From Occupied Palestine

Parallel lives
DALIA KARPEL
Ha'aretz, 4 October 2007

When she was in fifth grade, her father took her to the Golan Heights and showed her where he had lost his best friends in the battle for the Tel Faher outpost on June 9, 1967. "For years, that battle was an inaccessible emotional zone for him," says Nufar Yishai-Karin, a clinical psychologist whose years in the shadow of her father's battle trauma shaped her consciousness and steered her to her profession.

'My son lived a worthwhile life'
EMINE SANER
Guardian, 26 March 2007

In April 2003, 21-year old Tom Hurndall was shot in the head in Gaza by an Israeli soldier as he tried to save the lives of three small children. Nine months later, he died, having never recovered consciousness. Emine Saner talks to his mother Jocelyn about her grief, her fight to make the Israeli army accountable for his death and the book she has written in his memory.

IDF officer cleared in death of Gaza girl to receive compensation from state
AMOS HAREL
Ha'aretz, 22 March 2006

[background: Harper's; Guardian]

Former Gaza general eludes UK war crimes charge
JON ELMER
The NewStandard, 13 September 2005

Ramallah -- The former head of Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip evaded arrest by Scotland Yard agents in Britain on a war crimes charge when he refused to disembark a flight from Israel at London's Heathrow airport on Sunday.

Evidence: In the Zone
Harper's, May 2005, p. 19

From the transcript of radio communication among Israeli soldiers near Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. The recording was submitted in January in the trial of the company commander, whose name has been withheld due to a military court order. He faces a maximum of three years in prison. Translated from the Hebrew by Nomi Friedman

'Let me fight my monsters'
KATHARINE VINER
Guardian, 8 April 2005

Two years ago Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American protester, was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza. Since then she has become a potent symbol for both sides of the conflict. But who was the real Rachel? KATHARINE VINER, who has edited her writings for a new play, on an ordinary woman with an extraordinary passion

Indifferent to death: tragedy of the traumatised children of the intifada
SANDRA JORDAN
Observer , 3 April 2005

Daily acts of violence may be leaving Gaza's youngsters too emotionally scarred to adjust to a life of peace, reports SANDRA JORDAN

Rafah -- 'Sawerney! Sawerney!' the children shout as they swarm around ('Take my picture! Take my picture!'). This is Yibna, in Rafah, one of the most desolate sites of destruction in the Gaza strip, where Palestinian children play in the ruins of their demolished homes. Despite the ceasefire - and the danger - they still chase Israeli tanks. This is their playground.

Footage said to show Gaza girl could have posed threat
AMOS HAREL
Ha'aretz, 6 March 2005

[see also: "Israeli officer: I was right to shoot 13-year-old child", Guardian, 24 November 2004]

The attorney representing Captain R., an Israel Defense Forces company commander accused of "confirming the kill" of a Palestinian schoolgirl adjacent to the south Gaza area of Rafah, told a military tribunal Sunday that footage of the scene substantiated the commander's claim that the girl was sent by militants.

The neighbors across the way
GIDEON LEVY
Ha'aretz, 11 February 2005

In contrast to the private villas - tin shacks. In contrast to a 'secure' road - suffocation. In contrast to international attention - total disregard. The 8,500 Palestinians of the Muasi region are the Palestinians no-one has heard of.

Weary, guarded hope in Gaza
OMAR KARMI
Middle East Report Online, 8 February 2005

There is a bullet hole in the door of the Sufi family's diwan. The windows are newly replaced. Inside the clan's gathering place, a large rectangular room lined with cushions and small tables, there is further evidence of life on the front line in the Gaza Strip. At least eight more bullet holes add texture to the otherwise bare white walls. Family elder Humeid Ayed al-Sufi, 52, his wife and ten children live in the apartment upstairs. The apartment has four bedrooms, but for the past year the family has huddled together in the only one that does not overlook the street. "It's just not safe at night. There's too much shooting," said Sufi, a taxi driver.