sances.info

First of all, Hamas is not an arm of Iran. Hamas entered the elections as a political party. If the whole world had given them the chance of becoming a political player, maybe they would not be in a situation like this after the elections that they won. The world has not respected the political will of the Palestinian people. On the one hand, we defend democracy and we try our best to keep democracy in the Middle East, but on the other hand we do not respect the outcome of . . . the ballot box. Palestine today is an open-air prison. Hamas, as much as they tried, could not change the situation. Just imagine, you imprison the speaker of a country as well as some ministers of its government and members of its parliament. And then you expect them to sit obediently?

The campaign by the advocacy group, Yesh Din, which fights for the rights of Palestinians in the occupied territories, follows the publication on Friday in the newspaper Haaretz of classified government data regarding the extent of construction in officially recognized settlements that is illegal by Israeli standards.

Israelis - who have been negotiating with Fatah - have vehemently opposed a unity government that would give Hamas more legitimacy. But this week, the European Union endorsed the idea this week as a means of rebuilding war-torn Gaza and ending the political isolation of the people there.

At the United Nations, John Holmes, an emergency relief coordinator, said the scale of the destruction meant that far more than the current movement of aid was needed urgently. “Enough will always be allowed in for people to exist, but not enough for the conditions for people to live,” Mr. Holmes told reporters.

LONDON — In more than 80 years as a publicly financed broadcaster with an audience of millions at home and around the world, the BBC has rarely been buffeted as severely as it has in recent days over its decision not to broadcast a television appeal by aid agencies for victims of Israel’s recent military actions in Gaza.

ZAYTOUN, Gaza Strip -- Just before dawn on Jan. 4, a sledgehammer crashed through the living-room wall of the home of Almaz al-Samuni in this southern enclave of Gaza City, pounding a hole wide enough for someone to poke a rifle through while shouting in a language she didn't understand.

GAZA CITY, Jan. 25 -- One by one, the seventh-graders rose from their old wooden desks and, in toneless voices that betrayed neither sadness nor surprise, spoke of horrible things.

The support for rejectionist parties in Palestinian politics, Islamist or otherwise, comes straight out of the refugee camps. Gaza has the highest concentration of refugees; nearly half of the population shares in the personal experience of dispossession.

Obama, to the delight of Israeli officials and Jewish groups, also did not mention Israeli settlement expansion in Palestinian territories, which Palestinians see as a roadblock to peace.

"We were told that in the shelters, we would get protection," said Intisar Sultan, as she clutched a framed photo of her youngest son and softly cried. "But they kicked us out of our homes, and they followed us to the shelters to kill our sons." She sent Abdullah to get water the night of Jan. 5 and never saw him again. Witnesses said his body was cut into dozens of pieces by an Israeli missile strike.