RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - As fears rise of renewed violence in Gaza, Elena Qleibo, a French-Costa Rican aid worker from Oxfam, gives IPS a first-hand account of surviving Israel’s three-week bombardment of Gaza: I was attending a meeting at Gaza City municipality on 27 December when suddenly the meeting was interrupted by heavy booming sounds coming from a short distance away. Plumes of smoke were rising from a number of bombed areas surrounding the building I was in. I and a number of colleagues rushed outside to try and establish what was happening. Read more about Aid worker: Gaza an "apocalypse"
The status of Israel as the enemy of the Arabs has largely depended in the last six decades on its enmity or alliance with Arab regimes and not with the Arab peoples. Insofar as Israel threatened Arab regimes, it was depicted by them as the enemy, insofar as it did not, it was welcomed as a friend. Joseph Massad comments for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Israel and the politics of friendship
RAMALLAH, occuiped West Bank (IPS) - Reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah is looking increasingly problematic as the two groups exchange serious accusations of treason, torture and extrajudicial killings. Tension between the two groups has escalated in the wake of Israel’s 22-day military assault on Gaza. Read more about Fatah, Hamas trade accusations
GAZACITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) - With Gaza’s sewerage system on the verge of collapse, a top water engineer has warned of the risk of groundwater contamination in the enclave, making clean water scarcer than it already is. Gaza is particularly vulnerable to groundwater contamination since its sandy desert soil easily absorbs water — or sewage from leaking sewage pipes. Compounding the risk is the fact that groundwater is relatively near the surface, and wells dug to access it tend to be shallow. Read more about Sewage may contaminate Gaza drinking water
Twenty-two days of Israeli bombardment by land, sea and air left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead and 5,000 injured; approximately 4,000 homes destroyed and 17,000 others damaged; and entire neighborhoods wiped out. The attacks, which began on 27 December 2008, mostly ended on 18 January 2009 after Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire. The below images are a selection of images from the month of January 2009. Read more about Month in pictures: Coping in Gaza, January 2009
TELAVIV (IRIN) - The Israeli emergency clinic at the Erez crossing, which opened on the day Israel declared a ceasefire in Gaza (18 January), has closed after treating only five wounded Palestinians. The original purpose of the clinic, according to press releases, was to provide emergency care and evacuate those needing further care to hospitals in Israel. Read more about Israeli clinic closes after treating five Palestinians
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Gaza will need years to recover from the devastating Israeli assault, says Katharina Ritz, head of mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Israel’s 22-day assault left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead, and decimated much of the coastal territory’s infrastructure. Read more about "Gaza will take years to recover"
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IRIN) - Israel says 453 trucks entered Gaza 18-23 January, but only about half of them carried humanitarian aid — not nearly enough for 1.5 million Gazans, say United Nations agencies and international aid groups. “The donors and the general public have mobilized from all over the world but the aid is stuck outside Gaza,” said John Ging, head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza. Read more about Aid reaching Gaza, but is it enough?
US President Barack Obama’s appointment of former Senator George Mitchell as his new Middle East envoy is a good choice. Mitchell helped broker the 1998 Belfast Agreement, the key to ending decades of strife in Northern Ireland. Because of historical similarities, that peace agreement is an important precedent for Palestinians and Israeli Jews. But will Mitchell be allowed to apply its lessons? The Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah comments. Read more about Can Mitchell turn Jerusalem into Belfast?
UNITEDNATIONS (IPS) - The president of the United Nations General Assembly was a last-minute no-show at the UN’s annual ceremony commemorating the Holocaust, following an intense lobbying campaign by pro-Israel organizations to have him removed from the program. Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann had come under fire for his harsh criticisms of Israeli policies, leading to suspicions that his failure to deliver a scheduled speech at the event was due to political considerations. Read more about Gaza tensions shadow UN Holocaust ceremony
