Ferry Biedermann

The Tel al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah bore the brunt of the large-scale operation the Israeli army launched Tuesday after suffering severe losses last week. Streets leading into the neighborhood were blocked by tanks and sand hills, local residents said. The incursion started after midnight with a missile strike on Block O in Rafah where Islamic … Continue reading “Militants Pay a Price – and Make All of Rafah Pay, Too”

A few dozen militants could be seen trickling into the Block O neighborhood of Rafah along the border with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip Monday afternoon. They said they came in anticipation of a major Israeli army operation in the area. That operation may become the biggest that Israel has undertaken in the Strip … Continue reading “Firing Line Comes Home”

The killing of at least 10 Palestinian demonstrators and the wounding of many others by Israeli forces in Rafah in the southern Gaza strip Wednesday increased domestic and international pressure on the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to end the military operation in the town. In Rafah a senior representative of the al-Aqsa … Continue reading “Death and Rage in Gaza”

More and more Palestinians are facing homelessness after the fighting last week. Palestinian families could be seen fleeing their homes in Rafah Sunday in anticipation of further Israeli military action. The area close to the Egypt border bears the marks of the fighting and widespread house demolitions last week after Islamic Jihad fighters destroyed an … Continue reading “Palestinians Brace for More Destruction”

On a barren hilltop in the Palestinian Jerusalem neighborhood Abu Dis, a gap of several hundred meters interrupts the wall Israel is building in the city. The grey concrete elements come to a stop just before a property with Israeli flags, armed guards and a watchtower. The wall only continues further along the hill. This … Continue reading “Some Settlers Only Settle In Some More”

While world attention is focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a crisis is brewing among Israel’s own Arab citizens. "This is not a democracy, it is an ethnocracy," complains Assad Ghanem, senior lecturer in political science at Israel’s Haifa University. Ghanem is an Arab Israeli, a descendent of the indigenous population that did not flee, or … Continue reading “Israel’s Arabs: Second-Class Citizens in Their Own Land”

The editing room of Al Quds educational TV is still riddled with bullet holes. The poor Palestinian broadcaster has little money to replace the equipment damaged in an attack by three armed men earlier this month. Damaged premises, journalists getting beaten up, and other forms of harassment have become almost a badge of honor among … Continue reading “Palestinian Media Caught in Internal Crossfire”

Outside the Israeli settlement of Neve Dekalim a group of Palestinians waited patiently under a corrugated iron roof near an Israeli barrier to cross back to their village. The Gush Katif bloc of settlements in southern Gaza, of which Neve Dekalim is one, have cut their village Al-Mawasi off from the large Khan Younis town … Continue reading “Gazans Fear This Might Not Be Goodbye”