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Challenges of returning refugees to destroyed camp

22 June 2007


BEIRUT, 22 June 2007 (IRIN) - Aid groups are preparing to return Palestinians to the ravaged Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon, though it remains unclear whether a breakthrough in talks between the army and Fatah al-Islam is imminent. Even if fighting between the army and Sunni militant group Fatah al-Islam does end soon, tough challenges remain, aid agencies warn. Unexploded ordnance and rubble imperil the refugees’ way home. 

Everything is possible

Yigal Bronner 22 June 2007


Is a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict possible? Some say that the reality that Israel has created on the ground is irrecoverable and that the partition of the historical Palestine into two states is no longer practical. Others argue that it is the one-state solution which is infeasible, as Israelis will never agree to a power-sharing deal of the Northern Ireland type. Both arguments are wrong — nothing is impossible, comments Yigal Bronner; as we do not know the future, we have no way of ascertaining the impossible. 

The desecration of democracy

Philip Rizk Gaza City, Palestine 22 June 2007


Hamas’ violent takeover of the Gaza Strip last week resulted in two governments: the Hamas leadership headed by deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza and a new emergency cabinet led by the Western-backed economist Salam Fayyad in the West Bank. Both are calling the other the perpetrators of a coup. What are the sources of this division? A fear overtook the Gaza Strip after Hamas took control of institutions this past week, which are rightfully theirs to control. EI contributor Philip Rizk writes from Gaza. 

"They see us all as criminals"

Caoimhe Butterly Baddawi Refugee Camp 22 June 2007


Standing at the entrance to Nahr al-Bared Camp a week ago in the still, oppressive heat waiting with Fatme for her sister and her nieces to be evacuated, we watched as two large army trucks emerged from the camp. Though the backs of the trucks were covered with tarpaulin and soldiers forbade the assembled journalists from filming, as the trucks roared by we could see that each contained about thirty men and boys, handcuffed, some blindfolded, most with their heads bent down towards their laps. Caoimhe Butterly describes the experiences of Nahr al-Bared refugees who have been arrested, beaten and humiliated by Lebanese forces. 

In search of justice in the Middle East

Ali Abunimah 21 June 2007


The US decision to back Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas in the recent turmoil virtually guarantees an escalation in violence. Abbas has installed an unelected “emergency” government to replace the democratically elected Hamas-led national unity government. Some have portrayed, Hamas’ takeover of Palestinian Authority security compounds in Gaza as a “coup.” But many Palestinians do not view it that way. EI’s Ali Abunimah writes in The Chicago Tribune. 

Audio: The Shouting Mountain

20 June 2007


This documentary recorded and produced by Seth Porcello in July of 2006 (just prior to the war on Lebanon) features audio of the people in the village of Majdal Shams shouting across the minefield (1967 ceasefire line) that separates them from their relatives in Syria. This very tangible sound of a border, and occupation, serves as a point from which to tell this story. As one hears the Safhia family, who very graciously allowed the recording their conversation, one hears without interpretation what it is to go on living and coping with the reality of never being able to reunite with one’s family. 

Plight of Palestinian refugees worsening in most parts of Middle East

20 June 2007


JERUSALEM, 20 June 2007 (IRIN) - Some 4.4 million Palestinians remain refugees nearly 60 years after the start of the 1948 war. As the world marks World Refugee Day on 20 June, about one third of these refugees still live inside camps, while an even larger proportion continue to receive aid and relief services, primarily from UNRWA, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees. Observers say the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories has worsened over the past year due to the violence, intense infighting in the Gaza Strip and the international economic boycott on the Palestinian Authority. 

Exhibition: "Lebanon: Open Skies of Struggle"

Mostafa Heneway 27 August 2007


In the context of historical political events occurring in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East, photojournalist Stefan Christoff is currently touring a photo exhibition entitled Lebanon: Open Skies of Struggle. Christoff, who is a regular contributor to The Electronic Intifada, was interviewed by Montreal-based independent journalist Mostafa Heneway on the current Lebanon exhibition traveling across Canadian galleries. 

Call for probe into Palestinian abuse claims

20 June 2007


BADDAWI REFUGEE CAMP, NORTH LEBANON, 20 June 2007 (IRIN) - Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled the Lebanese army’s month-long siege and shelling of the north Lebanon Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, as its battle against Islamist militants continues. But one 16-year-old Palestinian student told IRIN his worst ordeal began after he escaped the camp. About 10 men he identified as soldiers and police were standing at a junction leading to the village of Muhammara, above Nahr al-Bared. “They asked to see my identity card,” said the boy, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution. 

The Light at the End of the Gaza-Ramallah Tunnel

Omar Barghouti 20 June 2007


The lightening success of Hamas in forcefully taking over the supposed symbols of Palestinian power in Gaza cannot and ought not obscure the fact that, given the overbearing presence of Israel’s military occupation, the bloody clash between the Islamist group and its secular counterpart, Fatah, and irrespective of motives, has descended into a feud between two slaves fighting over the crumbs thrown to them, whenever they behave, by their common colonial master. EI contributor Omar Barghouti comments on the crisis and the imminent dissipation of the illusion of national Palestinian sovereignty under Israeli hegemony.