Audio: Crossing the Line speaks with activist in Nahr al-Bared

This week on Crossing The Line: After months of conflict between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam, some of the residents of Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon are finally returning home. But with most of the camp’s infrastructure destroyed, unexploded ordnance remaining and Lebanese residents in the surrounding area blaming on the Palestinian refugees for the violence, their return to Nahr al-Bared has not been easy. Host Christopher Brown speaks with independent journalist and activist Caoimhe Butterly about the refugees’ return to Nahr al-Bared and what lies ahead.

Next in the program, Brown speaks with Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer about the ongoing crisis in the Gaza Strip due to Israel’s siege on the territory. Palestinians in need of medical services outside of Gaza find themselves trapped at the borders. Omer, a Palestinian from the Gazan town of Rafah, speaks about the current conditions for the ill and the other residents of Gaza after Israel’s labeling of the strip as a “hostile entity.”

As always, Crossing the Line begins with “This week in Palestine,” a service provided by The International Middle East Media Center.

Crossing the Line is a weekly podcast dedicated to giving voice to the voiceless in occupied Palestine. Through investigative news, arts, eyewitness accounts, and music, Crossing the Line does its best to present the lives of people on the ground.

Crossing the Line’s host, Christopher Brown, is an independent journalist currently living in San Francisco. Brown’s South African roots and desire for social change are the reason for his strong solidarity with the Palestinian people. In 1990 Brown was arrested in South Africa where he was detained and tortured for nearly two years by the South African secret police. Brown also lived and worked in the Old City of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.