GAZA: Short film takes on rape, a taboo subject in Palestinian enclave

Basma Abualila, a journalist and filmmaker living in Gaza, recently caused a stir in the strip with her short film on rape in Gaza. In her 10-minute film, “ A Call at Night," based on a real-life incident, a young woman shares her story of how she was raped by her boyfriend and then forced to marry her rapist out of fear when she got pregnant. 

 
 

 

“He said he needed to talk to me but said we couldn’t talk while standing in the street because everyone was watching us. So he asked me to get into his car to talk. I get into the car and he puts something over my face,” the woman tells Abualila in a telephone conversation in the film. 

What then happens is unclear. The woman remembers nothing after getting into the car with the man. She wakes up hours later in an apartment with her clothes torn off and a terrible headache. Her boyfriend is in the room, looking at her from a distance. She believes she has been drugged. 

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IRAN: For Obama, the road to Tehran leads through Jerusalem

Barely noted in the reports about Monday's meeting between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a revealing exchange toward the end of the question-and-answer session with a small group of reporters.

The president was asked whether he agreed with Netanyahu's view that dismantling Iran's nuclear program and getting it stop supporting militant groups in the Levant was the first step toward a resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. 

Obama said while the charged atmosphere in the Middle East makes it tough for Israel to negotiate with its rivals, he viewed the situation the other way around. 

Read the little-cited quotes below:

GAZA: Hamas blamed for executions

Human Rights Watch has condemned the radical group Hamas, saying the group killed, tortured and maimed at least 32 Palestinian political opponents and suspected collaborators during the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip in January.

In a new 26-page report, "Under Cover of War: Hamas Political Violence in Gaza," the rights organization claims that between Dec. 27, 2008, and Jan. 18, 2009, Hamas security forces executed 18 men, most believed to have been Israeli collaborators. Another 14 men, many of them alleged political opponents, have been killed since late January.

“During Israel’s attack on Gaza, Hamas moved violently against its political opponents and those deemed collaborators with Israeli forces,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division. “The unlawful arrests, torture and killings in detention continued even after the fighting stopped, mocking Hamas’ claims to uphold the law.”

Read the full report here.

-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Hamas militants. Credit: Reuters

QATAR: Egypt gives Qatar the cold shoulder

One could call it a cold-shoulder war.

With his decision not to show up at the Arab Summit in Doha, Qatar, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak furthered the ongoing mutual hostility between his country and the Persian Gulf kingdom of Qatar.

“There won't be any reconciliation between Qatar and Egypt soon,” wrote Ahmed Moussa, a staunch spokesman of Mubarak’s regime, in today’s issue of the semi-official Al Ahram daily. “Egypt sent a message to the Qataris and reduced the level of representation, which shows that Qatar should revise all its positions toward Egypt.”

It was announced Saturday that Mubarak would not attend the summit. But Egypt will be represented by a delegation headed by the minister of state for parliamentary affairs, Moufid Shehab.

ISRAEL: 1,000 days of captivity for Shalit

Hundreds of people came to Jerusalem on Saturday evening to mark the 1,000th day since Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped. In recent weeks, his family had joined the protest tent already manned for months by volunteers and sat up the block from the residence of the prime minister, a constant reminder to Ehud Olmert of his unfinished business as he finishes his term.

Olmert's final push to secure a deal with Hamas for Shalit's freedom in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners fell through, amid a bitter public debate in Israel over the price of such an exchange. As mediators and negotiators shuttled back and forth between Cairo, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in an attempt to reach agreement in the last few days of the incumbent government, time -- often a liquid concept in the region -- was pressing.

ISRAEL: First rocket-free play center

Given the choice, Sderot probably would have preferred to be known for the successful musicians it produced. But its proximity to Gaza has kept the small, southern town under constant threat of Kassam rockets and atop of the news. 

Now it can also be known as the site of the country's first rocket-free playground, with the dedication of  a giant safe-play center for kids. 21,000 square feet of an old textile factory have been converted into a unique indoors recreational facility complete with a mini-soccer field, climbing-wall and multiple-reinforced shelters.

The center will serve children of all ages from Sderot and the neighboring communities, and the multipurpose shelters will provide instant protection in case of a rocket attack, finally delivering kids and parents from the 15-second dash to safety that the "color red" rocket warning system grants.

ISRAEL: Gaza closure -- an animated discussion

A new campaign drawing attention to the closure of the crowded Gaza Strip starts today, with a short animated film. The 90-second "Closed Zone" was created by Yoni Goodman, animation director for "Waltz with Bashir," Ari Folman's Golden Globe winning film.

Goodman started working on the short before the military operation in Gaza that continued during the project, further stressing the impact of closure on a population under fire. He hopes that viewers are able to "detach themselves from their automatic associations of good and evil" and relate to the human character and situation.

EGYPT: Donors promise almost $5 billion for Palestinians

In a new attempt to strengthen its position as a key player in the region, Egypt today hosted an international donors conference for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the 22-day Israeli incursion that battered the seaside Palestinian enclave.

More than 70 countries and international organizations convened in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh and pledged $4.48 billion to rebuild Gaza. The Palestinian Authority had only requested about $3 billion. Money, however, is not the problem. Instead, the volatility of the situation in Hamas-controlled Gaza, internal divisions among Palestinians and the ascendancy of a right-wing government in Israel may jeopardize reconstruction efforts.

In their final statement, participants called for a permanent ceasefire between Hamas and Israel and reconciliation among rival Palestinians factions as "requisites for any successful reconstruction effort." Participants also stressed the need for Israel to lift its blockade for an "immediate, unconditional and sustained reopening" of Israel’s crossings with Gaza.

EGYPT: Palestinian reconciliation talks kick off in Cairo

Reconciliation talks between Hamas, Fatah and smaller Palestinian factions began Thursday in Cairo amid hopes for an agreement on a national unity government after nearly two years of bloodshed and political impasse that have slowed progress in the wider Arab-Israeli conflict.

In negotiations leading to the talks, Fatah and Hamas agreed to stop media smear campaigns against each other and to release prisoners held by both sides. "A certain number of detainees will be freed right at the beginning of the dialogue," according to a joint statement by Azzam Ahmed, leader of the Fatah bloc in the Palestinian parliament, and Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official.