Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani4 August 2009
CAIRO (IPS) - The Egyptian government is now accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of links to Palestinian resistance groups and of establishing “global networks.” Recent months have seen a host of government accusations — which critics say are fabricated — against opposition groups it claims have ties with Hamas, Hizballah, and the ever-elusive al-Qaeda. “The government is making up so many charges of ‘terror networks’ and ‘Islamist cells’ that it’s hard to keep track of them all,” Islamist lawyer Montasser al-Zayat told IPS. Read more about Egyptian opposition branded "terrorist"
In a bid to staunch the flow of damaging evidence of war crimes committed during Israel’s winter assault on Gaza, the Israeli government has launched a campaign to clamp down on human rights groups, both in Israel and abroad. It has begun by targeting one of the world’s leading rights organizations, the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), as well as a local group of dissident army veterans, Breaking the Silence, which last month published the testimonies of 26 combat soldiers who served in Gaza. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Israel moves to declare rights groups as foreign agents
GAZACITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - Saleh wonders how he will pay for a replacement car part he bought from the tunnels black market. “It cost more than $1,000. Before the siege, it would have been 500 to 1,000 shekels (roughly $125-$250), at most $250. Anyway, I had to buy it; you need to maintain the car when you use it all the time.” The father of five drives one of Gaza’s many run-down taxis, working around the clock but earning just enough to get by. Read more about Gaza's cars barely running
Israel enjoys free trade of industrial goods with Europe under the Association Agreement it signed with the European Union in 2000. Yakov Ellis, chief executive officer of the Israeli cosmetics company Ahava, told the BBC radio program Today on 5 November 2008 that his company has benefitted from the free trade with the EU. Adri Nieuwhof reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about The ugly reality of Israel's settlement-made beauty products
Over the last few weeks, the residents of Bilin have been subjected to constant night raids by the Israeli military, in retaliation to their weekly nonviolent demonstrations, now in their fifth year, against the Apartheid Wall, which has stolen over half of their land. Jody McIntyre tells what happened one recent night when Bilin’s residents turned the tables on their occupiers. Read more about A night in Bilin
Zaher and Jihad are two boys living in Gaza. Every day they get up early and rush to Gaza City’s streets so that they might find something to sell to those walking or driving by. They are just two of a growing number of children who are forced to work to help feed their families as the Israeli-led blockade of the Gaza Strip continues to take its toll on every aspect of life. Rami Almeghari reports. Read more about As blockade bites deep, more Gaza children must work
As soon as I arrived home I felt a great relief, if that is the right word. I have been unable to return to Gaza before because of Israel’s winter invasion and the ongoing siege. I am not sure that the word relief summarizes my intense and conflicting emotions. Mixed feelings of relief, happiness, but also disorientation continued to overwhelm me. Dr. Mona El-Farra writes from the Gaza Strip. Read more about Homeward bound: Gaza in 24 hours
A leading Arab educator in Israel has denounced the decision of Gideon Saar, the education minister, to require schools to study the Israeli national anthem. Officials announced last week that they were sending out special “national anthem kits” to 8,000 schools, including those in the separate Arab education system, in time for the start of the new academic year in September. Read more about Palestinians in Israel forced to study Zionist anthem
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - What remains of Palestinian civil rights is rapidly being eroded by the dictatorial Palestinian governments that respectively control the divided Occupied Palestinian Territories. Palestinian civilians are paying the price as Hamas, which controls Gaza, and the PA, which rules the West Bank, continue to target their political opponents as part of their bitter power struggle. Read more about Fatah, Hamas rule increasingly authoritarian
According to experts the reality is that in both a practical and legal sense Netanyahu’s “open city” is a fiction, extended only to the settlers and not to Khurd or to the 250,000 other Palestinians of East Jerusalem. Khurd, for example, has been forced to live in a tent after settlers ousted her from her East Jerusalem home of five decades in November. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Israel's "open" Jerusalem closed to Palestinians
