By Nasser Lahham on Maan News

Every few years, for the last sixty-one, another war is foisted on the Arabs, on the Palestinians. Beginning with Haifa and Akka in 1948, on the Palestinians alongside Egypt in 1956, with the Jordanians, Syrians and Egyptians in 1967, then again in 1973, 1981, 1983, 2002, 2006 and now in 2008-9 in Gaza.

Arab leaders approach every war without a unified defense or attack strategy. Civilians become victims of every war, rather than those it was ostensibly waged against, and during every war their suffering becomes more all-encompassing. The wars, beyond their occupation of Palestine, serve to divide and perpetuate disagreement and make life unbearable.

The same has been true for Gaza. Before the dead were … Continue reading

The daily demonstrations in solidarity with the people of Gaza continue across Palestine. These pictures from January 19 show around 200 women and children demonstrating in Betlehem. This rally took place outside the UNRWA Relief Office on the busy Hebron Road/Beit Jalla Road junction where it caused modest traffic disruption. Demonstrations like this have been taking place on a daily basis across the West Bank since the conflict began four weeks ago.

Contributed by Aharon, a former volunteer with PSP

As I sit here in my comfortable nook at my local independent coffee shop, sipping Nicaraguan blend, innocent men, women, and children are being systematically cleansed in a part of the world very dear to me. 1,200 Palestinians have been slaughtered by Israeli Destruction Forces since Israel’s offensive in Gaza began on 27 December, more than half of them civilians. More than half of them civilians. More than half of them civilians. 5,200 have been injured, and an estimated 90,000 have fled their homes. Yet, with Gaza being half the size of my beloved city of San Francisco, and having twice the population, an estimated 1.5 million, fleeing … Continue reading

The story of the Sammouni family in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City has brought widespread condemnation of the Israeli Occupation Forces’ methods and calls for an investigation into possible war crimes. The family was ordered by Israeli soldiers to move into a single compound “for their safety”. The morning after being moved, the building was shelled multiple times. Paramedics were then refused access to the area for days as children sat without food or water, surrounded by the bodies of their dead mothers and fathers. The International Red Cross said that Israeli forces were nearby and must have known that there … Continue reading

From IRIN, News service from the UN-OCHA

TEL AVIV, 19 January 2009 (IRIN) – As relative calm settles over Gaza for the first time in three weeks following the Israeli ceasefire, the scale of the humanitarian crisis is becoming evident. Some 100 bodies have been discovered in areas that were previously inaccessible.

The grim discovery brings the Gaza death toll since the Israeli offensive began on 27 December 2008 to over 1,300, according to officials of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNWRA) – and that number is expected to rise. Over 5,400 have been wounded.

Israel has tightly controlled information during its military operation, not allowing foreign correspondents into the Strip, although some Israeli media were allowed in briefly – but under … Continue reading

From Maan News Agency http://maannews.net/en

The embers of Tel Al-Hawa continue to burn. The smoke from the fire and concrete dust cloud the air, and carry the thick smell of burning and rotting bodies.

This street, up until Thursday was one of the most luxurious streets in Gaza City, built by the Palestinian Authority in the late 1990s.

Rather than flowers, glittering glass and stone a walk through Tel Al-Hawa two days after the Israeli invasion into the area, burnt cars with burned bodies, half demolished apartment towers and torn up roads are what greet passersby. The hospital is where most residents call home now.

Ma’an visited the destroyed neighborhood, and asked about the burned car at the main street’s entrance. A former … Continue reading

From Ma’an News Agency (www.maannews.net/en) January 18, 2009:

Gaza – Ma’an – A Gazan farmer is dead and his son injured by Israeli fire less than ten hours after Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire in the Gaza Strip Sunday morning, medical sources confirmed.

The farmer was identified as 24-year-old Abd As-Samad Abu Rejlieh, who was shot as he went out to his lands to inspect the damage from the 22-day Israeli incursion.

Israeli fire also hit a mother and her daughter in their home in the northern Strip town of Beit Hanoun, both were injured.

Since the ceasefire went into effect at 2am Sunday morning, one is dead and several injured. Medical crews continue to dig bodies out of Gaza rubble. … Continue reading

Three thousand demonstrators descended on Jaffa yesterday evening to protest against Israel’s war on Gaza. In one of Israel’s biggest internal protests so far, a noisy but peaceful banner-waving army marched and chanted their disapproval at Israel’s latest military adventure.

Demonstrators gathered in the Charles Clore Garden against the evening skyline of Tel Aviv, and then marched two kilometres through Jaffa to Ha-Shnayim Garden. The pre-planned route had been closed to traffic, and there was a distinct police presence (included mounted and helicopter).

The wide array of banners and flags highlighted the diverse mixture of Palestinian and Israeli organizations and individuals that … Continue reading

Around a hundred demonstrators gathered today at Jalameh (Kishon) prison near Haifa to show their solidarity with Palestinians arrested over the last few weeks in Israel. Hundreds of Palestinians who live in Israel have been singled out for arrest because they dared to take part in protests against the War on Gaza and at least 27 are being held for the durations of their trials.

Such protests have been occurring on a daily basis across ’1948 Israel’, attended by Palestinians but also by Israeli Jews who take offence at their country’s collective punishment of Gaza. However, it is the Palestinian participants who bear the brunt of the Israeli security forces’ response.

It is thought that more than 750 young Palestinians, mainly teenagers, … Continue reading

From Ma’an News Agency

Gaza – Ma’an – Everything was on fire; houses, sheds, trees.

Bombs, too, were everywhere, and with them came the white clouds. White phosphorous, the doctors are now saying, but that’s disputed in Israel.

But for sure it was a night of terror. We were terrified. We thought we were going to burn to death.

Bombs were everywhere. That’s what 27-year-old Fadia Al-Najjar kept saying. She’s from Khaza’a; she was telling us what kind of horrific night she and her family had just gone through.

While explaining what had happened, Fadia stood next to her paramedic husband Ghanem, now surrounded by other medics, desperately struggling to save his life after he was caught in an airstrike unlike he had ever … Continue reading