Demands from Israel’s chief commander this month that all Israeli citizens should be required to perform national service has turned the spotlight on a rarely discussed group of soldiers: members of Israel’s Palestinian minority. Though no official statistics are available, an estimated 3,000 of Israel’s 1.3 million Palestinian citizens have broken one of their society’s biggest taboos and are currently serving in the occupied territories. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about False promise of integration for Palestinian soldiers in Israel
Instead of the patronizing call we constantly hear for a Palestinian Gandhi, one would hope to see the emergence of international support for a Palestinian Patrick Henry. The call “Give me liberty or give me death” awakens strong emotions even today, more than 320 yeas after Patrick Henry gave the speech that crystallized perhaps more than any the American colonies’ call for independence from the English crown. Miko Peled writes from Kibbutz Zikkim. Read more about Patrick Henry's call
Dina ElmutiAida refugee camp, West Bank28 September 2009
My family and I spent the hot August day among energetic activists, welcoming families and curious children all more than willing to drop whatever they were doing to show us around the refugee camp they had all come to call home over the years. It’s at places like Aida where one’s life is put into perspective. At least, mine certainly was, starting with the first family we were fortunate enough to visit. Dina Elmuti writes from Aida refugee camp, occupied West Bank. Read more about Courage and resistance at Aida refugee camp
BILIN, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Eight children between the ages of 10 and 17 were arrested and detained by Israeli soldiers during military raids Monday night and Tuesday morning in the northern West Bank cities Nablus and Qalqiliya. Defence for Children International (DCI) Palestine has released a statement that the number of children detained in Israeli jails and temporary Israeli army detention centers this year has risen by 17.5 percent compared with 2008. Read more about Arrest of Palestinian children on the rise
A local authority in Israel has announced that it is establishing a special team of youth counsellors and psychologists whose job it will be to identify young Jewish women who are dating Arab men and “rescue” them. The move by the municipality of Petah Tikva, a city close to Tel Aviv, is the latest in a series of separate — and little discussed — initiatives from official bodies, rabbis, private organizations and groups of Israeli residents to try to prevent interracial dating and marriage. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about In Israel, intermarriage viewed as treason
Mutasem Billah Abu-Mastfa was born in Gaza. Though he is just nine months old, his parents are already trying to get him out of the Strip. Abu-Mastfa was born with severe congenital heart defects — his heart, riddled with holes, is on the right side of his chest. Due to the ongoing Israeli blockade the medical system in Gaza — short on supplies, its staff unable to leave the Strip to obtain further training — the hospital caring for Abu-Mustafa is unable to cope with such a complicated case. Mya Guarnieri reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Israel tightens the noose on advocacy organizations
I am an American citizen of Palestinian descent and have been employed by the Arab American University-Jenin (AAUJ) in the occupied West Bank as an assistant professor of American literature for the past two and a half years. This month, while attempting to re-enter the West Bank through the land border with Jordan to start the academic year, I was denied re-entry by the Israeli authorities and questioned at length about my Palestinian heritage. The stated reason for the denial was that I had broken the law. Read more about De-developing Palestine, one "visit permit" at a time
GAZACITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - In the Rimal shopping area of Gaza City, a growing number of Palestinians have resorted to begging. Among them are widows trying to provide for their children, and children themselves begging to contribute to family income. An increasing presence of children selling one-shekel items dominates most Gaza City streets. The children, as young as seven or eight years old, spend their days enticing pedestrians or drivers at stoplights to buy their trinkets. Read more about Few work opportunities under siege in Gaza
An ill-fated light railway under construction in Jerusalem was originally heralded by Israeli officials as a way to cement the city’s “unification” four decades after the city’s Palestinian half was illegally annexed to Israel. But the only unity generated among Jewish and Palestinian residents after four years of disruptions to the city’s traffic and businesses is general agreement that the project is rapidly becoming a white elephant. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Boycott movement derails Jerusalem's transit system
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned that Gaza’s access to safe supply of drinking water could cease at any time. The World Health Organization (WHO) says outbreaks of disease could be triggered as a consequence. Read more about Gaza's water supply near collapse
