On Wednesday I left the wasteland of Gaza and came to East Jerusalem where it is easier to base oneself for traveling. For two days I stayed in the Jenin refugee camp, returning only late this evening. I know I will have to write about it soon in much greater detail than here, even though I know many people are doing this. The sorry truth is that it will not be nearly enough. Read more about The oracle at Jenin 

Tank fire, machine gun fire, and roosters crowing; explosions, more tank fire, more gun fire, and those stupid all-night roosters with no sense of timing: How Not to Sleep in the Refugee Camp at Rafah-at least if you’re a visitor and listening to the “low intensity war” rage on the borders of the Gaza Strip all night still frays your nerves. Read more about Sleepless in Gaza 

I no longer believe there should be a Jewish State, and the millions of Palestinians who have long recognized Israel’s existence and hoped that some recompense for their 54 years of suffering might come from repeatedly kissing the asses of their white colonial masters here and in the US are rightly questioning why they’re still doing it. Read more about A requiem for the damned 

There are rumors that the road between Khan Yunis and Rafah is being closed now. This would suggest that an incursion into Rafah or Khan Yunis is imminent. Read more about Gaza: Waiting and not knowing 

Heaps of concrete, broken pillars with wire sticking out, people’s shoes, clothes, bedding, strewn haphazardly among the rubble, dust everywhere, a hole in the landscape where a two-story apartment was just yesterday: ‘the hardest part for me is how familiar it has all become’. Read more about Letter from Gaza: Rising Up from the Dust 

“Welcome to the Erez Crossing”. The sign on the way out of Gaza really says this. Yes. Greetings. Welcome to a half a mile of concrete barriers and barbed wire. Welcome to electrical wires and fortified soldiers’ bunkers. Read more about Welcome to the Erez Crossing: Glancing back at Gaza 

Helicopter gunships fired into crowded areas of Nablus and Jenin again today. Nobody knows how many are dead. Yesterday’s count stopped at 44. Ariel Sharon hasn’t finished his ‘operation’ yet. Read more about In the eye of the storm 

Tel As-Sultan refugee camp west of Rafah city has been fired at randomly for no apparent reason. Shots were fired in the direction of civilian homes. Seven tanks have made an incursion 300 meters into the area killing 1 man, 1 schoolgirl, and wounding twelve, including two schoolgirls —one of whom is seriously injured. This is what Americans are paying for. Read more about 2 dead, 12 wounded in Gazan camp 

Al-Jazeera TV footage showed the bodies of five Palestinian men executed when Israeli soldiers found out where they’d hidden in a building in Ramallah on Sunday. They had feared for their lives and apparently had good reason to do so. Four were shot with a single bullet to the head. One was murdered with sixteen bullets, mostly fired into his face and chest. Their weapons were confiscated. They lay on the floor, mostly face down. Dark streaks of dried blood covered the walls of their room. Clearly they’d been considered innocent until proven guilty by the great democracy of the Middle East. I wish this were the worst of the crimes now on film. Read more about Promises from Palestine