"Palestine" Top 5 Page for this destination Palestine by Nicola2004

Population: 3.8 million (UN, 2005)
Intended seat of government: East Jerusalem
Area: Palestinian Ministry of Information cites 5,970 sq km (2,305 sq miles) for West Bank territories and 365 sq km (141 sq miles) for Gaza
Major language: Arabic
Major religion: Islam
Life expectancy: 71 years (men), 74 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 new Israeli shekel (NIS) = 100 new agorot
Main exports: Citrus
GNI per capita: US $1,120 (World Bank, 2005)
Internet domain: .ps
International dialling code: +970

Rafah. Picture taken by Mohammed Omer

The medias don't report too much about this sad issue anymore and so a friend of mine who lives In gaza and works as a journalist regularly writes journal about what is going on there. Don't visit this website if you're in a depressed mood

http://rafah.virtualactivism.net/news/todaymain.htm

Palestinian eyes

After having received some quite angry messages especially from Israelis in response to this page I really felt like explaining some things.
What is going on in the middle east (Israel-Palestine) is a very vast, complex situation and a whole lot of unright is happening, caused by political leaders and I'm the last one to take a political side simply because I feel like politicians on both sides appear very aggressive and extreme. Tragedies happen on both sides - Israeli and Palestinian.
Israeli civilians lost loved ones through brainless suicide bombings, lost their own life or carried terrible injuries. My heart reaches out to those effected ones and their families and I'm despising the ones who elaborated and implemented such a horrible thing.
However I feel quite emotional especially about what is happening to the palestinians. Israelis appear to live a normal life. They have a home, they go partying, they have work. And I'm glad that at least one side in this conflict suffers less. But then have a look at what happens every day in the gaza strip especially.
It's a matter of discussion whether it is justifiable to assasinate palestinian extremists (For my part I'm against killing in any way - catch the extremists and lock them in jail) but isn't this against any humanitarian law to bomb and shell the Gaza strip where not only extremists get killed but also homes of civilians damaged or destroyed, family fathers killed or crippled, women and children, elderly people hurt or killed. Let alone the emotional scars people carry. Unable to sleep, posttraumatic stress disorder, hopelessness, depression. Not every palestinian agrees with suicide bombings and collective punishment is something that screams to heaven as a big unright.
Like I said I'm not on any political side, but on the side of humanity. I have both Israeli and palestinian friends. There are extremists on both sides and it is wrong to generalize and have feelings of hostility towards civilians because of this simply because extremists lets say on the palestinian side dont represent the general attitude of civilians.
In Israel you can see Arabs and Jews being befriended with each other, learning each other's languages, buying in each other's shops, their kids grow up together and this shows that both sides of the average civilian only wants peace.
I just hope that god will bring judgment soon over those politicians on both sides

• Pros:lovely, warmhearted people, loads of history, best olives of the world (the only place where i eat olives at all!!)
• Cons:unstable area, though not as bad as the medias want everybody to believe, angry people, poverty in certain areas
• In a nutshell:May god allow all kindhearted people to live in peace soon, no matter what nationality