A decision by Israel’s high court to double a 15-month jail term for a policeman who shot dead an unarmed Palestinian driver suspected of stealing a car has provoked denunciations from police commanders and government officials. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Israelis rally around officer convicted of killing unarmed Palestinian motorist 

CAIRO (IPS) - Almost two months since Egypt announced it would reopen its Rafah border terminal with the Gaza Strip, operation of the crossing remains sorely limited. “Rafah has only been opened to passengers and some medical supplies,” Hatem el-Buluk, journalist and resident of al-Arish, located some 40 kilometers west of Rafah, told IPS. Read more about Egypt remains complicit in Gaza siege 

Tony Blair’s relationship with one of the world’s richest men poses a clear and significant conflict of interest with his duties as Quartet envoy. Adri Nieuwhof reports. Read more about Blair's undisclosed business dealings conflict with Quartet role 

Nine-year-old Samah al-Massry is now being hospitalized in serious condition, having been hit by shrapnel and flechettes from an Israeli-fired nail bomb that landed 100 meters away, causing internal bleeding to the chest and severe head trauma. Adie Mormech reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Gaza children shelled with flechette bombs 

NABI SALAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Palestinian activists are being jailed, Israeli activists are under surveillance, and the Israeli military is increasingly targeting journalists who cover West Bank protests. Read more about Israel wages war against media and activists 

A food co-operative in Olympia, Washington, voted to become the first grocer in the US to ban Israeli-made items from its shelves. Meanwhile, activists in New York delivered more than 15,000 signatures from petitions and postcards to the TIAA-CREF shareholders’ meeting on 20 July. Read more about Victories as N. American boycott movement gains momentum 

The split between the the Hamas-run Gaza wing and the Fatah-run West Bank wing of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has overshadowed every aspect of public life, including, many rights groups have documented, infringements on press freedoms and the work of journalists. Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Press freedoms fall victim to Fatah, Hamas disunity 

Around 8:45pm on 13 July, 2010, a few of the women of the Abu Said family in the northern Gaza Strip were enjoying the cool of the evening in the courtyard in front of their house. They heard a muffled shooting sound, followed soon after by another, and then by a loud buzzing noise, as if a swarm of insects was approaching at full speed. Vittorio Arrigoni reports from the occupied Gaza Strip. Read more about No words to console Gaza child after mother is killed by Israeli shelling