Palestinian youth premiered nine short films at public screenings in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip last week. Forty youths worked in small groups during two parallel three-week workshops conducted in the al-Aroub and Jabaliya refugee camps during the month of July. Palestinian and international trainers facilitated the workshops through the participatory media program Voices Beyond Walls, in partnership with local youth community organizations. Read more about Youth re-imagine life through short films
Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler19 August 2010
JERUSALEM (IPS) - On the eve of the start of Ramadan last week, Israeli police demolished the Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Negev desert. It was the third time within two weeks that the village had been razed. Unfazed, the Bedouin villagers immediately began rebuilding. Read more about Al-Araqib residents fear fourth demolition
Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler17 August 2010
HIRBETDEIR, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Ramadan, with its extra expense (families and friends hosted every evening for the festive iftar meal that breaks the daily fast) and shorter working hours, is a time when most Palestinians especially struggle to make ends meet. Read more about Economic and political pressures at Ramadan
Basem Ra’ad is a professor at Al-Quds University in occupied East Jerusalem. For the past two decades, he has been researching the ancient past of Palestine, much of which concerns the Western and Israeli appropriation of ancient languages and cultures, from the Canaanite alphabet to the Canaanite pantheon of gods and goddesses. Jonathan Scott spoke with Ra’ad for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Palestinian roots of Western civilization: an interview with Basem Ra'ad
Gaza’s kids truly are record-breakers. They survived Israel’s 2008-2009 winter invasion and every day they put up with a state of war during a so-called ceasefire. Smeared in blood, they’ve crawled through the rubble of shelled buildings, taking care of younger siblings, and tending to languishing parents, often emerging from under the remains of their own beds. Vittorio Arrigoni writes from the Gaza Strip. Read more about Gaza's record-breaking children
Salt of This Sea (2008), Annemarie Jacir’s groundbreaking feature film, premieres in the US this week after two years on the road and winning over 20 awards in countless international film festivals. Nora Barrows-Friedman interviewed the film’s star, Suheir Hammad, for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Interview with "Salt of This Sea" star before nationwide premiere in NYC
Israel’s siege has had a disproportionate effect on Gaza’s youth. Over half of the Gaza Strip’s 1.5 million residents are under the age of 18, and thousands of young Gazans are unemployed. Hamas authorities in Gaza recently announced a voluntary employment program for Palestinian youth to get involved in their communities. Rami Almeghari reports from the occupied Gaza Strip. Read more about Hamas creates volunteer program for Gaza's idle youth
Beyond tarnishing Gaza’s once pristine shores, the noxious consequences of the deterioration of the wastewater treatment operation in Gaza resulting from the closure hold much more grave implications: the Gaza Strip is, quite literally, being poisoned. Read more about Poisoning of Gaza water puts population at risk
GAZACITY, occupied Gaza Strip - Outside the battered Civil Defense station in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya region, Mohammed Zidan, a seven-year veteran of fire-fighting and rescue services, stands on crutches in front of battered Civil Defense vehicles. Read more about Gaza's emergency services battered
