Posted on January 25th, 2008 by Marian Houk
George Bush can joke about getting through an (easy) Israeli checkpoint, but he did ruefully admit that that was not exactly the experience of the average Palestinian. One of the worst things imaginable is giving birth at a checkpoint. Having to do so in the absolutely freezing cold gives it a whole other dimension. Nobody, [...]
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Filed under: Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on January 24th, 2008 by Marian Houk
Gaza’s power plant has received fuel to generate electricity for the third day running today — but it is not enough to keep the plant operating until Sunday. The power plant has cut back output, but — unless more fuel is delivered on Friday — there will be no fuel left by around mid-day on [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on January 23rd, 2008 by Marian Houk
UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that “Israel must reconsider and cease its policy of pressuring the civilian population of Gaza for the unacceptable actions of militants …Collective penalties… are prohibited under international law.” He also mentioned Israel’s targetted killings of Palestinians: “I would also like to [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians, UN Security Council
Posted on January 23rd, 2008 by Marian Houk
Reports indicated that Western governments are ready to expand UN Security Council sanctions against Iran soon. After a meeting in Berlin, the Associated Press reported yesterday, “A European diplomat and a U.S. official, both speaking of condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the resolution would expand existing sanctions. But the [...]
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Filed under: International Atomic Energy Agency - IAEA, Iran, Sanctions, UN Security Council
Posted on January 22nd, 2008 by Marian Houk
After an infusion of Israeli fuel today, the Gaza power plant has come back on line. It started powering up just after noon Tuesday, and is now producing between 20 and 30 MW of electricity just after 2:00 p.m. It will keep powering up until there is “a full load”, sometime tonight, according to Dr. [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on January 21st, 2008 by Marian Houk
Claudia Rosset comments: “As Hollywood buffs and UN money-raisers already know, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has just named actor George Clooney as the UN’s newest Messenger of Peace, with a ‘special focus on UN peacekeeping’. Clooney, currently visiting Sudan, is expected to ‘receive his designation’ Jan. 31st at UN headquarters in New York … The [...]
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Filed under: Donors, Sudan - Darfur, UN Peacekeeping, United Nations
Posted on January 20th, 2008 by Marian Houk
Around 20h00 Sunday evening, the Gaza power plant stopped producing electricity, because it did not have enough fuel to safely continue operations.
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Filed under: Gaza, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on January 20th, 2008 by Marian Houk
Gaza’s power plant has shut down one of its two operating electricity-generating turbines Sunday morning, due to lack of fuel. This will drastically reduce output, down to 25 or 30 MW during the day – then there will be a complete shut down by 8 pm. Dr. Omar Kittaneh, head of the Palestine Energy Authority [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, United Nations
Posted on January 19th, 2008 by Marian Houk
The son of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, now comatose in an Israeli medical facility, has written in Israel’s YNet news that “Gaza Strip residents must reject terrorism – or face the consequences”. Gilad Sharon said in his article that “Israel’s leadership is debating. On the one hand, it knows (or so we hope) [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, Israel, Middle East Peace Process
Posted on January 18th, 2008 by Marian Houk
Gaza’s Power Plant has only enough fuel for three days of operations, including today Friday 18 January. No fuel at all reached the Gaza power plant on Friday, because of the complete closure of Gaza’s border crossings ordered by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday night, in response to continuous firing from Gaza into [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians
