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Honey makes Hebron life a bit sweeter

11 August 2008


HEBRON (IRIN) - The toughest part of the West Bank just got a bit sweeter, with an influx of beehives, helping farmers cope with the decline in their economic situation. Stuck between two Israeli settlements, the Palestinian residents of Wadi al-Ghrous in Hebron are surrounded by military bases and fences, their movements are restricted, and over the past 25 years they have been affected by Israeli land expropriations. 

Report: Israel coerces medical patients into collaboration

8 August 2008


A new report by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel provides a detailed description of the permits mechanism instituted by Israel and of the growing restrictions placed by this mechanism on the access of patients to medical care unavailable in Gaza. The report describes how patients’ access to medical care is conditioned on their collaboration with Israeli intelligence. 

Report: Israeli violence enjoys impunity

Mel Frykberg 8 August 2008


RAMALLAH, West Bank (IPS) - Only six percent of probes into offenses allegedly committed by Israeli soldiers and settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank yield indictments, a new report says. The report “Justice for All” released last week by the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din examined 205 cases of alleged assault by Israeli settlers that were reported over the years. Only in 13 cases were indictments filed, while 163 cases were closed. 

Rights group: Deaths of two Nilin boys "willful killing"

7 August 2008


As a Palestinian human rights organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Al-Haq is deeply disturbed by the excessive and disproportionate use of force employed by Israeli Border Police in the village of Nilin last week, resulting in the willful killing of two Palestinian children. 

Israel's siege of collective punishment

Yaser Wishah 7 August 2008


Imagine if Chinese-Americans visiting relatives were prevented by the Chinese government from returning to America. Or if an American traveled to Iran and was then forbidden from reaching an airport to come home. This happened to me at the hands of Israel, supposedly America’s closest ally in the Middle East. I am a US citizen and small-business owner in Olathe, Kansas. I am also a Palestinian born in Gaza. I traveled to Gaza last December to care for my ill father. Israel trapped me there for four months. Yaser Wishah comments. 

An open letter: Father to father

Bassam Aramin East Jerusalem 7 August 2008


Dear Hisam, father of Ahmed, may he rest in peace: I learned of the death of your son, Ahmed Musa, through a one-sentence newsflash on the Palestinian news station Ma’an last Tuesday: “Ahmed Musa, a young boy, was killed by a bullet of the occupying forces in Nil’in.” I was immediately overcome with shock and grief and bitter tears. And above all, that relentless feeling of powerlessness that I know too well. 

Parliamentary caucus to mull refugee issue

6 August 2008


JERUSALEM (IRIN) - An Israeli parliamentary caucus has been formed to look at “solutions” to the Palestinian refugee problem, now in its 60th year. “The idea of the caucus is to look at the refugee problem from a humanitarian perspective, not to focus on why there are refugees, but to look at solutions,” a spokesman for member of parliament Amira Dotan, a co-chairperson of the group, told IRIN. 

Displaced Allawis find little relief in impoverished north

6 August 2008


HISA, AKKAR (IRIN) - They may have been uprooted “more than 40 times” over the years since Lebanon’s Civil War began in 1975, but Hussein Mohammed and his family say they have rarely felt as threatened as they do today. “When Israel did air strikes [in 2006] they dropped leaflets warning us to leave the village. These Salafis are trying to drive us out of the country,” said Mohammed, a member of the Allawi sect. 

Crossing the Line focuses on Obama's trip to the Middle East

6 August 2008


This week on Crossing The Line: Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama recently wrapped up a tour of the Middle East during which he assured Israelis that the United States will always be their friend and reaffirmed the “special relationship” between the two countries. But as Obama made visits to Jerusalem, the southern Israeli town of Sderot and a brief stop in Ramallah, he neglected to mention Israel’s ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories. Host Naji Ali speaks with Bruce Dixon, investigative journalist and managing editor of Black Agenda Report, about Obama’s tour and his blindness to Israeli apartheid. 

Book review: "Thinking Palestine"

Raymond Deane 6 August 2008


Because its contributors — sociologists, historians, legal experts and cultural critics — work from within an activist perspective, the new volume Thinking Palestine should be read closely by serious pro-Palestinian activists wishing to sharpen their conceptual tools in the ceaseless battle against Zionist propaganda. Raymond Deane reviews for The Electronic Intifada.