5 August 2008
WASHINGTON (IPS) - Nearly three years after the US government failed to convict Palestinian activist and former college professor Sami al-Arian of any charges in one of the most high-profile terrorism trials following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, he continues to be held in federal prison. Read more about Despite no conviction, Sami al-Arian remains in US prison
5 August 2008
I am a Palestinian journalist from Gaza. At the age of 17, I armed myself with a camera and a pen, committed to report accurately on events in Gaza. I have filed reports as Israeli fighter jets bombed Gaza City. I have been recognized for my reporting, even in the United States and United Kingdom, where I have won two international awards. I have also been beaten and tortured by Israeli soldiers. Mohammed Omer comments. Read more about Truth and consequences under the Israeli occupation
6 August 2008
The conventional wisdom quickly developed among peace process industry analysts that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s departure would be a “setback” for ongoing negotiations with the Ramallah Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas, endangering the much-touted goal announced at last November’s Annapolis summit of reaching a final agreement by the end of this year. However, Hasan Abu Nimah comments, there is not a peace process to mourn. Read more about Olmert's departure: The perfect alibi
5 August 2008
BEERSHEBA/JAFFA (IRIN) - Some 15,000 Palestinians who married Israeli citizens in the past decade are illegal or temporary residents. Their lives and those of their families have become “unstable,” according to non-governmental organizations. “Many families are being forced to live underground,” said Orna Cohen, an attorney from Adalah, an Israeli rights group fighting the ban on “family unifications” (mixed marriages involving Palestinians or some other Arabs) in Israel. Read more about In Israel, married but without rights
4 August 2008
HERZELIYA (IRIN) - Environmental groups have expressed concern about plans to build a canal between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea — transferring water from the former to save the latter. They say not enough research has been done and alternative options have not been checked. “We are concerned about what will happen to the Dead Sea when this amount of marine water is pumped into it,” said Gidon Bromberg of Friends of the Earth Middle East, at a 30 July public hearing organized by the World Bank in Herziliya, which followed two others in Ramallah and Amman. Read more about Environmentalists concerned over Dead Sea canal plans
Gaza Strip 4 August 2008
In the past two weeks, the Hamas-dominated interior ministry in Gaza has closed scores of Gaza-based non-governmental organizations. According to Al Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza City, the Hamas-dominated government has closed 179 institutions in Gaza, including those providing services to women, children and people with disabilities. The Electronic Intifada correspondent Rami Almeghari reports. Read more about Gaza organizations caught in the crossfire
4 August 2008
The following slideshow is a selection of images from the month of July 2008. The month in pictures is an ongoing feature of The Electronic Intifada. If you have images documenting Palestine, Palestinian life, politics and culture, or of solidarity with Palestine, please email images and captions to photos A T electronicintifada D O T net. Read more about Photostory: The month in pictures, July 2008
3 August 2008
Abdelwahab Elmessiri passed away on Thursday, 3 July, in the Palestine Hospital in Cairo at the age of 70. There is a befittingly poetic resonance about the name of this hospital — the place of his final struggle — when one considers that Elmessiri had devoted almost his entire intellectual career to the defense of the Palestinian cause. Aslam Farouk-Alli remembers the life of the Egyptian writer and political thinker. Read more about On life, literature and Palestine, a tribute to Abdelwahab Elmessiri
3 August 2008
On Saturday, 2 August 2008, al-Shoja’eya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City witnessed bloody clashes between security services of the Ministry of Interior and gunmen from the Helles clan. Eleven Palestinians, including two police officers and eight members of the Helles clan, were killed, and 103 others, including 17 children and six women, were wounded. Read more about Eleven killed in Gaza police arrest operation
1 August 2008
In the first hours of dawn, Nader Elayan was woken by a call from a neighbor warning him to hurry to the house he had almost finished building. By the time he arrived, it was too late: a bulldozer was tearing down the walls. Jonathan Cook reports from Jerusalem. Read more about The struggle against Jerusalem's quiet ethnic cleansing