At the end of the United States’ Black History Month, one week after the 47th anniversary of Malcolm X’s assassination in New York’s Audubon Ballroom, and another week shy of my first year in Gaza, I attended a talk on X at Gaza’s Centre for Political and Development Studies (CPDS) Tuesday. My friend Yousef Aljamal, a translator at CPDS, coordinated the event. “We are being subjugated to occupation and racism,” he told me when I asked him why. “I see Malcolm X as a role model. He fought against racism, just as Palestinians are doing today.” CPDS’s lecture hall held a larger crowd than it has during any other event I have attended there. The speaker, Refaat R. Alareer, is a popular teacher of English at the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG). Joining CPDS regulars, dozens of his students had turned out for another opportunity to hear him. “I don’t claim to be a Malcolm X specialist,” Alareer said. “I’m only a fan.” His interest in X, he said, began twelve years ago. “I was teaching a cour...

The Israeli military targeted on Wednesday Watan TV, a local Palestinian television station broadcasting from the central West Bank city of Ramallah. “Around 2 am a large military force surrounded the station building and stormed our offices; at first we thought they are coming to conduct arrests at the nearby Al Amariy refugee camp.” Hamza al Salaymah, Watan TV reporter, told IMEMC. The army detained al Salaymah along with Production manager, Abed Al Rahman Al Daher, Graphics designer Ibrajem Milhim, Cameraman Ahamd Zaki and the night gourd Saleh Baker. The four men were detained until the army left the area. “They took our broadcast equipment, computers, and financial statements and documents; they forced us to go off-air” al Salaymah added. Watan TV is a local media company that has an online news service and offer press conferences services in Ramallah a city that is under total Palestinian Authority control. The station went on-air 15 years ago.This is the second time the TV is at...

Controversial footage which purports to show the death of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy in Gaza 11 years ago is to be examined again by the French courts. The highest French appeal court yesterday ordered a retrial of allegations that a French television crew staged the apparent shooting by Israeli troops of Mohammed al-Dura as he sheltered in his father's arms in September 2000. Philippe Kersanty, founder of media watchdog Media Ratings, was convicted of libel by a French court in 2006 after he accused France 2 of faking footage which had shocked television audiences all over the world. An appeal court overturned this verdict in 2008, arguing that Mr Kersanty had a right to express his opinion. The Cour de Cassation, the highest French court, rejected this ruling yesterday and ordered the lower court to hear the case again. The ruling was hailed as a victory by France 2 and its veteran correspondent in Israel, Charles Enderlin, who insist the report was accurate. more

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Gaza's only power plant has been forced to shut down for the second time in two weeks due to a fuel shortage, the energy authority in the Gaza Strip said Tuesday. Energy officials appealed to Egypt to provide Gaza with a sufficient amount of fuel to allow regular operation of the plant, adding that the disruptions were inflicting a heavy toll on the 1.7 million Palestinian residents of the blockaded strip. The power station had only re-started operations eight days ago, reactivating one of four generators when emergency fuel supplies arrived from Egypt. A crisis in fuel supplies shut the plant on Feb. 14, plunging Gaza into up to 18 hour blackouts per day. more

EL-ARISH (Ma’an) -- Egyptian security forces on Tuesday thwarted an attempt to smuggle large quantities of diesel fuel into the Gaza Strip via underground tunnels, Ma'an's correspondent said. Egyptian military and police forces stopped four trucks containing more than 7,000 liters of diesel fuel bound for the Gaza Strip. Four Egyptian smugglers were arrested and are being questioned. Egypt wants to stop the use of underground tunnels for delivery of Egyptian fuel purchased by Palestinian authorities, and has severely reduced supply through the tunnel network, prompting an energy crisis in the coastal enclave. Egyptian and Gazan officials reached a deal last week which includes longer-term measures to increase the capacity of Gaza's sole power plant and link Gaza's electricity grid to Egyptian infrastructure. On Sunday, as part of the first stage of the agreement, Egypt increased its power supply to the Gaza Strip from 17 to 22 megawatts. more

DaitoCrea, Japanese agent of the Israeli cosmetics firm, AHAVA, announced on their Webpage that it has ended all sales of AHAVA products for what it attributed to “financial reasons”. Boycott movement said that decision is the outcome of direct action and protests. The company stopped all AHAVA sales starting on January 31, 2012. The victory was that of the persistent efforts of a 2-year campaign conducted by the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) that calls for boycotting all Israeli products made in Israel’s illegal settlements in occupied Palestine. The Forum added that its activists informed the firm, by direct action and advocacy, of the illegality of AHAVA goods and the suffering it inflicts on the Palestinian people. An Executive at the DaitoCrea told the Palestine-Forum campaign that the company had no idea about the background of AHAVA when they started dealing with them, and had no idea about the location where AHAVA products are made. AHAVA – Israel products are made in...

Claims that Israel has already destroyed a large part of Iran's nuke programme and that the EU is orchestrating the 'bomb Iran' campaign to divert attention from the euro crisis seems unlikely. However, the idea that the real priority for Israel is 'massive attacks' on Hamas in Gaza and 'strikes' on Hezbollah in Lebanon, is much more realistic. On 11/7/11 7:54 AM, Benjamin Preisler wrote: Code: IL701 Publication: for background Attribution: none Source Description - Confirmed Israeli Intelligence Agent Source reliability: Still testing Item credibility: untested Source handler: Fred Source was asked what he thought of reports that the Israelis were preparing a military offensive against Iran. Response: I think this is a diversion. The Israelis already destroyed all the Iranian nuclear infrastructure on the ground weeks ago. The current "let's bomb Iran" campaign was ordered by the EU leaders to divert the public attention from their at home fin...

...The report also notes that last year's attack on the Israeli Embassy in Cairo demonstrates that the Egyptian "street" has succeeded in forcing its opinions on the military leadership. "[Egypt's] Supreme Military Council is aware of the benefits of the peace agreement, but even there, there are some elements that are dissatisfied with parts of the agreement," the report says. One of the first things the new Egyptian government will do after it takes office will be to change the security appendix to the peace agreement to allow Egypt to increase its military presence in the Sinai Peninsula, it says. The change of government in Egypt is also expected to limit Israel's freedom of movement in Gaza. "Incidents deemed provocative, such as a military operation in Gaza or in the Sinai, will likely lead to a tougher, sharper response than in the past," the report says. more

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel on Sunday of trying to erase any Arabic identity from Jerusalem, drawing a strong response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Abbas, speaking at a conference in Qatar, said that for the past few years Israel has been waging a "final battle" aimed at erasing the Arab, Muslim and Christian character of East Jerusalem, which Israel captured from Jordan during the 1967 Middle East war. Abbas said that through settlement building in the West Bank and Jerusalem, Israel is carrying out an "ethnic cleansing, in every sense against the Palestinian residents in order to turn them into minorities in their own city." more

Detained young woman Hana’a Shalabi has entered her tenth day of hunger strike protesting her administrative detention despite being released late last year in the prisoners’ exchange deal between Hamas and Israel. Attallah Abulsabh, the minister of prisoners in the Haneyya government, said that Hana’a, 28, is the first freed captive to be re-arrested and sentenced. The minister said that Hana’a is following the path of Khader Adnan who went on hunger strike for 66 days before the Israeli occupation authority finally submitted and agreed to end his administrative detention. He said that the health condition of Hana’a was deteriorating and that the Israeli Hasharon prison administration had moved her to solitary confinement and threatened to transfer her to the ward of Jewish homicide convicts in Ramle jail if she continued in her hunger strike. Abulsabh asked the Egyptian intelligence chief Murad Muwafi to personally intervene to put an end to Israel’s re-arrest of freed prisoners in t...

GAZA, (Alresalah.ps)-- A European aid convoy has arrived in Gaza Strip on Sunday through the Rafah border crossing. Organizers of the convoy said that the 75 members of the convoy from Holland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Austria, Denmark, Britain, and France have started to arrive in Cairo as of Friday. They said that the European coordination of Palestinian humanitarian assistance was the one organizing the convoy, which is also co-organized by charitable societies in Europe. The convoy aims at alleviating the suffering of the Gaza people who have been under siege for six years. more

(Clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian civilians in Nabi Saleh village, northwest of Ramallah) Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) IOF have continued bombardments and shootings in the Gaza Strip. IOF implemented 5 airstrikes and fired 9 missiles. 14 civilians, including 2 women and 3 children, sustained bruises and wounds by glass shrapnel. A metal workshop was destroyed and several houses and civilian establishments were damaged. IOF have continued to use force against peaceful protests in the West Bank. 7 protesters, including an Israeli peace activist, were wounded. 5 of the wounded were participating in Kafr Qaddoum protest and 2 of them were participating in al-Nabi Saleh protest. IOF have used force against protests in support of Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan. 4 protesters were wounded in front of 'Ofer prison, southwest of Ramallah. IOF conducted 74 ...

GAZA, Feb 25 (KUNA) -- The popular committees of the Palestinian refugees in camps in Gaza Strip said Saturday they would stage wide-scale sit-ins in protest of UNRWA's decision to reduce services. The committees said in different statements the sit-ins would be held in front of the food supply centers of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in six out of eight refugee camps in Gaza. The sit-ins are in protest of UNRWA's "arbitrary policy aims at stopping financial and material aid to many of our refugee (Palestinian) people here in camps in Palestine and there in camps in diaspora." The committees called on all Palestinians in Gaza to participate in the sit-ins, to remind UNRWA of its commitment to help the Palestinians who were forced out of their homes and lands by Israel in 1948. During the sit-ins, the protesters will call for "no starvation policy," "no humiliation" and "give us our rights and re...

(US AID funded settler road. Photo: Innovative Minds) The Israeli military is pushing legislation allowing settlers to bypass the state’s convoluted building permit system in the occupied West Bank. The new law would allow settlers to create unpaved roads without a permit. If the law passes, these settlers would be the only Israeli citizens able to build roads in this manner. Currently, only the military is able to build roads without a permit. Under the proposed legislation, Israeli-only roads in the West Bank will begin to take on a different function. This network of roadways currently exists to speed travel between the settlements and create physical barriers between Palestinian villages. The new law would treat roads as something similar to the caravans in illegal settler outposts - a means of pushing Palestinians off their land. The Civil Administration confirms the land grabbing function of the bill, stating: "the request did not deal with the paving of roads for vehicular ...

The Air Force bombed several targets in the Gaza Strip after three Qassam rockets were fired at Israel Saturday, Palestinian sources told Ynet early Sunday. According to other reports, Hamas security officials decided to evacuate all headquarters in the Strip for fear of further Israeli strikes. According to Gaza sources, IDF aircraft bombed an open area west of Rafah, just hundreds of meters away from the Egyptian border, around midnight. Rescue services in the Strip reported no injuries in the strike but said several structures in the area were damaged. A short time later, the Palestinians reported that the Air Force struck a tunnel in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported in the second attack but the tunnel was damaged. The IDF confirmed the strikes and added that the army targeted a weapons factory and a terrorists' smuggling tunnel. more

The video shows a cuffed and blindfolded Palestinian youth who was kidnapped during the weekly nonviolent protest against the illegal Israeli Annexation Wall and Settlements. These protests are organized by the local residents, along with Israel and International peace activists. The cuffed Palestinian is seen on the ground while the soldiers are just moving him around, dragging his feet sometimes, and placing him in a sitting position against a wall next to another blindfolded and cuffed Palestinian. It also shows the one of the soldiers standing next to him with his foot raised close to the head of the youth, posing as if he is going to crush his head while filming the abuse using what seems to be his mobile phone. There have been several incidents where soldiers filmed themselves abusing detained Palestinians at roadblocks, and in other areas in the occupied territories. more

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Gaza Strip has not received enough fuel to resume normal electricity levels, a Gaza energy official told Ma'an on Saturday. Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nunu said on Thursday that the Gaza government had reached a deal with Egyptian authorities to end the electricity crisis that closed Gaza's sole power plant last week, plunging Gaza into up to 18 hour blackouts per day. But Gaza energy authority director Ahmad Abu al-Amreen said there has been no change in the situation and the authority is still using the same limited pool of fuel. Egypt says it has delivered emergency fuel to Gaza amid the crisis, but the promised deal did not appear to solve the problem of regular supplies. The deal as described by al-Nunu includes longer-term measures to increase the capacity of the power plant and link Gaza's electricity grid to Egyptian infrastructure. The shorter-term requirement is the delivery of fuel into Gaza, but a disagreement on the route of the fuel ...

CAIRO — The Hamas prime minister of Gaza on Friday expressed support for Syrian protesters seeking to overthrow President Bashar Assad, the first time a senior Hamas leader has publicly rebuked the group’s longtime patron. Ismail Haniyeh said after Friday prayers at Egypt’s Al-Azhar Mosque that Hamas commends “the brave Syrian people that are moving toward democracy. Assad has long hosted and supported leaders of the Islamic militant movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, but the group has significantly reduced the presence of its exiled leaders in Syria since the start of the 11-month-old uprising against the Syrian regime. Some of the top Hamas leaders are now spending most of their time in Qatar, Egypt and Lebanon, as the group tries to distance itself from Assad’s brutal crackdown on opponents. The United States, which considers Hamas a terrorist organization, viewed Haniyeh’s remarks on Syria positively. “It just speaks to how isolated Assad is,” State Department spokesman Mark Ton...

Yesterday the Red Cross provided emergency supplies to Gaza's ministry of health. Geneva/Jerusalem (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) today supplied the Ministry of Health in Gaza with 150,000 litres of diesel. The fuel will help 13 public hospitals maintain essential health services for the next 10 days. "The lack of fuel restricts the functioning of vital public services, especially hospitals," said Irfan Sulejmani, the head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Gaza. "Without these emergency supplies, the treatment of thousands of patients could be interrupted and lives endangered." In the past few years, Gaza has faced continuous shortages of electricity. The situation worsened when the only power station in the Strip was shut down last week. more

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli warplanes fired on a Gaza City neighborhood early Friday, lightly injuring two Palestinian fighters. The airstrike on the Zeitoun neighborhood injured two militants who were evacuated to hospital, emergency services' spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya said. Their identities and affiliations were not immediately identified. An Israeli army statement said the warplanes hit "two terror activity sites in the northern Gaza Strip in response to the rockets fired at Israel." Three rockets fired from Gaza landed in southern Israel on Thursday evening, and two projectiles early Friday, without causing injuries of damage. The armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees said in a statement on Friday it had launched projectiles at southern Israel early on Friday. more

Two Palestinian teens who spent three months in jail on suspicion of throwing a firebomb were released this week because the border policemen who incriminated them turned out to have submitted false reports. The bomb was allegedly thrown at a Jerusalem checkpoint on October 21. But according to Border Police records, there were no firebombings on October 21, and an officer who testified that he had witnessed the incident was not at the checkpoint that day, either. The border policemen who gave the testimony were apparently "helped" by investigators, who supplied them with information from the teens' confession to serve as the basis for their report. Nevertheless, the charges against the teens have not yet been dropped. more

On Wednesday 22nd February, the Israeli prisons' administration transferred approximately 120 prisoners from Negev Desert Prison to an unknown location. In a press statement issued by the prisoners publicized by the Palestinian Prisoners' Society, they said that 120 prisoners were transferred without allowing them to take their belongings after two special Forces "al-Mutsada" and "Doour" broke into the prison with weapons and dogs. The prisoners said that "there were no justifications for the prisons' administration, there was an enormous "number of soldiers for each prisoner; four members of the police accompanied each individual. The prisons' administration intended to humiliate them and suppress them without reason." They also said that the prisons' administration informed the prisoners that it would cancel all previous agreements with them, and that it would escalate the procedures against them. President of the Prisoner Societ...

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- The president of Gaza's bakery owners association said Wednesday that bakeries in the coastal enclave are suffering from a lack of fuel. Abdul Nasser al-Arjami told Ma'an that many bakeries will have to close down in the next few days due to the current fuel crisis. The Gazan ministry of economy provided enough fuel to bakeries to last for five days, al-Arjami said, with establishments now purchasing fuel on the black market. more

Ismail Haniyya, head of the Hamas-led Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip, stated that the electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip will be resolved soon, and that certain mechanisms to resolve the issue will be implemented soon, in direct agreement and cooperation with Egypt. Haniyya also phoned the head of the Islamic Development Bank, discussed a number of main issues, and agreed on some of them, including means to resolve the Power crisis in Gaza. Furthermore, Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Energy, Hasan Younis, stated Tuesday that Egypt will be providing Gaza nearly 22 megawatts by the beginning of next week, the Middle East News Agency reported. more

Photo Courtesy of Carlos Latuff, 2012 *At approximately 7:50 PM local time, it was confirmed by Ran Cohen, Executive Director of Physicans for Human Rights-Israel, that Khader Adnan has ended his hunger strike. Khader Adnan’s hearing at the Israeli High Court was cancelled today, 21 February 2012, only minutes before the hearing was to take place. On Khader’s 66th day of hunger strike in protest of his administrative detention and inhuman and degrading treatment by the Israeli authorities, one of Khader’s lawyers negotiated a deal with the Israeli military prosecutor that Khader will be released on 17 April instead of 8 May and that his administrative detention order will not be renewed. Addameer lawyer Samer Sam’an is actively working to gain permission to visit Khader to confirm whether or not he will continue with his hunger strike. more

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority minister of prisoners affairs said Tuesday that Israel intends to release hunger striking prisoner Khader Adnan after he completes his current administrative detention term. In return, Adnan agreed to end his strike, according to Issa Qaraqe, the prisoners minister. The term will end April 17, he said. Adnan has not confirmed he intends to end the hunger strike, but prisoners rights group Addameer said one of Adnan's lawyers negotiated a deal with the Israeli military prosecutor freeing him on April 17 instead of in May. He also received guarantees the term will not be extended, the group said. more

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A limited delivery of fuel arrived in the Gaza Strip on Monday, brought in through underground tunnels from Egypt, as the energy authority director said he expects a long term solution to the widespread blackouts to be agreed with Egypt this week. The fuel has allowed the power authority to reactivate one of the four generators at Gaza's sole power plant, the authority said in a statement. The arrival of 300,000 liters of fuel is expected to provide Gaza's 1.7 million residents with an additional two hours of electricity per day. Since the plant shut down last Tuesday, as deliveries were severely reduced from Egypt, Gaza has had only six hours of power each day. Egypt had earlier pledged a much larger shipment. An Egyptian MP said Saturday that Egypt would begin pumping 500,000 liters of fuel into Gaza per day for the power plant and 100,000 for gas stations starting Sunday. But Egypt wants to stop the use of underground tunnels for delivery of Egyptian...

by Yousef Munayyer This post first appeared on the Palestine Center blog Permission to Narrate ( Mondoweiss ): If a rocket from Gaza falls in the middle of the desert, does it make a sound? It does if you are on Twitter. Regular updates on just about every projectile fired from Gaza is reported by the Israeli military's official twitter account @IDFSpokesperson as well as from the accounts of other Israeli military figures like that of spokesperson @AvitalLeibovich. But what about projectiles fired by Israel into Gaza? You'd think that since this is actual Israeli military activity the spokespeople from the Israeli military would provide this information. I often ask the @IDFspokesperson and @AvitalLeibovich to provide this information to allow for a clearer, more accurate picture of the cross border dynamics of violence. One such occasion was on last Friday - you can see the convo on Twitter below: She clearly dodges the question and finally refers me to their blog afte...

Khader Adnan's current hunger strike, presumably to the death, is more than a little reminiscent of the IRA hunger strikes of 1981. As, no doubt, the Israeli occupation of Palestine is more than a little reminiscent of the British occupation of Ireland, most particularly during the Troubles. Lyric: Khader Adnan, Bobby Sands Khader Adnan grew up near Jenin City You could say he was a product of his time Ever since he was a kid he'd get arrested Though he was never charged with any crime Spending half his life in prison A life lived like so many of his friends Arbitrary and indefinite detention Never knowing if your jail time would end Khader Adnan was arrested last December Again he wasn't told the reason why He was shackled, he was beaten, he was tortured There beneath the Middle Eastern sky Perhaps there was a moment when he realized That right then, with his body, he'd say no But from then on he refused to eat another meal Like in Belfast not many years ago Khader Adn...

CAIRO — Oman Charitable Organisation (OCO) in co-ordination with the Sultanate’s Embassy in Egypt sent a shipment of medical aid to Gaza Strip within the framework of the Sultanate’s efforts to lessen the blockade on Palestinian brothers in the enclave. The Egyptian authorities offered all facilities to send the shipment to Gaza Strip through Rafah crossing point in collaboration with Egyptian Red Crescent. The shipment was handed on to the Ministry of Health which will distribute it to different hospitals. Shaikh Khalifa bin al Harthy, Sultanate’s Ambassador to Egypt and its permanent representative to the Arab League, said in a statement that the medical aid to our brothers in Gaza Strip comes within the framework of the Sultanate’s policy to support Palestinian case and to help the Palestinian brothers who suffer unbearable conditions under the Israeli occupation. more

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Fuel from Egypt has yet to be transferred to Gaza despite assurances it would arrive on Sunday to alleviate an energy crisis, a power authority official said Sunday afternoon. Gaza's sole power station has stopped functioning since Tuesday, leaving the Gaza Strip with up to 18 hour blackouts each day. An Egyptian parliamentarian said Saturday said Egypt would pump 500,000 liters of fuel into Gaza per day for the power plant and 100,000 for gas stations. But the route of the promised fuel into the Gaza Strip appeared to be holding up the delivery. Egypt wants to stop the passage of fuel through tunnels under the border between the countries, but the official Rafah terminal is not equipped for goods transfers and its development is restricted by an agreement between Egypt, Israel and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. The only alternative route while this agreement is being renegotiated is for the fuel to cross into Israel, and then back into the Gaza...

Senior officer in the Southern Command says "ongoing attacks – by rockets and along the border – are cumulatively more than enough to justify immediate action”. Calls are mounting within the IDF’s Southern Command to launch a large-scale offensive against Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip in the face of continued rocket attacks over the weekend. On Saturday night, the Israel Air Force bombed a number of targets in the Strip in response to the firing of a number of Grad-model Katyusha rockets into Israel. One landed in Beersheba on Saturday. In another attack, an RPG was fired at an IDF patrol along the border with Gaza. “There is no need to wait for a provocation to launch an offensive against terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza Strip,” a senior officer in the Southern Command explained. “The ongoing attacks – by rockets and along the border – are cumulatively more than enough to justify immediate action.” more

From Mondoweiss If there’s one thing the Palestine solidarity movement and Israel lobbyists can agree on, it’s this: American college campuses remain a potent battleground when it comes to the politics of Israel/Palestine. One group, the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), certainly recognizes this. And one way to advocate for Palestine on campus is to get professors on board the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. Five professors recently back in the U.S. after a USACBI delegation to Palestine have taken that leap, releasing a statement ( published on the Electronic Intifada in full ) that describes what they saw in Palestine and that calls on their academic colleagues to join the BDS movement. Mondoweiss caught up with one of the professors on the delegation, UCLA’s Dr. Robin D.G. Kelley, and discussed BDS, the delegation, Kelley’s new project, black Zionism and much more. Kelley is the author of eight books including Hammer and Hoe: ...

Dozens of Palestinian residents foiled, on Sunday morning, an attempt by dozens of fundamentalist Israeli settlers to break into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem. Local sources reported that the settlers gathered near the Al-Magharba Bridge, that leads to the Al-Magharba Gate, west of the Al-Aqsa mosque, while dozens of Israeli policemen were deployed in the area. The police allowed the settlers through and prevented all Palestinians, aged 45 of under, from entering the area while on their way to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque, an issue that led to clashes between the Palestinians, and the Israeli soldiers and settlers. Initial Israeli reports stated that three soldiers were mildly wounded. The Al-Quds Media Center reported that some extremist settler groups, including extremist members of the “Trustees of the Temple”, called on their followers to break into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order “to affirm the Jewish control and sovereignty on the mosque” a first step towards “rebuildin...

"What we are witnessing now with the fuel crisis in Gaza proves that the tunnels are not a sustainable solution to the blockade. The government of Israel's near ban on fuel for private sale has only worsened this crisis and made everyday people less able to cope. If we want to solve the electricity crisis once and for all we need a full and consistent opening of all of Gaza's crossings in accordance with international law," said Catherine Essoyan, Regional Director of Oxfam .... ...The Ministry of Health in Gaza warned on 15 February that the health situation was reaching catastrophic proportions in hospitals, where fuel to run generators was running out. Reportedly 72% of emergency fuel stocks for all of Gaza's hospitals had already run out. More than 400 kidney dialysis patients were mentioned as the most at risk right now, given that their treatment requires machines that need to run on electricity for long hours. The water and sanitation front is also facing w...

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Israeli warplanes fired at the northern Gaza Strip overnight Saturday, leaving four people injured. The raids hit a blacksmith workshop in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City late Saturday, causing extensive damage and wounding one man. Early Sunday, a home in the city's Tuffah neighborhood was hit by a missile, injuring three people. The victims were taken to Shifa hospital in the city for treatment. Eyewitnesses say Israeli fighter jets continued to hover over the Gaza Strip after the raid. more

Video: Sinn Féin activists join with members of Belfast Friends of Palestine outside Belfast City Hall to support Palestinian Hunger Striker Khader Adnan as he enters his 63rd day on Hunger Strike. By Ali Abunimah Dear Ms. Ashton, Forty-eight hours after my colleague David Cronin first requested it, your spokespersons found the time to issue a statement on the plight of Khader Adnan, who could die at any moment, shackled to his bed, now in his 62nd day of hunger strike against his arbitrary detention by Israel. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Carter Center, and numerous civil society groups all over the world have called for Israel to immediately release or charge Mr. Adnan, as well as the more than 300 other “administrative detainees” including 21 elected members of the Palestinian legislative council currently being held by Israel. But you didn’t do that. Instead, you washed your hands of Khader Adnan, and to the extent that Khader Adnan has become a symbol of Palestin...

On February 14, 2012, in the small village of Twael of the Aqraba district, southeast of Nablus in the Jordan Valley, the home of the Bunni Jaber family was destroyed by an Israeli backhoe protected by 20 soldiers in four military vehicles. Two men from the family were arrested – Ayman Bunni Jaber, aged 36, and Rafie Bunni Jaber, aged 30. The family’s tractor was also confiscated by the Israeli authorities. The Bunni Jaber house was located along the green, rocky hills that dominate the landscape here, built from cloth, plastic sheeting, wire mesh, stones, and dirt. There are four children in the Bunni Jaber family, ranging from toddlers to adolescents. The family are herders, with flocks of sheep and goat, and the arbitrary confiscation of their tractor presents a serious challenge for the family’s livelihood. more

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces carried out a small-scale incursion into northern Gaza Strip on Friday evening and bombed a residential area east of Al-Bureij camp without any reported injuries. Local sources told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that Israeli tanks and bulldozers advanced hundreds of meters north of Beit Lahia amid intensive gunfire and embarked on bulldozing the area. A group of civilian passengers also survived miraculously on the same day when two Israeli artillery shells fell close to their car in a residential area east of Al-Bureij camp in central Gaza. more

GAZA CITY: Egypt has promised to provide diesel fuel for the Gaza Strip's sole power plant, which went down this week after running out of fuel, a Gaza official said on Saturday. "Following our contacts with Egyptian officials, there have been serious promises to furnish us fuel from tomorrow (Sunday)," said Ahmad Abu al-Amrin, from the Gaza energy authority. The power plant, which supplies around a third of Gaza's electricity, suffers frequent outages, leading to daily blackouts across the Hamas-run territory. When the power plant went down on Tuesday, Amrin said he had called on Egypt "to assume its historical responsibility in supporting the resistance of the Palestinian people by ensuring they had all the necessary fuel to operate the plant." more

Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported that two residents were wounded, on Saturday evening, when the Israeli Air Force bombarded a blacksmith workshop in Az-Zeitoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City. Eyewitnesses said that the Air Force fired two missiles into the workshop that belong to Ashour family; the blacksmith workshop is part of the home of the family an issue that led to the injury of two family members, their injuries were described as mild-to-moderate. Several hours later, the Israeli Air Force bombarded an area east of Gaza City leading to excessive damage but no injuries. more

Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City held a rally on Friday in solidarity with an Islamic Jihad member, detained without trial by Israel, on the 62th day of a hunger strike. "We stand by the heroic symbol of prisoners, brother Khader Adnan, in his unlimited hunger strike," head of the Hamas government in Gaza Ismail Haniya, just back from a tour of Gulf countries via Egypt, told reporters ahead of the event. Palestinian officials say Adnan's two-month hunger strike is the longest period a Palestinian detainee or prisoner has ever gone without food. The procession, attended by all Palestinian movements, began at the Al-Omari mosque after Friday prayers and ended at the headquarters of the Red Cross. "In his hunger strike, Khader Adnan is not fighting for a personal cause, but for the defence of thousands of prisoners," a Gaza leader of Islamic Jihad, Nafez Azzam said in a speech. This Friday's weekly demonstration in the West Bank village of Bilin, marking ...

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Minister of Prisoners Affairs Issa Qaraqe said Friday he will take the case of hunger-striking prisoner Khader Adnan to the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, as officials said the president was pushing foreign diplomats to step in to save the prisoner. Qaraqe said he will brief Richard Falk on Adnan's condition in Jordan on Sunday, after the Islamic Jihad leader's administrative detention order was upheld by an Israeli military court on Monday. Adnan has refused food for over 60 days in the longest-ever hunger strike by a Palestinian prisoner. more Thousands have rallied in Gaza and the West Bank demanding Adnan's release. See Reuters report here

(Ya'qoub Al-Hotary - shbabq.com) Journalist Ya'qoub Al-Hotary was released, on Friday, from an Israeli detention facility after spending eight years in different Israeli detention centers for his journalistic and political activities. The Maan News Agency reported that Al-Hotary worked as the Sound Engineer at the Qalqilia TV, in Qalqilia, in the northern part of the West Bank. The charges against him were never clear, but included his political affiliation with the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). more

By Annie Robbins at Mondoweiss As a resident of the Bay Area I was looking forward to attending the opening at Mocha. The free exhibit, co-sponsored by nearly twenty local organizations, featured special activities for children and families, including a cartooning workshop and poetry readings, and was sure to be attended at full capacity. Meca's frequent events, as well as raising funds for the Maia project, Plant-a-Tree in Palestine, and Playgrounds (to name a few) are always an opportunity for our local Palestinian solidarity activist community to unite and greet friends. I had already made plans with a couple of friends to commute. The news Mocha was under pressure to close the show right before the opening startled the community to the core and we rallied with letters to the museum expressing our support for the show. Then, as fast as you can say 'censored' we found out the exhibit was off...it was as if a lead hammer had descended and slammed the door shut once again...

(pic: Violin teacher Elena Radwan playing with a student at Gaza Music School) (CNN) -- Elena Lidawi is preparing her piano students to take part in a national competition. Lidawi's students will not perform in front of the judges in person, but by video conferencing. Lidawi teaches at Gaza Music School and the Palestinian national competition they will enter in March and April is only 50 miles away in Jerusalem. But the children are unable to leave Gaza because of travel restrictions imposed by Israel and Hamas, which governs Gaza. Israel imposed an economic blockade of Gaza when Hamas took over in 2007, to stop what it says is the transit of weaponry to be used by militants in attacks on Israel. Movement of people is severely limited. This is one of many logistical problems faced by staff and students at Gaza Music School, the only music school in the 360 square kilometer strip of land controlled by Israel. The school was set up three years ago by the UK-based Qattan Foundation a...

(MaanImages/Jenny Baboun, File) By Jihan Abdalla RAMALLAH (Reuters) -- The health of a Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike for 61 days to protest against his detention, has significantly worsened, his wife said Thursday after visiting her husband in an Israeli hospital. Khader Adnan, 33, a member of Islamic Jihad, has been refusing to eat since mid-December, shortly after his arrest in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces. West Bank officials say it is the longest hunger strike staged by a Palestinian detainee and his supporters have warned of violent reprisals against Israel if he dies. "His health has drastically deteriorated from the last time I saw him," said his wife, Randa, who visited her husband on Wednesday, a week after the previous visit. "I expect the worst," she says. more