Hoda, age 12, with her brothers and sisters, running happily, giggling, racing to reach the beach, her dad and mum busy carrying the picnic basket. It is Friday and Hoda’s family, like other Palestinians, were trying to enjoy a little fun. Suddenly, the moment shattered. An Israeli gunship suddenly fired at random against the beach, while army tanks fired artillery shells and Apache helicopters crossed the sky. 40 civilians were injured, 10 killed. I watched Hoda on the local TV, shocked, yelling, shouting, crying, “ya baba ya baba!” (“Dad, Dad!”). Read more about Gaza: On the beach
The tears have not yet left the innocent face of one astonished girl, Huda Ghalia, 12, who lost 7 members of her family yesterday, while they enjoyed their weekend at the shore in the town of Beit Lahia, north of Gaza. Huda and her sisters and brothers were happily enjoying their first weekend together without thinking of homework, as they recently completed their school exams. The Ghalia family went to a less populated area at the northern part of the beach, where white sand dunes and little wild plants were scattered. Read more about Black Weekend, Bloody Mud, and White Sand
Over the past 24 hours, the Gaza Strip was the target of a deadly escalation in Israeli attacks. Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) committed a number of war crimes in the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the killing of fourteen Palestinians and the injury of thirty-six others, including thirteen children. The most severe and inhumane of these crimes was the killing of seven members of the same family (father, mother and five children), who had been enjoying a day on the beach to the west of the town of Beit Lahya. Read more about 14 killed in Gaza in 24 hours
On Wednesday, 7 June 2006, three people were killed and seven others were injured, including a child, in armed clashes between clans in Gaza, Khan Yunis and Rafah. PCHR’s preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 22:15 on Wednesday, Majdi El-Bahri Dughmosh, a 32-year-old resident of the El-Sabra area of Gaza City, was killed by a bullet to the head. He was killed during an armed clash between the El-Kafarna and Dughmosh clans in the El-Tuffah area of Gaza City. Read more about Three People Killed and Seven Injured in Clan Disputes in the Gaza Strip
In July of 2006, Tadamon! [Solidarity! in Arabic], a Montreal-based collective of social justice organizers and media activists, will be sending a delegation to Lebanon. In the context of historic political change taking place in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East region, this delegation will be producing independent media reports concerning the current political, social and economic situation in Lebanon, for dissemination through alternative media networks in the Middle East, North America and internationally including the Electronic Intifada. Read more about Tadamon delegation to Lebanon in Summer 2006
Sa’ed Jamal Al Taleb (26) of Al-Jalazone refugee Camp (originally from Um Al Zainat close to Haifa) was the last of the scores of wounded to be discharged from Al Ri’aya Hospital in Ramallah. When the events of May 24 took place, he had been on his way home from the Arab-Amman Bank, where he worked as a messenger (he had worked for five years in Jordan and Saudi Arabia before returning home). Sa’ed was hit in the leg, as he ran towards Al Manarah to see what was going on. Read more about Portraits of Palestinian Resistance: The Wounded
With Aysar’s death during the May 24 Israeli raid in Ramallah, Kamal Jamil Qasem (49) of Aqqaba near Jenin buried his second child. The first to die was Fadi, who, at 19, fought with Abu Jandal of Islamic Jihad during the nine-day Israeli attack on Jenin Refugee Camp in April of 2002. He fought against bulldozers, apache helicopters, tanks and heavy machine guns. Aysar, a member of the PA national security forces, was stationed in Ramallah, because he was having trouble getting to Hebron, his original post, as a result of the Israeli check points. Read more about Portraits of Palestinian Resistance: Aysar Kamal Abu 'Arra
Ghaleb’s father, Rabah (48) worked in Israel as a laborer from 1977 until 2000, when he was no longer allowed to work there. He now has a job in a factory that manufactures solar heating tanks. He has provided well for his large family, his wife Mayada, his two oldest married sons, both waiters in Ramallah and living with him in the family compound. He has one married daughter who lives in Safa. Another is a sophomore at Birzeit University studying psychology. His five youngest children are all in school. Read more about Portraits of Palestinian Resistance: Ghaleb Rabah 'Allan
Ja’far’s father, Khaled, a truck driver and the father of four other sons and two daughters, was in a village called Naleen west of Ramallah when he got the frantic call from one of his neighbors. Ja’far, who had been taking driving lessons in Ramallah in the past few weeks, was there on the afternoon of May 24th for his driving test. To pay the fess of the test, he had just borrowed 350 NIS from his younger brother Hussein (20), a waiter at a restaurant in downtown Ramallah. Read more about Portraits of Palestinian Resistance: Ja'far Khaled Betillo
Refugee Camps all over the West Bank and Gaza are targets of frequent Israeli attacks. Al-Am’ari Refugee Camp, where Milad was born and where he lived with his family (refugees from Jaffa) until he was killed by the Israelis at the age of 19, is no exception. The Camp is on the outskirts of Ramallah and has seen its share of tragedies. Its approximately 6000 refugees are under siege, increasingly unable to provide for themselves. Al-Am’ari camp boasts of its share of Israeli air and land raids, home demolitions, bombs, as well as “wanted”, imprisoned and martyred men, women and children. Read more about Portraits of Palestinian Resistance: Milad Attallah Abu Al-Arayes
