WAFA — “Hamdulillah Assalama” (“Praise God for your safety”), the residents of Jabalia Refugee Camp repeat whenever they meet each other in the dusty roads and lanes of the camp. Groups of people are paying condolence visits at dozens of condolence tents scattered in the camp. The scene is eerily similar to theway that people here celebrate and congratulate each other on major religious holidays, such as Eid al-Fitr. Sand mixes with the ash of tyres scattered along the roads of the camp. Every night, the residents burn the tyres in order to create a shield of smoke thick enough to jam the signals of the Israeli drones crisscrossing the sky. Sami Abu Salem reports from northern Gaza. Read more about Jabalia: "Hamdulillah Assalamah" 

“The news from Palestine is so bad and the process of strangulation applied by Israel is so constant and murderous that one expects the worst. But I always find silent resistance, the natural tenacity of life, and the stubbornness of the Palestinians erasing my mental pictures of doom. Still yet, the disastrous applications of the Israelis take my breath away.” Samia Halaby, who was forced to leave Palestine in 1948. Her family emigrated to the United States where she became an artist and taught at American Universities, including the Yale School of Art. These days she is back in Palestine and writing about her experiences. Read more about Strangulation 

Yesterday I arrived at work to the most shocking news. A colleague of mine, Amin Salem from the human resources department, was killed when an Israeli army tank shelled his home in Beit Lahia. Amin’s uncle also died in the shelling and three family members were seriously injured. Everyone at the office is in a state of disbelief. I still cannot come to terms with our loss. Only a few hours before he was killed, Amin walked into my office with some paper work, smiling as usual despite the unbearable situation caused by the occupation army. Read more about Amin Salem 1969 - 2004: UHWC staff member killed during Israeli operation 

The last thing that young Suha Ayub Ibayd remembers before a barrage of tank fire ripped through her home is huddling together with her parents and eight brothers and sisters. They had taken cover in the middle of their living-room floor hoping to find shelter from the mass of military machines that had rumbled into their neighbourhood minutes earlier on October 6. Now she lies listlessly in her hospital bed, trying to absorb as well as any nine-year-old could the events of that morning. She survived with relatively light wounds. The same cannot be said, however, about her younger sister, fighting for her life in the hospital’s intensive care unit, or about many of her neighbours. Read more about Gaza families live in the shadow of death 

The prestigious International Crisis Group (ICG) has published a report entitled “Dealing with Hamas.” EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah reviewed it hoping to find an original and independent approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Instead, he finds little more than repetition of clichés and shallow recommendations based on an analysis that does not scratch the surface of misguided conventional widsom. One of its flaws is evident in its title - its authors seem to accept and endorse the widely-held view that had it not been for Hamas and suicide bombings, the region would be much closer to peace and security. This assumption has the attraction of being simple, and politically uncontroversial in the west, but it is also wrong. Read more about The ICG report on Hamas: a shallow approach to a complex issue 

“Under the ‘Disengagement’ Plan, Gazans will still be subjected to the effective control of the Israeli military. Although Israel will supposedly remove its permanent military presence, Israeli forces will retain the ability and right to enter the Gaza Strip at will. Further, Israel will retain control over Gaza’s airspace, sea shore, and borders.” A memo from the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department establishes that the Gaza Strip will still legally be Israeli-occupied territory even if the Plan is implemented and outlines Israel’s strategy behind the Plan. Read more about The Israeli "Disengagement" Plan: Gaza Still Occupied 

For many of us, the Nelson Mandela Freedom concert at London’s Wembley stadium in June 1988 was the “beginning of the end” for apartheid in South Africa. Sixteen years later, could music help to overcome an even greater challenge - to end the Israeli military occupation of Palestine and allow its people to live, at last, in peace and freedom? This month, the Sheffield branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign hosted a “global” Concert for Palestine - webcast live over the internet - to call for an end to more than 37 years of Israeli military occupation. Read more about Sheffield calling: Palestine activists take a page from concert against apartheid