5 September 2009
JALAZONE, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Fourteen-year-old Muhammad Nayif’s mother broke down as she spoke to IPS. Nayif died after being shot three times in the chest by Israeli soldiers Monday night. Palestinian medical personnel who tried to reach the critically injured boy near the Jalazone refugee camp north of Ramallah were threatened at gunpoint by Israeli soldiers and shot at. Read more about Israel targets medical teams
1 September 2009
OCCUPIED EAST JERUSALEM (IPS) - Israel says “united” Jerusalem will be the eternal capital of the Jewish state. However, a quick walk across the Green Line which marks the international boundary dividing the two parts of the city reveals a city very much divided. Most of West Jerusalem is clean, well cared for and far more opulent than the poorer east. The streets of East Jerusalem are filled with litter, piles of uncollected garbage, potholes and vermin. Read more about In Jerusalem, separate and unequal
31 August 2009
GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - According to the Palestinian Chamber of Commerce in Gaza, there are currently over 1,700 containers of imported goods ordered by Gaza merchants being stored in Israel and the West Bank until they are allowed into Gaza. A breakdown of the items listed by the Chamber of Commerce includes clothing, shoes, electronics and toys. Read more about Gaza-bound goods stuck at the border
27 August 2009
The inhabitants of the Bedouin village of Amra have good reason to fear that the harsh tactics used by the Israeli army against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have been imported to their small corner of Israel’s Negev desert. Over the summer, the Tarabin tribe, all of them Israeli citizens, have had the sole access road to their homes sealed off, while the dirt track they must use instead is regularly blocked by temporary checkpoints at which their papers and vehicles are inspected at length. Read more about Eviction of Israel's Bedouin parallels army's West Bank tactics
26 August 2009
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights strongly condemns attacks perpetrated by Israeli forces in the evening of 24 August, and the morning of 25 August 2009. Three Palestinians were killed while a fourth is missing consequent to Israeli gunfire in the northern Gaza Strip and aerial bombardment along the Egyptian border, south of Rafah. Read more about Israeli forces kill four Palestinians in Gaza
25 August 2009
The municipality of Beersheva is racing to put the finishing touches to repairs of the city’s long-neglected and unused Great Mosque, built more than 100 years ago by the Ottoman rulers of what was then Palestine. But, over the protests of Beersheva’s thousands-strong community of Muslims, the Jewish-run municipality is not planning to restore the city’s only mosque to its former glory as a place of worship. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Palestinians in Israel fight to reclaim Beersheva's Great Mosque
18 August 2009
In an echo of restrictions already firmly in place in Gaza, Israel has begun barring movement between Israel and the West Bank for those holding a foreign passport, including humanitarian aid workers and thousands of Palestinian residents. The new policy is designed to force foreign citizens, mainly from North America and Europe, to choose between visiting Israel — including East Jerusalem, which Israel has annexed illegally — and the West Bank. Jonathan Cook reports from Jerusalem. Read more about Israel brings Gaza entry restrictions to West Bank
17 August 2009
Amin Muhammad Ali, a 74-year-old refugee from a destroyed Palestinian village in northern Israel, says he only feels truly at peace when he stands among his ancestors’ graves. The cemetery, surrounded on all sides by Jewish homes and farms, is a small time capsule, transporting Muhammad Ali — known to everyone as Abu Arab — back to the days when this place was known by an Arabic name, Saffuriya, rather than its current Hebrew name, Tzipori. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Israel begins sell-off of refugees' land
11 August 2009
GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - On a Saturday morning in Gaza City, the Artificial Limb and Polio Center (ALPC) is filled with people waiting to see the director, Dr. Hazem al-Shawwa. Following consultation with him and with the specialist in prosthetics and orthotics rehabilitation from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), many will begin the long road to treatment. Read more about Prosthetics unavailable for Gaza amputees
11 August 2009
BETHLEHEM, occupied West Bank (IPS) - In her office at the Bethlehem women’s counseling center, Khawla al-Azraq recounts her memories from Israeli prison as vividly as if they were yesterday: the routine physical and psychological abuse, the nightly room searches, the hunger strikes and other collective actions in protest against their conditions, and the intense study sessions with her fellow prisoners. Read more about Prison strengthens Palestinian women