Stories about Palestine from August, 2010
UAE/Saudi Arabia: Palestinian-Israeli author's cultural site blocked
Arabic Literature (In English) reports that the “new literary and cultural site from Palestinian-Israeli author Ala Hlehel and journalist and culture critic Anton Shalhat, Qadita, is apparently blocked in the UAE and Saudia Arabia.”
Palestine: Abu Rahmah convicted of incitement for non-violent protest
Strong international, European, Arab, blogger, Twitter and media condemnation followed the conviction of non-violent Palestinian peace activist Abdallah Abu Rahmah, sentenced to prison by Israeli military court. Gabriel Nada rounds up reactions in this post.
Lebanon: Giving Palestinian Refugees the Right to Work
Lebanon is home to over 400,000 Palestinian refugees, who are not allowed to own property, cannot access the health care system, and need a special permit to leave their refugee camps. On August 17, the Lebanese parliament passed a law granting Palestinian refugees the same employment rights as other foreigners. Bloggers and tweeps react to this development.
MENA: The Bigger Picture Behind Eden Abergil's Facebook Photos
When ex-Israeli soldier Eden Abergil's Facebook photo album "IDF-the best days of my life" was revealed to contain pictures of her posing mockingly alongside blindfolded Palestinian detainees, the blogosphere was outraged. In this post, Katharine Ganly takes a look at some of the different reactions from the MENA region.
Palestine: The Politics Of Issuing Passports
The hostility between the Hamas government in Gaza and the Fatah government in Ramallah has manifested itself in many areas, from education to electricity. Now it is affecting the issuing of passports, and one blogger in Gaza has been caught in the middle.
Video Contest: Internet for Peace
The Internet has been nominated for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. As part of the ongoing debate on the contribution of Internet to our society, Condé Nast and Google Ireland have joined to organize this video contest and the winner will have the opportunity to travel and get their video featured on Italian MTV.
Palestine/Israel: Paul and Peace
After the success of Paul the Octopus in correctly guessing the outcome of all of Germany's matches in the World Cup, bloggerheads tweets: “I think we've seen enough to trust Paul the Octopus with two boxes marked ‘Israel’ and ‘Palestine’.”
Israel: The Razing of Al Araqeeb
Daniel Dukarevich posted an eyewitness account (Hebrew) of the eradication of the Bedouin Negev village of Al-Araqeeb by the Israeli police and military. Tikun Olam posts a translation here.