JERUSALEM (IRIN) - An Israeli parliamentary caucus has been formed to look at “solutions” to the Palestinian refugee problem, now in its 60th year. “The idea of the caucus is to look at the refugee problem from a humanitarian perspective, not to focus on why there are refugees, but to look at solutions,” a spokesman for member of parliament Amira Dotan, a co-chairperson of the group, told IRIN. Read more about Parliamentary caucus to mull refugee issue
WASHINGTON (IPS) - Nearly three years after the US government failed to convict Palestinian activist and former college professor Sami al-Arian of any charges in one of the most high-profile terrorism trials following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, he continues to be held in federal prison. Read more about Despite no conviction, Sami al-Arian remains in US prison
BEERSHEBA/JAFFA (IRIN) - Some 15,000 Palestinians who married Israeli citizens in the past decade are illegal or temporary residents. Their lives and those of their families have become “unstable,” according to non-governmental organizations. “Many families are being forced to live underground,” said Orna Cohen, an attorney from Adalah, an Israeli rights group fighting the ban on “family unifications” (mixed marriages involving Palestinians or some other Arabs) in Israel. Read more about In Israel, married but without rights
HERZELIYA (IRIN) - Environmental groups have expressed concern about plans to build a canal between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea — transferring water from the former to save the latter. They say not enough research has been done and alternative options have not been checked. “We are concerned about what will happen to the Dead Sea when this amount of marine water is pumped into it,” said Gidon Bromberg of Friends of the Earth Middle East, at a 30 July public hearing organized by the World Bank in Herziliya, which followed two others in Ramallah and Amman. Read more about Environmentalists concerned over Dead Sea canal plans
In the past two weeks, the Hamas-dominated interior ministry in Gaza has closed scores of Gaza-based non-governmental organizations. According to Al Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza City, the Hamas-dominated government has closed 179 institutions in Gaza, including those providing services to women, children and people with disabilities. The Electronic Intifada correspondent Rami Almeghari reports. Read more about Gaza organizations caught in the crossfire
In the first hours of dawn, Nader Elayan was woken by a call from a neighbor warning him to hurry to the house he had almost finished building. By the time he arrived, it was too late: a bulldozer was tearing down the walls. Jonathan Cook reports from Jerusalem. Read more about The struggle against Jerusalem's quiet ethnic cleansing
On 29 July, Israeli forces shot and killed a ten-year-old boy in Nilin, Ahmed Mousa, in the head with live ammunition fired from an M16, on Tuesday evening. Around the time of the funeral procession for Ahmed Mousa last night, Israeli occupation forces returned to the village and opened fire on villagers, shooting another young Palestinian teenager in the head. Read more about Israeli forces mortally wound Nilin teenager after funeral
Students and striking local government workers united to picket a London School of Economics (LSE) event in Starbucks on Kingsway, Holborn last week, in opposition to their support for the state of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. The LSE Annual Fund and Alumni Relations departments had teamed up with Starbucks to offer an “afternoon of free coffee and cake tasting for Postgraduates,” in a clear attempt by the global coffee chain to undermine the role of the LSE Students’ Union as the primary supplier of refreshments on LSE’s campus. Read more about Palestine student society and striking workers picket Starbucks
Israeli forces shot and killed a 10-year-old Palestinian boy yesterday evening in the West Bank village of Nilin. Ahmed Mousa was shot in the head by live ammunition, according to eyewitnesses, as he was leaving an area that was being targeted with rubber-coated steel bullets by the Israeli military during a demonstration against the annexation wall built on the village land. Read more about Transcript: Israeli military kills 10-year-old in Nilin
BAGHDAD (IRIN) - Palestinian refugees stranded in two makeshift camps on the Syrian-Iraqi border may be able to go back to their homes in Iraq and offered protection by the Iraqi authorities, a senior Palestinian diplomat said on 28 July. The refugees had earlier turned down an offer to go to Sudan, citing security concerns. Read more about Palestinians stranded on border offered protection by Iraq authorities
