The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the Israeli authorities from preventing technical crews from repairing one of the major lines that carries electricity from Israel to the Gaza Strip. The line has been disrupted for 13 days which has resulted in aggravating the electricity crisis affecting the Gaza strip, and increasing the power shortage by 37.3%. The PCHR is concerned over the consequences of the continued disruption of the line, especially the increase in the duration of electricity outages and the resulting impact on daily services provided to the Palestinian population. Mr. Jamal al-Dirdissawi, Director of Public Relations in Gaza Electricity Distribution Company (GEDCO), stated to the PCHR that on 17 November 2011, one of the major lines which carry electricity from Israel to the Gaza Strip was disrupted near the northern border. According to al-Dirdissawi, this line provides 112 megawatts of electricity to the Gaza Strip. The Israeli authorities have not al...

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli army vehicles entered the Gaza Strip early Wednesday as soldiers fired from military towers by the border, witnesses said. Four bulldozers, three tanks and several other military vehicles were seen leveling farm land in the Juhor al-Dik and Maqbola neighborhoods near al-Bureij refugee camp, onlookers told Ma'an. more Fishermen detained by Israel yesterday have been released but the boats have been confiscated

At least 10 Palestinian fishermen have been kidnapped by Israeli naval forces off the coast of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials say. The incident took place near the northern shores of Gaza on Tuesday after Israeli military naval ships blocked two Palestinian fishing boats, DPA reported. The report added that the Palestinian fishermen were taken to the Israeli seaport of Ashdod. According to Palestinian sources, Israeli naval forces on Monday arrested two other fishermen while they were in the sea off the coast of al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza. more

Israel’s Defense Ministry apologized on Monday for forcing a pregnant New York Times photographer to remove her clothes and submit to a physical search after she had already passed through an X-ray machine three times at a checkpoint in Gaza last month. The photographer, Lynsey Addario, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning war photographer who was one of four Times journalists subjected to brutal treatment in March after being captured by Libyan government forces and held for six days. In a letter to the Israeli ministry last month, Ms. Addario wrote that soldiers at the Erez Crossing in northern Gaza had treated her with “blatant cruelty” when she arrived there on Oct. 24 and asked not to have to pass through the X-ray machine. Because she was seven months pregnant at the time, she had been advised by her obstetrician to avoid exposure to radiation. Ms. Addario had phoned an official at the border crossing in advance to make her request and had been assured that there would be no problem. When...

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Fatah and Hamas are in talks to release political prisoners in a bid to end all outstanding disagreements, an official said Monday. "(President Mahmoud) Abbas gave instructions to the director of the Palestinian Authority’s general intelligence service, Majid Faraj, to release Hamas-affiliated detainees stated in a list received from Hamas," Fatah affiliated lawmaker Faysal Abu Shahla told Ma'an. There are no political detainees in Ramallah, only suspects held on security-related charges, Abu Shahla added. "We submitted a list of 47 names of Fatah affiliates detained by the de facto government’s security services, and we highlighted that others were being summoned for interrogation," the Fatah official said. Hamas has submitted a list of detainees held in the West Bank and a special committee is reviewing the names. Both parties will agree soon on a date for the simultaneous release of Fatah and Hamas detainees, Abu Shahla said. Both faction...

The administration of Gaza City has requested assistance from Turkey in the construction of several mosques needed after many were destroyed or severely damaged in the 2008-2009 Gaza War, the Anatolia news agency reported Monday. According to a report released by government officials in Gaza, Anatolia noted, there is an urgent need for mosques in the city due to rapid population growth and the fact that most mosques were damaged during the Gaza War, which broke down the infrastructure of the coastal city. During the war, 34 mosques were destroyed. Another 161 were damaged and need to be renovated. The cost of such renovation projects have pushed officials in Gaza to seek outside assistance. more

When the United Nations, in 1977, proclaimed 29 November of each year as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, it was a clear admission of guilt towards this people. It was recognition that the Palestinian people deserve international solidarity and support, in the name of justice and rights. This was merely one small event in a long story. The story of Palestine and its people is one that will go down in history. In fact it has already started to do just that. One might say that the victor is the one that writes history. The victor in this case will inevitably be justice, and justice is at the core of the Palestinian struggle against apartheid, colonialism and oppression. And as in every episode in history, everyone will be mentioned according to their positions, and more importantly their deeds with respect to each story. In the day of solidarity, let us remember that. Never Before Campaign

• Fruit and vegetable imports from Israel facilitate violations of Palestinian rights and international law, European campaigners say • More than 60 actions take place across 10 countries Occupied Palestine, November 27 – A wave of demonstrations, flash mobs and lobby actions by European human rights campaigners, trade unionists, NGOs and faith groups have called for an end to the trade with Israeli agricultural export companies such as Mehadrin and Agrexco over their complicity with Israeli violations of international law and Palestinian rights. The actions, organised under the banner Take Apartheid off the Menu , timed coincide with the UN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on November 29, aimed to raise awareness about the role Israeli agricultural companies play in the theft of Palestinian land and resources in illegally occupied Palestinian territory and their exploitation of Palestinian workers. Demonstrations were held outside the British and French headquarters of le...

(Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon - image from coteret.com) The Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister told reporters Saturday that the Israeli government is considering cutting off the Gaza Strip’s meager supply of electricity and water if the Palestinian Authority manages to form a unity government. The two main Palestinian political parties, Hamas and Fateh, have been meeting in Cairo in recent weeks to try to work out a plan for a unity government until elections are held in the Palestinian Territories this spring. Israeli authorities have condemned the effort, claiming that the Hamas party is a terrorist entity, and any government including the Hamas party would be a ‘terrorist government’. In 2006, after the Hamas party won the Palestinian legislative elections and control of the Palestinian Authority, the Israeli government attempted to use the rival Fateh party to instigate a coup against the elected government. The coup failed in Gaza, but succeeded in the West Bank, whe...

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Israeli warplanes hit several targets in the Gaza Strip early on Sunday, causing material damage but no reported injuries. Ma’an’s reporter said an Israeli plane fired a missile at an open area in the Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza. No casualties have been reported. Also on Sunday, Israeli fighter jets launched two missiles at greenhouses in the Khan Younis district, southern Gaza, causing material damage. "In response to rocket fire towards Israel this weekend, the air-force targeted sites of terrorist activity in the south and the center of the Gaza strip during the night," an Israeli spokesman said. Militants in the Gaza Strip fired a projectile into the Eshkol region of southern Israel on Saturday morning causing no casualties, Israeli police said. more

3 Palestinians, including a media worker, were wounded in a peaceful demonstration in al-Nabi Saleh village, northwest of Ramallah. The Israeli Navy has continued to attack Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip. Israeli naval troops opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats in the north and the south of the Gaza Strip. IOF opened fire at bird hunters in the north of the Gaza Strip but no casualties were reported. IOF conducted 66 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and 2 limited ones into the Gaza Strip. IOF arrested at least 19 Palestinians, including 4 children. IOF raided the houses of many Palestinians who were released recently from Israeli jails, delivered them notices to appear before the Israeli intelligence and threatened some of them. Israel has continued to impose a total closure on the OPT and has isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world. Israeli soldiers arrested at least 5 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children, at a checkpoint in the...

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israel has set new restrictions on business owners in Gaza, the head of Palestinian contractors said Thursday. At a news conference in Gaza City, Osama Kahil said conditions were more difficult despite a recent meeting between businessmen from Gaza and Israeli officials. "Media reports said the meeting between businessmen from Gaza and Israel resulted in facilitating the work for the Gazan businessmen, but Israel implemented that in its own way. "Israel stopped issuing permits for businessmen, traders, and contractors to Israel and set some new restrictions that prevented them from continuing their work," Kahil said. He said Israel had permitted the import of construction materials into the Gaza Strip "to recycle the blockade." "Allowing construction materials, which are sold for a much higher price than those sent through tunnels, was done after Israeli traders pressured the government. They want to use us and keep the blockade on...

CAIRO — The long-estranged leaders of the two rival Palestinian political movements held rare talks Thursday in Cairo to try to rescue a power-sharing arrangement that has stalled over who should lead an interim unity government. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a Western-backed pragmatist, and Khaled Mashaal, chief of the Islamic militant Hamas, held their first working meeting since Hamas seized the Gaza Strip in 2007, leaving Abbas with only the West Bank. Abbas hopes to establish an independent state in both territories. In May, the two reached an agreement in principle that called for setting up an interim unity government, holding parliamentary and presidential elections within a year and merging rival security forces. However, talks on carrying out the agreement quickly deadlocked over who should serve as interim prime minister, with Hamas rejecting Abbas’ candidate, West Bank-based Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas official, said all elements of the power...

DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- The second batch of Palestinian prisoners to be released from Israeli occupation jails according to the prisoners exchange deal would be set free within three weeks, Sheikh Saleh Al-Aruri, political bureau member of Hamas, said on Wednesday. He told Al-Resalah net website that the Israelis had categorically turned down an Egyptian request to re-open negotiations over the second batch. He said that the Israelis were obstinate and said that the file was closed and no talks would be held over improving the standards by which the second batch of prisoners would be freed. Aruri noted that the second batch of 550 prisoners would be chosen by Israel but would not include anyone imprisoned on criminal charges. more

Dozens of academics and parliamentarians from over 40 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, and North and South America, along with revolutionary representatives from Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, have come together to affirm their opposition to and condemnation of the continuing siege of the Gaza Strip. The announcement came in the context of condemnation of siege tactics being used against any group of people, but with particular emphasis on the siege against Palestinian civilians. It was made at a conference in Gaza City on Tuesday; several members of the Palestinian Legislative Council were in attendance. During the proceedings, the European delegation called on governments and human rights organisations across the world to utilise all peaceful means at their disposal to force Israel to end its siege of Gaza. It emphasised the need to put an end to the ban on imports and exports of materials relevant to the healthcare industry, as well as industrial, commercial and construction materi...

GAZA, Nov 22 (KUNA) -- Israeli artillery and bulldozers surrounded the eastern part of the city of Rafah, south of Gaza Strip, on Tuesday. Five Merkava Israeli tanks were scene accompanied by military bulldozers entering 300 meters inside Al-Nahda area east of Rafah, Palestinian sources told KUNA. The sources added that Israeli forces were heavily firing on Palestinian houses amid during the incursion along with recon warplanes hovering over. On a different front, an Israeli recon plane fired at a training center which belonged to Salah Eddin Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Popular Committees. more

(pic: Construction materials are in short supply in the Gaza Strip after Israel banned them for four years, fearing Hamas would use them to build military bunkers (Lo Yuk Fai, PNN) On Tuesday, Israeli forces opened the Karem Abu Salem crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, admitting nearly 300 trucks loaded with aid and supplies for the industrial, agricultural, and transportation sectors. Palestinian liaison official Ra’ed Fattouh said that 12 trucks loaded with cement and other construction materials, as well as another 53 trucks full of gravel entered Gaza through the crossing. He said a limited amount of cooking gas would be pumped in as well. The crossing was open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m, in which 298 trucks were admitted to Gaza: 11 of them carried aid supplies, 183 were designated for the industrial sector, 40 of them carried livestock feed, nine were designated for the agricultural sector, and five for transportation carrying 20 new vehicles. Twenty-two trucks loaded with gravel p...

A solidarity convoy made it into the Gaza Strip, on Monday evening, through the Rafah Border Terminal, between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Members of the "Freedom Spring" convoy will be holding meetings with political and social figures in Gaza. Representatives of Arab Spring movement are part of the convoy; convoy members plan to hold a meeting with Ismail Haniyya, Prime Minister of the dissolved Hamas-led government in Gaza, and several Palestinian officials, in addition to holding meetings with Gaza businessmen, representatives of women movements, and representatives of local NGO’s. The visiting convoy members will be touring refugee camps in Gaza, to observe the dire situation, and also intend to visit the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East). The convoy is distinguished by the participation of representatives of the Arab Spring, sweeping across the Arab world demanding justice and change, in addition to parliamentarians fro...

From Mondoweiss Palestine solidarity activists and human rights lawyers are decrying a Congressional bill that would investigate whether organizations involved in last summer's thwarted flotilla to Gaza should be designated as "terrorist" groups. Critics of the House of Representatives bill see it as the latest in a decades-long effort to intimidate Palestine solidarity activists in the United States. Introduced to the House on October 6, the bill seeks to: direct the Secretary of State to submit a report on whether any support organization that participated in the planning or execution of the recent Gaza flotilla attempt should be designated as a foreign terrorist organization The legislation also demands that the State Department, in the same document, report on Any actions taken by the Department of State to express support and gratitude for the principled stance taken by the Government of Greece to prevent the recent Gaza flotilla attempt to violate Israel’s lawful bl...

The latest Miles of Smiles convoy to Gaza has donated $60,000 to the field hospital established by Jordan in the aftermath of the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip in 2009. According to the coordinator of the convoy Miles of Smiles 7, participant NGOs donated the money to the hospital to purchase much-needed medical equipment. Dr. Essam Mustafa pointed out that Miles of Smiles 6 had donated an electrical generator to the hospital two months earlier valued at $40,000. Speaking to the media, Dr. Mustafa hailed the efforts of the King of Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in supporting the Palestinian people. He pointed out that the aid convoys organised by the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization (JHCO) played an important role in easing the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. more