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The siege on the Gaza Strip

26 July 2007


In June 2007, Hamas took over power in the Gaza Strip. Since then, the area has been under siege. Following Hamas’s takeover, Israel changed the movement arrangements at the five Gaza border-crossing points under its control (Erez, Karni, Nahal Oz, Sufa, and Kerem Shalom), and, except for exceptional cases, again did not permit movement of people or goods between Israel and Gaza. Karni Crossing, “the lifeblood of the Gaza Strip,” through which the great majority of goods enters and leaves Gaza, ceased to operate almost completely. 

Is this Ben Gurion or Hell?

Remi Kanazi Palestine 26 July 2007


Anyone who has traveled through Ben Gurion airport in Israel knows that it is a unique experience. For most Israeli Jews, the experience is comforting, a quick and accommodating entry into a nation created and developed for their exclusive benefit. For Palestinian-Americans and many activists working in occupied Palestine it is quite a different experience. Most of these travelers are held for hours and questioned repeatedly, some of who are stripped naked and in some cases (especially in the last two years) denied entry. EI contributor Remi Kanazi reflects on his recent experience there. 

The ivory tower behind the Apartheid Wall

Margaret Aziza Pappano 25 July 2007


In the last few weeks, university presidents across the US and Canada have rushed to issue statements about the proposed boycott of Israeli academic institutions by the British University and College Union. They view this boycott as a serious violation of academic freedom. Yet, given the general failure of these leaders to comment on any number of infringements of academic freedom that have occurred in recent years, one might be excused for concluding that university presidents prefer to remain above the political fray and reserve their office for grave and important but non-controversial pronouncements on tsunamis. 

Who are we forgetting?

Timothy Seidel al-Mujdayal 25 July 2007


I thought about the irony as I walked the grounds of the old Orthodox Church, surveying the church and the new wall being constructed around it. We were visiting with members of the al-Mujaydal Heritage Committee who were working to construct this wall in what was the village of al-Mujaydal. Al-Mujaydal was one of the over 500 Palestinian villages destroyed between 1947 and 1949, and its residents among the 750,000 to 900,000 refugees expelled from their homes in what Palestinians remember as the Nakba or “Catastrophe.” 

A tribute to my grandparents' home

Yassmin Moor Rafah, Gaza Strip 23 July 2007


I first learned of my grandparents’ home being demolished a few months after it actually happened in October 2003. Rafah was besieged by the Israeli army at that time and phone calls to Gaza were nearly impossible. Al-Brazil housing project was hit especially hard because it was alongside the Gaza-Egypt border. I remember I was driving to school in Pennsylvania when my mother called to tell me. She was very calm, and reported it to me like she reported every other piece of news that came out of Gaza. I could not comprehend what she was saying. 

Prisoners released -- to Abbas

Peter Hirschberg 23 July 2007


JERUSALEM, 20 July (IPS) - In all 255 shackled Palestinian security prisoners boarded buses with windows darkened at the Ketziot prison in southern Israel Friday morning and began their ride northward to the West Bank town of Ramallah — and to freedom. In Ramallah, at the headquarters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, thousands of chanting Palestinians lifted the freshly released prisoners on their shoulders, before moving to a large open-sided tent to perform noon prayers. 

Audio: Crossing the Line interviews Osamah Khalil

23 July 2007


This week on Crossing The Line: no time in the recent history of the Palestinian people has been so devoid of hope. As in the case of the dark days of the South African apartheid regime, Palestinians are faced with the decision to continue along factional lines or begin to form an umbrella body that has legitimacy both with the country and the international community. Host Chris Brown talks with Osamah Khalil, a doctoral candidate in US and Middle Eastern History at the University of California Berkeley about the need to rebuild the PLO and to rid the country of despotic leaders. 

Stranded at the border

Rami Almeghari al-Arish, Egypt 20 July 2007


My wife and myself, like thousands of other Palestinians, are currently stranded in Egypt since the Rafah crossing to Gaza was closed in mid-June. We are now staying closer to our home of Gaza. The destination this time is not Cairo. Rather, it’s the coastal town of al-Arish now that my wife has completed her medical treatment in the Egyptian capital. In the evening of 7 July, we cheerfully smiled for the first time since my wife was hospitalized in a Cairo hospital a month ago, after the doctor assured us she could leave the hospital. However, EI contributor Rami Almeghari and his wife have been unable to return home. 

Smiling through the pain

Alison Phillips Burj al-Barajne Refugee Camp 22 July 2007


Fadia greets me with a warm smile of welcome lighting up her face and takes me to her home in Burj al-Barajne camp, Beirut, where I am to stay for three weeks, trying to help with a summer activity program for some of the children, and to improve the English of her kindergarten teachers. She has an infectious laugh and seems to find much to smile about. As I stay in the camp and learn more of what it means to be a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon I marvel at her strength of character, a common feature of the Palestinian women I have met. 

My mother is in her last moments and I cannot cross the borders

Mona El-Farra Rafah Crossing, Palestine 18 July 2007


My mother is in the hospital at the moment. She is severely ill. She was admitted to the hospital three days ago. I cannot reach her. I finished my 45-day speaking tour in the US. All across the US and during every lecture I told the audience about our suffering, living in this big prison called Gaza. I told them about the borders closure and about the patients who passed away while waiting to cross the borders. The borders have been closed for more than five weeks and patients have died while waiting to cross the Rafah crossing, the only crossing between Gaza and Egypt.