Mel Frykberg, Inter Press Service 23 August 2010

Photo: Palestinians selling items on Gaza street.

Gaza City – Just off Omar al-Mukhtar Street, Gaza City’s main thoroughfare, in a narrow, sandy alleyway is a little second-hand clothing shop. In the dimly lit store, with only intermittent electricity for some hours a day at best, sits a single battered and aging sewing machine.

This is where Khaled Nassan, a father of four children, tries in vain to eke out a living repairing and selling second-hand clothing. Nassan charges the equivalent of 25 cents on average to repair an item. Gazans can’t afford to pay the dollar it used to cost. Nassan is lucky if he takes home $20 a day.

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Jerrold Kessel & Pierre Klochendler, Electronic Intifada 17 August 2010

Photo: Luay Sababa Palestinians try to cross into Jerusalem through an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank city of Bethlehem during the first Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, 13 August 2010.

Hirbet Deir, occupied West Bank – For Muhammad al-Baradiyeh, 38, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is always a blessing.

In fact, every day of the month-and-a-half prior to Ramadan has been good for Muhammad. Thanks to a permit granted by the Israeli authorities, he’s been able to work inside Israel and save extra money he’ll need for the holiday.

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TruthDig by Chris Hedges, Aug 16, 2010

Photo: Palestinian child standing close to Israeli occupation soldiers in West Bank.

Time is running out for Israel. And the Israeli government knows it. The Jewish Diaspora, especially the young, has a waning emotional and ideological investment in Israel. The demographic boom means that Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories will soon outnumber Jews. And Israel’s increasing status as a pariah nation means that informal and eventually formal state sanctions against the country are probably inevitable.

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Report, IRIN 5 August 2010

Photo IRIN Suhair Karam: The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) says 222,000 children are enrolled in its schools in Gaza.

Gaza City, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) – The quality of life, the economy and food security for Palestinians living in Gaza have been severely impaired by Israel’s strict four-year blockade, according to the UN.

Israel says its closure regime is designed to protect Israeli citizens from attacks by militants in Gaza. Hamas, the ruling group in Gaza, says Israel’s blockade is aimed at undermining its rule.

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Haidar Eid, Al-Shabaka, Palestinian Policy Network, 2 August 2010

Photo Matthew Cassel Does Gaza today resemble South Africa under apartheid?

The Palestinian national movement has overlooked this question: does the Gaza Strip resemble the racist Bantustans of apartheid South Africa? During the apartheid era, South Africa’s black population was kept in isolation and without political and civil rights. Is Gaza similar? The answer is yes and no.

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Tuesday, July 27, 2010 by Elie Nasrallah Daily Star

Photo: Tanya Traboulsi Sky over sea, Beirut, Lebanon.

Canada has always been a favorite destination for many Lebanese emigrants. However, the country is now changing its immigration policies and is beginning to resemble a club open to a chosen few who possess the required skills, education and selective criteria to enter.

Last June 26, Jason Kenney, Canada’s minister for citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism, announced that to be eligible to apply as a federal skilled worker, immigrants must either have a job offer from a Canadian employer or experience in one of just 29 in-demand occupations.

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18/07/2010 Dr. Salman Abou Sitta, As-Safir le 12 juillet 2010

Photo Travailleur palestinien à l’implantation d’entreprises.

Quelle est la situation d’”Israël” d’aujourd’hui ? Notons tout d’abord qu’”Israël” n’aurait pas été “Israël” si elle avait laissé tomber le sionisme ; elle serait restée la Palestine avec une minorité juive, aussi grande soit cette minorité. Il est alors inutile de chercher un chef israélien qui croirait aux droits des Palestiniens, il est inutile de chercher parmi la gauche ou parmi la droite israéliennes.

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July 4 2010 New York Times

Photo Chinese construction workers at their camp on Tel Aviv’s outskirts this month. Their presence has increasingly clashed with Israel’s Zionist ideology.

Tel Aviv — Perched 22 stories above an affluent suburb of this prosperous seaside city, three Chinese construction workers inched their way along the arm of a crane last autumn and refused to budge. Facing deportation because of expiring visas, theirs was an act of desperation aimed at getting thousands of dollars in wages they claimed their Israeli employer had illegally withheld.

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Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate, statement May, 2010

Photo: Free Gaza boats sail over the Mediterranean Sea.

I never cease to be amazed at the power of the human spirit to survive. During my last visit to Gaza in October 2008 I was amazed and deeply moved by the power of the people I witnessed. In a triumph of hope over adversity and tremendous suffering, love still abides.

Gaza comprises a small strip of land 27 miles long and 6 miles wide. This coastal strip is bordered by Israel on the one side, the Mediterranean Sea on the other and to a lesser extent by Egypt at the southern end. With one and a half million inhabitants Gaza is the fifth most densely populated place on the planet, 50% of which are under the age of 18. Two thirds of the total population hold refugees status, and comprise the victims and their descendants of previous acts of Israeli aggression.

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Nora Barrows-Friedman, Electronic Intifada 25 May 2010

Photo: Israel denies Palestinians in “unrecognized villages” basic services like water and electricity. (Yotam Ronen/ActiveStills)

Al-Masadiya, al-Garin, Khirbat al-Watan, Bir al-Hamam, Khashem Zana, Sawin, al-Shahabi, Wadi al-Naam and al-Mashash are all Palestinian Bedouin villages facing destruction by bulldozers and cement mixers as Israel’s transportation ministry plans to lengthen its Trans-Israel Highway southward into the Naqab (Negev) desert. This means that more than 3,000 Palestinian Bedouins could be displaced if an injunction filed by Israeli civil rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) doesn’t succeed in the high court.

Spokespeople for Bimkom (Planners for Planning Rights), the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the Regional Council for Unrecognized Villages in the Negev, some of the groups filing the injunction, say that the Israeli government approved the highway construction without consideration for indigenous populations in the Naqab.

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