Will Gaza or Lebanon be attacked first? Israel is sending mixed messages, and deliberately so. Hamas, Hizbullah and their supporters understand well the Israeli tactic and must be preparing for the various possibilities. They know Israel cannot live without its iron walls, and are determined to prevent any more from being built at their expense. 

Nearly half a million children in Gaza returned to overcrowded and dilapidated schools on 1 February, many attending in a shift system, with missing textbooks, stationery or uniforms. Israel's 23-day military offensive on Gaza which ended on 18 January 2009 had "devastating consequences for the education system", according to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). 

Gazans hoping for a modicum of justice following Israel's indiscriminate military assault on the coastal territory during December 2008 and January 2009 - which left 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, dead - could be waiting in vain. The Israeli government has taken the offensive in the propaganda battle and attacked United Nations-appointed Justice Richard Goldstone's report into war crimes committed during the war. The report alleges that Israel was responsible for the lion's share of human rights abuses. 

On Monday, 1 February, the Israeli media reported that the commander of the Israeli army's Gaza division, Brigadier General Eyal Eizenberg, and the commander of the Givati Brigade, Colonel Ilan Malka, were "disciplined" for authorising the shelling of a United Nations facility with white phosphorous during Israel's war on the Gaza Strip that started in December 2008 and lasted for 22 days. 

Development is not a bad thing. Every nation aspires to develop and build its political, economic and cultural institutions. However, a Palestinian national strategy of development that ignores the context of occupation and divorces itself from the struggle for independence is not only naive and irresponsible, but it may have dangerous implications for the future of Palestine and its people. 

Mona al-Samouni, 12, is depressed and has nightmares about the day one year ago when she witnessed her parents and a number of relatives being shot by Israeli soldiers in their home. Like others who witnessed horrific events during last year's 23-day Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, Mona has become increasingly withdrawn and silent - common ways of coping with tragedies, doctors say. 

One year after Israel's ferocious assault, Dr. Mustafa El-Hawi, a professor at Al-Aqsa University, traveled by bus to attend a protest against the continuing Israeli siege of Gaza. As the bus passed by still-devastated areas of Beit Hanoun, in the northeast of the 25-mile-long coastal strip, the U.S.- and British-educated El-Hawi reflected on those terrifying days. 

On Friday the organization Breaking the Silence released a booklet of testimonies by female soldiers recounting various abuse cases involving Palestinians in the West Bank. In recent years, females have been increasingly involved in combat and field operations in the IDF and Border Guard. Among other things, these female soldiers engage in daily contact with the Palestinian population - at roadblocks and in Palestinian communities.