Zohair M. Abu Shaban, The Hartford Courant, 31 August 2008

This article was originally published by The Hartford Courant and is republished with the author’s permission.

As a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip, I could not have been more proud to learn last June that I had earned a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to study in the United States.

As a child, I would wonder how televisions, computers and washing machines actually worked. I took this fascination to the Islamic University of Gaza, the only Gazan university offering a degree in electrical engineering. There, I developed an ECG monitoring system that enables patients’ hearts to be monitored at home through a personal computer and an Internet link. I won the university prize for distinguished projects for my innovation. I long dreamed of the other advances I might make after an education at the University of Connecticut, where I was scheduled to study this fall for a master’s degree in electrical engineering.

Now, my dream has been stolen from me. I am devastated; my parents heartbroken. Though Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, it still controls our borders and determines who and what enters or exits. Since a 2006 election that brought a Hamas majority to the Palestinian Legislative Council, Israel has steadily diminished access into and out of Gaza. Many Palestinians reportedly died in the past year because they could not leave to obtain medical care they desperately needed. Food, fuel and medicine are scarce. Hundreds of students like me, with scholarships to study abroad, are being arbitrarily denied the right to leave Gaza to fulfill our educational aspirations.

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After 5 Grueling Years, a Moment of Repose

Fairfax, VA – September 2, 2008 – After five-and-a-half years of harsh and gratutious detention, former Florida professor and civil rights activist Dr. Sami Al-Arian was released on bond, reuniting with his family for the first time since his ordeal began in 2003.

Earlier today (Tuesday), the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) filed an order for the release of Dr. Al-Arian from their custody. Judge Brinkema originally granted Dr. Al-Arian bail on July 10 and reaffirmed that decision last month, but the ICE continued to detain him until today on the pretext that they were completing deportation proceures

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Added to YouTube on 29 June 2008

by Rami Almeghari – IMEMC & Agencies

Medical sources reported that Hussam Assultan, 32, was hit in head and that his injury was described as critical, while Mohammad Ani Assultan, 19, was hit with shrapnel onto his body.

The said shooting on Gaza coast comes amidst a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian factions, Cairo brokered on June 19, 2008.

[Read the report]

Related: ISRAELI NAVAL VESSELS FIRING ON UNARMED FISHING BOATS AND HUMAN RIGHTS WORKERS

30 August 2008

We arrived safely last night. The trip home was much less eventful than the trip to Gaza and much less emotional. On board my boat, the FREE GAZA, was a family of Palestinians who had not been let out of the concentration camp called “Gaza” for five years. The mother had given birth to her youngest son four years ago, and the family, living in Cyprus, had not seen him. The joy on the faces of Hana’s family was worth waiting the extra half day to leave. We had to make sure that the Cypriot authorities would allow them in.

On board the LIBERTY was a 10-year-old boy whose leg had been shot off by the Israeli military. He was from Khan Younis. The story (and I haven’t been able to verify it it yet) is that he was standing with his friend as an Israeli tank invaded his town. A sniper shot him through one leg, then when he stood to run, the sniper shot him through the other one, causing huge damage to the leg. It was amputated at the hip. Again, we had to wait for Cypriot authorities to give permission for him to transit to another country.

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