While hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are currently at risk for infectious diseases, still lack running water, electricity, or a working sewage system, and while the IDF is still denying relief workers access to some areas (mainly around Jenin), Israel is celebrating its Independence Day. Read more about Disturbing parallels and unbearable dissonances
‘There is a curfew,’ says somebody at the office. I look at him and continue my work. ‘Yes, they have imposed a curfew on a number of neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, including Issawiye and Beit Hanina,’ he says. Read more about How appropriate !
So quiet in Ramallah these days, but from time to time we hear explosions because the army is blowing the doors off of ministries, schools, kindergartens, development agencies and houses. Tonight, it is exceptionally noisy. Read more about Independence day
Adam Hanieh and Catherine CookRamallah, Palestine16 April 2002
How ironic is it that the only ‘democracy’ in the Middle East, places the residents of its ‘eternal capital’ under curfew for an undetermined period of time, while it celebrates its glorious 54th anniversary as a state? Read more about 'Independence' day: the view from Ramallah
‘I’m at the edge of the camp right now; we’re hemmed in by two APCs and a lot of soldiers. We were trying to help just a handful of people take a gurney loaded with food and water across a destroyed road to get to people who need it. The soldiers have stopped us and they’re not giving us permission to pass.’ Read more about Eyewitness Jenin: 'Post-apocalyptic' devastation
On the evening of April 3, 2002, US Federal Embassy Security Agents rescued me from Bethlehem. The entire episode felt comical. And it pretty well summed up my impressions of the US’s involvement in the Israel/Palestine conflict. Read more about Rescue from Bethlehem - April 3, 2002 (epilogue)
Since Israeli troops invaded Palestinian towns and cities on March the 29th, the civilian population has suffered and come under attack. Scores of people have been killed and injured; civilians trapped in their own homes by the soldiers are the sad casualties of the Israeli aggression. Read more about Deaths of Palestinian civilians continue
Tonight, five members of the International Solidarity Movement are sleeping at a school in Jenin with 800 refugees from the Jenin Refugee Camp. Earlier in the day, nine internationals from the United States, Sweden and Italy entered the refugee camp and started to deliver food to the remaining residents of the camp - women, children and elderly men. Read more about ISM enters Jenin refugee camp