MIDDLE EAST: MIDDLE EAST: Weekly round-up Number 104 for 8
December - 14 December 2006
Source: IRIN
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MIDDLE EAST, 8 January (IRIN) - IRAQ: Kawkab Barakat, Iraq "I lost my only two sons in the explosion"IRAQ: Appalling
conditions of women prisoners disputedIRAQ-JORDAN: Iranian-Kurd border refugees reject new proposalsIRAQ: Shortage of anti-retroviral drugs in KurdistanIRAQ: Respect for human rights still a
dream ISRAEL-OPT: Court overturns Israel's intifada lawISRAEL-OPT: Amnesty and Israel clash over arms and human rightsISRAEL-OPT: US$450m humanitarian appeal for PalestiniansLEBANON: Farmers
seek government help to escape downward spiral of debtOPT: No solutions for newly homelessSYRIA: Ahwazis in fear after news of deportation and deathsUNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Tentative step to
greater democracyIRAQ: Kawkab Barakat, Iraq "I lost my only two sons in the explosion"Escalating sectarian violence in Iraq since the February 2006 bombing of a revered Shi'ite mosque in Samarra
has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of ordinary Iraqis.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56718 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=IRAQIRAQ: Appalling conditions
of women prisoners disputedConflicting opinions exist within the Iraqi government on how female prisoners are treated. According to the Iraqi Minister of Women's Affairs and local NGOs, female
prisoners in Iraq are held in appalling conditions, often without charge, and are sometimes raped and tortured.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56720 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and
SelectCountry=IRAQIRAQ-JORDAN: Iranian-Kurd border refugees reject new proposalsIranian Kurds stuck on the Iraq-Jordan border for nearly two years say they will not leave their make-shift camp
until they are resettled to a third country. Some 200 Iranian Kurdish refugees living in deteriorating conditions categorically rejected recent proposals by US-based NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) to
resolve their problem.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56706 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=IRAQ-JORDANIRAQ: Shortage of anti-retroviral drugs in KurdistanHealth
officials in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region have said they lack anti-retroviral drugs and the necessary equipment for testing for the HI virus and that they have been instructed by health
authorities in Baghdad to deport foreigners who have been found HIV-positive.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56707 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=IRAQIRAQ: Respect for
human rights still a dream Sectarian violence causing displacement and targeted attacks are continuing to further deepen the situation of human rights in Iraq today, local and international NGOs
say.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56683 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=IRAQISRAEL-OPT: Court overturns Israel's intifada lawIsrael's Supreme Court has overturned a
controversial Israeli law banning Palestinians from claiming compensation for harm suffered at the hands of soldiers.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56716 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and
SelectCountry=ISRAEL-OPTISRAEL-OPT: Amnesty and Israel clash over arms and human rightsThe London-based human rights organisation Amnesty International has asked the European Union (EU) to block
arms sale to Israel and Palestinians so as to stave off impending disaster in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56682 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and
SelectCountry=ISRAEL-OPTISRAEL-OPT: US$450m humanitarian appeal for Palestinians
United Nations agencies and NGOs have launched a US$450 million emergency appeal for humanitarian aid for the
Palestinians – the biggest-ever for the Palestinians and the third-largest in the world
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56664 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=ISRAEL-OPTLEBANON: Farmers seek government help to escape downward spiral of debtDesperate Lebanese farmers are urging their government to do more to help them recover from a war that the United Nations
estimates has cost the vital agriculture industry some US $280 million and left them facing "a downward spiral of debt and poverty".
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56681 and
SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=LEBANONOPT: No solutions for newly homelessThe F-16 fighters and Apache gunships may now be absent from the Gaza skies - but that doesn't help Omar
Mohammed Mamlouk and his 18-strong family, living in a tent amid the rubble of their home.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56694 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=OPTSYRIA:
Ahwazis in fear after news of deportation and deathsEthnic Arab (Ahwazi) refugees from Iran now living in Damascus have expressed fear as news emerged that Syria has deported three more Ahwazi
activists to Iran, where they face torture and execution.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56691 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=SYRIAUNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Tentative step
to greater democracyPolitical analysts expressed cautious optimism over the prospects for greater democracy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ahead of the country's first parliamentary elections on
16 to 20 December.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56734 and SelectRegion=Middle_East and SelectCountry=UNITED_ARAB_EMIRATES
