While I was driving in the car the other day, there was a radio report that the Israeli high court has approved to cut off the electricity from Gaza and leave Gaza in darkness to intensify the collective punishment on Gaza. When the Israeli high court previously agreed to ban the transfer to Gaza of fuel to supply the main power plant, there were power cuts for at least eight hours a day. Power and fuel cuts mean that hospitals, factories and other essential services suffer as a result. Mohammed Ali writes from Gaza. Read more about George W. Bush: You are not welcome 

CAIRO, 9 January (IPS) - More than 2,000 pilgrims have finally returned to the Gaza Strip via Egypt’s Rafah crossing after being stuck on the border for five days. The repatriation followed their staunch refusal to return home via alternate, Israeli-controlled border crossings. “The pilgrims’ insistence to cross via Rafah forced the Egyptian government to bring a quick resolution to the problem,” Magdi Hussein, secretary-general of Egypt’s frozen Socialist Labour Party and leader of the unofficial Committee to Break the Gaza Siege, told IPS. Read more about Pilgrims' progress breaks Gaza siege 

“He insisted that we all take a photo; it was the first in the last 12 years since we got married, as if he was feeling his death was approaching,” says Ghada al-Khatib, widow of Awni al-Khatib at their home in al-Shati’ refugee camp in western Gaza City. Awni al-Khatib died a few days of the brain damage he suffered since 1990 when he was shot in the head by an Israeli-fired, rubber-coated steel bullet. Awni is one of thousands of Palestinians who sustained injuries from such bullets during the first intifada that broke out in 1987. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza’s Shati’ refugee camp. Read more about A living martyr 

Dear Ms. Sarandon, We felt sorrow when we learned that you accepted Lev Leviev’s invitation to attend the opening night event for his new jewelry store in New York City on 13 November while our friends protested outside, because we respect you for your support for human rights, your courage in speaking since 2002 against the US war on Iraq, and for your many other honorable public positions. Lev Leviev is building Israeli settlements on Bil’in and Jayyous’ land. Mohammed Khatib and Sharif Omar write to the famed actress. Read more about Two Palestinian villages ask Susan Sarandon to repudiate Leviev 

CAIRO, 2 January (IPS) - Hundreds of Palestinians still remain stranded on the Egyptian side of the border following last summer’s closure of the Rafah crossing between Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. Their uncertain circumstances have come to reflect the complex politics between Cairo, Tel Aviv, the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and Palestinian resistance faction Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Read more about Border politics leaves Palestinians stranded 

“We are in a prison. Our situation is so miserable in the arena the Egyptian authorities have placed us in. Yesterday a 45-year-old woman pilgrim died in front of us,” says Nayef al-Khaldi. The 55-year-old al-Khaldi is stuck at an arena turned into a shelter at the Egyptian border town at al-Arish along with more than 1,100 other Palestinians following the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza. Read more about Hajj pilgrims stranded in Egypt 

BEER SHEBA/RAMALLAH, 30 December (IRIN) - In what should be a dry river bed at this time of year, grey water flows, revealing the extent to which the River Hebron, which runs from the West Bank into Israel, is polluted. The stench underlines the problem. “Most transboundary streams in the region are contaminated and characterized by widespread pollution from Palestinian sources [typically raw sewage], as well as a variety of … sources from within Israel.” Read more about Pollution without borders 

CAIRO, December 27 (IPS) - Last week, both houses of US Congress agreed to withhold 100 million dollars in financial assistance to Egypt following Israeli claims that Egyptian authorities were failing to prevent weapons smuggling to the Gaza Strip. Cairo, for its part, denounced the decision, while local political analysts saw the move as a heavy-handed pressure tactic on the part of Washington’s pro-Israel lobby. Read more about Egypt aid conditioned on enforcing Gaza siege 

A few months ago, a European professional in Ramallah threw a farewell party after completing part of the project for which he was recruited. The European himself, a Belgian, spent many years previously in the Palestinian territories and was very well liked locally, not least because he married a Palestinian woman, but that’s another story. A friend and old colleague of mine came up to me at the party and asked me discretely about A., a good-looking and outgoing woman who works with us. Read more about A Palestinian love story