“There are all sorts of theories, which you can imagine colleagues are musing about as to why [Israel is trying to discredit UNRWA] … now or why at all. And also, why on the basis of such a flimsy story? It is not just us, even people from outside who have seen the film had absolutely no doubt the minute they saw the film that this was not a rocket. It didn’t look at all like a rocket and nobody would throw a rocket into a car in that manner, I don’t think.” This week Palestine Report Online interviews director of the UNRWA executive office in Gaza, Rene Aquarone, on Israel’s recent claims that a UN ambulance was used to transport Qassam rockets. Read more about "A flimsy story": UNRWA Gaza director Rene Aquarone responds to Israel's Qassam allegations 

“Twelve years ago, an El Al Boeing airplane carrying military cargo crashed into an apartment building in the Bijlmer neighbourhood of Amsterdam. Forty-three people directly lost their lives. More people have died since then, and many are still suffering from unidentified diseases. The Dutch government denies any connection between health ailments and the disaster, though hundreds of people inhaled poisonous smoke from the burning airplane and the apartment building. Some of the El Al plane’s cargo is still unknown, but three of the four components of sarin nerve gas were present at the crash site.” Lizzy Bloem reports for Electronic Intifada from Amsterdam Read more about The 1992 El Al Bijlmer crash: a cover-up of a chemical inferno? 

Syria is a country that few people in the West know much about, or care to visit. After all, this is one of the countries that George W. Bush declared part of the “Axis of Evil.” But when I travelled to Syria for the first time, I could not find anything “evil” about it. Indeed, I did not find anything “evil” in the way Syria treats Palestinians who were forced to flee their homeland in 1948; and after my interview with Lex Takkenburg, Deputy Director-General of the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Syria, I concluded that “compassionate” would be a more accurate description of Syria than “evil.” Read more about The myths and reality of Palestinian refugees in Syria: An interview with Lex Takkenberg 

The Palestinian political system is in disarray, and it will take sustained action by Palestinians, international assistance and — at a minimum — no obstruction by Israel to prevent its total collapse. “Who Governs the West Bank? Palestinian Administration under Israeli Occupation”, the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines that system, which faces its most acute crisis since the Oslo process was launched in 1993. Although Israel’s occupation provides the context, the Palestinian Authority’s predicament is decidedly domestic. “The PA has been in virtually continuous crisis since the uprising began in September 2000, but it is now close to breaking point”, says Robert Malley, ICG’s Middle East Director. “It is paralysed and unable to make even basic decisions on Palestinian objectives”. Read more about Who Governs the West Bank? 

Four years ago on September 28, 2000, when Ariel Sharon made his operatic visit to the Temple Mount, no one could have predicted how dire the situation would become so quickly: close to 6,000 dead, many thousands more injured, the construction of the Separation Wall, mass movement restrictions, detention and torture and other forms of violence and racism. What is one of the worst things perhaps in this new reality, which is quite similar to the old reality, is the level of normalization this political climate has taken on in Palestinian and Israeli society. After four years, Am Johal takes stock. Read more about It's the occupation, stupid ! 

On September 7, Raghda al-Assar was at school in the Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis. After less than hour, she was receiving medical treatment in emergency room of Nasser Hospital after having been struck by Israeli bullets in her head while she was in her classroom listening to her English teacher. Raghda died Wednesday of the critical wounds she sustained two weeks ago. On September 7, Raghda was one of hundreds of Palestinian schoolgirls, dressed in crisp striped school uniforms, crowding the streets of Khan Yunis refugee camp on their way to school. Sami Abu Salem reports from Khan Younis. Read more about Girl's life ended by Israeli bullets 

When Loai’s and Ubai’s mother was born in 1948, her father, Saleem Abu Khaled al Tamimi of Hebron, was in prison for his part in resisting the British plan to partition Palestine. The boys never got to know their grandfather, because he died of a stroke in Ramallah during an altercation with Israeli guards when their mother, a student at Birzeit University then (1969), was being tried because of her activities in the Palestine Liberation Front. She was sentenced to four years in prison and spent a good part of her sentence in Ramleh prison, where her son, Loai (26), is currently being held. Ubay (19) is in Jalboun prison in the north, one of the harshest in the Israeli system. Read more about Prisoner Stories: Loai and Ubai Mohammad Odeh