AL-BUREIJ, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - Tens of thousands of children in Gaza are still suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following Israel’s three-week bombing in December-January. Several crisis counseling teams run by international organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been carrying out intervention programs aimed at helping Gaza’s most vulnerable put the pieces of their lives back together. Read more about Traumatized children struggle to rise again 

In a bid to staunch the flow of damaging evidence of war crimes committed during Israel’s winter assault on Gaza, the Israeli government has launched a campaign to clamp down on human rights groups, both in Israel and abroad. It has begun by targeting one of the world’s leading rights organizations, the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), as well as a local group of dissident army veterans, Breaking the Silence, which last month published the testimonies of 26 combat soldiers who served in Gaza. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Israel moves to declare rights groups as foreign agents 

GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - Saleh wonders how he will pay for a replacement car part he bought from the tunnels black market. “It cost more than $1,000. Before the siege, it would have been 500 to 1,000 shekels (roughly $125-$250), at most $250. Anyway, I had to buy it; you need to maintain the car when you use it all the time.” The father of five drives one of Gaza’s many run-down taxis, working around the clock but earning just enough to get by. Read more about Gaza's cars barely running 

RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - What remains of Palestinian civil rights is rapidly being eroded by the dictatorial Palestinian governments that respectively control the divided Occupied Palestinian Territories. Palestinian civilians are paying the price as Hamas, which controls Gaza, and the PA, which rules the West Bank, continue to target their political opponents as part of their bitter power struggle. Read more about Fatah, Hamas rule increasingly authoritarian 

According to experts the reality is that in both a practical and legal sense Netanyahu’s “open city” is a fiction, extended only to the settlers and not to Khurd or to the 250,000 other Palestinians of East Jerusalem. Khurd, for example, has been forced to live in a tent after settlers ousted her from her East Jerusalem home of five decades in November. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Israel's "open" Jerusalem closed to Palestinians 

RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - A little village nestled in a valley between several hills in the Bethlehem governorate is today fighting for survival. All around Wadi Fuqin village on the outskirts of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank is the expanding and illegal Israeli settlement Beitar Illit, home to 35,000 settlers. The settlement is situated on a hill overlooking the little Palestinian village of 2,500. Read more about Settlers expand in West Bank 

GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - With unemployment rates at 50 percent in Gaza, and 80 percent of Gazan Palestinians dependent on food aid hand-outs, it’s no wonder that al-Jerjowi’s business isn’t booming. After the three weeks of the Israeli air, land and sea bombardment which killed over 1,400 people, Gaza’s agricultural sector is devastated, and that includes the beef farmers. Read more about Imposing malnutrition on Gaza 

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) has been denied access to clients detained by the Internal Security Service (ISS) of the Government in Gaza. PCHR affirm that such measures violate Palestinian law and relevant international standards, including the detainees’ right to have access to legal counsel. PCHR is further concerned that access restrictions may be motivated by the desire to hide illegal practices against detainees, including torture and other forms of cruel treatment. Read more about Rights group demands access to Palestinian prisoners in Gaza