Amal leads the morning parade at Shatie Elementary School. Dressed in her brown uniform and beret she is at the fore as, behind her, a thousand Gazan schoolchildren line up neatly in rows, clapping and chanting. After the parade she is in charge of ensuring they all file back quickly into their classrooms. This daily ritual is representative of the kind of order school brings to the lives of children living in Gaza. Amal is eleven years old; her parents, like those of many other children at Shatie, which caters solely for refugee children, are impoverished and unemployed. The camps in which Amal and most other students live are crowded, amongst the most densely populated places on earth, with many families having nine or ten children. Read more about More than just school 

Under a traditional leadership, with a stagnated political environment of internal hegemony and external military occupation, elections have been used over the years to entrench the already entrenched polity. Add to this the multi-pronged foreign interventions into Palestinian society � politically, economically, and socially � and elections have become watered down to the point where they are no longer enough of a force to turn the pages of history. Our future can only be shaped by our own hands. Are we ready, not only to turn the page, but to rip out and then rewrite the last chapter of the chronicle that has imprisoned us in occupation like never before?! Read more about Turning the page, again 

As stipulated by the 1997 Hebron Protocol, Hebron is divided into the H1 and H2 areas. The H2 segment is where the Jewish settlers live amongst the Palestinian population, and it is currently the segment of the city under curfew. Agoraphobia, the fear of leaving one’s home, is common amongst the Palestinian residents of H2. There they are surrounded by six settlements within the center of the city. The Palestinians in H2 become isolated within enclaves and are faced with daily harassment and violence. They become isolated from city services as well, and this is where Medecins Sans Frontieres and the International Committee of the Red Cross/Crescent come in. Read more about WaSPR Delegation Diary 5: Living In Isolation and Under Siege in Hebron and Bethlehem 

It is estimated that Israel’s Annexation Wall will be completed in the early part of 2006. When it is finished it will annex 47% of the West Bank, and hand it over to the settler population. At least 15% of Palestinians will be left outside the wall1, completely isolated from the rest of society, and over 222,098 refugees for the second or third times will experience, “land confiscation, destruction of property, and denial of access to their lands thus directly affecting their means of livelihood”2. In the end, it is not an over exaggeration to say that the entire Palestinian society will directly suffer by its completion, in addition to the seemingly unstoppable illegal Israeli practices that continue unhindered. Read more about Breaking Down the Wall 

After our visit with Elyakim Ha’itzni, we visit the gravesite of Dr. Baruch Goldstein. Dr. Goldstein was a physician born and raised in Brooklyn who became a Kiryat Arba settler. In 1994, he opened fire on Muslims worshiping at the mosque of Ibrahim, killing 29 worshippers and injuring more than 100, before he was bludgeoned to death by the crowd. In Kiryat Arba he is treated as a hero. Downtown Hebron looks like a ghost town. Yesterday, two Israeli soldiers were shot, so now the entire center of the city is under curfew and Palestinians cannot leave their homes. Read more about WaPSR Delegation Diary 4: Hebron - Kiryat Arba settlement and the struggle for the heart of an ancient city 

Settlement growth and the diminishing size of the village of Singel are intrinsically related. Singel’s families continue to brace themselves in the face of unchecked land grabs awarded to newly created Israeli settlements. While Israeli tax collectors are quick to furnish documentation that links Palestinians to their land for taxation purposes, they are quicker to dismiss these records when issuing evacuation orders. Rarely do Israeli authorities balk at this double standard with regard to settlement expansion. Read more about A Land for Growing, not Settlement Growth 

East Jerusalem, March 7, 2005 — Tonight, the Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility met with Mr. Mordechai Vanunu at St. George’s Hostel in East Jerusalem. Mr. Vanunu is famous around the world for exposing Israel’s secret nuclear weapon’s program at the Dimona nuclear facility in the Negev Desert in Southern Israel. Vanunu was convicted to 18 years in prison and spent 11 of these years in total isolation. He describes psychological torture intended to break his will and says Israeli authorities tried to brand him as a criminal. Read more about WaPSR Delegation Diary 3: Our Dinner with Mordechai Vanunu 

In a very poor neighborhood in the old city, in a tall tiny shabby building, sounds of children’s laughter can be heard as we walked up the 50 steep steps leading to the main hall of the Children’s Center. More than 100 girls and boys of various age groups were gathered in the main hall, listening to Sana’, the facilitator of the activity, giving instructions of the day. Main hall was full of excitement, it was the third day out of the six-day activity planned by Tamer institute, a local non governmental organization, supported by UNICEF, aiming at improving quality of education through creative reading and writing. Loud foot steps of kids running to their respective training rooms were heard. Read more about Palestinian children's right to quality education