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Up to 200,000 still displaced after war, UN says

1 November 2006


Up to 200,000 people could still be displaced in Lebanon nearly three months after the Israel-Hezbollah conflict ended, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday. “We don’t have the precise number of IDPs [internally displaced people] since there has been no formal registration, but we can estimate their number to 150,000 - 200,000,” Stephane Jaquemet, UNHCR regional representative in Lebanon, told IRIN. He added that the vast majority of the displaced live with friends or relatives and not in collective centres. This has made it harder for relief workers and authorities to work out an exact figure for the numbers displaced and to assess their needs. 

Insecurity and kidnapping in Gaza

31 October 2006


This week two foreign citizens were kidnapped and held for short periods of time, and ten Palestinians were killed or injured in acts of internal violence. In addition, seven Palestinians were abducted by unknown armed men during the past week. These cases illustrate the increasing state of insecurity that is developing in the Gaza Strip. According to Al Mezan’s fieldworkers, at approximately 3.15pm Monday 30 October 2006, three armed men stopped a taxi and seized Roberto Villa, a 30 year old Spanish national, and Celine Gagne, a French national aged 26; both work with Cooperation for Peace. 

Two Palestinians killed in Khan Younis incursion

31 October 2006


The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) carried out new attacks on Gaza today, killing two in a ground incursion and destroying one house and one tire store in air strikes. According to the Al Mezan’s investigations, at approximately 11pm Monday 30 October 2006, IOF fighter jets fired a missile at a house in Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis. IOF had called Muhammad Abu Hayeh, who leased the house and lived with his family in it, fifteen minutes prior to the strike and told him to evacuate the house. The house was completely destroyed and several neighboring homes were also damaged. 

Six killed in large-scale military operations in north Gaza

1 November 2006


At dawn today the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) started a large incursion in the north Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. So far, six Palestinians have been killed and 20 wounded. The incursion is still underway and Al Mezan has detected serious violations by IOF. According to Al Mezan’s investigations, at approximately 1am Wednesday 1 November 2006, IOF special forces sneaked into the town and took positions on the roofs of several houses in As Sikka neighborhood. Other troops took positions in other neighborhoods under the cover of helicopters. 

Israel's New Arsenal

Ethan Heitner 1 November 2006


What bizarre science-fiction horrors have to occur before the American media wakes up to the strange war that Israel is prosecuting against Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, asks Ethan Heitner of Tompaine.com? People are still being maimed or killed every day in Lebanon thanks to unexploded cluster ordinance dropped massively by Israel in the 48 hours after a cease-fire had been negotiated but before it went into effect. Over 30 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in October alone. As usual, however, Lebanon and Palestine have vanished from the newscycle (where Israel is currently represented by a president who refuses to step down despite an all-but-indictment for multiple rape charges and an openly fascist party joining the government ). 

UN agency concludes operation to feed 810,000 mostly displaced people

31 October 2006


The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today wrapped up a successful three-month operation in Lebanon to feed over 810,000 people displaced or otherwise affected by this summer’s fighting between Israel and Hizbollah, providing nearly 13,000 tons of food throughout the country. “The Lebanese government will take care of the few remaining pockets that may need some assistance to secure their basic food needs, but for WFP our mission is complete,” the agency’s emergency coordinator for Lebanon, Zlatan Milisic, said. 

Senior UN envoy for Lebanon 'particularly disturbed' by Israeli over-flights of Beirut

31 October 2006


A senior United Nations envoy today expressed serious concern at continuing Israeli over-flights of Lebanon, especially intensive mock air raids over Beirut this morning, calling them a breach of the Security Council resolution 1701, which ended this summer’s conflict with Hizbollah. Senior UN envoy Geir Pederson noted in his latest report to the Council on Lebanon that Israeli over-flights have continued since the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hizbollah on 14 August. 

Israeli court issues home demolition orders without presence of affected families

31 October 2006


According to a new report issued by the human rights organization Adalah, the ease with which the state (Israel) obtains ex parte orders for home demolitions from the Beer el-Sabe Magistrate Court, without the presence of the affected families, is a dangerous phenomenon. The state is exploiting legal procedures in order to compel residents of the unrecognized Arab Bedouin villages in the Naqab to evacuate their homes and villages and to relocate to government-planned towns. 

Analysis: The wait for Al-Jazeera's international channel

Steve Metcalf 31 October 2006


It is still not known when Al-Jazeera’s long-awaited English-language news channel will launch. First mooted in 2004, Al-Jazeera International (AJI) initially had a target launch date of late 2005. But despite regularly announcing the signing up of star names such as David Frost and Rageh Omaar, the launch date kept slipping. It is now thought that it may go on air sometime during November. One of the reasons cited for the delay is the ambitious technical nature of the project. During a 24-hour cycle the channel plans to broadcast for four hours from its Kuala Lumpur bureau, 11 hours from its base in Doha, five hours from London and four hours from Washington. 

Book Review: Ramzy Baroud's "The Second Palestinian Intifada"

Remi Kanazi 31 October 2006


Over the last five years, the Palestinian people have faced a host of obstacles in their fight for sovereignty, preventing them the opportunity to create a life those in the Western world brag about. A principal impediment facing the Palestinian struggle today is the constant reaffirmation that the Palestinian people — deemed by Israel and the US — are “terrorists,” “militants,” or animalistic beings lesser than those of the “civilized world.” In Ramzy Baroud’s new book, The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of People’s Struggle, this myth is shattered.