Shirabe's Report from Palestine:
From the wreckage of Khan Younis and Rafah, from the ever deepening povery of Gaza city, from the relief of life not under curfew
By Shirabe Yamada, Oznik.com, August 3, 2002
hi everyone, i am writing from gaza, where i have been for the last 3 days to coordinate a volunteer program with youth groups here. compared to the west bank, gaza is not so popular for internationals to come and work. when we (a group 7 mostly americans) met with representatives of youth groups, they said they were so happy that it was the first time that international volunteers came to work in their communities.

I would have done the same
My son was killed by a Palestinian fighter. But Israel's occupation is to blame for his death
By Yitzhak Frankenthal, Guardian, August 7, 2002
My beloved son Arik, my own flesh and blood, was murdered by Palestinians. My tall, blue-eyed, golden-haired son who was always smiling with the innocence of a child and the understanding of an adult. My son. If to hit his killers, innocent Palestinian children and other civilians would have to be killed, I would ask the security forces to wait for another opportunity.

The army is dictating policy
By Aluf Benn, Ha'aretz, August 8, 2002
The change of chief of staff has changed the Israeli strategy toward the Palestinians. Shaul Mofaz wanted "a decisive victory" and preached toppling the Palestinian Authority and expelling Yasser Arafat from the territories. Moshe Ya'alon speaks of a "war of attrition," in which victory is won with points, in a series of limited operations that wear down the fighting spirit of the enemy.

Inside 1948 Palestine
By Isabelle Humphries, Islam Online, July 16, 2002
Israeli helicopters circled overhead as soldiers surrounded the village below. Residents watched helplessly as the bulldozer tore apart 14 Arab homes, shelter to over 125 people. The following week, in the north, Israeli agents raided and confiscated property from three offices of an Islamic Movement welfare organization. Make no mistake: These examples are not taken from the brutal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, but from the other side of the border, in the land that was declared as Israel in 1948.

QIZs represent the limit of working with Israel
By Marwan A. Kardoosh, Jordan Times,  August 8, 2002
HIS MAJESTY King Abdullah went to the United States last week painfully aware of the pressures and contradictions that continue to unsettle the region's political and social scenes. After banking more heavily than any other Arab state on hefty returns from peace with Israel, Jordan finds itself now trapped between the demands of an aggressively unilateralist and pro-Israel Bush camp and an increasingly radicalised public opinion to cut all diplomatic and trade relations, few as they are, with Tel Aviv.

Looking Forward: What Poverty and Malnutrition in Palestine Can Tell Us About the Future
By Catherine Cook, Palestine Chronicle, August 7, 2002
A recently released US Aid funded nutritional assessment indicates that acute and chronic malnutrition rates of Palestinian children under 5 have reached emergency levels, with 22.5% of children suffering moderate or severe acute or chronic malnutrition and 1/5 suffering moderate and/or severe anemia.

Barriers to Peace
By Chris Toensing, Middle East Report 223, MERIP, Summer 2002
At least 700,000 people jammed the streets of New York on June 12, 1982 to demand full disarmament from the heads of state gathered to discuss nuclear policy at the United Nations. The raucous crowd’s chants of “No nukes!” drew favorable comment from German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who praised the “great and positive moral force” protesting outside the UN building. But there was nary a whisper at the rally about the Israeli armored columns which only six days before had commenced their fateful drive on Beirut.

Lest We Forget
Palestine Media Watch
(This is the html version of the file http://www.ameu.org/uploads/lestweforget_march_2002.doc.)
The Israeli lobby in Washington has successfully influenced the U.S. Congress to give billions of non-­repayable dollars each year to Israel on the premise that Israel’s loyalty and strategic importance to the United States make it an ally worthy of such unprecedented consideration.  Is it? Israeli actions over the past 53 years involving U.S. interests in the Middle East seriously challenge the "strategic asset" premise of the Israeli lobby. Some of these actions are compiled in the list that follows: