GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) - The quality of life, the economy and food security for Palestinians living in Gaza have been severely impaired by Israel’s strict four-year blockade, according to the UN. Israel says its closure regime is designed to protect Israeli citizens from attacks by militants in Gaza. Read more about "Gaza is a man-made crisis" 

Bulldozers returned to the village of al-Araqib in the northern Negev on Wednesday, 4 August, and demolished approximately ten new structures residents and supporters had built a week after Israeli forces completely destroyed the village on 27 July. Read more about Israel destroys Bedouin village, again 

From small beginnings and with few resources, the international movement in solidarity with the Palestinians has grown into a force that Israel perceives as a major threat. The assault on the Gaza aid flotilla was a lethal escalation in what has become an increasingly bitter campaign against that movement. Mike Marqusee comments. Read more about International solidarity under attack 

RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Gazans are caught between a rock and a hard place. While Israel continues to apply a crippling siege on the coastal territory, Gaza’s Hamas government is cracking down on civil and political liberties in what appears to be a campaign to slowly Islamicize Gaza. Read more about Hamas "morality" campaign restricts civil liberties in Gaza 

On 16 July 2010, US Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro laid out the Obama Administration’s policy on strategic cooperation, noting that earlier this year, President Obama “asked Congress to authorize $205 million to support the production of an Israeli-developed short range rocket defense system called Iron Dome.” If approved, these funds would be “above and beyond the $3 billion in Foreign Military Financing that the Administration requested for Israel” for 2011. Jimmy Johnson comments for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Why is Obama moving to fund Israel's Iron Dome project? 

Israeli airstikes killed a Palestinian resistance activist and wounded another early Wednesday morning 4 August, east of Khan Younis in the occupied Gaza Strip, reports Reuters, citing Palestinian medical sources. This latest attack comes on the heels of five days of Israeli missile strikes, Palestinian rocket fire and other explosions that have injured dozens and killed one leader of the armed wing of Hamas. Read more about UPDATED: Scores injured in explosions, Israeli attacks on Gaza 

A rabbi from one of the most violent settlements in the West Bank was questioned on suspicion of incitement last week as Israeli police stepped up their investigation into a book in which he sanctions the killing of non-Jews, including children and babies. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Israeli rabbi preaches slaughter of non-Jews 

The Palestinian national movement has overlooked this question: does the Gaza Strip resemble the racist Bantustans of apartheid South Africa? During the apartheid era, South Africa’s black population was kept in isolation and without political and civil rights. Is Gaza similar? The answer is yes and no. Haidar Eid analyzes. Read more about South Africa's lessons for Gaza