DUBAI, 2 July 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS:

EGYPT-OPT: Gazans stranded at Rafah border, North Sinai towns IRAQ: Baghdad orphanage scandal raises concerns IRAQ-JORDAN: Khalid Khamas, "This uncertainty is killing me from inside" IRAQ: Attacks on bridges affecting aid deliveries

IRAQ-SYRIA: Plight of Palestinian refugees in border camps worsens IRAQ: Samarra security crackdown making life difficult for students ISRAEL: Dozens made homeless as police demolish Bedouin houses

ISRAEL: Muhammed Salami, "They even took the kettle and the tea cups" ISRAEL-SUDAN: Government reverts to detention policy for Sudanese refugees ISRAEL-OPT: Some 600 villagers face prospect of new displacement SYRIA: Warning of looming crisis as Iraqi refugee influx continues YEMEN: FAO to launch major locust operation on 28 June YEMEN: Street children at increased risk of sexual abuse

EGYPT-OPT: Gazans stranded at Rafah border, North Sinai towns

Up to 2,500 residents of the Gaza Strip are stranded on the Egyptian side of the border crossing at Rafah and in the towns of el-Arish and Rafah in the North Sinai governorate, aid agencies say.

The border area between Egypt and the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt), which has been sealed off to media and tourists following an escalation in violence in Gaza, is continuing to host Palestinians unable either to cross to their home territory or return to Cairo. Many of the travellers are attempting to return following medical treatment in the Egyptian capital.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72901

IRAQ: Baghdad orphanage scandal raises concerns

Parents who have had to leave their children at care institutions have expressed outrage at the discovery of over 20 severely malnourished boys who had been left without proper care in a Baghdad orphanage last week.

The 24 boys - most of whom are mentally handicapped and aged 3-15 - were found on 10 June naked in a dark room without windows by US and Iraqi soldiers on a routine patrol. Many of the children were tied to their beds and too weak to stand once released.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72904

IRAQ-JORDAN: Khalid Khamas, "This uncertainty is killing me from inside"

When 41-year-old former restaurant owner Khalid Khamas arrived in Jordan three years ago from Iraq, he was ecstatic about his new life. As time went by his dreams were shattered. His future remains uncertain in a country in which he does not feel welcome.

"I was living in constant fear in Iraq because my family became a target for the militias and gangsters. I knew I would end up dead or kidnapped. Two of my brothers were killed in front of their houses because of their religious backgrounds."

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72910

IRAQ: Attacks on bridges affecting aid deliveries

The delivery of humanitarian aid in war-torn Iraq is being hampered as bridges and key transportation arteries come under attack from insurgents, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) said on 26 June.

"Our humanitarian work has been hampered since the main bridges and highway overpasses in Baghdad and other provinces started to come under attack," said Abdul-Hamid Salem, director of the IRCS's Baghdad office.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72926

IRAQ-SYRIA: Plight of Palestinian refugees in border camps worsens

The plight of Palestinian refugees fleeing violence in Iraq and stranded in camps on the Syrian-Iraqi border is continuing to deteriorate as the summer heat intensifies and a solution remains elusive. There is currently one camp on the Syrian side of the border, one in no-man's land and one on the Iraqi side of the border housing Palestinian refugees.

As the summer heat has increased, with temperatures now reaching 50 degrees Celsius, living conditions in the desert have become increasingly hazardous with snakes, scorpions and sand storms.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72952

IRAQ: Samarra security crackdown making life difficult for students

In a bid to restore order in the northern city of Samarra after the bombing of its prized Shia shrine, 6,000 Iraqi soldiers and police have been deployed there, making it difficult for residents to go about their normal life.

Local officials said nearly half of the security forces have been stationed in three schools and students have consequently been shut out.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72965

ISRAEL: Dozens made homeless as police demolish Bedouin houses

At least 20 houses in two Bedouin-Arab villages were destroyed on 25 June by Israeli security forces, leaving over 150 people homeless. Some 1,500 police and special forces converged on the two small villages, which together have a population of about 1,000 people from the al-Qi'an family, and conducted the demolitions.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72930

ISRAEL: Muhammed Salami, "They even took the kettle and the tea cups"

Muhammed Salami, 70, from the al-Qi'an tribe, is an Arab citizen of Israel. His home and the homes of his large family - 40 children and grandchildren - were destroyed on 25 June by Israeli security forces who said the buildings were "illegal" and that the land was "state land". Over 150 people lost their homes during the operation.

Salami lives in the village of Atir, in the Negev desert in southern Israel. He related his story, sitting under a canopy to block out the sun. Most of his belongings and food, he said, had been confiscated.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72947

ISRAEL-SUDAN: Government reverts to detention policy for Sudanese refugees

After a lull of several weeks, the Israeli military have once again begun to arrest Sudanese refugees illegally crossing the Egyptian border into Israel. In the past month the refugees were released onto the streets of Israel's southern towns and cities, where volunteers from charity organisations tried to help, directing them to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72957

ISRAEL-OPT: Some 600 villagers face prospect of new displacement

Nearly all the Palestinian residents of al-Walaje village were displaced by the 1948 Israeli-Arab war or are descendants of those displaced, and many now again face the prospect of forced displacement, this time to make room for a possible new Israeli settlement and the construction of the Israeli West Bank separation barrier.

About 600 people, all refugees registered with UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, live in the Ein Jwesia section of al-Walaje. Now, many of these Palestinians are concerned that they will lose their homes and land.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72978

SYRIA: Warning of looming crisis as Iraqi refugee influx continues

A joke circulating here has two Iraqis wandering the streets of the Syrian capital, angrily protesting the large number of Syrians taking over their city. With up to 2,000 Iraqi refugees arriving each day, adding to the 1.5 million - equivalent to around 8 percent of the Syrian population - who have flooded into Syria since the start of the US-led war on Iraq in 2003, economists and refugee experts warn of a looming social and economic crisis.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72967

YEMEN: FAO to launch major locust operation on 28 June

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), in collaboration with the Yemeni government, is to launch a major eradication effort against desert locusts in eastern Yemen.

"The desert locusts pose a very serious threat to the food security of the country," Ibrahim Abdullah Thabet, assistant FAO representative for the country, told IRIN in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72936

YEMEN: Street children at increased risk of sexual abuse

Thousands of poor children, mostly boys, work the streets of Yemen, selling anything from water and sweets to fruit and tissues. They have nowhere to go at night, making them particularly vulnerable to the risk of sexual abuse and exploitation.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72906

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