The 6th Palestine Festival of Literature (PalFest) was announced a few days ago. The Festival will take place between May 23rd and 31st, and for the first time in cities across all of historic Palestine, PalFest said in a press statement. Since PalFest's inception it has been a goal to put on a festival that bridges the lines of separation and segregation created by the Occupation by bringing together international and Palestinian authors. This year, PalFest will consist of two groups of travelling authors: one in the Occupied West Bank and within the Green Line; the other in Gaza. Over the course of the festival free public events will be held in Gaza City, Haifa, Jerusalem, Nablus and Ramallah. PalFest Founding Chair, Ahdaf Soueif says: PalFest's first visit to Gaza in 2012 highlighted for us all the significance of what this festival tries to do. PalFest's mission statement instructs us to bring "world class cultural events to communities that otherwise woul...

Women preparing food in the Zeitun Kitchen, Gaza. Photograph: Harriet Sherwood for the Guardian In a kitchen in the "martyrs' quarter" of the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, one of the toughest places in the West Bank, Islam Abu Aouda is preparing a soft dough of yoghurt, oil and flour. Soon she will fill small pockets with chopped spinach, sumac and lemon, and bake them in the oven. The mouthwatering parcels are called krass; I ate four but I wanted 14. Less than 50 miles away, Reem Daloul is also kneading dough in a makeshift kitchen in Gaza City, lit only by a small window during one of the coastal enclave's regular eight-hour power cuts. This dough is for small cigar- and horseshoe-shaped pastries, filled with za'atar, a blend of spices, or soft, salty cheese mixed with hot chilli. These two Palestinian women are divided by walls, fences and checkpoints, but connected by a love of traditional food – and the will to use this to improve their circumstances. ...

Today, 15 May, Nakba Day, Palestinians everywhere mark the 65th anniversary of their continuing expulsion and exile from their homeland. A new short film, released to mark this date, features Palestinians talking about their experiences of ongoing forced removal from their lands and homes by Israel. The film “documents a journey between the two villages and two communities, whose very existence on their land is under threat today” according to Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, which produced it. “It also demonstrates how, in the face of a single Israeli policy to forcibly displace Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line, the people are drawing on deep reserves of courage and steadfastness to remain on their land.” The 15-minute documentary, in Arabic with English subtitles, includes the voices of Bedouins in the Naqab (Negev) village al-Araqib – which has been demolished 48 times just since July 2010, and Palestinians from Susiya, a village in ...

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Clashes broke out across the West Bank on Wednesday as Palestinians marked the 65th year since the Nakba in 1948, witnesses and Israel's army said. In Hebron, protestors threw a Molotov cocktail at an Israeli military jeep, causing it to flip over and set alight. Four soldiers were wounded in the incident and taken to hospital, a military spokeswoman said. In Qalandiya, Israeli forces fired tear gas at protesters demonstrating to mark Nakba Day, locals said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said over 50 Palestinians hurled rocks at Israeli soldiers, who responded with "riot dispersal means." Over 150 people gathered in Beitunia to mark Nakba Day, locals said. Israel's army said it used riot dispersal means against protesters hurling rocks. more

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Clashes broke out on Wednesday around the Al-Aqsa mosque compound as Israeli rightists tried to enter the holy site. Dozens of Israeli right-wingers raided the compound through the Moroccan gate, and clashes broke out at the Bab al-Hutta gate as Israeli forces escorted rightists into the mosque area. Witnesses told Ma'an that 17 Israelis tried to enter the compound area via Chain Gate, before local Palestinians obstructed them. A group of Israeli rightists and Palestinians began pushing each other, before Israeli forces intervened to protect the Israelis, witnesses said. An Israeli organization called Temple Mount Organizations published invitations on their Facebook page encouraging Israelis to enter the Al-Aqsa compound for the religious holiday of Shavuot. more

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Thousands of people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Wednesday marked the 65th anniversary of the Nakba, an event which saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes in what is now Israel. Sirens were sounded for 65 seconds in the West Bank to mark the start of celebrations, with thousands of people gathering in Ramallah, Nablus, Qalqiliya and other West Bank cities. "The right to return does not become invalid or ineffective as time passes, because this right is the core of the Palestinian plight," PLO official Wasil Abu Yousif said while addressing crowds at Yasser Arafat's tomb. In Nablus, a minute's silence was held before demonstrators marched in the city waving black flags and Palestinian flags side by side. "After all these years of the Nakba, the Palestinian people have not achieved their goals, but they have managed to accumulate major victories, such as establishing the PLO in order to tell the Pal...

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has launched a preliminary inquiry into an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla which left nine Turkish activists dead. ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said it would establish whether there were grounds for a full investigation. The move follows a request from the Comoros islands, in which one of the vessels was registered. The boats were trying to transport aid supplies to Gaza in May 2010. The Free Gaza Flotilla, which had more than 600 pro-Palestinian activists aboard several ships, was trying to break Israel's naval blockade. The activists were killed when Israeli commandos boarded the lead flotilla vessel, Mavi Marmara. "My office will be conducting a preliminary examination in order to establish whether the criteria for opening an investigation are met," Ms Bensouda said in a statement on Tuesday. more

Paul Hansen's winning image 'Gaza Burial' A Swedish photographer who won the 2013 World Press Photo award has denied claims his image was faked with Photoshop. Paul Hansen’s picture of two Palestinian children killed in an Israeli missile strike being carried to their funeral, secured the accolade in what is one of photojournalism’s most prestigious contests. The picture, named 'Gaza Burial' was shot on November 20 and shows a group of men marching the dead bodies through a narrow street in Gaza City. The victims, a brother and sister, are wrapped in white cloth, with just their faces showing. On Monday Extremetech.com published claims by forensic image analyst Neal Krawetz, suggesting the image is a composite of three different photos, with various limbs spliced together from each of the pictures and further manipulation of the mourner’s faces. It adds: “Basically, Hansen took a series of photos – and then later, realizing that his most dramatically situ...

On May 1st many countries celebrate the achievement of workers on Labor Day weekend. In Gaza too, workers celebrated labour day in a demonstration in the centre of Gaza City. Yet, for the Palestinian fishermen there was nothing to celebrate. In the early hours of Wednesday morning on May 1st 2013, a Palestinian fisherman was seriously injured when Israeli naval vessels off the coast of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats that were within 3 nautical miles of the Gaza coast.During the attack, a piece of the engine that is used to pull in the nets, smashed into the head of 51 year old Karim Adel Al Baker from Gaza City, leaving him seriously injured. Adel Najjar Baker was transported to the hospital and then to the European Hospital in Khan Younis. We headed to the hospital to check on his condition.Adel is in the Intensive care unit. A document in the hospital room reads,“Time of admission: 5am”We spoke with Dr. Yasser AlKhaldi, head of the Intensive ...

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) – Israeli forces on Tuesday morning detained two Palestinian men from the central Gaza Strip after they tried to cross through a border fence into Israel. A Ma’an reporter said 28-year-old Mahmoud Ubeid and 15-year-old Raof Ubeid managed to pass through the fence around 8 a.m. before Israeli troops spotted them and detained them. more

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) – Several Palestinians were injured by tear gas on Tuesday during a rally marking Nakba Day, which kicked off from Bethlehem's Duheisha refugee camp. A Ma'an reporter said about 300 Palestinians marched on the main road in Duheisha camp headed towards displaced Palestinian villages south of Bethlehem. As the rally arrived in the old town of al-Khader and headed to the bypass Israeli road, Rt. 60, Israeli soldiers attacked the rally with tear-gas canisters and rubber-coated bullets. Israeli troops also detained the coordinator of a popular committee against settlements Mazin al-Azza. more

On Monday 13th May, Israeli Occupation Authorities handed the residents of al-Awja village, notices to demolish 14 houses. Local sources said that Israeli authorities have issued a decision to demolish 14 houses located in al-Najadeh neighborhood in al-Awja village in Jericho Governorate, south of the Jordan Valley, on claims they were built without a legal authorization. more

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Two Palestinian militants were seriously injured Monday afternoon at a military training site in the northern Gaza Strip, medics and activists said. Palestinian medical sources and human rights groups told Ma’an that an explosion was heard at a training site belonging to one of the resistance groups in northern Gaza Strip. As a result, the sources added, two militants sustained serious burns all over their bodies. It is not immediately clear which group the militants belong to. more

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers on Monday exhumed a number of graves and sprayed racist graffiti in the Sawiya village in Nablus, a Palestinian Authority official said. Ghassan Daghlas, who heads the PA settlement activity file, said settlers from the Alia settlement were responsible for the damage. He added that a plant nursery and two tractors, belonging to local Abdel Azziz Nasserallah, were also damaged in the attack. The attack follows clashes on Saturday in the Burin village in Nablus, when dozens of settlers marched into the village. One villager in Burin was slightly hurt in the hand by a stone and another passed out from tear gas fired by Israeli troops trying to separate the two groups, an AFP journalist said. The military said that Israeli soldiers also fired rubber-coated bullets, lightly wounding a Palestinian who was given first aid on the spot. An Israeli army spokeswoman told AFP that about 50 settlers and 20 Palestinians were involved in the confrontat...

JENIN (Ma'an) -- Clashes broke out Monday morning in the Jenin refugee camp as Israeli forces detained two members of the Fatah-affiliated al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, locals said. Locals said the fighting continued for two hours after Israeli forces raided the al-Jabaryat area of the camp at 4 a.m., detaining Raed Amin Dababa and Mohammad al-Amer. A large military convoy was seen in the camp and two helicopters were overheard in the area, they added. The two detainees are exempt from arrest by Israel under a deal with the Palestinian Authority signed in 2007, allowing Palestinian fighters who renounced violence against Israel and gave up arms immunity from detention. Clashes also broke out after Israeli forces deployed near the local Martyrs' Cemetery. Locals threw stones and glass bottles at soldiers, who responded with live bullets and tear gas, locals said, reporting no injuries. more

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) – Patriarchs and heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem on Sunday released a joint statement denouncing attacks by Israeli police officers on worshipers and pilgrims during Holy Saturday at the Church of Holy Sepulcher. Signatories of the statement highlighted that they saw “awful scenes of the brutal treatment to clerics, average people and pilgrims in Jerusalem during Holy Saturday.” They added: “A day of joy was turned into a day of severe sadness and pain for several of our faithful brothers who were mistreated by a number of Israeli police officers at the gates of the Old City of Jerusalem leading to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.” It is unacceptable, according to the statement, that clergymen and average people “get beaten brutally and indiscriminately and be denied access to their churches under the pretext of keeping order.” The statement urged the Israeli government to denounce the violence that police practiced against worshipers and clergymen...

House set on fire by settlers (Photo by ISM) 12th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Jalud, Occupied Palestine By Nablus Team At about 11 PM on Sunday, May 5, about 40 illegal Israeli settlers attacked Jalud, west of Salfit, attempting to set fire to two homes with firebombs. Settler attacks on Jalud started two years ago from nearby illegal settlements of Yahyah (first outpost 13 years ago) and Esh Kodesh (more recent outpost). Attacks are typically on the homes of five families on the furthest edge close to the settlements, not within the village center. All those homes now have several metal protections on all windows to prevent harm based on previous attacks. Recent attacks have been at night, but have also happened during the day lasting just 5-15 minutes, say locals. The attacks nonetheless cause great damage and are always unexpected. The army arrives within minutes after the settlers and has used tear gas on residents to clear any gatherings due to settler a...

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Hamas government in Gaza on Sunday claimed that a recent campaign to target collaborators with Israel was a success, the interior ministry said. Ministry spokesman Islam Shahwan told a press conference that all collaborators who handed themselves in during a month long amnesty are enjoying the guarantees promised at the start of the campaign. On March 12, Hamas said it had a list of collaborators but offered a one-month amnesty for informers to give themselves up in return for leniency. The campaign has now officially ended, Shahwan said, adding that a number of collaborators were detained during the crackdown. "The security services are working on this issue with high focus and in secrecy. We are committed to all promises made by the security services for all collaborators who turned themselves in during the campaign," he added. more

GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli navy gunboats opened heavy machinegun fire at Palestinian fishing boats working off the coast of central Gaza Strip on Saturday night. Local sources told the PIC reporter that the gunboats opened intensive fire at the boats that were fishing off the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. more

Israeli right-wing protesters burn a Palestinian flag in front of Tel Aviv University during the Nakba day commemoration event last year Palestinian and Jewish activists will join together to commemorate the ethnic cleansing that led to Israel’s establishment at an event in Tel Aviv University early next week. This will be the second year that students will mark the Nakba — Arabic for “catastrophe,” the name given to the violence by Zionist forces in 1948 — in this way. Students will read poetry, including works by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, and a refugee from Tantura, a Palestinian village destroyed by a Zionist militia in May 1948, will recount his story to the audience. more