News stories by Jillian Kestler-DAmours, page 4

RAMALLAH, Occupied West Bank, Sep 25 (IPS) - Hassan Hader’s application for a permit to work in Israel has been rejected four times. Now waiting to hear back from the Israeli authorities on his latest attempt, the 52-year-old father of five said he has no choice but to keep applying.

JERUSALEM, Sep 06 (IPS) - After filing the first-ever class-action lawsuit on the issue of gender segregation in Israel, a local religious women’s rights group says it hopes to protect the rights of women in the public sphere of Israeli society.

JERUSALEM, Sep 03 (IPS) - By mining natural resources from the occupied Palestinian territories for its own economic purposes, Israel is committing the war crime of pillage in the Dead Sea area, according to a report released Monday by Palestinian human rights group Al Haq.

JERUSALEM, Sep 01 (IPS) - Parviz Barkhordar says he loves both Israel and Iran. For many, this dual affinity might seem contradictory, but according to Barkhordar, it makes total sense.

, Aug 21 (IPS) - With more restrictions placed on the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, and access to the Palestinian territory’s smuggling tunnels increasingly blocked, human rights groups say Gaza’s 1.6 million residents are unfairly being punished for the attack on an Egyptian military base in Sinai.

RAMALLAH, Occupied West Bank, Aug 16 (IPS) - After the brutal murder of a Palestinian woman in late July in a busy Bethlehem marketplace, local human rights groups are pushing for stronger reforms to stem violence against women in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

JERUSALEM, Aug 14 (IPS) - Thousands of ultra-Orthodox men, women and children have been demonstrating in Jerusalem against the Israeli government’s move to make military service mandatory for members of their community.

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Aug 05 (IPS) - “It will collapse, and the collapse will be harder when it happens later,” says Tareq Sadeq, Palestinian economist and professor at Birzeit University, about the financial bubble building up in the Palestinian Authority government.

ROAD 60, OCCUPIED WEST BANK, Jul 30 (IPS) - Sitting in an airconditioned car along Road 60 in the heart of the occupied West Bank, Ovad Arad explained how he goes about his job: driving unannounced into Palestinian towns and villages, taking photographs, having coffee with families, and leaving almost as quickly as he arrived.

JERUSALEM, Jul 20 (IPS) - As Israel continues to build walls and fences along virtually each of its borders, analysts say the country’s isolationistpolicies and unwillingness to deal with the Palestinians and other Arab neighbours through anything other than forceful means spells disaster.