Palestinians and solidarity activists claimed a major victory as the Norwegian government divested from two Israeli companies involved in settlement construction. Meanwhile, a Chicago activist was arrested days after charges were dropped against UK activists arrested during a boycott action. Read more about Global boycott movement claims victories, arrests 

The world’s churches have long been one of the battlegrounds of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. With the strengthening of the BDS movement, a number of churches across the globe have seen the boycott of Israeli and Israeli settlement goods hotting up, and recent weeks have witnessed some notable victories. Read more about Church boycott calls ring louder  

“Uff, uff, uff, you can never get time to rest or sleep quietly and you can’t even work. Wherever you are, you hear sound of power generators which makes it seem we are all living in a big factory,” Ahmad al-Bar explained, expressing the frustration of many Palestinians in Gaza at the electricity crisis there, now going on three years. Read more about "Like living in a big factory" in Gaza 

Hamdan Jewei is a 26-year-old Palestinian living with a physical disability in the al-Doha village near the city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. Jody McIntyre spoke with Jewei for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about From isolation to disability union leadership 

GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - Just off Omar al-Mukhtar Street, Gaza City’s main thoroughfare, in a narrow, sandy alleyway is a little second-hand clothing shop. In the dimly lit store, with only intermittent electricity for some hours a day at best, sits a single battered and aging sewing machine. Read more about Gaza's industries suffer under siege 

Canadian activists looking to assist in the breaking of the siege of Gaza will launch a Canadian Boat to Gaza this fall. However, this Canadian version of the Freedom Flotilla that seeks to break the siege has a twist. Read more about Canadian Boat to Gaza to break siege, overcome "aid traps" 

Jerusalem-born Firas al-Maraghi has been holding a hunger strike outside the Israeli embassy in Berlin, Germany, since 26 July, protesting a decision by the Israeli government to prevent his newborn daughter from being registered as a Jerusalem resident. Read more about Israel refuses to lift ban on family unification 

The West Bank village of al-Tuwani, after nine years of actively fighting and lobbying, has been connected to the Palestinian electrical grid. The victory came after nearly a decade of non-responses, delays, requests for additional paperwork, confiscations and demolitions. Samuel Nichols writes from al-Tuwani, occupied West Bank. Read more about After long struggle, village on the grid 

AZZUN ATMA, occupied northern West Bank (IPS) - For seven years Majda Abdul Qader Sheikh, 38, has not been allowed to visit the home of her parents, just a few hundred meters from her house. “I tried to get a special visitor’s permit for a quick visit during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan but I was refused,” says Sheikh, mother of seven children. “I have had no problems with the Israeli authorities, nor am I considered a security threat,” she added. Read more about Palestinians face movement restrictions during Ramadan 

Grassroots Palestinian boycott campaigns across the occupied West Bank to take Israeli settlement products off the shelves of local stores have made an impact on the Israeli settlement economy, to the unease of the Israeli government, noted the Israeli daily Haaretz this week. Read more about West Bank boycott campaign impacting settlement economy