The World Bank Group: Supporting the Palestinian Private Sector 
World Bank Editorial - Given these facts, it is not surprising that recent World Bank analysis has shown that while Palestinian economic growth will be modestly positive this year, this trend would have been much higher if the private sector were allowed to realize its potential through the removal of movement and access restrictions by Israel. more

 The Boy Who Kissed the Soldier: Balata Camp 
Starhawk - “What source can you believe in order to create peace there?” a friend writes when I come back from Palestine. I have no answer, only this story:
June 1, 2002: I am in Balata refugee camp in occupied Palestine, where the Israeli Defense Forces have rounded up four thousand men, leaving the camp to women and children. The men have offered no resistance, no battle. more

 Two Homes Occupied: Two Families Humiliated 
Larry (ISM) - On 13 January 2005, a reporter friend of ours rang. He had been told that Israeli army jeeps had driven through Idhna (a small town to the north-west of our apartment in Hebron, southern Palestine) and announced a sudden curfew. Two years ago when there was armed resistance in this area, anybody out of his or her house during curfew risked being shot on sight by the army. Nowadays things are quieter and the main punishment for breaking curfew is immediate arrest and detainment without charge. more

 Palestine: the assault on health and other war crimes 
Derek Summerfield in the British Medical Journal - Does the death of an Arab weigh the same as that of a US or Israeli citizen? The Israeli army, with utter impunity, has killed more unarmed Palestinian civilians since September 2000 than the number of people who died on September 11, 2001. In conducting 238 extrajudicial executions the army has also killed 186 bystanders (including 26 women and 39 children). Two thirds of the 621 children (two thirds under 15 years) killed at checkpoints, in the street, on the way to school, in their homes, died from small arms fire, directed in over half of cases to the head, neck and chest—the sniper’s wound. more

 Mabrook, Ala’a 
Dianne Roe (CPT) in Hebron, West Bank - In mid-July students all over Palestine get the results of the tawjihi, the final examination of their senior year. Celebrations abound for those who pass. Friends and family visit the successful graduates to say “Mabrook!” (Congratulations). Dianne Roe met Ala’a Al Ja’abari, one such graduate, last week and sends him this note of congratulations. more

 One year after the shooting of Brian Avery 
Lasse S. (ISM) - Yesterday a year ago an Israeli soldier shot my American friend Brian Avery in the face. Yesterday a year ago I stopped running, turned around, and saw Brian laying on his stomach faced down on a street in Jenin. Yesterday a year ago my white T-shirt turned red. more

Palestinian Life Totally on Hold While Israel Feasts
Palestine Monitor - In an unprecedented announcement the Israeli Central Command Major General issued an order prohibiting all Palestinian vehicular traffic in the North West Bank for the next four days. more

 Palestinians run ‘popular schools’ to get around Israeli curfew 
Mohammed Daraghmeh - The children of the Al Qasr neighborhood dodge Israeli military patrols on the way to class in a cramped dorm room. They sit on chairs brought from home or crouch on mattresses. Their teachers have no textbooks, only a blackboard. The “popular school” in Al Qasr is one of several that have sprung up in mosques, empty factories and apartments in Nablus, the West Bank’s largest city, since Israel first imposed a round-the-clock curfew June 21 to prevent Palestinian militants from attacking Israeli civilians. more

 The Violence of Curfew
Sam Bahour - A Palestinian-American businessman living with his wife and children in the Palestinian City of Al-Bireh in the West Bank describes life under curfew and how Israel is systematically destroying Palestinian livelihood, and with it, any hopes for a future reconciliation between the two peoples. more