RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Forty international aid agencies and non-governmental organizations have released a joint statement condemning Israel’s blockade of Gaza, to mark the second anniversary of the coastal territory being hermetically sealed off from the outside world. “We, United Nations and non-governmental humanitarian organizations, express deepening concern over Israel’s continued blockade of the Gaza Strip which has now been in force for two years.” Read more about Aid agencies slam Gaza blockade
Africa-Israel is the latest target of a boycott campaign by Palestine solidarity activists because of the company’s involvement in the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. American and European financial institutions hold a substantial stake in Africa-Israel Investment, investigations reveal. Adri Nieuwhof reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Africa-Israel under scrutiny for settlement construction
GAZACITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - “Biddun mey, fish heyya,” they say in Arabic for a universal truth: “Without water, there is no life.” While diminishing water resources are a global concern, in Palestine the struggle for water is not against global warming or multinational corporations, but for access to water, and against contamination of what precious resources there are. Read more about Attack on water brings sanitation crisis
A couple of months ago I had the great pleasure of watching Palestinians successfully graze their sheep near Avigail settlement, on land where they are regularly attacked and harassed. The joy I felt in watching my friends and partners grazing their sheep on their ancestral lands was overwhelming. Sitting on the hill and eating lunch together felt like having a party. Joy Ellison writes from Hebron. Read more about Nonviolent resistance in the south Hebron hills
Israel is currently using provisions in the lengthy documents of the Oslo accords as the legal basis for intensifying efforts to suppress activities in Jerusalem that the state says are linked to the Palestinian Authority. The latest examples of this crackdown were closure orders delivered last month at the opening and closing sessions of this year’s annual Palestine Festival of Literature. Marian Houk reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Israel's efforts to suppress Palestinian activities in Jerusalem
Gaza’s landscape is dotted with piles of rubble of bombed out buildings, the twisted iron and aluminum of destroyed factories, once green fields reduced to sand and dirt by Israeli tanks, apartments with two-meter holes in the walls and toppled minarets of mosques turned to ruins. “But as devastating as bearing witness to the destruction was, it was the absurdities of the total blockade of Gaza imposed by Israel and Egypt that really affected me,” writes Stephanie Westbrook upon returning from Gaza. Read more about Gaza frozen in time
A friend recently told me that the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish once said that every night before he fell asleep he would walk the streets of his stolen city of al-Birwa in his mind. More than one Palestinian here has told me that they have a similar nighttime routine, except when they close their eyes they float up from their beds, through their windows, beyond the lights of the patrolling Israeli ships and armored trucks, and out into the night sky, free to roam the world. Emily Ratner writes from the Gaza Strip. Read more about I'll fly away
On 8 June the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz announced that French transport giant Veolia might abandon the light rail project that will connect Jerusalem with several illegal Israeli settlements built on Palestinian land. Reports also indicate that Veolia wants to pull out of the 30-year contract to operate the train. Adri Nieuwhof reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Veolia reportedly drops light rail project, but campaign goes on
FAQUA, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Faqua village has found itself unfortunately named. Faqua in Arabic means spring water bubbles; the village was named after the abundant natural underground springs that were once found all around it. Faqua’s problems started in 1948 with the establishment of Israel, when 24,000 of Faqua’s 36,000 dunams of land (a dunam is the equivalent of 1,000 square meters) and most of the underground springs were appropriated by the new Jewish state. Read more about Some unclean drops to drink
“We don’t live in the territories, we cannot throw stones and we cannot participate in the legitimate resistance against occupation,” Haneen Zoabi, a Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) told Stu Harrison of Green Left Weekly. “We participate in the struggle so our own position as citizens. Our unique role is a political resistance and not, for example, an armed resistance.” Read more about Palestinian in Israeli parliament: "We resist politically"
