The Electronic Intifada

Media agencies annex 200,000 settlers

Jonathan Cook 3 June 2009


Given their influence on world opinion and the vital importance of the settlement issue in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, can readers depend on the news agencies to provide fair coverage? The answer, sadly, is: no. Even on the most basic fact about the settlers — the number living on occupied Palestinian territory — the agencies regularly get it wrong. Jonathan Cook analyzes. 

Obama should visit Gaza

Medea Benjamin 3 June 2009


The Obama administration has said almost nothing about the devastating Israeli invasion of Gaza that left more than 1,400 dead, including some 400 children. To many in the Middle East, this is an unfortunate continuation of past policies that condemn the loss of innocent Israeli lives, but refuse to speak out against the disproportionately greater loss of Palestinian lives at the hands of the Israeli military. Medea Benjamin comments for EI. 

Gaza aid still in Egypt

2 June 2009


AL-ARISH (IRIN) - The lack of proper warehousing facilities in the northeastern Egyptian cities of al-Arish and Rafah is partly to blame for bottlenecks and inefficiencies in delivering food and other aid to the Gaza Strip, a former senior Egyptian aid official has said. The only working warehouse in al-Arish had been part-rented to the World Food Programme with only some of its space allocated to the Egyptian Red Crescent Society. 

Gaza's emerging trash crisis

Erin Cunningham 2 June 2009


GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - Suliman Khodari begins his shift at 5am on one of Gaza City’s busiest streets. With his horse-drawn cart, Suliman spends seven hours every morning hauling away the rubbish left by residents and shop owners of the neighborhood. But he is not a scavenger. Suliman is one of 150 animal cart owners currently collecting garbage for the Gaza City municipality. 

Despite Israel's efforts, Palestinian festival celebrates literature

Sousan Hammad 4 June 2009


For many Palestinians, the month of May is associated with the commemoration of the Nakba. But with the increasing popularity of the arts in Palestine, the second annual Palestine Festival of Literature (PalFest) harmoniously unfolded to the final days of spring, a time also for lavender and lilies. The Electronic Intifada contributor Sousan Hammad reports on PalFest, and how it was shut down by Israeli authorities in Jerusalem. 

Auschwitz survivor: "I can identify with Palestinian youth"

Adri Nieuwhof 1 June 2009


Hajo Meyer, author of the book The End of Judaism, was born in Bielefeld, in Germany, in 1924. In 1939, he fled on his own at age 14 to the Netherlands to escape the Nazi regime, and was unable to attend school. Meyer was captured by the Gestapo in March 1944 and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp a week later. He is one of the last survivors of Auschwitz. Meyer spoke about his book and Palestine with The Electronic Intifada contributor Adri Nieuwhof. 

Gaza housing, water situation still dire

29 May 2009


TEL AVIV (IRIN) - Reports published recently by various organizations paint a grim picture of life in Gaza more than four months after the 23-day Israeli offensive ended on 18 January. At the end of April 2009, UNRWA and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) completed their assessments of damage caused during the offensive: Some 3,500 houses were totally destroyed or are beyond repair and many others have yet to be repaired. 

West Bank rights violations on the rise

Mel Frykberg 29 May 2009


RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - “I heard voices, I turned around to look, and saw a group of Israeli settlers assaulting my brother Hammad,” says Abdallah Wahadin, 82, a Palestinian farmer from Beit Ummar near the southern West Bank city of Hebron. “Three of them surrounded me, while a fourth threw a rock at the back of my head. Lots of blood ran down onto my clothes. Other settlers then joined them,” Wahadin told the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.