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Food prices double in besieged Gaza

27 March 2008


“There have been rapid price increases over the last few months because of the closure. Three months ago, for instance, a liter of corn oil cost 19 shekels [the equivalent of $4.50]. Now it costs 29 shekels [$7]. The price of flour has also doubled; three months ago a kilo of flour was two shekels. Now our customers have to pay four shekels.” PCHR reports on how the siege has affected business owners like Anwar Abu al-Kass and the availability of food in Gaza. 

A devastated town recovers, in a way

Rebecca Murray 26 March 2008


SIDDIQINE, Lebanon, 26 March (IPS) - Ali Mohanna lives in a two-room cinderblock structure with his wife and brain-damaged son. By the side is a small, freshly plowed tobacco field and the plot of rubble he once called home. Mohanna’s house was bombed by Israel during the 34-day conflict in 2006, as were houses of most residents of Siddiqine — an impoverished village of 6,000, about 10km inland from the coastal town Tyre. 

Normality in the West Bank

Maria Urkedal York Nablus, West Bank 27 March 2008


It is the constant reminder that every aspect of people’s lives here is affected by the occupation. My Palestinian friends who have lived their whole lives in this context tell me that one of the worst things of existing under such conditions is that after a while it becomes normal. One comes to expect everything. One has to endure everything. One has to remain hopeful that life will become easier one day. Maria York’s words and photographs tell about daily life in the occupied West Bank. 

Gaza's sewage system in crisis

26 March 2008


JERUSALEM/GAZA, 25 March (IRIN) - Design errors, a fast growing population, the halting in recent years of development projects, and Israeli restrictions on imports have rendered the Gaza Strip’s sewage system incapable of handling the enclave’s waste, experts said. The result is the pumping of partially treated or untreated sewage directly into the sea, and the seepage of dirty water into the ground and groundwater. 

Deaths of four "terrorists"

Jared Malsin Bethlehem 25 March 2008


Few other words shut down critical thought as completely as the word “terrorist.” Few other labels are so morally loaded, so totalizing, so antithetical to reasoned, measured debate. Almost no other term evokes such facile, muddled thinking. Thus, when a local leader of Islamic Jihad and three other Palestinian “terrorists” were killed by Israeli special forces in Bethlehem on Wednesday night, few outside of Palestine will mourn their deaths. JR Malsin writes from Bethlehem. 

Transforming Israel

Miko Peled 25 March 2008


Now that Kosovo is the newest independent state to emerge out of the ruins of the former Yugoslavia parallels are being drawn between the Balkans and the Middle East. One response to this development came from Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni who said that as she does not mind if the Palestinians follow the Kosovars and declare statehood; what worries her is that Palestinians will demand equal rights with Israelis. Miko Peled comments for EI. 

Nazareth, the neglected city of Jesus

Christine Bro 27 March 2008


Last weekend, Catholics in Nazareth and around the world celebrated the most holy and significant events to Christianity, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, marking the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, a man in Biblical times known simply as “Jesus of Nazareth.” However, today Nazareth faces a slow and painful death in the face of land theft and colonization. Christine Bro writes for EI. 

Renewed Egyptian ceasfire attempts undermined by Israel

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani 24 March 2008


In the wake of a series of deadly Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip early this month, Egypt has stepped up efforts aimed at brokering a ceasefire between Palestinian resistance groups and Tel Aviv. “Egypt is talking to representatives from [Palestinian resistance factions] Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Israel in order to arrive at a tacit easing of hostilities,” Mohamed Basyouni, head of the Shura (upper parliamentary) Council’s committee for Arab affairs, and former Egyptian ambassador to Israel, told IPS. 

Towards a viable academic boycott campaign

Laith Marouf 24 March 2008


For the past few years student and academic groups in North America and Europe have been openly campaigning for the boycott of Israeli academia. Some actions produced results (even if not long lasting) and some were unsuccessful. It is important for us working towards the defense of Palestinians’ human rights to learn from these experiences so we may meet our goals in the future. Laith Marouf comments for EI. 

Trapped in no man's land

James Denselow 21 March 2008


In 2006, as Iraq descended into new depths of civil conflict, 350 Palestinian refugees were driven out of Baghdad by targeted violence. They arrived in the desert no man’s land between the Iraqi and Syrian border crossings at al-Tanf. The Syrian authorities denied the Palestinians access into Syria, while also preventing any more Palestinians arriving into the no man’s land. James Denselow reports for EI.