October 1, 2003:
Mohammed's younger brother
Issam was seriously injured
and was taken to the hospital
about a week ago. His leg
was amputated and he is
undergoing medical treatment.

October 18, 2003:
Mohammad's younger brother,
Hussam [17 yrs old], was killed
by the Israeli army today.

Hussam was sitting at home
when he was shot in the face,
chest, back, legs. He had
nothing to do with any violent
or even political movement.

Hussam's crime is that he was
a Palestinian.

— The Webmaster

26 May 05

Israeli Occupation Forces, once more violate what is called “Calm down” period by killing Ahmed Robin Barhoom, 24, who was shot by an Israeli Army sniper close to the place in Yebna Camp. Other Palestinian member of Islamic Jihad has been assassinated by Israeli helicopter at Khan youies Camp, other three people were injured in the same hit.

This same week, the famous Brazilian soccer player Ronaldo visited Ramallah in the West Bank and Tel Aviv on a mission to promote peace and sports. His plans to visit Gaza as well were aborted by the Israeli military closure. Few realize what a passion soccer is in Palestine—it requires nothing more than a soccer ball, a little open ground. A Rafah 12-year-old, Hamad al Nairib, wrote to the sports star urging him to visit the children of Rafah "where all the people love you." Some mig ht call Hamad lucky; he was present at the peaceful demonstration in Rafah a year ago which the Israelis shelled. A number of Hamad's friends were killed that day; he himself lost his left leg. Hamad had been a fervent soccer player with dreams of becoming "the Ronaldo of Palestine." Maybe it isn't fair to expect a brilliant athlete also to be a diplomat, politician, and PR expert—we'll never know how much or little of an effort Ronaldo made to persuade the Israeli army to let him into Gaza. But Hamad and his friends were disappointed yet again

At early dawn today, the Israeli occupation forces manning a military checkpoint in Tal Al Sultan area, in the western part of Rafah opened fire at random towards the residents' houses in the area. There seemed to the residents to be no reason for the Shooting Later that day, two children in the Al Z'arba area in the southern part of Rafah, were injured when an object left on the street by Israeli soldiers exploded. Doctors at Abu Yousef Al Najjar Hospital said Ahmed Zaid Zuraob and Mohammed Ibraheem Zurob each had several shra pnel wounds in various parts of their bodies.

13 May 05

The Fatah faction came out top Friday in municipal polls in the occupied territories, but Islamist group Hamas beat the party of Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in four out of five major cities.

Thursday's elections in more than 80 municipalities throughout the Gaza Strip and West Bank had been seen as test of Hamas's popularity two months before the fundamentalist group contests its first legislative polls.

Preliminary results gave Fatah control of more than 50 municipalities and Hamas 28 . The remaining councils f ell to independents.

But Hamas, triumphing in four of the five major towns where the polls took place, proclaimed a wider victory.

Rafah and Bureij refugee camp in Gaza, along with Qalqiliya in the West Bank as Hamas wins.

Electoral officials said Hamas also won the sprawling town of Beit Lahya in northern Gaza, which like the impoverished Rafah has been radicalised after suffering the brunt of the almost five-year intifada.

But a senior Fatah official cast doubt over the Hamas victory in Rafah and the Bureij camp, ahead of the full, official results due on Sunday.

"We have requested a recount of votes in Rafah and Bureij. At the moment, we do not accept these results," central committee of elections member Abdallah al-Franji told a news conference.

In the West B ank, Biblical town of Bethle hem, Hamas won six out of seven council seats reserved for Muslims, with the seventh going to Islamic Jihad, said electoral officials. Christians control the council with eight seats.

Tayeb Abdelrahim, another Fatah central committee member and close aide to Abbas, told reporters the results proved his faction "remained the biggest force on the Palestinian street".

Late Thursday, Abbas welcomed what he called "the transparent and free democratic atmosphere in which these elections took place".

A senior Israeli official said the ballot was a domestic Palestinian affair but reiterated that Hamas's participation "conferred no legitimacy" on the group, which remains blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organisation.

"Democracy and terrorism do not go together," the source said.

Thursday's v oting in mostly small towns and villages was the second of three staggered rounds of municipal elections in the occupied territories.

Overall turnout was put at around 82 percent. Of 2,519 candidates standing for election, 399 are women.

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