Caledoniyya Global

The death of a Palestinian child on the Rafah Crossing in Gaza on yesterday evening brought the death toll amongst Gazans that have been stranded at the Rafah Crossing to 32. According to Palestinian sources, seventeen-year-old Abed Al Rahman Lubad was returning from Eygpt, where he had been receiving treatments for cancer.With approximately 6,000 Palestinians stranded on the borders between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, bad health and dire humanitarian conditions have fuelled calls by European...Read Full Story

According to Agenzia Giornalistica Italia (AGI), almost 700,000 Palestinians have taken advantage of the demolished fence on the Rafah Crossing and flowed into Egypt. UNRWA, the UN agency that assists the Palestinian refugees, has estimated that 400,000 have crossed the border on Wednesday and 300,000 this morning, while tens of street traders are selling falafel and sweets, welcoming the crowd in the Egyptian part of the city of Rafah. After suffering months of poverty and violence, Gazans...Read Full Story

There comes a time in every leader’s life when choices have to be made along lines of what is right and wrong. If only it could be that easy. Right and wrong, though seemingly divisible are actually highly ambiguous: at times an action can be politically right, but morally wrong, and vice-versa. The sign of a good leader is one who can surmount both, and still come up smelling of roses. Which is why I don’t envy the Egyptian government, who seem to be trapped in their own dilemma, and...Read Full Story

Through the years that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has raged, one image has stood out above the rest: Hanzala. The barefoot child, seen always from behind surveying varying levels of chaos and tragedy, has become synonymous with Palestine and the official logo of the Commission for Freedom and Justice Through Humor, an arm of WATCH and an affiliate of UNESCO.Born in 1937 in Al-Shajara village in Galilee, al-Ali was forced to leave Palestine in 1948 at the age of 11. Along with his family...Read Full Story

Each summer we learn of new forest fires, usually in Italy, Spain, Australia and parts of America. The destruction to the environment is dire, yet often the casualties are low. Until this summer. The tragedy that is unfolding across the Peloponnese and other areas of Greece is one of epic proportions, with sixteen people dying today alone - bringing the total figure of fatalities to over fifty. Some 200 fires are raging across the country, and aside from the Peloponnese, the most serious are...Read Full Story

Art, by its very essence, has always been a renegade in popular culture. For every jaw-dropping Renaissance marvel crafted by Raphael, Masaccio, and Pontormo, there has been a controversial retort, such as Theodore Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa (1820), Edouard Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur L’Herbe (1863) and more recently, Eric Fischl’s Tumbling Woman (2001) and Damien Hirst’s For the Love of God. Art is expression. Art is beauty. Art is innovation and imagination. Art can defy nature and bring to...Read Full Story

In recent weeks a spate of unique and inspired initiatives have emerged to facilitate peace in Palestine at grass roots level, and while many have originated from Israeli and Palestinian groups, the latest has arrived from the U.S., courtesy of Hawaiian surfing aficionado, Dorian ‘Doc’ Paskowitz. Touched by a story in which young Gazans expressed their passion for surfing as a means to escape daily strife, the 87-year-old wave guru rustled up the support of Israeli companies and donors to buy...Read Full Story

As the Christmas period winds down from its initial high fever and we start preparing for the New Year, spare a thought for those whose Christmas cheer was in deplorably short supply. In the Gaza Strip Christmas has been a muted affair, with Santa lugging a near empty sack and celebrations conducted in the midst of a sombre atmosphere. For many, this Christmas has been yet another reminder of the loved ones they have lost; for others it is merely another fearful day in which attacks are...Read Full Story

The news today that a neo-Nazi group has been arrested in Israel is disconcerting on two points. Foremost, that the members are Israeli citizens; and secondly, that the region is already beleagured by conflict - does it need further violence? Accused of carrying out attacks on foreigners, gay people and religious Jews, the eight suspects, aged between 16-21, are all Israeli citizens from the former Soviet Union. They were arrested a month ago, but the news only emerged on yesterday. According...Read Full Story

Throughout the course of the recent Iraq war, Coalition forces have been assisted by Iraqi translators who have placed their lives on the line in a manner equal to that of the military forces, as their families and friends are drawn into danger by mere association to the perceived ‘traitors’.Constituting 40% of the 300-plus fatalities filed by private contractors with the U.S. Labor Department - a figure that fails to touch upon the vast number employed by the remaining Coalition forces...Read Full Story