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Never against! European collusion in Israel's slow genocide

Omar Barghouti 21 January 2008


The European Union, Israel’s largest trade partner in the world, is watching by as Israel tightens its barbaric siege on Gaza, collectively punishing 1.5 million Palestinian civilians, condemning them to devastation, and visiting imminent death upon hundreds of kidney dialysis and heart patients, prematurely born babies, and all others dependent on electric power for their very survival. Israel’s crimes in Gaza can accurately be categorized as acts of genocide, albeit slow. EI contributor Omar Barghouthi comments. 

Economic warfare in Gaza

Yossi Wolfson 21 January 2008


No more lies or twisted tongues. Israel is saying at last what, in the past, it always refused to acknowledge: its war is against the Palestinian population. Until now, in discussions about the separation wall, closures, blockades, house demolition, and other sorts of collective punishment, the State Attorney’s Office lacked the gumption to admit in court that the aim of such measures is to harm civilians. It always came up with convoluted security claims in order to present some vital military necessity for the sake of the War against Terror. Harm to the population was described as a regrettable side effect. Yossi Wolfson analyzes. 

Rights org: Gaza situation potentially disastrous

21 January 2008


At approximately 8:00pm on Sunday, 20 January, the Gaza Strip power plant ran out of fuel and shut down, plunging the Gaza Strip into darkness. The closure of the Gaza power plant, in addition to Israel’s continued, tightened siege on the Gaza Strip, will have a catastrophic effect on the 1.5 million residents of Gaza, who are already suffering chronic shortages of fuel, medicine and some basic food stuffs. The director of Gaza’s main hospital, al-Shifa, describes the current situation as “potentially disastrous.” 

What Bush left behind

Mohammed Ali Gaza Strip, Palestine 20 January 2008


Since US President George W. Bush’s visit to this part of the world, at least 38 Gazans were killed and another 1,500 were injured as a result of Israeli military attacks. This escalation of violence came right after Bush’s trip to Israel and Ramallah, as Israel enjoyed an obvious green light from the US as the Arab world sat by and watched. For anyone who might believe that Bush’s visit would improve the lives of Palestinians in general and of Gazans in particular, let me assure you that the opposite has occurred. EI contributor Mohammed Ali writes from Gaza. 

Photostory: As long as there is life, there is hope

20 January 2008


The year 1948 is the worst year in Palestinian history. It is the year of the destruction of Palestinian society and the dispossession and expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs by Zionist forces. Today, there are about five million Palestinian refugees around the world, still waiting to exercise their right of return. Most refugees live in the surrounding Arab countries; however some of them live very close to their original homes. In my case, I live only three kilometers from my own village: Lifta. Anan Odeh’s images document the village where his parents were born and forced to flee in 1948. 

Israel kills nine Gazans, injures 57 in three days

19 January 2008


Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have intensified their war crimes in the Gaza Strip with total disregard for civilian lives. During the last three days, nine Palestinians, including four civilians, have been killed by the IOF. Three of the civilian victims were women. In addition, 57 other people were inured, the majority of whom were also civilians. On 18 January shrapnel from a bomb fired from an Israeli fighter jet onto a governmental building hit a nearby wedding celebration, killing one woman and injuring dozens of others. 

Photostory: A day in Ma'ale Adumim

15 February 2008


It is only a fifteen minute bus ride from Jerusalem to the Ma’ale Adumim settlement. After entering through guarded gates, one’s first impression is of a Miami-style suburb. The town at noon seems almost abandoned because the major part of Ma’ale Adumim residents head off to work in Jerusalem during the day. But once reaching the fence that surrounds Ma’ale Adumim, an odd feeling begins to creep over oneself. This neatly planned concrete patchwork seems totally out of place in the surrounding arid Palestinian landscape. Toon Lambrecht goes inside one of the Israel’s largest settlements in the West Bank. 

Gaza power cuts leave people cold physically, metaphorically

17 January 2008


JERUSALEM/GAZA, 17 January (IRIN) - The Israeli government decided earlier this month to permit the Gaza Strip to import industrial diesel — in similar quantities to those permitted prior to the fuel import restrictions imposed in October 2007 — but the impoverished enclave continues to suffer from power cuts. The cuts are affecting daily life, particularly now as the region has been experiencing an uncommonly cold winter. 

Israeli forces kill Gaza civilians in botched execution attempt

16 January 2008


On Wednesday at noon, 16 January 2008, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) launched an air strike against a civilian vehicle in Gaza City. Three Palestinian civilians (a man, his son and his brother) were killed in the strike. According to preliminary investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, at approximately 12:30pm on Wednesday, an IOF aircraft fired a missile at a civilian vehicle, in which three members of the al-Yazji family, including a child, were traveling, in al-Nafaq Street in the al-Daraj neighborhood of east Gaza City. 

Mr. Bush's trip to Ramallah

Anne Paq Ramallah, West Bank 16 January 2008


So US President George W. Bush came to Ramallah, and of course the city was turned upside down. The Palestinian Authority (PA) wanted to show that they were up to the task of handling the security. I managed to get a press pass and I was cynical but curious to see how the big show would go down. All the photographers and journalists were told to come at 6am at a certain location so that they could be taken all together to the Muqata’a, the PA’s headquarters. Anne Paq reports from Ramallah.