This week in Palestine: Gazans decided to go on strike in protest to violence caused by Hamas-linked groups two days ago. This is the first strike since Hamas gained power three months ago; the majority of shops, universities and even hospitals were closed on Sunday. Hamas shrugged it off and considered it an attempt by the Palestinian leadership to weaken Hamas.

Meanwhile, photos of Palestinian children who have been living off Israeli trash were captured by the New York Times earlier this week.

Photo by: SAIDAWI

With all seriousness…

From DesertPeace, did Wikipedia join the censorship club?

Ben Heine, one of our resident artists, my Associate and dear friend has again been chosen to ‘lead the way’, so to speak… He was one of the first anti zionists that was censored and eventually banned from Daily Kos a few months ago merely for his honesty and refusal to compromise his principles.
It seems that Wikipedia has followed suit and has deleted his entry from their pages. The entry looked like this….more

Decentering Damascus announces the launch of the first issue of A-Rab Magazine.

From Annie's Letters this week, a reblogging of a news story published in The Jordan Times says Queen Rania of Jordan urges international community to use ‘moral language of the conscience’:

“…the West just sees terrorist attacks against Israelis, while the enduring image in Arab minds is one of generations of Palestinian boys and girls growing up with no country, no rights, and no future – an image that has not changed for 50 years”…more

Another sad reality of the Palestinian children was captured by the New York Times‘ camera and blogged about by KABOBfest, this time it's living off Israeli trash:

This is an awful sight. Yet, I must give kudos to the New York Times for capturing and reporting on this tragedy. It carried an article and showed a series of photographs with sad captions…
The Palestinians have become so dependent, a pragmatist would welcome US aid to Israel. Enough of the billions of dollars a year that goes to Israel must indirectly subsidize the wasteful lifestyles of Israeli settlers…more

Haitham Sabbah blogs about a tragedy of an American-Palestinian family who was separated by force at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, because of the father's Palestinian heritage:

On Aug. 18, as they tried to return home, Israeli security officials told the children their father’s Palestinian heritage disqualified them from traveling as American citizens, Wedad Yacoub said.

They would not allow Wedad Yacoub (the mother) and 10 of her children to board the flight.

She was forced to choose between remaining in Palestine with the children or return with the three youngest, leaving the other seven behind. more…

But there is good news…

The new 2008 calendar “Colors from Palestine” is now available, says umkahlil:

The 2008 “Colors from Palestine” calendar is dedicated to the great Palestinian artist, Naji Al-Ali., and features some of his well known cartoons.