RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - As environmental experts, non-governmental organizations and government officials gather in Istanbul this week to attend the Fifth World Water Forum, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has drawn attention to the critical water situation in Gaza. “ICRC teams are repairing water and sewage systems in Gaza that were badly damaged during the three-week Israeli military operation in January,” the ICRC says in a media release. Read more about Gazans struggle for clean drinking water
WASHINGTON (IPS) - The British government has announced it will hold talks with the political wing of Lebanon’s Hizballah. The US President Barack Obama administration sent two envoys to Syria to discuss steps to improve relations. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has invited Iran to take part in a conference on the future of Afghanistan. Read more about Do Obama's mixed signals mark a policy shift?
The continuing shortage of cooking gas due to Israel’s border closures, along with the destruction of at least seven major poultry farms during the recent military siege, has made an important food item scarce and unaffordable for most of the Strip’s 1.5 million residents. The Electronic Intifada correspondent in Gaza, Rami Almeghari reports. Read more about Once plentiful, chickens now rare in Gaza
The West Bank village of Aqraba sits nested in the Jordan Valley, approximately 20 kilometers southeast of Nablus and around 50 kilometers east of Israel’s wall that separates Palestinians in what is now considered Israel from those who reside in the West Bank. It is close enough to the Jordanian border that Palestinian cell phones roam here as if one were in Jordan. Dr. Marcy Newman reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about West Bank villagers pushed away from their valley
“We were still young and in love. We had all of our dreams,” Muhammad Abu Jerrad said, holding a photo of his wife by the sea. Wafa Abu Jerrad was one of at least six killed by three flechette bombs fired by Israeli tanks in the Ezbet Beit Hanoun area, northern Gaza, on 5 January. Eva Bartlett reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Ensuring maximum casualties in Gaza
Adopting more children seemed to be an unusual thing to do for Handoma Wishah, known as Umm Jaber, as she had already raised six children of her own and got most of them into college. Yet she says it was easy to make what could have been a tough decision. Umm Jaber “adopted” about 40 adult men of several Arab nationalities without hesitation. Eman Mohammed reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Palestinian mother's solidarity with 40 adopted prisoners
GAZACITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) - A combination of damage to fishing resources caused by the Israeli offensive, and a restriction on the zone in which Gazans are allowed to fish is reducing catches and adversely affecting people’s diets in Gaza, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Read more about Gaza fishing industry reeling
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani13 March 2009
CAIRO (IPS) - Almost two months after the attacks on the Gaza Strip, the border area between the battered coastal enclave and Egypt continues to come under frequent Israeli aerial bombardment. Israeli officials say the strikes target cross-border tunnels used to smuggle weapons to Palestinian resistance factions. Read more about Border areas bombed again
WASHINGTON (IPS) - Scores of Middle East and democracy experts released an open letter to US President Barack Obama Tuesday asking him to focus more of his foreign policy efforts at making reforms in the region, including boosting human rights. Signed by more than 120 academics, scholars, experts and others, the letter said that previous US policy had been “misguided” and “produced a region increasingly tormented by rampant corruption, extremism, and instability.” Read more about Experts to Obama: Political Islam not the enemy
AL-TUWANI, occupied West Bank (IPS) - “I couldn’t run. My pregnancy was too far advanced and there was nowhere to hide,” said Amna Salman Rabaye, 31, as she recalled the terrifying incident several months ago. Rabaye from the Palestinian Bedouin village of al-Tuwani in the southern West Bank was grazing her sheep when she was assaulted by a security guard from the adjacent illegal Israeli settlement of Ma’on. Read more about Israeli settlers terrorize Palestinian villagers
