In a conflict that has produced more than its share of suffering and tragedy, the name of Kafr Qassem lives on in infamy more than half a century after Israeli police gunned down 47 Palestinian civilians, including women and children, in the village. This week Kafr Qassem’s inhabitants, joined by a handful of Israeli Jewish sympathizers, commemorated the anniversary of the deaths 52 years ago. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Execution of 47 in Kafr Qassem commemorated
RAMALLAH (IRIN) - Some 100 academics and mental health workers were denied entry to the Gaza Strip to attend an international medical conference, but the conference took place anyway — by video link, with one group gathering in Gaza City and another in Ramallah. “It made it harder to exchange experiences,” said Samir Qouta, a psychologist at the Islamic University in Gaza, told IRIN. Read more about Israel tries to block Gaza health conference
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights condemns the campaign of arrests being carried out by Palestinian security services against Hamas supporters in the West Bank. The Centre calls upon the governments in Ramallah and Gaza to immediately cease all forms of arbitrary arrests. Read more about PA continues arrest campaign of Hamas supporters in West Bank
Salwa Salam Qupty clutches a fading sepia photograph of a young Palestinian man wearing a traditional white headscarf. It is the sole memento that survives of her father, killed by a Jewish militia during the 1948 war that established Israel. “He was killed 60 years ago as he was traveling to work,” she said, struggling to hold back the tears. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Denied visit to father's grave
RAMALLAH (IPS) - Israeli soldiers shot and killed three young Palestinians in the Ramallah district of the central West Bank last week. The army claimed the Palestinians were about to throw Molotov cocktails at soldiers and settlers in the Bet El settlement. But the circumstances in which the young men were shot has been questioned. Read more about Israeli forces kill three Palestinian youths near Ramallah
Amidst the tightened siege imposed by the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) on the Gaza Strip, the IOF continues to open fire on areas adjacent to the eastern border. This morning it targeted a school at Khizaa town in the southeast of the Gaza Strip, injuring a girl inside her classroom. Read more about Israeli fire hits girl in Gaza school
Since the beginning of the second intifada in September 2000, the Israeli Occupation Forces have killed more than 860 Palestinian children. In response to these killings of children, and the consistent use of excessive lethal force against Palestinian children, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights is launching a major investigative report on child killings perpetrated in the Gaza Strip. Read more about Report: 68 Gaza children killed in one year
GAZACITY (IPS) - The letter of acceptance that 28-year-old Hazem Hussain got for a business graduate program in a California university once brought joy. Now he does not know what to do with it. He has admission, and a visa to the United States, but the Israelis will not let him leave. “I have tried to get out through every means possible for a year now,” he says. “But I am not able to go.” Read more about Israel targets Palestinian students
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the eruption of violence at al-Azhar University in Gaza City at the end of last week. The violence involved students damaging parts of the university and destroying university property. PCHR calls upon the Attorney-General to investigate these attacks and bring the perpetrators to justice. Read more about Violence continues at Gaza's al-Azhar University
Despite pronouncements from Israeli leaders that the recent Acre violence is damaging the city’s image as a model of coexistence, the reality is of a deeply divided city, where the wounds of the 1948 war have yet to heal. The Electronic Intifada contributor Jonathan Cook analyzes. Read more about Acre violence exposes Israel's double standards
