Category: Features

  • This is not humane. We need our dignity

    Sami Abdel-Shafi | The Guardian 29 December 2009 On my way to visit a friend in the Abed Rabbo district, north of the Gaza Strip, the taxi driver handed me a small pack of biscuits for change. There are nearly no copper coins left here so cab drivers barter a half Israeli shekel for biscuits…

  • Desmond Tutu calling for immediate release of Bil’in activist Abdallah Abu Rahmah

    24 December 2009 Elders’ chair, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, has expressed his deep concern about the arrest and indictment of Abdallah Abu Rahmah of Bil’in and has called for his unconditional release. Abu Rahmah is a school teacher and coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements, which has carried out a five…

  • For Palestinians, possession of used IDF arms is now a crime

    Amira Hass | Haaretz 24 December 2009 The Israel Defense Forces consider it a crime punishable by imprisonment for a Palestinian to possess used IDF weapons, according to an indictment filed by the military prosecutor against Abdullah Abu Rahma of the West Bank town of Bil’in. Abu Rahma, 39, is coordinator of the Bil’in Popular…

  • Childhood in ruins

    Harriet Sherwood | The Guardian 17 December 2009 Ghiada abu Elaish’s fingers twist in her lap and her eyes cloud over as she recalls the day an Israeli shell killed four of her cousins and left her in a coma for 22 days. She has had almost 12 months to reflect on the tragedy, a…

  • Release Bil’in popular leader Abdallah Abu Rahmah

    10 December 2009 As part of a recent escalation of political arrests in Bil’in, Abdallah Abu Rahmah, a school teacher and coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee was arrested by Israeli soldiers. At 2am on Thursday, 10 December 2009, seven Israeli military jeeps pulled over at Abdallah Abu Rahmah’s home in the city of Ramallah.…