RAMALLAH - After several days of intense violence, during which 19 Palestinians were killed and one Israeli wounded, a fragile calm has returned to Gaza. But political commentators argue that this could well be a precursor to Israel’s next war on the coastal...
Israel Aiming Punitive Measures at Soft Targets
RAMALLAH - As the international community becomes increasingly critical of Israel's discriminatory treatment of Israeli-Arabs and the brutal occupation in the Palestinian West Bank, the Israeli authorities are venting their anger against soft targets such as...
Palestinian Village Under Siege Following Settler Killings
AWARTA, West Bank - Food supplies are running low, ambulances have been detained for hours at checkpoints, and hundreds of young men have been held, interrogated, and beaten up, some requiring hospitalization, in the Palestinian village of Awarta in the northern West...
Palestinian Revolution by Default
RAMALLAH - The Egyptian revolution, and the threat to autocratic Arab regimes all over the region, have forced rapid changes on the Palestinian political scene - with major players Hamas and Fatah scrambling to catch up. "We’ve reached the point of no return. A...
It Could Be Too Late for Two States
RAMALLAH - The credibility of the Palestinian Authority (PA) on the Arab street has been further weakened by the release of the "Palestine Papers," but ironically the release of the explosive documents by Al Jazeera could bolster support for the Palestinian...
Gaza’s Children Dare to Dream
GAZA CITY - Despite the lingering trauma of living under siege, regular Israeli military attacks and the consequences of a bloody war several years ago, Gaza's children still dream of happiness and of normal lives. Islam Mqa't, 9, from Gaza City's Al Zarqa...
Bereaved Israelis, Palestinians Unite Across Violent Borders
JERUSALEM - With Middle East peace talks at a standstill, a group of activists is taking matters into its own hands. The Parents' Circle Families Forum, a group comprising Palestinians and Israelis who have lost family members in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, aims...
Israelis Resist Their Own Arabs
RAMALLAH - A number of recent incidents discriminating against Israel's Palestinian minority has prompted Israeli Knesset members to debate whether Israel is becoming increasingly racist. Ronit Sela from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has no doubts....
Israel Demolishing Talks
ISSAWEYA, Occupied East Jerusalem - More and more Palestinians are paying the price for deadlocked talks over Israel's continued settlement-building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Muhammad Robin Alyyan, 27, from the volatile Issaweya suburb of East Jerusalem,...
Prisoner Speaks Out From Israeli Jail
RAMALLAH, Palestine - Samer Hamdan*, a 26-year-old Palestinian prisoner, recalls being beaten until he bled. Seeing other prisoners covered in blood and screaming is the norm in the Israeli prison, he says. Hamdan is serving a nine-year sentence in Ketziot prison in...