First Independent Mena Newspaper
A 40-page analysis report drafted by Steen Lau Jorgensen, World Bank’s director for Gaza and the West Bank, has highlighted that Gaza’s economy is “on the verge of collapse” due to restrictions, poor governance and internal struggles. The report described Gaza’s economy as the worst in the world with almost half of the 1.8million people […]
UN investigators have found that Israel responsible for Gaza bombing of United Nations schools and shelters during which 44 innocent Palestinians were killed and 227 others were injured. According to the findings of an inquiry ordered by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Israel was responsible for striking seven United nations sites used as civilian shelters […]
Hamas leader Ahmad Yousef has stated that there are ongoing indirect “chats” with Israel but a deal could also be reached if Israel is committed to earlier agreements and releases all those who were re-arrested after the abduction of three Israeli settlers last year which eventually led to the war in the summer. Prime Minster […]
Palestinian cabinet ministers from the West Bank were in Gaza for a week-long visit but their stay barely lasted 24hours before they headed back. The Ministers are part of an 11-member West Bank delegation working towards developing the region following last’s year war and resolving the salary crises after Israel froze the tax revenues that […]
The United States has urged Israel not to freeze Palestinian tax revenues because it will lead to a “tit-for-tat” atmosphere. President Mahmoud Abbas is seeking to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) after the Arab backed resolution for a 2017 Israeli withdrawal deadline failed to win enough votes at the U.N Security Council. The decision […]
Egyptian efforts to create a 10 kilometer long buffer zone along its border with a kilometer radius are still being pursued. The killing of 30 Egyptian soldiers by a suicide bomber in the Sinai region in October has forced the government to construct a buffer zone and declare a three-month emergency in certain areas of […]
After Palestine was recognized by Sweden as a State and after several European parliaments urged their respective countries, mainly Great Britain, France, Spain, and Ireland, to recognize its right to statehood, the European Parliament adopted on Wednesday a resolution supporting the recognition of Palestinian statehood and the two state solution. The resolution states that the […]
Thousands of people in the Gaza Strip are still homeless after a ceasefire ended the hostilities between Hamas and Israel less than two weeks ago. Although Hamas deems it is up to the Palestinian Authority to cope with the problem, as it gave up official control of Gaza’s ministries to a new Palestinian government in […]
Notwithstanding passionate discourses against Western responsibility and “Zionist conspiracy”, commitment to the Palestinian cause has not translated into any support. “Israel is an abnormal case in the history of humankind and the geopolitical map of the world.” These words, uttered by Mr. Imad Nabil Jadaa, Ambassador of Palestine in Chile on August 14, are […]
Chilean policy-makers and civil society leaders met on Wednesday in the national congress in the legislative capital Valparaiso to oppose Chile’s purchase of arms from Israel. In the crowded hall “The Thinkers”, Chilean parliamentarians, including the Senate’s president and the Chamber of Deputies’ vice president, launched a “one million signatures for peace” campaign. It aims […]