ATHENS (IPS) - Activists are being confronted by Israeli authorities days before the international “Freedom Flotilla II — Stay Human” sets sail towards the Gaza Strip in an attempt to break the naval blockade Israel has imposed since 2007. Read more about Activists determined to sail despite sabotage, threats 

Paul Murphy, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Ireland’s Socialist Party, is bound for Gaza as part of the second Gaza Freedom Flotilla. The Electronic Intifada correspondent David Cronin interviews Murphy about the flotilla and the EU’s role in the siege. Read more about MEP joining flotilla tells EI: EU's honest broker image "a sham" 

Israeli military forces have demolished 27 houses in the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank over the last two weeks, rendering more than 140 Palestinians homeless. The state of siege in the Jordan Valley has particularly impacted women. Read more about "Now it's all gone": Women cope with siege in Jordan Valley 

As the second Gaza Freedom Flotilla, made up of some 10 ships carrying 1,000 activists from 20 countries, gets ready to sail for the besieged Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities are stepping up their threats. Read more about Israel escalates pressure, threats against flotilla 

Israel’s decision to deny seven-month-old Nouralden Issa Abbassi a Jerusalem identification card — and by extension block his right to access public health services and education — has left his family anxious and concerned for the future. Read more about Jerusalem baby denied rights by Israeli apartheid 

Sitting by the hospital bed of freelance photographer Mohammed Othman, Ashraf Abu Amrah knows that nobody owns a freelance journalist from Gaza who gets injured, or dies. Read more about Gaza's forgotten freelance photojournalists 

Year by year, the warnings of Gaza’s health crisis grow more dire, with the latest warning from Gaza’s Ministry of Health stating the Strip is at emergency levels of medical supplies. Read more about Medical supplies at crisis level, Gaza health ministry warns 

Celebrated American author and poet Alice Walker will be aboard the Audacity of Hope, part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, set sail this month. Ali Abunimah interviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Interview: Alice Walker on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and the struggle for justice 

Defence for Children International - Palestine Section reports that Israeli police opened 1,267 criminal cases against Palestinian children between November 2009 and October 2010 for stone throwing in East Jerusalem. The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem reports 31 of those children were from Silwan. Read more about Silwan children abducted from their bedrooms