Palestinians in Gaza denied PA passports
19 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rAmid all the obstacles preventing Palestinians in Gaza from traveling outside the besieged territory, Nidal Abdo faces an additional one. He needs a passport and despite five attempts to obtain one, he has so far failed. Rami Almeghari reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Tough times for Gaza travel agent
18 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr r”Shurafa Tourist and Travel Company has been operating in Gaza since 1952,” Nabil Shurafa, general manager of the company, says proudly. This historical background is significant, as much for understanding the many and various forms of movement restrictions with which Shurafa Travel has had to deal during Gaza’s 43 year occupation as for providing a rationale for how and why Shurafa remains open under the current restrictions.

Palestinians suffer as Israeli government ignores its own court
18 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThe Israeli government is facing legal action for contempt over its refusal to implement a high court ruling that it end a policy of awarding preferential budgets to Jewish communities, including settlements, rather than much poorer Palestinian Arab towns and villages inside Israel. Jonathan Cook reports.

Water restrictions in the occupied West Bank
18 Jul 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rRAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IRIN) – The worst place to be in the occupied West Bank in terms of water and sanitation facilities is an Israeli-controlled stretch of land known as Area C, where the Palestinian Authority (PA) is technically responsible for water services, but simply unable to deliver.

Israel imprisoned my father for nonviolently resisting the occupation
16 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rOn 12 January 2010 my father Ibrahim was arrested by the Israeli army and sentenced to two years in prison for organizing and participating in nonviolent protests against the Israel’s wall in the occupied West Bank. The wall cuts us off from our land and our olive groves, robbing our family of its livelihood. Saeed Amireh writes from Nilin, occupied West Bank.

Israel’s economic warfare still keenly felt in Gaza
16 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rRAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS)—Israel has received international praise for its decision to ease its crippling blockade on Gaza following the country’s deadly assault on a humanitarian flotilla trying to bring desperately needed humanitarian aid to the coastal territory. But according to the UN and human rights organizations, the easing of the blockade is insufficient in meeting Gaza’s needs.

“They want us to be loyal to the occupation”: Muhammad Totah interviewed
15 Jul 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rMuhammad Totah is one of three Palestinian legislators staging a sit-in to protest Israel’s decision to expel them from Jerusalem. In an interview with The Electronic Intifada contributor Max Blumenthal, he details the Israeli government’s plan for mass deportations of Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Palestinians unite on housing rights
15 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThe al-Rajabi family of the Beit Hanina neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem were made homeless on Tuesday, 13 July, after Israeli demolition vehicles razed their home to the ground. Five other homes and structures were destroyed earlier in the day in the Issawiya and Jabal al-Mukabber neighborhoods, also in East Jerusalem.

Architectural planning for a different future
15 Jul 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIf you live under a colonial regime, the first thing you are prevented from doing is thinking about a future,” proclaims Sandi Hilal, one of the founders of Decolonizing Architecture. “This is the first thing that the occupation imposes on you. And to propose in Palestine right now a future where you can plan, imagine, is something which is very important.”

UC Irvine administrators call to Muslim student group for Palestine protest
14 Jul 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIn response to intense political pressure by multiple pro-Zionist organizations, administrators at the University of California, Irvine have recommended suspending Muslim students’ right to assemble and practice their faith together on campus. Brian Napoletano reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Fadlallah and the Western media’s dangerous complicity
14 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThere is a lot to say about Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the Lebanese Shia Muslim cleric who passed away on 4 July 2010 at the age of 75. Unfortunately, much of what there is to say is being left unsaid for more of the same sensationalist reporting on this region and its people. Matthew Cassel comments for The Electronic Intifada.

Pride through solidarity
14 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThough I’ve never felt compelled to take the streets for Pride, I did this past month, on several occasions, walk alongside folks that I resonated with in important ways, in vocalizing my outrage against the illegal and inhumane acts of the Israeli state. Amita Kumari writes from Toronto.

Israeli education minister wages witch-hunt against boycott supporters
14 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rHundreds of Israeli college professors have signed a petition accusing the education minister of endangering academic freedoms after he threatened to “punish” any lecturer or institution that supports a boycott of Israel. Jonathan Cook reports.

Why doesn’t Clinton care about my jailed husband?
13 Jul 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rI used to tell my husband, Ameer Makhoul, “One day, they’ll come for you.” As chairman of the Public Committee for the Protection of Political Freedoms he’d begun to organize an awareness-raising campaign to push back against the security services’ harassment of our community, the Palestinian citizens of Israel. Come for Ameer they did, late one night this May, pounding at our door, ransacking our house and terrifying our two teenage daughters. Janan Abdu comments.

Israel’s video game killing technology
13 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rIt is called Spot and Shoot. Operators sit in front of a TV monitor from which they can control the action with a PlayStation-style joystick. The aim: to kill terrorists. Played by: young women serving in the Israeli army. Jonathan Cook reports.

Unwelcome guests: Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
13 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rFor over 60 years, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have been denied their basic rights. Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Dalal Yassine examines the legal status of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and the “Right to Work” Campaign. She argues that greater coordination between Palestinian and Lebanese civil society organizations and solidarity groups in the Palestinian Diaspora is required in order to change the country’s laws.

Despite Israeli blockade, innovation thrives in Gaza
12 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThe relentless Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip has squeezed many things, but it hasn’t robbed people of their ability and desire to innovate and invent. At the Rashad al-Shawa cultural center in heart of Gaza City, dozens of local companies and individuals recently demonstrated hi-tech products and inventions at an exhibition sponsored by government and nongovernmental bodies. Rami Almeghari reports from the occupied Gaza Strip.

Israeli colonization means life of poverty for W. Bank children
12 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rIsrael’s policies of land confiscation, expanding settlement colonies, and discriminatory building permit restrictions are forcing more Palestinians—especially children—into a desperate economic and humanitarian crisis in the occupied West Bank, according to a report by Save the Children UK (STCUK).

“Life for Palestinians in Israel is complicated in every respect”
12 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rBasma Fahoum—an activist with the organization Who Profits from the Occupation?—recently sat with The Electronic Intifada contributor Adri Nieuwhof and discussed what it means to be a Palestinian in Israel and her the ongoing efforts for her community to realize their rights.

Division on Unity Street: two books on Hamas reviewed
12 Jul 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rObjective information is urgently required in order to further a more nuanced awareness of what Hamas is all about. Raymond Deane determines whether two new books on the group that has caused an earthquake in Middle East politics stand up to the test.

In Gaza, dialysis in paralysis
9 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rNow under siege for more than three years and thus unable to provide necessary medication, plagued with equipment in perpetual disrepair, and confronted with an acute shortage of electricity, al-Shifa’s dialysis unit is unable to properly treat its patients.

California dockworkers reject meeting with Israeli consul
9 Jul 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rTwo weeks after the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in the San Francisco Bay Area joined with activists at the Port of Oakland to block the unloading of an Israeli Zim Lines cargo ship, the union reaffirmed its support of Palestinian rights despite pressure from the Israeli consulate and the Zionist-Israeli organization Stand With Us.

“Beware of Small States”: journalist David Hirst interviewed
9 Jul 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rVeteran Middle East correspondent David Hirst, author of the seminal work on the Palestinian plight The Gun and the Olive Branch, has a new release: Beware of Small States, an equally important book on Lebanon’s complex tragedy. The Electronic Intifada contributor Robin Yassin-Kassab interviews Hirst on his work and views.

Boycott, divestment and sanctions in Australia, five years on
9 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rIn Australia, with a supine government and a media unwilling to investigate Israel’s criminal acts, getting the Palestine message out to the public has been a real challenge. However, Australian unions look like they might be changing that. Sonja Karkar comments on the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement in Australia on the anniversary of the historic Palestinian call for such tactics.

Unexploded ordnance poses deadly threat in Gaza
8 Jul 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rGAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) – More than a year after the Israeli attacks on Gaza, the risk of unexploded ordnance poses as real a threat as the fresh bombings.