For decades, United Methodists have worked with other churches, human rights groups and the broader international community to uphold UN resolutions, human rights conventions and international law as the basis for just and lasting peace for all. Given this human rights-based approach, ending Israel’s military occupation constitutes a necessary first step for establishing equality and mutual security for Palestinians and Israel is alike. David Wildman writes about the growing church movement to divest from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation. Read more about US churches seeking justice in Palestine-Israel (Part 1)
The window through which Salam Amira, 16, filmed the moment when an Israeli soldier shot from close range a handcuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainee has a large hole at its center with cracks running in every direction. “Since my video was shown, the soldiers shoot at our house all the time,” she said. The shattered and cracked windows at the front of the building confirm her story. Jonathan Cook reports from Nilin. Read more about Nilin village continues to resist Israeli siege
HEBRON (IRIN) - Violence by settlers perpetrated against Palestinians has been on the rise in recent weeks in Hebron and the surrounding areas, residents and international observers said. “These areas are hot spots for violence and are priority areas for us,” said Matteo Benatti, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross’s delegation in the city. Read more about Settler violence against Palestinians on the rise
RAMALLAH/STOCKHOLM (IRIN) - The Occupied Palestinian Territories continues to suffer from drought, but the head of the Palestinian Water Authority told IRIN there was a limit to what he could do to help. “Crisis management is the only strategy that I am able to apply,” Shaddad Attili, the head of the Water Authority, told IRIN while attending World Water Week in Stockholm (13-23 August). Read more about Palestinian water strategies subject to Israeli veto
In an interview with The Electronic Intifada, Jeff Halper, the Israeli-American director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, discussed the ongoing Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip and the Free Gaza Movement (FGM). Halper was one of 46 members to take part in FGM’s action to challenge Israel 14-month siege on Gaza. Read more about Jeff Halper in Gaza: "We are the oppressors"
RAMALLAH (IRIN) - If the Israeli Ministry of Finance manages to push through some reforms as part of the proposed 2009 budget, there may soon be almost no Palestinian workers in Israel’s construction sector. “We are supporting a plan where the idea is to increase the number of Israelis in the workforce,” an official at the Ministry of Finance told IRIN on condition of anonymity. Read more about Israel's new "wet jobs" plan
BAGHDAD (IRIN) - The Iraqi government has launched a registration process for Palestinian refugees who arrived between 1948 and 1967 — and their descendants — to help ensure they benefit from government aid programs. Those registered will be issued with ID cards which identify them as refugees, the Ministry of Displacement and Migration said on 26 August. Read more about Some Palestinian refugees in Iraq to get special IDs
JERUSALEM, 27 August (IPS) - Israel has published tenders for the construction of 1,761 illegal housing units for Israeli settlers in occupied East Jerusalem alone, according to the Israeli rights group Peace Now. The expansion plans come despite promises by the Israeli government at last year’s peace summit at Annapolis, Maryland to freeze all settlement growth. Read more about Israel pushes ahead with settlement expansion
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani26 August 2008
CAIRO (IPS) - Following renewed fighting between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, Egypt has stepped up calls for dialogue and reconciliation. But critics say Cairo’s partiality to Fatah — which is backed, like the Egyptian regime itself, by the US — prevents it from mediating fairly in the crisis. Read more about Egyptian kinship with Fatah hampers mediation
Tears filled the eyes of Ramattan News Agency’s Head of African Operations Hayyan Jubeh when he caught his first glimpse of the skyline on the coast of Gaza along the horizon of the Mediterranean Sea after a 37-hour voyage launched from Cyprus. Jubeh, 48, a Palestinian filmmaker from Jerusalem, is one of 44 international peace activists on board the ships. Sami Abu Salem writes from the Gaza Strip. Read more about Ramattan reporter reaches Gaza on board the Liberty
