violations

21 October 2004


IOF have perpetrated more violations of human rights against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). This week, 10 Palestinians, 5 of whom were civilians, including 2 elderly people, were killed, and at least 20 civilians were wounded by Israeli troops. Human rights violations perpetrated by IOF included willful killings, incursions into Palestinian areas, indiscriminate shelling, land leveling and total closure imposed on Palestinian communities. Also this week, settlers, who were fully supported by Israeli troops, attacked Palestinian farmers, who have started to cultivate their olives, and prevented many of these farmers from reaching their agricultural land. 

Palestine takes centre stage at the European Social Forum

Victor Kattan 21 October 2004


“End the oppression, end the occupation” was the rallying cry at the European Social Forum in London last weekend, where thousands of delegates from all walks of life descended on Alexandra Palace united in the belief that “another world is possible.” Dennis Brutus, a poet, professor and former political prisoner who spent time on Robin Island with Nelson Mandela “breaking stones”, said it was “encouraging to see the crowds that have attended on each occasion to discuss the issue of the Palestinian people and their struggle for social justice.” He urged the audience to build a “global movement in support of the Palestinian people” just like was done in South Africa. “We can do this by boycotts, divestments, embargoes and sanctions” he said. 

Palestine: the assault on health and other war crimes

Derek Summerfield 20 October 2004


Does the death of an Arab weigh the same as that of a US or Israeli citizen? The Israeli army, with utter impunity, has killed more unarmed Palestinian civilians since September 2000 than the number of people who died on September 11, 2001. In conducting 238 extrajudicial executions the army has also killed 186 bystanders (including 26 women and 39 children). Two thirds of the 621 children (two thirds under 15 years) killed at checkpoints, in the street, on the way to school, in their homes, died from small arms fire, directed in over half of cases to the head, neck and chest—the sniper’s wound. Clearly, soldiers are routinely authorised to shoot to kill children in situations of minimal or no threat. These statistics attract far less publicity than suicide bombings, atrocious though these are too. Derek Summerfield comments. 

Guava in Jabalia: First Bite, Last Breath

Sami Abu Salem Jabalya refugee camp 20 October 2004


The seeds of guava were still between 13-year-old Saber Assaliya’s lips when an Israeli tank shot him in the waist. The boy was playing in a nearby orchard at the southern tip of the Jabalia Refugee Camp, in the north of Gaza. Saber’s father Ibrahim recalls, “After eight years [of attempting to have children], Saber’s first scream filled the hospital. I was extremely happy; I distributed sweets for all medical staff and patients in the hospital and the to those in the neighbourhood. I followed all the details of raising Saber. And in just seconds, the Israeli tanks turned him into a memory.” 

IPI Intifada Report Says Press Freedom Deteriorating: Heavy Media Casualties, Perpetrators Go Unpunished

20 October 2004


The International Press Institute (IPI) today published the IPI Intifada Report, a chronicle and statistical analysis of 562 press freedom violations during the first four years of the Palestinian Uprising. At least 478 press freedom violations were carried out by the Israeli state, including the government, the judiciary, and even the legislators. Sixteen violations were committed by Israeli settlers and civilians. Three were perpetrated jointly by Israeli soldiers and settlers. As a result, at least 497 abuses, or 88.4 per cent of all violations, were perpetrated by Israelis. Another 29 violations were carried out by the Palestinian authorities, 15 by Palestinian militants, 7 by Palestinian civilians, and one jointly by Palestinian authorities and civilians. 

UNICEF starts distribution of 40,000 school bags in Gaza Strip

19 October 2004


UNICEF today began distribution of more than 40,000 school bags to children in the Gaza Strip, starting with schools damaged by the recent military incursions into the North. “The school bags are a token of support that give a sense of normalcy in the lives of children, a sense of no matter the circumstance, education must continue” said Dan Rohrmann, the UNICEF Special Representative for the occupied Palestinian territory. “Children’s right to education must be upheld.” The distribution of the bright blue school bags is timed to coincide with the resumption of classes at the end of a 2 week disruption - and with the cessation of military activity in the Northern Gaza Strip.