27 July 2010
CAIRO (IPS) - Almost two months since Egypt announced it would reopen its Rafah border terminal with the Gaza Strip, operation of the crossing remains sorely limited. “Rafah has only been opened to passengers and some medical supplies,” Hatem el-Buluk, journalist and resident of al-Arish, located some 40 kilometers west of Rafah, told IPS. Read more about Egypt remains complicit in Gaza siege
28 July 2010
Tony Blair’s relationship with one of the world’s richest men poses a clear and significant conflict of interest with his duties as Quartet envoy. Adri Nieuwhof reports. Read more about Blair's undisclosed business dealings conflict with Quartet role
26 July 2010
Nine-year-old Samah al-Massry is now being hospitalized in serious condition, having been hit by shrapnel and flechettes from an Israeli-fired nail bomb that landed 100 meters away, causing internal bleeding to the chest and severe head trauma. Adie Mormech reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Gaza children shelled with flechette bombs
26 July 2010
A food co-operative in Olympia, Washington, voted to become the first grocer in the US to ban Israeli-made items from its shelves. Meanwhile, activists in New York delivered more than 15,000 signatures from petitions and postcards to the TIAA-CREF shareholders’ meeting on 20 July. Read more about Victories as N. American boycott movement gains momentum
26 July 2010
The split between the the Hamas-run Gaza wing and the Fatah-run West Bank wing of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has overshadowed every aspect of public life, including, many rights groups have documented, infringements on press freedoms and the work of journalists. Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Press freedoms fall victim to Fatah, Hamas disunity
26 July 2010
Around 8:45pm on 13 July, 2010, a few of the women of the Abu Said family in the northern Gaza Strip were enjoying the cool of the evening in the courtyard in front of their house. They heard a muffled shooting sound, followed soon after by another, and then by a loud buzzing noise, as if a swarm of insects was approaching at full speed. Vittorio Arrigoni reports from the occupied Gaza Strip. Read more about No words to console Gaza child after mother is killed by Israeli shelling
23 July 2010
Despite the alarms sounded by its most staunch critics, Human Rights Watch has been mostly silent on the horrific Gaza Freedom Flotilla attack. When they have spoken out, they have been notably timid, essentially sharing the same positions as the US government, Israel’s closest ally. Read more about Human Rights Watch flotilla stance mirrors that of US, Israel
23 July 2010
BEIRUT (IPS) - The Maryam, an all-female Lebanese aid ship, currently docked in the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli, is getting ready to set sail for Gaza in the next few days. The ship, which aims to break Israel’s siege on the Palestinian territory, will carry about fifty aid workers, including some US nuns keen to deliver aid to the long-suffering women and children of Gaza. Read more about Women prepared to break the siege of Gaza
24 July 2010
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) — Nasser Abdulhadi is a mild-mannered man who runs a restaurant. He was always known as the jovial sort. One day, his friends say, he stopped being jovial. He chose instead to fight for a world title for one of his country’s national dishes, and through that to gain worldwide recognition for Palestine. Read more about Palestinians break records to reclaim culture
23 July 2010
The International Trade Union Confederation’s annual survey released in June describes repression meted out to Palestinian workers and trade unionists by both the Israeli authorities and the Palestinian factions. But ITUC’s omissions and brevity both disguise the complexity of life for Palestinian workers, and reveal some of the union confederation’s own biases. Sarah Irving analyzes for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about International labor report's omissions reveal pro-Israel bias