It is estimated that Israel’s Annexation Wall will be completed in the early part of 2006. When it is finished it will annex 47% of the West Bank, and hand it over to the settler population. At least 15% of Palestinians will be left outside the wall1, completely isolated from the rest of society, and over 222,098 refugees for the second or third times will experience, “land confiscation, destruction of property, and denial of access to their lands thus directly affecting their means of livelihood”2. In the end, it is not an over exaggeration to say that the entire Palestinian society will directly suffer by its completion, in addition to the seemingly unstoppable illegal Israeli practices that continue unhindered. Read more about Breaking Down the Wall 

After our visit with Elyakim Ha’itzni, we visit the gravesite of Dr. Baruch Goldstein. Dr. Goldstein was a physician born and raised in Brooklyn who became a Kiryat Arba settler. In 1994, he opened fire on Muslims worshiping at the mosque of Ibrahim, killing 29 worshippers and injuring more than 100, before he was bludgeoned to death by the crowd. In Kiryat Arba he is treated as a hero. Downtown Hebron looks like a ghost town. Yesterday, two Israeli soldiers were shot, so now the entire center of the city is under curfew and Palestinians cannot leave their homes. Read more about WaPSR Delegation Diary 4: Hebron - Kiryat Arba settlement and the struggle for the heart of an ancient city 

Settlement growth and the diminishing size of the village of Singel are intrinsically related. Singel’s families continue to brace themselves in the face of unchecked land grabs awarded to newly created Israeli settlements. While Israeli tax collectors are quick to furnish documentation that links Palestinians to their land for taxation purposes, they are quicker to dismiss these records when issuing evacuation orders. Rarely do Israeli authorities balk at this double standard with regard to settlement expansion. Read more about A Land for Growing, not Settlement Growth 

East Jerusalem, March 7, 2005 — Tonight, the Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility met with Mr. Mordechai Vanunu at St. George’s Hostel in East Jerusalem. Mr. Vanunu is famous around the world for exposing Israel’s secret nuclear weapon’s program at the Dimona nuclear facility in the Negev Desert in Southern Israel. Vanunu was convicted to 18 years in prison and spent 11 of these years in total isolation. He describes psychological torture intended to break his will and says Israeli authorities tried to brand him as a criminal. Read more about WaPSR Delegation Diary 3: Our Dinner with Mordechai Vanunu 

In a very poor neighborhood in the old city, in a tall tiny shabby building, sounds of children’s laughter can be heard as we walked up the 50 steep steps leading to the main hall of the Children’s Center. More than 100 girls and boys of various age groups were gathered in the main hall, listening to Sana’, the facilitator of the activity, giving instructions of the day. Main hall was full of excitement, it was the third day out of the six-day activity planned by Tamer institute, a local non governmental organization, supported by UNICEF, aiming at improving quality of education through creative reading and writing. Loud foot steps of kids running to their respective training rooms were heard. Read more about Palestinian children's right to quality education 

On this Palestinian Independence Day I decide to take a break and go and visit the zoo in Jerusalem together with the children. Mary, who of course cannot join because she doesnat have a permit or a foreign passport-with-a-three-month visa as I do, puts fruits in the bag for me and for Jara and Tamer. Should we put a knife in the bag, to cut the fruits? Better not to have an iron knife, but a plastic one, we think, because the soldiers at the checkpoint may become suspicious. I make a quick check on the Internet to see whether there are problems to be expected on the road. The Bethlehem taxi driver tells us that today the new terminal is in use. We approach not a checkpoint but rather something that resembles an international border. Read more about The Terminal 

On Friday November 11th 2005, the residence of the Palestinian village of Bil’in, along with international and Israeli activists, rallied at the center of the village to prepare for their weekly act of civil disobedience and non-violent protest. Bil’in was once a small peaceful village located high on the hills of Palestine, inside the West Bank and north of Jerusalem. For thirty-eight years, a brutal Israeli military occupation has subjected the village of Bil’in, along with the entire West Bank, to unrelenting violence, seizures, curfews, and land appropriations that have violated the Palestinian peoples’ basic civil and human rights. The wall has now reached the village of Bil’in, threatening to cut the villagers off from two thirds of their land. Read more about VIDEO: Protests in Bil'in 

On Saturday 22 October, hundreds of people from all over the United Kingdom descended on the Institute of Education in Logan Hall, Bedford Way, London, to discuss Israel, Palestine and the law. For six hours delegates sat and listened as politicians, lawyers and governmental advisors took to the podium in front a banner carrying the name of the event’s organizers, the “Palestine Solidarity Campaign”. The speakers included Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Diana Buttu, Daniel Machover, Leah Tsemel. Victor Kattan and Mary Nazzal-Batayneh report for EI. Read more about London hosts conference "Palestine, Israel and the Law"