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Israeli obstacles to free movement in Palestinian territories mount, UN reports

13 October 2006


Not only has there not been any significant improvement in Palestinian movement in recent months but the number of Israeli checkpoints and other obstacles has actually increased, hindering access to essential services, according to the latest United Nations update published today. “The closure system is a primary cause of the humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned. “It restricts Palestinian access not only to basic services such as health and education, but divides communities from their land and one another, places of work and sites of religious worship.” 

The BBC and Israel's plan for a military strike on Iran

Jonathan Cook 12 October 2006


The Middle East, and possibly the world, stands on the brink of a terrible conflagration as Israel and the United States prepare to deal with Iran’s alleged ambition to acquire nuclear weapons. Israel, it becomes clearer by the day, wants to use its air force to deliver a knock-out blow against Tehran. It is not known whether it will use conventional weapons or a nuclear warhead in such a strike. At this potentially cataclysmic moment in global politics, it is good to see that one of the world’s leading broadcasters, the BBC, decided this week to air a documentary entitled “Will Israel bomb Iran?”. It is the question on everyone’s lips and doubtless, with the imprimatur of the BBC, the programme will sell around the world. 

UN officials fear unexploded ordnance problem could worsen with winter

11 October 2006


United Nations de-mining officials, already worried by up to 1 million pieces of unexploded ordnance in southern Lebanon left over from Israel’s 34-day war with Hizbollah, voiced concern today that the problem could worsen as winter weather embeds the munitions deeper into the ground. “This will make the job more dangerous since it becomes difficult to detect and clear the suspected contaminated areas,” UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Spokesman Alexander Ivanko said of the unexploded ordnance (UXOs) and cluster bomb units (CBUs) still remaining from this summer’s conflict. 

Number of Palestinian children killed doubles

12 October 2006


The number of Palestinian children who have been killed so far this year in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip almost doubles the number killed for the whole of 2005, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Many of the children died after being shot by Israeli troops during military operations or were killed in Israeli air strikes on houses. On Thursday, 13-year-old Suhaib Kadiah became the 92nd Palestinian child to be killed this year when she was shot dead by Israeli troops during an incursion into the Khan Younis area of Gaza. 

Victims of insecurity increase in oPt

11 October 2006


The number of people killed in crimes in occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) has increased exponentially in 2006 compared to the previous years, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights (PICCR). “This year has witnessed a significant rise in the number of insecurity victims,” said Ma’moun Iteily of the PICCR’s department which documents cases of insecurity and human rights violations. According to the PICCR statistics, 270 people were killed in the oPt by 10 October. By contrast, 93 people were killed in 2004 and 176 in 2005. 

Arab villages want equal compensation

11 October 2006


Business owners from four Arab villages in the north of Israel are waiting to see whether a court will grant them the same compensation as their Jewish Israeli counterparts for damage done during the recent war between Israel and the armed wing of Lebanon’s political party Hezbollah. Arab organisations in Israel say the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict [12 July to 14 August] may have hit Arab communities harder because they were generally poor to start with. The villages of Arab al-Aramshe, Fasuta, Ma’alia and Jesh, suffered serious damage during the conflict, but have been denied the full compensation package awarded to neighbouring Jewish villages. 

Stranded Palestinians should be allowed into the country, say UNHCR and rights group

8 October 2006


The Syrian Organisation for Human Rights in Syria (SOHR) said on Sunday that it was deeply concerned about “the deteriorating humanitarian conditions” of the Palestinians who are stranded on the Iraqi-Syrian border and who include about 150 children. “Their lives in Iraq are in real danger because of lack of security,” SOHR told IRIN. Among the stranded Palestinians is the Saeed family, which arrived at the Tanaf checkpoint on the border some five months ago after fleeing Iraq. As Palestinians, their lives in Iraq were in danger after they were targeted by unknown militants. 

Canada to resettle 46 Palestinian refugees

10 October 2006


Canada has accepted to host 46 Palestinian refugees from Iraq who have been languishing at al-Rweished refugee camp, some 250 km east Amman, for the past three years, said Robert Breen, the United Nation’s refugee agency (UNHCR) Representative in Jordan. “Representatives of the Canadian government interviewed 150 Palestinian refugees at the fenced camp a few months ago but accepted one third of them,” said Breen, who hoped a third country would be found to accept the remaining group before a deadline set by Jordan to close the camp expires. 

600 Attend Landmark BDS Conference in Toronto

10 October 2006


Over 600 people attended the landmark conference, Boycotting Israeli Apartheid: The Struggle Continues, held from 6-8 October in Toronto, Canada. The conference represents a watershed moment in the Palestinian solidarity movement, with leading anti-apartheid activists from Palestine, South Africa, Canada and England addressing the way forward in the global campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions. The conference was organized by the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA), a broad movement formed in response to the call by 171 Palestinian civil-society organizations in July 2005 for the international community to implement a comprehensive boycott, divestment and sanctions strategy against apartheid Israel as the focal point of solidarity efforts with the Palestinian people. 

A re-run of the Lebanon war in Palestine?

Hasan Abu Nimah and Ali Abunimah 11 October 2006


There are ominous signs that the long-contemplated plan to overthrow the democratically-elected Hamas-led Palestinian Authority cabinet is about to enter its most dangerous phase: a political coup, supported by local militias, with foreign and regional backing. This could ignite serious intra-Palestinian violence. EI co-founder Ali Abunimah and contributor Hasan Abu Nimah write that with Iraq providing a dreadful warning of how foreign occupation can foster civil bloodshed, everything must be done to expose and thwart this dangerous conspiracy.