Over 50 million affected in Muslim world in 2011

ISRAEL-OPT: Helping ex-detainee children cope with trauma*

RAMALLAH, 26 March 2012 (IRIN) - A year after his arrest and detention by the Israeli military in Bethlehem, Hamza, a 17-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank, is seeing a social worker to try and overcome the trauma he suffered in a small cell with 10 other people. full report

MIDDLE EAST: Call for educational reform to create "knowledge society"

DUBAI, 15 March 2012 (IRIN) - If the Arab Spring is to have any lasting impact, education must top the priority list of post-revolutionary reforms in the Arab world, experts said yesterday at the launch of the 2010-2011 Arab Knowledge Report in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). full report

OPT: Gaza’s energy crisis close to tipping point

GAZA CITY, 20 February 2012 (IRIN) - An energy crisis is currently hitting the Gaza Strip‘s public services hard and could lead to a severe humanitarian crisis if a sustainable solution is not found soon. full report

OPT: Promises of exports fall short for Gaza’s manufacturers

GAZA CITY, 15 February 2012 (IRIN) - Mu’min Najar drags open the massive door to the goods depot of his father’s furniture factory, the Modern Industrial Group (MIG), in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. full report

ISRAEL-OPT: Key West Bank settlement outpost slated for evacuation

RAMALLAH, 1 February 2012 (IRIN) - Israel’s High Court of Justice has ordered Israeli settlers in the Migron settlement outpost in the West Bank to leave by 31 March in response to a 2006 petition filed by seven Palestinian landowners and Israeli pressure group Peace Now. full report

AID POLICY: Islamic agencies battle the odds in Gaza*

GAZA CITY, 30 January 2012 (IRIN) - International aid groups providing humanitarian support to Palestinians in Gaza have to tread extremely carefully to avoid falling foul of western anti-terror legislation aimed at Hamas, the Islamic movement that controls the territory. full report

OPT: Boosting protection and tackling food insecurity

RAMALLAH, 27 January 2012 (IRIN) - The humanitarian community’s 2012-2013 Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) for the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) has a narrower scope than in previous years, focusing on two strategic objectives: improving the protective environment, including access to essential services like health care and education, and tackling food insecurity especially in areas where the Palestinian Authority (PA) has limited access. full report

Analysis: Visions for a healthier West Bank economy*

RAMALLAH, 9 January 2012 (IRIN) - Izz Tawil draws a black circle on the flip-chart in his office in Ramallah, capital of the West Bank in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). full report

MIDDLE EAST: The year that was

DUBAI, 4 January 2012 (IRIN) - When hundreds of thousands of people across the Arab world poured into the streets in 2011 to demand freedom from dictatorship, they set in motion a series of events which not only created humanitarian needs in countries that were otherwise relatively stable, but also exacerbated existing humanitarian and developmental challenges. full report