JERUSALEM/GAZA, 5 December (IRIN) - Health officials in the Gaza Strip say they are concerned about hundreds of patients unable to travel to Israel or other countries for vital treatment, and that local hospitals lack essential medical equipment, drugs and fuel. Only about one in seven patients who used to travel through the Rafah terminal to Egypt for treatment are now able to access medical care in Israel, according to World Health Organization statistics. Read more about Gaza's medical sector suffers Israeli sanctions, restrictions 

Thousands gathered at the presidential compound in Ramallah on 3 December 2007 to welcome 429 Palestinian prisoners just released from Israeli jails as part of what Israel has called a “goodwill” gesture. Nonetheless, behind the cheering and flag waving, the feeling was bittersweet as the families of the released were overjoyed to have their loved ones returned, while there remained an atmosphere of cynicism towards Israel’s “gesture.” Jesse Rosenfeld writes from Ramallah. Read more about Prisoner release clouded by thousands still in custody 

With the majority of gas stations closed in Gaza due to the escalating fuel crisis, a group of local Gaza taxi drivers shared the fuel in their cars’ tanks, for the sake of going back home, rather than earning a living under already dire economic conditions. Majed Abu Sam’an, a driver of a Hyundai taxi minibus, was parked along with other drivers in mid-day Tuesday, 4 December 2007, siphoning gasoline from his car’s tank into that of another. “We are helping him so he can go back home, as he has been stuck here in Gaza City since the early hours of morning. We went to all the gas stations but they were closed, no fuel to buy,” says Abu Sama’an. Rami Almeghari reports for EI. Read more about "No fuel, no gasoline, no benzene" 

The International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza has recently begun training Palestinian resistance fighters to respect international humanitarian law. For the past several years various Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza have fired crude homemade rockets at nearby Israeli towns, killing about a dozen Israeli civilians and recently injuring 69 soldiers in one such attack. The rockets usually land in open spaces but cause panic amongst Israeli civilians. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports on the training designed to minimize civilian casualties on both sides of the conflict. Read more about Red Cross training Gaza fighters in international humanitarian law 

“We do not recognize those who hold talks in Annapolis; they do not represent the Palestinian people,” said Ismail Haniyeh, the dismissed Palestinian Prime Minister, in response to the Washington-sponsored Palestinian-Israeli summit in Annapolis. The streets of Palestine bore witness that it isn’t only the Hamas leader who doesn’t grant legitimacy to the Palestinian negotiating team at the Annapolis conference. On Tuesday, 27 November, large crowds of Palestinians in Gaza poured out of their homes — as did their brothers and sisters in the West Bank — to protest what they call the “renunciation of Palestinians’ legitimate rights.” EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza. Read more about Palestinians protest the Annapolis summit 

NABLUS, WEST BANK, 25 November 2007 (IRIN) - Palestinian militants in the Nablus area of the West Bank are in the middle of what seems to be a pincer movement — chased not only by the Israeli military but also by the Palestinian Authority (PA), which, under Acting Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, has taken it upon itself to crack down on the fighters. Palestinian security forces say they are going after “illegal weapons” and the misuse of arms. All factions, they say, will be treated equally in an attempt to end “chaos.” The PA has arrested members of several groups, including the Islamic group, Hamas. Read more about Palestinian police boost presence in Nablus 

Two years ago, Israel completed its unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. We all remember the intense media campaign shamelessly portraying the settlers as dispossessed victims of a bold move for peace. Among others, Harvard economist Sara Roy argued that Israel’s version of disengagement would bring disaster to an already desperate Gaza. Today, we are witnessing emergence of an unparalleled economic catastrophe in the Gaza Strip and with it, the evaporation of the last remaining hopes for a Palestinian state. EI contributor Kris Petersen writes from Gaza. Read more about The Gaza Strip: Disengagement two years on 

RAMALLAH, Nov 21 (IPS) - Al-Walajeh village was once a quiet but busy place. Just four kilometers from Bethlehem and 8.5 km from Jerusalem, its rolling hills filled with fruit trees, natural forests, and blooming vegetation made it a prime farming location. Easy access to large and consistent markets led its inhabitants to relative economic prosperity. Life was good. Today, however, al-Walajeh village is a different place altogether. “The demolishing of houses is a weekly event here in al-Walajeh,” Sheerin Alaraj, al-Walajeh Village Council member, told IPS. Read more about Demolition decimating Palestinian village 

JERUSALEM, 21 November (IRIN) - Traffic news on the radio in the West Bank is more likely to be about checkpoints and barriers than jams and accidents, as a complex system of controls and permits can make a short journey for work, family or medical reasons into a time-consuming marathon, according to a new UN report. A joint Special Focus by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, released in November, said that only about 18 percent of the people who worked the land are now able to obtain Israeli-issued permits, required to access the zone between the Barrier and the Green Line, Israel’s pre-1967 border. Read more about West Bank maze of movement restrictions