GAZACITY, 21 January (IPS) - Seventy-six-year-old Mustapha al-Jamal goes door to door, looking for help in finding medicines for his son. At home, the 53-year-old son Yahya al-Jamal lies back, staring at the ceiling. By his side, an oxygen cylinder keeps him going for now. “My son’s condition continues to worsen,” Mustapha says. “We’ve been waiting two months for the medicines.” Last year Mustapaha’s 44-year-old daughter, a mother of six, died of breast cancer. She had been recovering, but the Israeli siege blocked supply of medicines, and no one could then save her. Read more about No rights, little mercy
The New York Times, always to be counted on to provide the right euphemisms, reported that “Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, ordered a temporary halt on all imports into the Hamas-run Gaza Strip late last week. The measure, along with stepped-up military operations in Gaza, was meant to persuade Palestinian militants there to stop firing rockets at Israel.” Terms like “measures” and “persuasion” sound so gentle. But they cover up a brutal reality that Israeli leaders are keen to boast about. Ali Abunimah comments. Read more about Where does it end?
The European Union, Israel’s largest trade partner in the world, is watching by as Israel tightens its barbaric siege on Gaza, collectively punishing 1.5 million Palestinian civilians, condemning them to devastation, and visiting imminent death upon hundreds of kidney dialysis and heart patients, prematurely born babies, and all others dependent on electric power for their very survival. Israel’s crimes in Gaza can accurately be categorized as acts of genocide, albeit slow. EI contributor Omar Barghouthi comments. Read more about Never against! European collusion in Israel's slow genocide
No more lies or twisted tongues. Israel is saying at last what, in the past, it always refused to acknowledge: its war is against the Palestinian population. Until now, in discussions about the separation wall, closures, blockades, house demolition, and other sorts of collective punishment, the State Attorney’s Office lacked the gumption to admit in court that the aim of such measures is to harm civilians. It always came up with convoluted security claims in order to present some vital military necessity for the sake of the War against Terror. Harm to the population was described as a regrettable side effect. Yossi Wolfson analyzes. Read more about Economic warfare in Gaza
JERUSALEM/GAZA, 17 January (IRIN) - The Israeli government decided earlier this month to permit the Gaza Strip to import industrial diesel — in similar quantities to those permitted prior to the fuel import restrictions imposed in October 2007 — but the impoverished enclave continues to suffer from power cuts. The cuts are affecting daily life, particularly now as the region has been experiencing an uncommonly cold winter. Read more about Gaza power cuts leave people cold physically, metaphorically
So US President George W. Bush came to Ramallah, and of course the city was turned upside down. The Palestinian Authority (PA) wanted to show that they were up to the task of handling the security. I managed to get a press pass and I was cynical but curious to see how the big show would go down. All the photographers and journalists were told to come at 6am at a certain location so that they could be taken all together to the Muqata’a, the PA’s headquarters. Anne Paq reports from Ramallah. Read more about Mr. Bush's trip to Ramallah
It is customary to say that the Israeli daily Haaretz is a progressive newspaper. However, its progressive character is generally nowhere to be seen when Israel initiates a war against one of its neighbors — its opposition to the previous two wars came only after the newspaper provided support to the policies of the government and the military — or abuses against the Palestinian people. However, when dealing with matters of religion, and particularly hatred of the religious, the progressiveness of Haaretz, its editors and community of readers, is endless. Michael Warschawski comments. Read more about Citizenship, Zionism and separation of religion from the state
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani13 January 2008
CAIRO, 10 January (IPS) - Recent months have witnessed several notable political reorientations in the Middle East, involving Iran, the Gulf states, Egypt and Lebanon. Several experts say the changes reflect a shift in Washington’s regional strategy following recent US policy setbacks. “US policies in the region are either in retreat or undergoing re-examination,” Ayman Abelaziz Salaama, international law professor at Cairo University told IPS. “Washington’s project for a new Middle East — launched in 2001 with the aim of redrawing the region to suit US interests — has failed.” Read more about US seen in policy retreat
The photographers of the group Activestills have documented Volvo equipment being used for the illegal construction of the wall and the settlements, and the demolition of Palestinian houses in Israel and occupied Palestine. Activestills gave special permission to publish some of the images on The Electronic Intifada to inform a wider audience about the systematic use of Volvo equipment in house demolitions in East Jerusalem. Read more about Photostory: Volvo equipment used in house demolitions
Ever since his sentencing on 21 November, I have been ruminating on the extreme injustice perpetrated on Dr. Abdelhaleem Ashqar by the US government and the federal court in Chicago culminating in a draconian sentence of 135 months for nonviolent acts of civil disobedience. Michael E. Deutsch, who was one of the counsel for Dr. Ashqar’s co-defendant Mohammad Salah, comments on the punishing of a man motivated by love for his people and their right to resist an illegal occupation of their land. Read more about The Grand Jury and the persecution of Dr. Abdelhaleem Ashqar
