News

Ramadan in Gaza

Kristen Ess Gaza Strip 11 November 2002


As I write this, now at home, I am watching the news on television. An Israeli tank is shooting at little boys who throw stones at it in Nablus. George Bush struts across a green grass lawn in a clean suit, talking about UN Resolutions. Kristen Ess writes from Gaza. 

From the square to the orchard

Adam Keller 9 November 2002


Veteran Israeli peace activist Adam Keller attended the Rabin Memorial Rally on November 2nd, and spent the following two days protesting the destruction of olive groves in Falami, a Palestinian village that will be drastically affected by the ongoing construction of Israel’s “Berlin Wall”. Meanwhile, news of the collapse of the Sharon government broke. 

Exiles within: Palestinian internal refugees get organized

Isabelle Humphries 6 November 2002

A recent human rights award given by an international cosmetics company, The Body Shop, has focused attention on the struggles of an oft-ignored group of Palestinian refugees: those who are living as exiles inside Israel, where they are officially classified as “Present Absentees.” Isabelle Humphries reports from Nazareth. 

A smaller space each day

Kristen Ess Rafah, Gaza Strip 5 November 2002


A pile of gray cement, once a family’s home, sits next to the street. Directly in front is a small white tent. This is where the family now lives. There is no furniture, no clothes, no family pictures. They are all somewhere under the rubble. Each day at least 6 Palestinian homes are demolished, except Saturday which is a holiday for Israelis. Kristen Ess writes from Rafah, Gaza. 

Deported!

Kathleen Kern 5 November 2002


Peace activist Kathy Kern was recently deported from Ben Gurion airport after arriving for her 11th term of service with the Hebron-based Christian Peacemaker Teams. In this article about the experience, Kathy asks why the Israeli government is afraid of people reporting what it is doing in the Occupied Territories? 

The farmers of Qaffin

Rachel Engler-Stringer Tulkarem, Palestine 4 November 2002

Just after we came home for the evening we received a call informing us that the army was attacking the Tulkarem refugee camp. We also learned that people in the camp had been shot, and there were helicopters circling overhead. Rachel Engler-Stringer reports from Tulkarem. 

Israeli general linked to Jenin atrocities named defence chief

Justin Huggler 1 November 2002

A former Israeli army chief who presided over the controversial invasion of Jenin this year, and who is being investigated by Scotland Yard over allegations of war crimes, was named as Israel’s new Defence Minister yesterday, an aide to Ariel Sharon said. Lieutenant-General Shaul Mofaz, who has flown back to Israel after Scotland Yard started investigating him during a fund-raising tour of Britain, had been Chief of Staff for most of the current Palestinian intifada until he retired in July. Justin Huggler writes in The Independent, 

Cross the Line

Marthame Sanders and Elizabeth Sanders Zababdeh 30 October 2002


For the past six months, people in the Jenin district have been struggling under curfews and closures with varying degrees of strictness. Today, like yesterday and the day before, was one of the stricter days. Marthame and Elizabeth Sanders report from nearby Zababdeh. 

Naboth had a Vineyard

Uri Avnery Havarah 26 October 2002

Had they been there last Saturday at sunset, most Israelis would not have believed their eyes. In the middle of Havarah, a small village south of Nablus, 63 Israelis, men and women, young and old, were standing together with dozens of Palestinian villagers. Jews and Arabs talked together, drank juice offered by the hosts, exchanged addresses and phone numbers. Uri Avnery writes.