Dr. Sami greeted the journalist at the ticket office. “Welcome,” he said. “Please come this way.” He began a tour of the zoo, first heading north up the zoo’s main avenue, past the dry fountain, the restaurant, and a dusty playground. At the top, he introduced Ruti, his prize giraffe. Read more of an excerpt from Amelia Thomas’ new book, The Zoo on the Road to Nablus Read more about The zoo on the road to Nablus 

On Saturday, after 32 hours on the high seas, I sailed into the port of Gaza City with 45 other citizens from around the world in defiance of Israel’s blockade. We traveled from Cyprus with humanitarian provisions for Palestinians living under siege. My family in Michigan was worried sick. They are not naive. Huwaida Arraf comments. Read more about Sailing into Gaza 

CAIRO (IPS) - Following renewed fighting between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, Egypt has stepped up calls for dialogue and reconciliation. But critics say Cairo’s partiality to Fatah — which is backed, like the Egyptian regime itself, by the US — prevents it from mediating fairly in the crisis. Read more about Egyptian kinship with Fatah hampers mediation 

CAIRO (IPS) - Recent weeks have seen the worst fighting between rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas since the latter’s takeover of the Gaza Strip last summer. Hamas accuses the “treasonous faction” within Fatah — which worked with US military intelligence in last year’s failed bid to destroy the resistance group — of instigating the violence. Read more about A civil war in the making 

Yehudit Genud hardly feels she is on the frontier of Israel’s settlement project, although the huddle of mobile homes on a wind-swept West Bank hilltop she calls home is controversial even by Israeli standards. Jonathan Cook reports from Migron settlement in the occupied West Bank. Read more about Creating a fact on the ground 

“I have been sick for more than a year now. Five months ago I was finally diagnosed with cancer of my bladder. I was working at the Islamic University here in Gaza city, but now I am stuck at home, and taking a diet of painkillers.” Ahmed Hisham Abu Shawish is 46 years old, but he looks older. His skin is tinged with grey and he sits slumped forward in his chair. Read more about Gaza patients continue painful wait for urgent medical treatment 

The Free Gaza Movement, a diverse group of international human rights activists from 17 different countries, will soon set sail from Cyprus to Gaza in order to challenge the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. I’m proud to stand with them. Over 170 prominent individuals and organizations have endorsed our efforts, including the Carter Center, former British Cabinet member Clare Short, and Nobel Peace Prize laureates Mairead Maguire and Desmond Tutu. Ramzi Kysia comments. Read more about Standing up for justice in the Middle East 

Palestine solidarity activists based in Basel, Switzerland demanded Bank Sarasin to divest from Veolia Environnement in early June, because of its involvement in the illegal tramway being built by Israel that runs through occupied East Jerusalem. Within a month Bank Sarasin replied with a five-page response, to explain its longstanding practice of assessing its sustainable investments. Adri Nieuwhof reports. Read more about Swiss bank excludes company involved with illegal tramway 

Last Wednesday’s state funeral in Ramallah for the revered Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, with its excessive military pomp, revealed how far the Palestinian people are from realizing the justice imagined in Darwish’s writing, and was a sad reminder of how the Palestinian Authority helps undermine his people’s struggle. EI contributor Sumia Ibrahim comments from Ramallah. Read more about Failing Darwish's legacy