The main United Nations agency helping Palestinian refugees today handed over 103 new shelters in Rafah in the Gaza Strip for families whose homes have been demolished during the latest uprising against Israel, but the ceremony planned for the event had to be postponed due to ongoing Israeli military operations. The Israeli military has cut the Strip into three, cutting off access to Rafah, and operations in the north of Gaza prevented UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Peter Hansen from re-entering the area for the planned ceremony. Read more about UN replaces Palestinian refugee homes demolished by Israel
The occupied territories are witnessing a severe internal crises that effects all aspects of the life of Palestinians and threatens both their security and safety. It threatens the ongoing struggle for independence and for an the end to the belligerent Israeli occupation. While the roots of the crises may be traced back many years the crises reached a pinnacle in the middle of July 2004 in the shape of a series of attacks, kidnappings and other illegal activities perpetrated by individuals or militant groups. These actions reflect the total absence of the rule of law and the chaos which has resulted as a consequence of the proliferation of small arms and militarization of Palestinian society. Read more about Crisis in the PA: Events and the Challenge of Reform
Some 1.2 million children returned to school last week in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after a summer break. Students and teachers have begun the new school year with enthusiasm, but it will not be without challenges - classroom size, quality of teaching, and, amid school closures, checkpoints and day-long curfews. Almost 200,000 children lost school days last year due to curfews and closures. UNICEF is supporting the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education by providing essential learning supplies, supporting teacher training, and advocating to ensure that students take final exams safely and on schedule. Read more about More than 1 million Palestinian children return to school
A preliminary assessment of the effects of the Israeli operation “Forward Shield,” in the northern Gaza Strip, particularly in Beit Hanoun, shows that Beit Hanoun and neighbouring areas suffered considerable damage. This report covers the period 29 June to 5 August 2004. Aside from the deaths and injuries, damage and destruction to property and infrastructure are primary humanitarian concerns resulting from the operation. Public and private property - homes, agricultural land, factories, educational facilities, roads, electricity, and water and sewerage networks - were damaged or destroyed in Beit Hanoun. Read more about Report: "Operation Forward" in Beit Hanoun
“The situation fell out of control and it became difficult for me to do my job. It became difficult for the Ministry of Justice to operate, especially after the Palestinian Cabinet passed a ministerial decision that further limited our ability to work within our legal channels to implement law and order. Basically, the wording of the new orders was vague and didn’t clearly establish boundaries for different departments within the government to operate. It became impossible to work.” Palestinian Justice Minister Nahed al-Rayyes, who recently submitted his resignation, granted Samah Sabawi in Amman, Jordan this exclusive interview by telephone from his home in Gaza on 27 August 2004. Read more about Interview with Palestinian Justice Minister Nahed al-Rayyes
Thirteen United Nations institutions operating in the occupied Palestinian territory expressed concern today about the hunger strike that reportedly more than 2,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees have joined. The UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Terje Roed-Larsen calls on the Israeli authorities to comply with its international obligations and to make every effort to find, with the prisoners, an appropriate resolution to the hunger strike. The UN agencies and offices remind Israel of its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention and relevant international human rights instruments which provide for the protection of detainees and prisoners. Read more about Thirteen UN agencies expressed concern about conditions Palestinian prisoners
In the morning of 24 August, Israeli military forces broke into UNRWA’s girls’ school in Askar Refugee camp in the West Bank and proceeded to use the school as a detention and interrogation center for hundreds of male residents of the camp between the ages of 16 and 40. The Agency strongly protests this flagrant violation of the United Nations Privileges and Immunities. The occupation of Askar girl s’ school is not the first such abuse of UNRWA’s humanitarian installations in the West Bank or in the Gaza Strip. No less than 10 schools were occupied during Defensive Shield operation. In all these cases, UNRWA has also protested to the Israeli authorities, but without result. Read more about Israel uses UNRWA girls' school as detention center
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on Israel to cease its recently reported expansion of West Bank settlements, calling the practice a clear contradiction of the country’s obligations under the Road Map peace plan that provides for the establishment of two states - Israel and Palestine - by 2005. “The Secretary-General expresses strong concern over reports of Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank, through the Government of Israel’s recent publication of tenders for construction of new housing units,” a statement issued by his spokesman said. Read more about Annan calls on Israel to cease West Bank settlement expansion
Dr. Nabil Qassis, Minister of Planning, and Mr. Piers Cazalet, Acting Consul General of the UK to the Palestinian Authority, and Mr. Andrea Tamagnini, Special Representative a.i, UNDP, will approve a generous grant of £950,000 in support of the Ministry of Planning’s commitment to mainstreaming the issue of poverty reduction in its humanitarian and developmental planning instruments. The grant will kick-start the Palestinian Pro-poor Participatory Planning project to be implemented by the Ministry of Planning in joint partnership with the United Nations Development Programme/Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People. Read more about Ministry of Planning and UK kick-start UNDP participatory planning project
Israeli Defense minister Shaul Mofaz dubbed them a “serious threat to the security of Israel,” while the western press has called them variously the “wild card of the Middle East” (CNN) or the “homemade rockets that may change the Middle East” (Time). For a weapon that didn’t claim a fatality until June 28 of this year, the Qassam rockets have gained widespread notoriety. Qassam rockets are primitive homemade rockets developed by Hamas’ military wing, the Izzedin Al Qassam brigades, during the Aqsa Intifada. Palestine Report’s Ghazi Hamad looks at the Palestinian debate surrounding the weapons. Read more about Divisions emerge over Qassams
