Gaza "stripped", Nikolaj Nielsen

Nikolaj Nielsen — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:36:48 +0000

Palestinian donor nations are meeting today in London to discuss the current humanitarian crisis affecting 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip. Washington is mounting pressure on Arab League nations to fulfill their Palestinian donor promise of $717.1 million of which only $153.2 has been collected. Three-quarters of residents of the Gaza Strip are registered refugees. Only a bare minimum of medicine and food are allowed in while petrol and diesel have ceased altogether since June 10. The quartet (US, Russia, EU, UN) will also discuss the Annapolis negotiations and Palestinian economic development in the West Bank.

The toD verdict: It's two hundred years on since Spanish citizens of Madrid launched an uprising against the French occupiers. Over the next two days, from the May 2nd to May 3rd, Napoleon's ruthless suppression of the people was immortalised in Goya's paintings. Knives and fists against Napoleon's elite Imperial Guards, followed by the haunting terror of the French firing squads. A man stands ragged, his arms stretched in resignation, disbelief, and maybe even defiance, he stares on into his own demise.

Trapped by circumstance, between a rebellious militant Hamas and an Israeli blockade, the ordinary Palestinians of the Gaza strip are again suffering from a siege that has left a population destitute and without hope. A recent Oxfam report claims the current humanitarian crisis has never been so bad since the Israeli military occupation of 1967.On Wednesday, the director of UNRWA Operations Gaza issued a warning - the people of Gaza are on the brink of explosion, where "mortal danger is a daily reality." Nothing can excuse Hamas from firing 2,647 rockets into Israel this year alone. And nothing can excuse the Israelis from murdering 60 innocent children in response.

The quartet needs to pressure Israel to ease the blockade and freeze its settlement activity as agreed upon five months ago in Annapolis. But complacency deferred to a status quo by the quartet worsens the humanitarian crisis. Magnum photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti captures in this photo an appeal to humanity. It's a Palestinian girl, her arms outstretched, as she too stares in disbelief, perhaps with an air of resignation not unlike the ragged man facing his French executioners two hundred years ago today.

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Al Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Hajj was sent to home to Sudan after spending six years at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Al-Hajj described the conditions at the prison as inhumane. A Washington official said al-Hajj was being transferred, not released. However, Sudan's justice minister said al-Hajj is free and does not face any arrest or charges. There are currently 275 inmates at the base.

Suicide blast at mosque

A teenage boy in Pakistan detonated a bomb inside a mosque injuring twenty people. Authorities at the scene claim half of the bomb, strapped to his chest, failed to detonate. The mosque, also the headquarters of the armed militant group Amr Bil Maroof wa Nahi Anil Munkir, is in Bara. Though no one has claimed responsibility, a spokesman for the group claims a close associate of Baitullah Mehsud, Taliban commander of Khyber and Orakzai, orchestrated the attack.

Death by terrorist attack quadrupled in Pakistan

The US State Department released a report claiming terrorist attacks in Pakistan have more than doubled from 2006 to 2007. The number of terrorist related deaths in the period quadrupled to 1,335 causalities whereas global terrorist-related deaths marginally increased. Half of all terrorist-related attacks occurred in Iraq. The report also says al-Qaida cells are finding safe havens in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan.

Top al-Qaida leader killed

An American air strike on Thursday killed Aden Hashi Ayro in a central town in Somalia. Ayro was responsible for planning suicide attacks in Somalia and murdering a BBC journalist. He was also the military commander of the Shebab Islamist militia. An American military official said four Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from a US Navy ship destroyed the Shebab hideout. Several other al-Qaida operatives were also confirmed dead.

NATO and UN confront Russia

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is accusing Russia of provoking hostilities with Georgia by increasing the number of troops in the breakaway region of Abkhazia. A NATO spokesman, James Appathurai, told reporters on Wednesday in Brussels that "the decision to send more troops to Abkhazia does not contribute to stability, but undermines it." Then on Thursday, UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe urged all 192 UN member states to support Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Russian authorities say the extra troops will deter Georgia from launching a planned attack against the Moscow-backed separatists. The extra 1,200 troops will make increase the total number of Russian soldiers to 3,000.

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Gaza "stripped", Nikolaj Nielsen