Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Mohammed Asad
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Palestinians urge UN to reverse Israel decision to blacklist NGOs
Thousands of farmers, fishermen, youth, women, human rights activists, and representatives of Palestinian civil society called on the United Nations to take immediate and serious action to cancel the decision made by the Israeli occupation authorities to classify six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organisations, stressing the need to protect the…
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Tackling the effects of breast cancer through yoga in Gaza
The Positive Energy Club in Gaza today organised a yoga session for cancer patients in an effort to help them build strength and eradicate negative energy. Tahreer Murtaja, head of the Positive Energy Club’s board, said she was happy the event could be held as part of Pink October, which spread awareness of…
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Treating Gaza’s rubbish issues
Gaza’s landfill site is expanding to accommodate two million cubic metres of waste per day in an effort to meet the enclave’s needs for the next nine years. The project budget is estimated at $40 million, funded by the World Bank and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the…
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Gaza exhibits seized narcotics to highlight war on drugs
As part of its war against drug traffickers, Gaza’s Anti-Narcotics Unit displayed prohibited narcotics seizures in the enclave and whose traffickers have been arrested. The items will be destroyed by authorities who put them on display to highlight the extent of the problem in Gaza but also as a deterrent for those hoping to…
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Rehabilitating Gaza’s stray dogs
Among the sand dunes south of Gaza City, on an area spanning two dunams (0.5 acres), live more than 200 stray dogs which have been taken off the streets of Gaza. Salala, which was established in 2006, is the only association concerned with animal welfare in the Gaza Strip. It…
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Gaza farmers protest Israel restrictions on exports
Palestinian farmers in the Gaza Strip are facing hardships and working at a loss as a result of the terms set out for exports by the Israeli occupation authorities. Holding a protest yesterday, farmers said rules – which include the transport of goods to their intended buyer without lids –…
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It’s a date: The harvest season begins in Gaza
According to the Ministry of Agriculture some 12,440 dunums (12.44 square kilometres) of land are ready for harvest and will produce 14,000 tonnes of dates. On average, individuals eat six kilogrammes of the valuable crop a year, the minister added. Once harvested the fruits will be sent to the…
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Gaza looking for imports as olive harvest slumps
Some 40,650 dunums (40.65 square kilometres) of land is harvested with olive trees, Fadl Al-Jadba from the Ministry of Agriculture explains. However only 75 per cent of the land has fruit to be harvested, he continues, as a result, only 10,000 tonnes of olives are expected this year, compared to…
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‘Music helps Palestinians remain steadfast’, teacher says
As a musician in his sixties, Khader Al-Bayed, has witnessed numerous stages of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands, but he’s also seen how music has been used as instrument of resistance. “I discovered my musical talent when I was young,” he tells MEMO. “I struggled to find someone who could teach…
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Israel kills Palestinian, injures 15 others in Gaza
A Palestinian was killed and 15 were wounded by the Israeli occupation forces as protests calling for the end of the siege on Gaza continued. According to the Ministry of Health, a 26-year-old citizen died of wounds he sustained in his abdomen, in the northern Gaza Strip. It stated that…
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Gaza begins vaccination campaign in schools
A campaign to vaccinate secondary school students against the coronavirus was launched in Gaza today. The Ministry of Education said vaccinating the nearly 100,000 high school students will increase community and school immunity, adding that it had put in place measures to ensure the school environment is safe including through disinfecting classrooms…
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UN, Palestine team remove unexploded Israel bomb from Gaza building
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) yesterday extracted an American-made Israeli missile that was dropped on a five-storey apartment building during the occupation state’s latest war on Gaza in May. The ordnance had not exploded. The GBU-39 type missile is often used by the occupation army to destroy Palestinian…
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Israel injured 14 peaceful Palestinian protesters in Gaza
Some 14 Palestinians were injured during protests calling for the end of Israel’s brutal siege on the Gaza Strip yesterday. Israeli occupation forces opened fire at protesters gathered near the fence separating Gaza from the occupation state. Of those injured, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said, five were hit by…
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Gaza’s women-only beauty oil business
A group of women in Gaza have manufactured a range of botanical toiletries which are free from radicals and chemicals and therefore have no side effects. Speaking to MEMO, Gold Green (GG) co-Founder Rafqat Al-Hamlawi says: “The project succeeded when we were able to create a machine that would extract the…
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Gaza re-opens Ottoman-era house
Gaza yesterday re-opened a newly renovated Ottoman-era house after parts of it collapsed. Jamal Salem, representative of the Palestinian Culture and Arts Authority, said that an agreement was reached with the family who lived in the house, and the restoration was carried out with the support of the authority in…
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Gaza prepares animals for Eid Al-Adha
As the Eid Al-Adha holiday approaches, Palestinians in Gaza are preparing calves and sheep for slaughter with 35,000 animals expected to be purchased for this day. Farmer Ahmed Al-Batini, the owner of one of livestock warehouses in Gaza, says that he has no cows left for sale, because people and…
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Gaza incurs $479m in losses following Israel offensive
Gaza suffered $479 million worth of damages during Israel’s 11-day bombardment of the enclave in May, the Palestinian Ministry of Housing in Gaza announced today. In a press conference, Deputy Housing Minister Naji Sarhan said that the losses were suffered in the housing, infrastructure, development and economic sectors. The housing…
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Children in Gaza call on the world to save them
A group of children in Gaza came together today to call on the world to help save them. Gathering at the Port of Gaza, the minors wrote letters highlighting their dreams and aspirations, placed them in bottles and threw them into the sea in the hope that they would reach…
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Palestinians sit the Tawjihi high school exam
Some 84,598 male and female students in all governorates across Palestine will sit the Tawjihi high school exam today. The Ministry of Education said that the students applying for the exam are distributed among 896 halls, adding that 25,000 staff members are facilitating the exams, including observers, those marking the papers, administrators,…
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Gaza ‘engineers’ its way out of the siege
Palestinians in Gaza are showcasing innovative creations which will help improve their lives under siege and overcome the limitation of the closures imposed on them by the occupation. An exhibition opened by Shuaa Foundation in Gaza City yesterday aims to provide solutions which overcome the lack of certain materials which…
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Gaza launches Journalism Square to honour media outlets
The Palestinian Media Forum launched ‘Sahafa Square’ (Journalism Square) in Gaza today in front of the destroyed Al-Jawhara Tower which housed media companies, in honour of journalists whose work has been affected by the Israeli aggression. The initiative was launched in cooperation with the Gaza Municipality, Mayor of Gaza, Yahya…
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Gaza’s economy further crippled by 33-day closure of commercial crossing
Israel’s continued closure of Gaza’ sole trade crossing is a form of collective punishment and is exacerbating the human and economic suffering of residents in the Strip, the Popular Committee Against the Siege (PCAGS) said today. The Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing, which is the economic lifeline of Gaza,…
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Gaza rallies in support of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa
Mass rallies were held in the besieged Gaza Strip today in support of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque after the Muslim Holy site witness a week of Israeli offensives and attacks. Protesters also condemned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision to postpone the parliamentary election which was due to take place on 22…
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New police cadres graduate in Gaza
The ninth class of students graduated today with a Bachelor of Law and Police Sciences at the Rabat University College, in Gaza City. Police training was carried out during the graduation ceremony, which included: Simulating the execution of police operations, including dealing with “riots” and controlling “outlaws”, in addition to…