Posted on December 15th, 2009 by Marian Houk
She took it well — much better than I would have, to be perfectly honest. Lily Sussman’s laptop was shot by Israeli security officials during an extended security inspection, while she was trying to enter Israel from Egypt, where she lives. Her account is just below:
“…Israeli security officers (most who looked around 18 years old) [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Egypt, Human Rights, Israel
Posted on October 20th, 2009 by Marian Houk
Today, speaking to journalists at a press conference at the presidential headquarters in Cairo (after his meeting with Egyptian President Husni Mubarak), the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gave some new details about the circumstances surrounding the fiasco concerning the Goldstone report in the UN Human Rights Council on 2 October.
According to a report of Abbas’ [...]
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Filed under: Egypt, Gaza, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on October 15th, 2009 by Marian Houk
Excerpts from an interview with Yasser Abbas in Ramallah – 18 December 2008 – by Marian Houk – Part 3
Other excerpts:
Part 4: Separation of Powers in Ramallah
Part 2: Fatah and Hamas – what’s the problem?
Part 1: Fatah and Hamas – and the Abbas family house in Gaza
Question (Marian Houk): Let me start by asking [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Egypt, Gaza, Global Economy, Law of the Sea Convention, Palestine & Palestinians, Qatar
Posted on October 13th, 2009 by Marian Houk
Well, despite the reported fact that the U.S. is not in favor of Palestinian (Fatah+Hamas) reconcilation on the purported grounds that it is bad for Israeli-Palestinian (West Bank) negotiations, Fatah has signed the reconciliation document received in Ramallah on Sunday after having been negotiated over many months by Egypt.
It is suggested that Fatah signed because [...]
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Filed under: Egypt, Gaza, Israel, Negotiators and negotiations, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on August 18th, 2009 by Marian Houk
Nabil Amr, who was spokesman for the Fatah Sixth General Conference held in Bethlehem from 4-14 August (more or less),has just resigned his posts as Palestinian Ambassador to Egypt and to the Arab League whose headquarters in Cairo, and also as head of the Fatah satellite television channel, Filastina, that he started in recent months [...]
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Filed under: Ambassadors and other diplomats, Egypt, Journalism and Journalists, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on August 10th, 2009 by Marian Houk
The Fatah Conference in Bethlehem has decided to extend voting for elections of new members to the organization’s two ruling bodies, the Central Committee and the Revolutionary Council. The vote has been extended until 3pm [UPDATE: now extended to 4 pm Jerusalem time] this afternoon to try to get the participation of 150 delegates [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Egypt, Gaza, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on July 8th, 2009 by Marian Houk
Two very rare events — public hearings into the IDF’s Operation Cast Lead “and the circumstances surrounding it” — are over.
The hearings were held by the Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict that was mandated by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, which is headed by South Africa’s Justice Richard [...]
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Filed under: Egypt, Gaza, Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, UN Secretary-General, UN Security Council
Posted on July 1st, 2009 by Marian Houk
The Jerusalem Post reported yesterday that “The Cypriot Embassy in Tel Aviv issued a statement following the incident, saying ‘The Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Israel would like to inform that the “Spirit of Humanity” boat, sponsored by the Free Gaza Movement, that attempted in the early hours today to reach Gaza was [...]
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Filed under: Ambassadors and other diplomats, Boundaries & Borders, Cyprus, Egypt, Gaza, Humanitarian Aid, International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Law of the Sea Convention, Palestine & Palestinians, Sanctions
Posted on June 29th, 2009 by Marian Houk
The ICRC is not alone in saying, as they do in a new report, that Gaza’s 1.5 million people are trapped in despair.
During the 22-day IDF military operation, there was no safe place for civilians in the Gaza Strip, the report says. The small coastal strip is cut off from the outside world.
Now, it [...]
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Filed under: Donors, Egypt, Gaza, International Committee of the Red Cross - ICRC, International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, Sanctions
Posted on June 25th, 2009 by Marian Houk
The UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, briefed the UN Security Council this week about the situation in the region. He told Council members that Israel has, regrettably, still not extended its cooperation to UN Human Rights Council’s fact-finding mission on the IDF’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza (27 [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Cyprus, Egypt, Gaza, Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, International Law, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, United Nations