My students are robots that come in different colors: green, white, and red. Each is representative of a political party: Hamas, Fatah, and the Popular Front, respectively. Birzeit University’s campus has been overly crowded for the last few days. Eyes from both on and off campus are on the Student Council Elections, which some believe will gauge the outcome of potential early parliamentary elections. Only eight students — two were guests — showed up to Wednesday’s’s class. The other ten not showing up is the norm; out of their moral and/or partisan obligations most students skip classes — lessons can wait but elections cannot. Read more about No time for lessons during student elections 

Today I visited my friend Dawud in Kufr ‘Ain for the first time since he lost his six-month-old baby at Atara Checkpoint. It was heartbreaking to hear the details of the story from a man who just one month ago was asking me when I would come visit his family for pleasure, not just to take a report. He said there was more to Palestine than the sob stories. But today was all about grief. We watched a video of the funeral in silence, and saw Dawud’s mother break down and say she couldn’t take it anymore. Read more about The stories not tragic enough to notice 

CAIRO, Mar 30 (IPS) - Another diplomatic row has erupted between Cairo and Tel Aviv after a documentary film aired on Israeli television in February claimed that Israeli forces had executed hundreds of unarmed Egyptian prisoners of war (POWs) in the wake of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The foreign ministry summoned the Israeli ambassador to express “Egypt’s anger” over the revelations, but critics from across the political spectrum decried the step as inadequate. Read more about Alleged POW Killings Spark Egypt-Israel Diplomatic Row 

WASHINGTON, Mar 26 (IPS) - A controversial documentary on the threat of radical Islam, promoted by the two most-watched U.S. cable news networks, was marketed and supported in part by self-described “pro-Israel” groups, according to an IPS investigation. Abbreviated versions and segments of Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West ran on FOX News and CNN, but neither station disclosed the film’s connection to HonestReporting, a watchdog group that monitors the media for allegedly negative portrayals of Israel. Read more about Film on "Radical Islam" Tied to Pro-Israel Groups 

Dear Alan: From the depth of our hearts, I would like to say that we are really shocked and terribly sorry for what has been happening to you. Three years ago, the first time I met you at the French Cultural Centre when you were covering an art activity, I realized that you were the journalist the Palestinian people are in need of. The journalist who does not cover only bloodshed, violence and politics, but also knocks on all doors in Gaza: occupation, art, love, religion and all areas that show the entire world that we are human too. Read more about Palestinian journalist's letter to Alan Johnston 

Almost two weeks ago, my friend Dawud, a high school English teacher from Kufr ‘Ain, called me nearly in tears to report the checkpoint hold-up that had cost him his six-month-old son. Shortly after midnight on March 8th, my friend’s baby began having trouble breathing. His parents quickly got a taxi to take him to the nearest hospital in Ramallah, where they hoped to secure an oxygen tent, which had helped him recover from difficult respiratory episodes in the past. As the family was rushing from their Palestinian town in the West Bank to their Palestinian hospital in the West Bank, they were stopped at Atara checkpoint, where an Israeli soldier asked for the father’s, mother’s, and driver’s IDs. Read more about The crime of being born Palestinian 

On 4 April 1968, Martin Luther King was shot dead in Memphis, Tennessee, where he planned to lead a protest march. The powerful voice of King was silenced, but almost fifty years later, his ideas are still a source of inspiration for people who seek peace and justice. Israel claims to have a special relation with the legacy of King. Every year it marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a United States holiday, with a special session in parliament. Read more about The legacy of Martin Luther King: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere 

WASHINGTON, D.C., 23 March 2007 (IPS) - How seriously and to what ends is the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush willing to engage the new Palestinian government of national unity? As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice makes her seventh visit to the Middle East in the last eight months, that is the question that foreign policy analysts and diplomats here are asking, and the answers are as yet far from clear.Is the administration committed to resuming a genuine peace process designed to fill out the “political horizon” of a final settlement to which both Israel and the Palestinians, including Hamas, will be willing to commit? Read more about Tentative moves toward new Palestine government 

Gaza - Ma’an News Agency - The death toll due to the renewed clashes between Fatah and Hamas supporters in the Gaza Strip, which began on Wednesday, March 21, rose to three after a two-year-old infant died on Thursday evening. Security sources reported that the infant, Hassan Abu al-Nada, died from wounds sustained after being shot by armed men while in his house near the home of a leader of the Fatah-affiliated al-Aqsa Brigades, Samih al-Madhoun. Read more about Two-year-old killed in renewed factional violence