News stories by Pierre Klochendler, page 5

JERUSALEM, Dic 03 (IPS) - When it voted to upgrade Palestinian statehood status from "observer entity" to "non-member observer state", the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) wanted the enduring Middle East conflict to come full circle. But it failed to take into account the Israeli Prime Minister's opposition to a state of Palestine that isn't on his terms.

JERUSALEM, Nov 21 (IPS) - Ending Israel's first military operation since the Arab Spring changed the Middle East depended on both the diplomatic blitz exerted on Israel and Hamas and the extent of the military blows exchanged between them. As for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the ceasefire must live at least until his re-election.

ASHDOD, Southern Israel, Nov 20 (IPS) - Overhead on a bombing mission, an Israeli Air Force F16 screams its way towards Gaza. On the street, the fighter jet's shriek is covered by a plaintive sound – a "red alert". Within seconds, an "Iron Dome" anti-missile missile launched roaring in a spark of light intercepts the incoming GRAD rocket.

JERUSALEM, Nov 17 (IPS) - Four days into Israel's fierce assault on Hamas in Gaza, the ongoing operation looks on the surface a remake of the Gaza War of 2008-9 – with one unanswered distinction: whether it is aimed at completing what the previous onslaught didn't achieve – the removal of the Palestinian Islamic movement from power once and for all.

SAFED, Northern Israel, Nov 12 (IPS) - It came like a bolt from the blue on this serene city perched in the hills of Galilee. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared on Israel's Channel Two television earlier this month, "I want to see Safed! It's my right to see it, but not to live there."

AR-RAM, Occupied East Jerusalem, Oct 15 (IPS) - Ali Shuruf turns on the lights, that shine into a gaudy living room. Beyond the window, the dominant colour is uniformly grey: the house stands literally against a wall. Not just any wall – the infamous eight-metre cement wall separates Palestinians from Israelis.

JERUSALEM, Oct 12 (IPS) - The timing of Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for early elections is no coincidence. The incumbent Prime Minister’s strategy is to receive the Israeli public’s renewed confidence as a new U.S. president takes office, thus making himself immune to U.S. pressure as the debate on how to deal with Iran’s nuclear programme enters a critical phase. 

JERUSALEM, Oct 07 (IPS) - The annual debate has just wrapped up and, already, the certainty is that if last year Palestinian statehood auspiciously dominated the international agenda, this time, the issue vanished from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), and will vanish even further from world affairs.

SHEIKH JARRAH, Occupied East Jerusalem, Sep 18 (IPS) - “See the bullets from the 1948 and 1967 wars,” Badr Abu Ad-Dula says, showing the scars of the old frontline on the outer walls of the building where he and his family of 13 live. “Here’s the Jordanian outpost.” The elderly Palestinian points at a loophole, now a bedroom window.

RAS EL-AMOUD, Occupied East Jerusalem, Sep 17 (IPS) - Filistin Hamdallah looks disoriented, walking without purpose amidst the furniture strewn in the courtyard, as if she was moving home. Only the fresh laundry hanging on wires indicates that the Palestinian family is here to stay, to stay in conditions with Jewish neighbours that show just how difficult the divisions in Jerusalem can be.