In Late June 2011, I’m going to be a passenger on “The Audacity of Hope,” the USA boat in this summer’s international flotilla to break the illegal and deadly Israeli siege of Gaza. Organizers, supporters and passengers aim to nonviolently end the brutal collective punishment imposed on Gazan residents since 2006 when the Israeli government began a …
Continue reading “Don’t Look Away: The Siege of Gaza Must End”
RAFAH – Many hoping to find free movement between Egypt and Gaza have found the border gates at the Rafah crossing closed. Egyptian officials closed the gates on Saturday, according to Palestinian officials. Ayyoub Abu Shaar, the official who usually communicates with the Egyptian side is no longer able to reach his counterpart. A number …
Continue reading “Egypt Takes Sweet Time Opening Promised Rafah Crossing”
GAZA CITY — A gleaming new memorial towers in the center of Gaza City’s battered port. Flanked by flags of various nations whose citizens have sailed to the Gaza Strip to highlight the all-out siege on Gaza, the memorial’s inscription bears the names of the Turkish solidarity activists who died one year ago when Israeli …
Continue reading “Undefeated, Gaza’s Freedom Flotillas Expand “
Philip Giraldi on the judge’s folding under pressure
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 territory. During the last week the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a …
Continue reading “War Clouds Back Over Gaza”
RAFAH – It was easy enough to rename Mubarak Children’s Hospital the Al Tahrir Hospital in Gaza. Not so easy is the task of managing patients who need to cross over to the Egyptian side for treatment, or come back in. Crossing the border, even for medical treatment, has always been an arduous task. Through …
Continue reading “Mubarak’s Name Easier to Erase Than His Legacy”
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 Palestinian state is in the making," Samir Awad, from Birzeit University …
Continue reading “Palestinian Revolution by Default”
RAFAH – Mustapha Suleiman, 27, from J Block east of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, crosses through gaps in the iron fence on the border carrying bread, water, meat cans and a handful of vegetables for Egyptian soldiers stationed on the other side. "Whatever you offer on Saturday you will receive on Sunday," Suleiman says. …
Continue reading “Hungry Gazans Feed Egyptian Troops”
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 neighborhood, together with 150 family members, friends, and neighbors, spent weeks cowering …
Continue reading “Gaza’s Children Dare to Dream”
GAZA CITY — Few outside of Gaza would consider its history much beyond the decades of Israeli occupation. But Gaza is a historical treasure house. Many of those treasures are now in Israeli museums, and those that remain are becoming difficult to preserve due to the Israeli siege. Gaza, set along the historical silk road …
Continue reading “Gaza’s Historical Treasures Under Seige” 
