RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Israel released more than 200 Palestinians from Israeli jails in a “goodwill gesture” Monday. This followed the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha and was an attempt to boost the waning popularity of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Several prisoners spoke to the assembled local and international media about their time in detention. They accused the Israelis of maltreating and physically abusing detainees. Read more about Israelis continue to abuse Palestinian prisoners 

RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Ten days of intensive fighting broke out between Israel and the Islamic resistance organization Hamas last month despite a ceasefire. Israel carried out a cross-border incursion into Gaza, sparking a cycle of tit-for-tat violence which claimed the lives of dozens of Palestinian fighters and lightly injured two Israelis. This serious breach of a six-month ceasefire between the two raises questions whether the current truce, which formally ends in several days will be renewed, or whether Israel will embark on a major military incursion into the Gaza Strip as it has been threatening. Read more about Gaza truce set to expire 

UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The outspoken president of the United Nations General Assembly, Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, who recently described Israeli policies in the occupied territories as tantamount to “apartheid,” says his life is under threat. Enrique Yeves, spokesperson for the president, told reporters Monday there were “very serious threats” on the Internet against d’Escoto’s life and the matter is being looked into both by the UN security services and law enforcement officials in the United States. Read more about UN head reports death threats after Israel criticism 

At the entrance of the Tovlan landfill, located beside the Jordan River in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), three flags fly proudly: those of Israel, France and the European company, Veolia. Through its Onyx subsidiary, Veolia, which is also constructing the Jerusalem light rail project on occupied Palestinian land, is managing the Tovlan landfill. In a 2004 year report on sustainable development, Veolia announced that its subsidiary Onyx brought “the new Tovlan landfill into service in Israel.” Read more about Veolia involved in Israel's waste dumping in West Bank 

Leila pointed towards a lone tree and small house on a ridge above what appeared to be a vacant lot. “This was a great field,” she said, “filled with lime, guava and orange trees. They destroyed them, killed the trees,” she explained, referring to Israeli invasions over the years. “A few days after he learned his trees had been destroyed, the man who owned and tended to the trees passed away.” Eva Bartlett reports from the occupied Gaza Strip. Read more about "I was afraid they would destroy our trees" 

Try talking in Boulder, Colorado about Israel’s policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and you might think you had stepped into a time warp: a time when “foreigners” and their religion could be trashed with impunity, colonialism was something to be proudly embraced, and apartheid in South Africa still had supporters. Ida Audeh writes from the US. Read more about What was wrong in apartheid S. Africa is wrong in Palestine 

On Saturday, banks in Gaza were thronged by lines of disappointed Palestinians who were expecting to receive part of their salaries before the Eid al-Adha holiday, which begins on Monday. Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Authority’s appointed Prime Minister based in Ramallah, foresaw the cash crisis earlier in the week and urged Israel to allow the transfer of shekels to Gaza, citing a needed 250 million shekels ($63 million) to pay the salaries. EI contributor Eva Bartlett reports from the occupied Gaza Strip. Read more about No Eid celebration in Gaza 

UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - People in seven majority Muslim countries favor a more active United Nations with broader powers, while simultaneously viewing the world body as dominated by the US and failing to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a new poll by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a global network of research centers. The survey was conducted in Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Iran, Indonesia, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Azerbaijan. Nigeria, which has a 50 percent Muslim population, was also polled. Read more about UN recieves low score on Palestine 

GAZA (IRIN) - Gaza’s sole power station supplies about 30 percent of Gaza’s electricity; 10 lines from Israel supply about 62 percent; and two lines from Egypt about eight percent. The station supplies about 65MW of electricity, and is functioning at half capacity after its transformers were bombed by Israel in June 2006, according to UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs field officer Hamada al-Bayari in Gaza. Read more about How Gaza gets power