BEITHANOUN, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - Formed in September 2007, Local Initiative has a number of other mandates: promoting volunteerism; reaching out to marginalized families living in the regions along the Green Line border between Israel and Gaza; giving psycho-social support to children scarred by Israeli military attacks and shooting; financially assisting children with martyred parents; and improving the role of women and youth in society. Read more about Gaza activists organize to harvest
Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler30 October 2009
SURBAHER, occupied East Jerusalem (IPS) - The latest round brings the number of East Jerusalem Palestinians displaced since the beginning of the year by forced evictions or house demolitions to over 600, according to figures released by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees. Altogether on Tuesday, six buildings were knocked down, leaving 26 people homeless. Read more about Homeless by Israeli policy
Recently, Israel announced that it would import palm fronds from the Gaza Strip for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Initially, the decision to allow Gaza to export palm fronds seemed like an easing, however small, of the Israeli siege. But according to Gaza’s farmers, exporters and the Israeli non-governmental organization Gisha, it wasn’t. Mya Guarnieri reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Israeli blockade strangling Gaza agriculture
OCCUPIEDEASTJERUSALEM (IPS) - Israeli authorities are increasingly targeting and intimidating nonviolent Palestinian grassroots activists involved in anti-occupation activities who are drawing increased support from the international community. Read more about Israel targeting grassroots activists
Several Western pension funds and financial managers hold shares in two Israeli banks: Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi. Both banks operate in and offer loans to finance illegal settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories. Adri Nieuwhof reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Israeli banks entrenched in settlement building
Cartoonist Naji al-Ali was a towering figure in the Palestinian cultural and political scene. His daily political drawings were a knife-twisting, gut-wrenching journey into how Palestinians perceived their predicament. Toufic Haddad reviews A Child in Palestine: The Cartoons of Naji al-Ali for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: The timeless work of Naji al-Ali
International relations specialist Anne Le More’s first monograph, International Assistance to the Palestinians after Oslo, the first in Routledge’s Studies on the Arab-Israeli Conflict series, provides an important critique of the belief that reconstruction, development and humanitarian aid form essential counterparts to political processes aimed at resolving longstanding violent conflicts. Ali Abunimah reviews. Read more about Book review: How aid hurt Palestine
George Habash, the late leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), called China Palestine’s “best friend.” Indeed, he was on an official PFLP visit to China when the conflict between Palestinian forces and the Hashemite Kingdom erupted in Jordan in 1970, the events later known as “Black September.” However, if there are actors today hoping that China might offer an alternative to US hegemony and pushing the international community into a more just position on Palestine, it is not likely to happen soon — if ever. Sarah Irving analyzes for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about What does China's ascendance mean for Palestine?
Last night, 22 activists were arrested at Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s speech to the World Affairs Council at the Westin St. Francis Hotel at Union Square in downtown San Francisco. More than 250 individuals were protesting outside the hotel and Nora Barrows-Friedman, senior producer of Flashpoints on Pacifica Radio, was on the scene, interviewing those who had gathered to voice their outrage at Olmert’s presence. Read more about Audio: Interviews with Olmert protesters in San Francisco
If former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had merely been a diplomat or an academic offering a controversial viewpoint, then interrupting his 15 October speech at University of Chicago’s Mandel Hall would certainly have been an attempt to stifle debate. But confronting a political leader suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity cannot be viewed the same way. Ali Abunimah comments for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Why I disrupted Olmert
