Palestine and Lebanon: Prison breaks and car bombs.....

Both Lebanon and Palestine have made the news this week, first in Gaza with the destruction of the Gaza-Egypt border by Hamas militants and now the third day of what is termed the biggest prison break in history; second in Lebanon yesterday with yet another politically motivated assissination.

I am not sure people really imagine how life can be in Gaza... Since last July, no good can enter or leave Gaza, except humanitarian goods and essential items such as fuel. A week ago, the entire strip went into total darkness when the only powerplant which relies on israeli fuel, was stopped.
The chief of UNRWA operations in Gaza, John Ging, made a press conference denouncing Israeli collective punishment in Gaza. This is a photo made by UNRWA during the blackout.















On another occasion, the Commissioner General of UNRWA, Karen Koning Abu Zayd, mentioned in a brilliant speech at the Conference on Forced Migration in Cairo earlier this month:


"What we are witnessing is an entire populace effectively incarcerated at the whim of the occupying power. Human rights instruments provide that everyone has the right to leave any country, including his or her own, and to return to that country. In the normal course of things, one expects an affected community to have a choice - either to weather the adverse situation or to seek temporary refuge in a safer, more conducive location. Many Palestine refugees, particularly those under the yoke of occupation in Gaza and the West Bank, are denied that simple human choice." (Read full speech)


This is a photo I took in 2005 in Gaza just before the disengagement of all the settlements there. The coastal line which borders Gaza to the Mediterranean Sea , has enormous potential for fish industry and is even said to contain large reserves of natural gas....Also a rumoured reason for Israel's interest in the Strip...

Meanwhile in Beirut yesterday, a car bomb targeted an official of police intelligence who had been investigating similar previous bombings.... The bomb went off in East Beirut (Christian area), not that far from where we live. This is the report from the Al Jazeera English website:

Despite all the disturbances in Lebanon and the occasional car bomb, the city is calm and actually a wonderful place to live in. The perception of Beirut from outside Lebanon is really distorted by the news reports of bombs and war.

Anyway, back in Israel while West Bankers and Gazans are suffering from the ongoing occupation and lack of everything.... Israel has officially entered into circulation the new coin of 2 Israeli Shekels.... Apparently the Israeli coins are not minted in Israel, they are minted in South Korea and then shipped to Israel for circulation.... I wonder if Israel should not be focusing on more urgent and important matters?? I took a photo of the first 2 Shekel coin that I found in my wallet... The Shekel is also used in the occupied Palestinian Territory as there is no official Palestinian currency. Notice the Arabic writing on the coin....

Bush in Palestine

Last Wednesday I woke up to a usual working day in Jerusalem, which actually was not that usual. It was the day that Bush was arriving in Israel and Palestine for the first time in his life!

Here is another great cover from the Economist issued in November during the Annapolis Conference.

Leaving my house at 7am in the morning, there was a rare fog in the air, so thick that I could not see my hand in front of me.... Strange start to such a historic day. I decided to walk to my UNRWA office to get a feel of the athmosphere in Jerusalem. While walking, the fog dissipated and I could see Israeli and American flags aligning Road No.1 (The Green Line). I did not see such flags in the Palestinian part of town. Not surprising though, as East Jerusalem is a Hamas stronghold.

On this photo you can see the construction of the controversial tram line (on the right of the photo) that goes through East Jerusalem which will eventually connect settlements there with West Jerusalem and any hope of Jerusalem being the capital of Palestine will be completely vanished.

Bush was due to arrive on noon that day, so while at work I was monitoring closely news websites who were reporting on his movements. That morning there were many helicopters and the streets were relatively deserted due to all the closures in and around the city.

The Haaretz online was reporting most diligently. I came across an interesting article (read article) which described the logistical and security arrangements of Bush's visit and the cost per hour: 25,000 USD!

The next day, some of my Palestinian colleagues were blocked in Bethlehem during his visit to the West Bank and mentioned that every street corner had either a US marine or a Palestinian policeman. The sewage entrances were sealed and checked for bombs below ground.
















Apparently Bush was driven to Ramallah, rather than flown there by helicopter. There are two checkpoints to enter Ramallah from Jerusalem, one is Kalandia and the other is the DCO checkpoint. The latter was set up on the other side of Ramallah to allow diplomats and UN officials to pass through to avoid the congestion at Kalandia, especially due to the increase of diplomatic representations to the Palestinian Authority who moved from Gaza to Ramallah 10 years ago. The fact that he used the DCO checkpoint, means that he must not have experienced the daily frustrations of the Palestinians having to wait for hours at Kalandia checkpoint, ambulances with women giving birth because they cannot pass through and wounded or ill people dying there because they did not reach the hospital in time.

Blair being the Quartet's Middle East Envoy, met with Bush during his stay here and mentioned that he was positive to have a two-state solution by 2009. The question I ask myself is, who is he really trying to convince of such a ridiculous statement?
What about the issue of land, water, refugees, settlements, borders, trade etc? Such questions will not be resolved by then and Israel will continue to build houses and settlements in East Jerusalem and without Jerusalem, Palestine cannot be a viable state, among other many concerns.

This blog quoted in the Los Angeles Times!

While reading a very interesting article on pro-Israel lobby in Washington published in this Sunday's Los Angeles Times (read article) which was sent to me by my previous boss at the Palestine Unit at UNCTAD in Geneva, I stumbled upon another article published last November on the 1000 days of Hariri's assassination which actually quoted this blog and posted a link to it!

(read article)

















Further down it reads:




The LA Times correspondent was quoting our posting of November 10th 2007, see a few postings below.