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UN agency sees opportunity after Gaza withdrawal

8 September 2005


Following Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, the head of the main United Nations agency helping Palestinian refugees said today that her main focus was on creating jobs, micro-financing and housing reconstruction so that the inhabitants themselves would benefit from the pullback. In that effort, Karen Koning AbuZayd, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said the Agency will work within the framework of James Wolfensohn, the envoy of the Middle East Quartet for coordinating Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and the economic and social transition there. 

Photostory: The Kalandia Terminal

M. El Fassed-Vermeer 10 September 2005


Kalandia checkpoint is one of the largest Israeli military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank. This checkpoint is not located on a border, but between the Palestinian town Ramallah, Kalandia refugee camp, and the Palestinian town of ar-Ram. It separates Ramallah residents from southern Palestinian towns and the northern Palestinian neighbourhoods of Jerusalem. Israeli soldiers check identity cards. The new apartheid-like terminal system Israel currently constructs will be introduced first in the Jenin area. The plan is to implement the new system in the entire West Bank gradually, starting from the north and going southwards. 

Reflections: Leaving Las Vegas, I mean, Israel, but actually Palestine

Zachary Wales Birzeit, Palestine 9 September 2005


In my experience, the transition from the West Bank to Israel has never been pleasant. It is the act of voluntarily leaving a society where nearly everyone is outgoing and hospitable, then entering one where most people are paranoid, judgmental and usually armed. I was therefore grateful to notice that my driver extended the former qualities, as he pointed to the Palestinian villages we passed along the fringe of the West Bank. “Shoof!” (“Look!”) Beit Hanina hone (“here”),”? he said, pointing to the West, “Ou (“and”) Beit Hanina hunak (“there”),” now pointing to the East. Still smiling, he motioned ahead naming villages we would pass along the way, “Biddu, Beit A’nan, Beit Leqia ou Bil’in”. 

Israel's "Disengagement": The Day After

8 September 2005


The Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) would like to stress the fact that Israel’s unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip and parts of the Northern West Bank, although welcome and long overdue in terms of the implementation of international law, does not constitute an end to Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian land. After implementation of the disengagement plan, Israel remains in charge, partially or completely, of border crossings and thereby continues to control the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza. PNGO would like to emphasize its belief that the unilateral Israeli disengagement, in and of itself, will not create an opportunity for peace between Palestinians and Israelis but rather preclude the attainment of a fair and durable regional peace for the foreseeable future. 

Palestinian gunmen kill Gaza security chief and kidnap his son

7 September 2005


Dozens of Palestinian gunmen raided the house of Major General Mousa Arafat, the military advisor to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and former commander of the military intelligence. They exchanged fire with guards. Three of them were injured and others were handcuffed by the gunmen. They took Arafat out of the house and shot him from close range in his head. They carried him towards the main streeet and fired several times. The gunmen also kidnapped Arafat’s son, Manhal, an officer of the military intelligence. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights strongly condemns this crime and remains gravely concerned at the internal security situation. 

Japan contributes $5.5 million to rehabilitate refugee shelters

7 September 2005


Today, the Government of Japan announced a generous donation of US$ 5.5 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agenc y for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in support of its work in the Gaza Strip following Israel’s disengagement. This donation is part of a US$ 100 million package announced by the Japanese Government in May 2005. It will enable UNRWA to reconstruct 333 dilapidated or unsafe dwellings belonging to the most destitute refugee families living in the eight refugee camps across the Gaza Strip. Refugees constitute approximately 70 percent of the estimated 1.4 million population of the Gaza Strip. 

Gaza Disengagement: Future of the Gaza Strip

1 September 2005


Although the colonization of the Gaza Strip has now come to an end (with the evacuation of the settlers), Israel’s military occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) continues. Israel strictly controls all access in and out of the Occupied Gaza Strip thereby controlling the movement of both goods and people. And, while the Israeli Army may soon evacuate the Gaza Strip, the Army will continue to strictly control all Palestinian movement. Issues remain unsolved such as Rafah crossing, the customs envelope, the Palestinian airport and seaport, the movement of goods within the occupied Palestinian territories and between the occupied territories and Israel. 

Legality of Israeli Settlements Examined In UK Criminal Trial

4 September 2005


Seven Palestine solidarity protesters from London and Brighton were arrested on 11th November last year after they took part in a non-violent blockade outside the UK base of an Israeli agricultural export company Agrexco (UK) Ltd, Swallowfield Way, Hayes, Middlesex. Agrexco is Israel’s largest importer of agricultural produce into the European Union, and it is 50% Israeli state owned. It imports produce from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The protesters will argue as a defence that they were acting to prevent crimes against International law that are also illegal in the UK under the International Criminal Court Act. 

Apartheid and Agrexco in the Jordan Valley

Lena Green 4 September 2005


On June 25, an Israeli spokesperson announced a plan intended to increase the number of settlers in the Jordan Valley by 50 percent in one year. The cost of new housing units will be $13.5 million (U.S.) in the initial year, and will increase to $32.5 million in the following year. The plan focuses on the development of agriculture and tourism in the valley, with grants of up to $22 million available for agricultural development. Agrexco is 50 percent owned by the Israeli state and all of the produce exported from the valley is packed by and sold through them. Palestinian farmers no longer attempt to export because their dealings with the company have been so catastrophic. Nor are they able to take their produce to other markets in Palestine, because it is impossible to get it through the Jordan Valley checkpoints. 

Gaza Withdrawal and the Right of Return

Stefan Christoff 3 September 2005


Listen to an interview with Mohammad Jaradat, coordinator of political campaigns at BADIL, a Palestinian NGO based in the West Bank. BADIL’s work is primarily focused on the ongoing Palestinian struggle for the right of return and acts as a coordination point for the international struggle on this issue in the occupied West Bank. In the midst of the withdrawal of illegal Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and a handful in the West Bank, the issue of the right of return for Palestinian refugees has been seldom addressed by major media and political leaders throughout the world.