Hundreds of Palestinian refugees stranded at al-Waleed makeshift camp in no-man’s land between the desert borders of Iraq and Syria are living in precarious conditions and people could die if they do not get medical treatment, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on 15 May.”We are particularly worried about the lack of medical facilities - many of the camp’s 942 residents need urgent medical attention, including a mother of seven who suffers from leukemia and a teenage diabetic boy,” UNHCR spokesperson, Jennifer Pagonis, said in a statement on Tuesday. Read more about UNHCR highlights Palestinian refugees' plight in desert camp
Humanitarian aid agencies are expressing concern as renewed intense Palestinian infighting between the Fatah and Hamas factions enters its fifth day, during which nearly as many ceasefires have been broken, and over 40 Palestinians killed. Two Israeli air strikes on Thursday in central Gaza City have left at least three Palestinians dead, and injured 30 more, including civilians, as Israel steps up its retaliatory actions against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Read more about Gaza violence hampering aid deliveries
15 May 2007 — A few weeks ago I attended an event commemorating Palestinian Prisoner’s Day at Al Far’a Refugee Camp in the Tubas area. To enter the theatrical and cultural spectacle we had to pass through a makeshift checkpoint with soldiers pointing their guns in our faces and screaming in Hebrew for us to get back. Although I knew these were Palestinian actors role-playing the harassment they experience daily, it was very frightening to have men with guns yell at me in a foreign language and stick killing machines in my face. Read more about The Jordan Valley and Israel's Invisible Wall
Things have been crazy in Gaza over the past two days. Very crazy. In between working and actually trying to keep our wits about us as we’ve been holed up indoors for two days no, I’ve had little time to blog. Things are tenusouly calm at the moment with on-again-off-again gunfire, which is better than it was only a few hours ago. But things in Gaza have a way of changing very quickly-for better or for worse. Volatility is its defining characteristic. We happen to be sort of be in the eye of the storm as it were. Read more about As Gaza Burns
My pen is bleeding, my hand is shaking, my heart is sighing and my mind is stuffed with the bitter experiences of the past 14 months. The latest is today’s anniversary of the Palestinian catastrophe (Nakba); today is a double Nakba. My ideas are scrambled; however, I must rein them all in and allow my words to flow, with the hope of reaching hearts, minds and souls. “I prefer death to these days; death is much better than these moments when a brother kills his brother”, said Yousef Almadhoun, also known as Abu Mohammad, a 77-year-old man from the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya. Read more about A double Nakba in Gaza
GAZACITY, 15 May 2007 (IRIN) - Renewed infighting among rival Palestinian armed groups has put aid agencies on the alert for more bloodshed as well as threats to their staff in the troubled Gaza Strip. More than 400 Palestinians have been killed in clashes mainly between militias affiliated to the Hamas and Fatah political parties in the past 14 months. Inter-Palestinian violence, some of it clan-related rather than political, is accounting for at least as many Palestinian deaths as Israeli military action, the UN reported this year. Read more about Aid agencies dig in as Gaza erupts
This must be what they call the calm before the storm. By 7pm all the main street intersections in Gaza City were filled with guards wearing face masks. It seems every time a new security plan is declared in Gaza the situation gets worse. This morning my friend Jamal greeted his neighbor Baha’ Abu Jarad as he left his home for a days work; ten minutes later Baha’ was dead. Jamal, shaken up, informed me of the incident over the phone, while trying to hold back tears. Read more about Gaza: Calm before the storm
Joy has filled the hearts of hundreds of Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip this week as they expressed their happiness over the most plentiful fishing season in 40 years. The news is all the more sweet considering the Israeli navy’s restrictions on fishing off of Gaza’s coast. There are some 433 boats registered at Gaza’s port, but only a few of them are seaworthy; fewer still risk the Israeli-imposed ban on Gaza’s fishermen. Collectively, Palestinian fishermen have seen their monthly catch drop from 823 tones in June 2000 to as low as 50 in late 2006. Read more about Gaza's fish break the blockade
“Perhaps some youth are trying to imitate what’s going in the outside world; we don’t have solid information on the existence of such groups,” said Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Helal in response to the recent attack on a UN-operated school in Rafah City. Early this week, a group of militants opened fire on a celebration at a UN-operated elementary school in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, having warned ahead of time that the event was “indecent.” Read more about In Gaza, chaos versus democracy and democracy versus chaos
JERUSALEM, 8 May 2007 (IRIN) - A recently renewed strike by Palestinian public health workers is severely affecting services by government hospitals and primary healthcare centres throughout the West Bank, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday. “The longer the strike continues, the greater the likelihood of long-term health effects,” said Eileen Daly, the ICRC’s health coordinator for the West Bank. Read more about West Bank health services deteriorate as Palestinian medical sector strikes
