Posted on August 31st, 2008 by Marian Houk
Well, you know it’s Ramadan when religious authorities confirm that they’ve spotted the new moon that marks the beginning of the holy month of fasting and intensified spirituality, right?
Another way you know is when you receive the traditional notice from the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) about the control measures they have decided to implement during [...]
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Filed under: Human Rights, International Law, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on August 30th, 2008 by Marian Houk
Amazingly, the Free Gaza expedition managed to leave Gaza’s port late Thursday afternoon and sail unmolested — though not unnoticed — back to Cyprus on Friday evening.
Seven Palestinians who managed to get out of Gaza on the two converted fishing boats in the Free Gaza expedition — a ten year old boy whose leg had [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, International Law, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, Sanctions
Posted on August 27th, 2008 by Marian Houk
There is still NO INFORMATION at all about what is happening at the gap in The Wall (between what will be the West Bank and northern Jerusalem) at Dahiet al-Bariid. There are only rumors.
Maybe it will be closed before Ramadan (which will start on 1 September). Maybe it will be closed at some [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Human Rights, IT and the UN, International Law, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians, Register of damages due to The Wall
Posted on August 26th, 2008 by Marian Houk
U.S. officials who had been present in the just-concluded meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Palestinian President Mahmoud today in the Muqata’a presidential palace in Ramallah, but who were waiting for the two principles to appear for a press conference, were joking around — with one or another of the five journalists [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on August 26th, 2008 by Marian Houk
The Free Gaza media team reported today that “The SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty will leave Gaza for Cyprus on Thursday morning at 9:00 am. Several Palestinian students who have been denied exit visas by Israel will travel to Cyprus on the boats”.
The Free Gaza expedition also reported, separately, that Jeff Halper — [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, Human Rights, International Law, Israel, Journalism and Journalists, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians, Sanctions
Posted on August 25th, 2008 by Marian Houk
The Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday that Jeff Halper “hoped to cross back into Israel via Erez Crossing on Tuesday, while his colleagues, a group of activists who arrived in Gaza’s port on Saturday, would began a ‘revolving ferry from Cyprus to Gaza … Some people need to go home, so one boat is [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, Sanctions
Posted on August 25th, 2008 by Marian Houk
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued this statement today from Geneva:
“The landing of two wooden boats carrying 46 human rights activists in Gaza this past weekend is an important symbolic victory said Richard Falk, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories.
“This [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, Human Rights, International Law, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, Sanctions
Posted on August 24th, 2008 by Marian Houk
We will probably soon learn that top Israeli officials decided to let the two ships in the Free Gaza expedition land unmolested in Gaza because stopping them would make the Palestinian Authority look bad, for multiple reasons, including the terms of the 1994 and 1995 Oslo Accords which give Israel total security control over Gaza’s [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, Human Rights, International Law, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, Sanctions
Posted on August 23rd, 2008 by Marian Houk
Several hours ago, the two Free Gaza ships entered Gaza.
According to Haaretz, the decision was made by the Israeli Security Cabinet (Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert) on FRIDAY evening. They reportedly decided, in effect, that they were refusing to be provoked by what they had earlier [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Gaza, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on August 23rd, 2008 by Marian Houk
Here is an excerpt from the message signed by a journalist on board one of the two boats in the Free Gaza expedition heading to Gaza: “We’ve entered Gazan waters. We’re flying the Palestinian flag, and we now believe that we’re going to reach the shores of Gaza very soon” …
The message is signed [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Gaza, Human Rights, International Law, Journalism and Journalists, Law of the Sea Convention, Palestine & Palestinians
