Development
EI's Development section offers news and reports about the status of key development issues on the ground and the work of international and local aid agencies. Quality submissions are welcomed.
Egypt braces for new Gaza influx
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, The Electronic Intifada, 6 May 2008
CAIRO, 6 May (IPS) - With next-door Gaza Strip in a humanitarian crisis, the government is desperate to avoid a repeat of January's Palestinian influx into the Sinai Peninsula. In recent weeks, the security presence along Egypt's 14-kilometer border with the hapless territory has been significantly reinforced. [MORE]
UN facing increased delays at Israeli checkpoints
Report, The Electronic Intifada, 30 April 2008
JERUSALEM, 30 April (IRIN) - Increased Israeli restrictions on the checkpoints around East Jerusalem have caused more delays and more lost man hours for UN staff in March 2008 than in all of 2007, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported. In the Humanitarian Monitor for March, released on 24 April, OCHA said "operations were significantly affected" and almost daily UN vehicles were delayed and even turned back by Israeli soldiers at checkpoints south of Jerusalem. [MORE]
Report: Movement restrictions hinder aid impact
Report, The Electronic Intifada, 29 April 2008
JERUSALEM, 28 April (IRIN) - The World Bank has said that the Palestinian economy will not improve over the next year due to the Israeli restrictions on movement in the West Bank and the blockade on the Gaza Strip, despite efforts by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and international donors to boost the local economy. This predicament will exacerbate the humanitarian situation in the enclave, analysts said. [MORE]
Israel doesn't want to know Carter any more
Peter Hirschberg, The Electronic Intifada, 17 April 2008
JERUSALEM, 17 April (IPS) - Three decades after he brokered the first-ever peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country, former US president Jimmy Carter has become persona non grata in the Jewish state. Both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak refused to meet with him during his four-day visit here. So did former prime minister and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who accused Carter of holding "anti-Israel views in recent years." [MORE]
Poll: Israel, US greatest threats to Middle East
Jim Lobe, The Electronic Intifada, 15 April 2008
WASHINGTON, 14 April (IPS) - Despite renewed US efforts to achieve an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement this year, popular views of the United States in the Arab world have actually worsened since 2006, according to a major new survey of public opinion in six Arab states. [MORE]
EU "closer than ever" to Israel
David Cronin, The Electronic Intifada, 7 April 2008
BRUSSELS, 4 April (IPS) - Israel has been described as "closer to the European Union than ever before" by a leading Brussels official, even though a new EU report laments the ongoing killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces. This week, the European Commission published a series of progress reports on its relations with countries neighboring the 27-country bloc. [MORE]
Gaza's sewage system in crisis
Report, The Electronic Intifada, 26 March 2008
JERUSALEM/GAZA, 25 March (IRIN) - Design errors, a fast growing population, the halting in recent years of development projects, and Israeli restrictions on imports have rendered the Gaza Strip's sewage system incapable of handling the enclave's waste, experts said. The result is the pumping of partially treated or untreated sewage directly into the sea, and the seepage of dirty water into the ground and groundwater. [MORE]
Renewed Egyptian ceasfire attempts undermined by Israel
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, The Electronic Intifada, 24 March 2008
In the wake of a series of deadly Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip early this month, Egypt has stepped up efforts aimed at brokering a ceasefire between Palestinian resistance groups and Tel Aviv. "Egypt is talking to representatives from [Palestinian resistance factions] Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Israel in order to arrive at a tacit easing of hostilities," Mohamed Basyouni, head of the Shura (upper parliamentary) Council's committee for Arab affairs, and former Egyptian ambassador to Israel, told IPS. [MORE]
Egyptian anger over Israel "approaching boiling point"
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, The Electronic Intifada, 6 March 2008
CAIRO, 6 March (IPS) - Fury erupted on the streets and in parliament this week following violent Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip. But as protests were held nationwide in support of besieged Palestinians next door, Cairo continued to keep the volatile Rafah border crossing -- the only means out of the strip not under direct Israeli control -- tightly sealed. [MORE]
Egypt begins pumping gas to Israel despite Gaza siege
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, The Electronic Intifada, 29 February 2008
CAIRO, 29 February (IPS) - On Monday, Egypt began pumping natural gas to Israel in accordance with an energy accord between Cairo and Tel Aviv. While the Egyptian government defends the move as being in the country's best interest, opposition figures decry the notion of economic cooperation with Israel, especially in light of the latter's ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip. [MORE]
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