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Interview: As'ad Abukhalil on the Nahr al-Bared siege

Ali Abunimah 24 May 2007


Thousands of Palestinian refugees are fleeing from Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon as five days of fighting by the Lebanese army and a militant group known as Fath al-Islam has left dozens of soldiers and fighters and an unknown number of civilians dead. As the situation of these Palestinian refugees worsens, 59 years after they were first expelled from their homeland into Lebanon, the world looks on in silence. Electronic Intifada co-founder Ali Abunimah spoke with As’ad Abukhalil, the creator of the Angry Arab News Service blog on the origins of Fath al-Islam, the events that led to the violence and what it means for Lebanon and the region. 

"On the way to the hospital I realised that my mother had died"

24 May 2007


NAHR AL-BARED, 24 May 2007 (IRIN) - Yousef Abu Radi, 12, was hit by shrapnel when a civilian bus fleeing Nahr al-Bared, a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon, came under fire on Wednesday afternoon. Dozens of civilians have been killed in five days of fighting between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam, a radical Islamist group based in the camp. At least 50 soldiers and militants have also been killed. 

30,000 Caught in Crossfire

Jackson Allers 24 May 2007


BEIRUT, May 24 (IPS) - Palestinian factions inside Lebanon have been in a quandary as to how to assist the more than 30,000 residents of the densely populated Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon trapped after three days of fighting between Lebanese Army units and members of a Sunni Islamist group, Fatah al-Islam. Ashraf Abu-Khorj, a camp resident, spoke to IPS in the middle of the shelling on the second day of fighting. Khorj said that the situation was growing increasingly dire, as he and his neighbours felt that no one was acting to put an end to the situation peacefully. 

Palestinian patient dies after delay at Erez Crossing

24 May 2007


Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim Mansour, 23, was admitted into Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on 15 May 2007, after he had been wounded by several gunshots during the latest internal fighting in the Gaza Strip. Since he was in a critical condition, his family, in coordination with the liaison officer at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, made efforts over five days to obtain permission for his transfer to Israeli hospitals, but the Israeli side refused to offer him such permission for alleged security reasons. 

Israel arbitrary detains Palestinian legislators in the West Bank

24 May 2007


The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested 33 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), cabinet and local authorities yesterday 23 May 2007. Most of those are elected officials known to be affiliated with Hamas faction. The campaign was focused in the districts of Nablus, Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Ramallah, Salfit and Hebron. This is the third detention campaign IOF carry out against Palestinian officials. On 29 June 2006 IOF arrested eight ministers and 21 PLC members and local authorities’ officials. Later on 5 August 2006, IOF arrested the president of the PLC from his house in Ramallah. 

War games

Laila El-Haddad Gaza City, Palestine 23 May 2007


I can’t sleep. I get up maybe once every two hours. Go to the bathroom, walk around a little, and then doze off again. Only to be awakened by the drones, followed by the manic hovering of helicopter gun ships. This time they were directly over our apartment building. I would have been afraid, except this happened once before, maybe two years ago. Panicked and fearful at the time, I called my cousin, who reassured me that when an Apache is directly overhead, it means its intended target is about 500 metres to one kilometre away. It is information I wish I did not know. 

Humanitarian work resumes in Gaza as factional fighting ends

23 May 2007


JERUSALEM, 23 May 2007 (IRIN) - As Israeli operations against suspected Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip increase and internal violence wanes, some humanitarian organisations are resuming work in the troubled enclave which remains closed off from the rest of the world. The Rafah Crossing, the only crossing to destinations outside Israel, has been closed for over a week. The other crossings lead to Israel, and most Palestinians from Gaza, barring exceptional humanitarian cases, are not able to obtain the requisite permits. 

Thousands flee fighting as army accused of shelling relief convoy

23 May 2007


BEDDAWI, 23 May 2007 (IRIN) - At least 10,000 Palestinians from Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon have fled to neighbouring Beddawi camp following a lull in fighting between the Lebanese army and Islamist militants, according to an official in one of the schools over-run with an influx of displaced people. “We estimate 10,000 people have entered Beddawi camp since late afternoon yesterday [Tuesday],” Nadar Abdel Ghani, head teacher at Kawkab School in Beddawi camp, told IRIN. 

"The situation is very bad"

Jackson Allers and Rania Masri Lebanon 23 May 2007


The following interview with Ashraf Abu Khorj, a youth organizer, was conducted on May 21 at around 3pm as the Lebanese Army was shelling the Nahr al Bared refugee camp: “The situation has calmed down now — from a half hour ago. For the past two days, and since 4 am this morning, there have been lots of attacks. Homes attacked. Homes burned. People injured. Children hit. Youth killed. The situation is very bad. No electricity for the past two days. There is no water. There is nothing. We don’t have a hospital in the camp.” 

The result of bad politics

Hasan Abu Nimah 23 May 2007


Bad politics create bad consequences, but because linking the effect with the cause implicates the initiators, the tendency is often to attribute man-made disasters to unrelated circumstances. It is easier, therefore, to blame the tragic fighting amongst the Palestinians in Gaza on a foolish and selfish struggle for positions, rather than the rotten politics of Oslo, cooked a decade and a half earlier. Indeed, and in many ways, it is a fierce struggle for power, but the roots of even that should be traced further back than the election results that swept Hamas into power.