Mahfouz Abu Turk is a Palestinian photojournalist based in Jerusalem. Abu Turk has taken photos for Agency France Press, Associated Press, the Washington Report, has seen his work exhibited around the world, and currently works with Reuters. Abu Turk was the first journalist to enter the camp of Jenin following the invasion in May 2003. On 24 May 2004, he went to Rafah and brought back these images from the aftermath of Israel’s “Operation Rainbow”. Read more about Photostory: Suffering and desolation in Rafah, 23 May 2004
Johannes Abeling, graduate of the Royal Art Academy in the Hague and a freelance Dutch photojournalist, is back in Palestine shooting photos. On 19th May, Johannes found himself in Rafah in the middle of the peaceful protest march by local residents that ended when Israeli combat helicopters and tanks opened fire on the demonstrators, killing at least 8 people and wounding about 50, including many children. This series of photographs is from the Brazil neighborhood in Rafah, which has seen many homes demolished during Israel’s ongoing “Operation Rainbow”. Read more about Photostory: Israel's destruction in Brazil refugee camp
Johannes Abeling, graduate of the Royal Art Academy in the Hague and a freelance Dutch photojournalist, is back in Palestine shooting photos. Just a few days after he arrived, Johannes found himself in Rafah in the middle of a peaceful protest march by local residents calling for the Israeli army to cease “Operation Rainbow”, a military operation to destroy hundreds of Palestinian homes along the Gaza-Egyptian border. Israeli combat helicopters and tanks opened fire on the demonstrators, killing at least 8 people and wounding about 50. Abeling’s series of photos are chilling and graphic, and EI publishes them here to give readers a rare but necessary opportunity to see life during wartime in Rafah. Warning: Some of the images are extremely disturbing.Read more about Photostory: Israel's Rafah operation and its May 19th attack on a peaceful march (graphic content)
Listen to an interview with Mohamed, an independent journalist from Rafah Palestine, who posts daily reports and photos about Rafah at the website - http://rafahtoday.org. This interview is a powerful and direct testimony, as to the acts of collective punishment, which have been unleashed on the Palestinian population of Rafah refugee camp. The interview was recorded on Tuesday May 28th, as Israeli troops continued to raid homes in Rafah, confining its 90,000 residents without electricity, water or phones. Read more about Interview: Creator of 'Rafah Today' website, direct from Rafah
An MP3 interview with S’ra DeSantis, a social justice activist and organic farmer in Burlington Vermont. S’ra is currently in Budrus, Palestine, a rural village in the West Bank fighting for its existence against the Israeli military and the planned construction path of the Apartheid Wall. The wall, deemed a “security measure” by the Israeli state, is clearly an effort to steal more Palestinian land. The Palestinian Environmental NGO Network has estimated that upwards of 50 per cent of the West Bank land will be plundered by the completion of the wall, which is not being built on or near the 1967 Green Line and at points reaches 16km deep into the heart of the West Bank. Read more about Interview: S’ra DeSantis on the Apartheid Wall in Budrus
B’Tselem has produced a music video as part of the campaign against Israel’s siege policy. The song - “Eyes Wide Open” - is a remake of a popular Israeli song, featuring well-known Israeli artists. The song’s lyrics speak of the need to acknowledge the reality. The music video features footage taken at roadblocks and checkpoints and shows the reality of Israel’s siege policy. Read more about Eyes Wide Open: The Siege
The Wall in Abu Dis has existed in one form or another since summer 2003. From late December to early January 2004, Israel built a larger 27ft (8m) wall that cuts off Abu Dis from Jerusalem, separating thousands of residents from the Palestinian capital, and dividing the village itself. Photographer Musa Al-Shaer visited Abu Dis on 18 January 2004 as the final stages of construction had been completed and Israel had renamed the Wall the “terror prevention fence”, a laughable phrase given the number of Palestinians trapped on the Israeli side of the Wall. Read more about Photostory: The Wall in Abu Dis, 18 January 2004
As the building of Israel’s Apartheid Wall continues, Palestinians living in its path are being cut off from their agricultural lands, their schools and hospitals, and sometimes even from their next door neighbours. In Abu Dis, on the edge of Jerusalem, the Wall has been built right in the center of Palestinian neighbourhoods with no consideration for the residents, creating what one piece of graffiti on the Wall dubbed, “Ghetto Abu Dis”. The following photos of the Wall’s passage through Abu Dis were taken by the Handala Cultatal Center on 25 January 2004. Read more about Photostory: The Wall in Abu Dis, 25 January 2004
In Seattle, street theatre was performed in protest of the wall. A wall puppet smashed homes, trampled olive trees and demolished ambulances, schools and hospitals. Hundreds chanted “bring the wall down”. Westlake Park was transformed into a Seam Zonewith a full scale model of the wall guarded by soldiers who issued everyone an Announcement of Closure, not unlike those issued in the areas between the Green Line and the Wall within the West Bank. A wall puppet smashed homes, trampled olive trees and demolished ambulances, schools and hospitals. Read more about Photostory: Seattle activists bring down Wall
EI’s Arjan El Fassed visited Rafah, which is located on the southern border of the Gaza Strip. Repeatedly, Israeli occupying forces have demolished hundreds of homes in this area. This has been the scene of killings, large destruction and razing of lands and the place where Israeli forces killed American peace activist Rachel Corrie and journalist James Miller. Read more about Rafah demolished
