Israel, Iraq, and the United States
By Edward Said, Al-Ahram Weekly, 10 - 16 October 2002
America marches to war as if in a trance. We must do everything in our power to slow down and finally stop the recourse to war that has now become a theory and not just a practice: Many parts of Lebanon were bombed heavily by Israeli warplanes on 4 June, 1982. Two days later the Israeli army entered Lebanon through the country's southern border. Menachem Begin was prime minister, Ariel Sharon his minister of defense. The immediate reason for the invasion was an attempted assassination in London of the Israeli ambassador, but then, as now, the blame was placed by Begin and Sharon on the "terrorist organisation" of the PLO, whose forces in South Lebanon had actually observed a cease-fire for about one full year before the invasion. A few days later, on 13 June, Beirut was under Israeli military siege, even though, as the campaign began, Israeli government spokesmen had cited the Awali River, 35 kilometres north of the border, as their goal. Later, it was to emerge without equivocation that Sharon was trying to kill Yasser Arafat, by bombing everything around the defiant Palestinian leader. Accompanying the siege was a blockade of humanitarian aid, the cutting off of water and electricity, and a sustained aerial bombing campaign that destroyed hundreds of Beirut buildings and, by the end of the siege in late August, had killed 18,000 Palestinians and Lebanese, most of them civilians.

Distance Learning: An educational survival strategy in war-like conditions at the Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University (part 1 of 2)
By Samia Halileh and Rita Giacaman, The Electronic Intifada, October 1, 2002
For two years to date the Institute of Community and Public Health has operated its teaching and policy oriented research projects in exceptional circumstances, as the beginning of the Second Palestinian Uprising in September 2000 marked the initiation of a new phase in the history of the Palestinian nation. This period required concerted efforts to re-adjust activities to suit the emerging war-like conditions. Previous to this period, the Institute was implementing a variety of teaching, training and research programmes. Those primarily aimed at assisting in the process of rehabilitating and re-constructing the Palestinian health care system in ways that can address people’s health needs with equity and quality, and with the notion of the right to health as a core.

A typical Sunday morning in Jenin
By Marthame and Elizabeth Sanders, The Electronic Intifada, October 11, 2002
From Psalm 46:
God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change ,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Come behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
"Be still and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth."
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

A Jewish Demographic State
By Uri Avnery, Palestine Chronicle, October 9, 2002  
"What causes a state to bring total strangers from another hemisphere in order to displace the native people, who have lived there for many centuries, at the price of an eternal bloody conflict? The answer touches the foundations of Israel..": It sounds like a bad joke, but it really happened: A rabbi went from Israel to Peru, converted a group of Native Americans to Judaism, brought them to this country and put them in a settlement, on land taken away from its Palestinian owners. There they receive, as all settlers do, generous government subsidies, paid for with money taken away from thousands of Israelis living below the poverty line. There they can live happily ever after (unless they leave the settlement in an unarmored car, in which case they may be ambushed by the original Palestinian owners.)

On the Occasion of the International Mental Health Day in Palestine
By Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj, Palestine Chronicle, October 10, 2002 
"Studies conducted by the Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP) found that 54.6% of Palestinian children living in areas that were bombarded or shelled started to develop acute Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms ..": GAZA CITY - This year, the theme of the International Mental Health Day is “The Effects of Trauma and Violence on Children and Adolescents.” On this day, Palestinian children are living in terrible suffering. From Sep 2000 till Aug 2002, Israeli violence and occupation have led to the death of approximately 322 children and the injury of more than 7,000. Palestinian children are living in an environment full of traumas such as death, injury, witnessing violence, bombardment, and home demolitions. These traumatic events have affected all aspects of children’s lives, including their mental well-being.

We can teach Bush what not to do in the Middle East
By Martin Woollacott, The Guardian, October 11, 2002
British mistakes 80 years ago should be a warning to the US today: The journey that Harriet Pringle, the heroine of Olivia Manning's Fortunes of War novels, makes in late 1942 from Alexandria to Damascus is a bumpy ride in an ammunition lorry through a region whose inhabitants are awaiting their fate - and the end of a conflict that it is becoming clear the allies will win - with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. The Egyptians, whom the British call "the Gyppos", are discussing all kinds of "hazy ideas" while, in Syria, Harriet encounters what her Arab friend calls "advanced circles". At a party Harriet notes how pleased her host is that Muslims, Jews and Christians mingle, self-consciously but proudly, as they discuss the future together. Every night is broken by rifle and pistol fire as demonstrators against the Free French come out into the streets.