The United Nations has issued an urgent call for the lifting of Israeli military restrictions on civilian access to the Gaza Strip. Over the past 10 years, the Israeli military has expanded restrictions on access to farmland on the Gaza side of the 1949 Armistice Line between Israel and Gaza—also known as the "Green Line"—and to fishing areas along Gaza's coast, with the stated intention of preventing attacks by Palestinian militants. "This regime has had a devastating impact on the physical security and livelihoods of nearly 180,000 people, exacerbating the assault on human dignity triggered by the blockade imposed by Israel in June 2007," states the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Food Programme (WFP), which carried out a study on the impact of the restrictions.

Israeli soldiers used force to shut down weekly non-violent anti-wall protests in villages across the West Bank on Friday Aug. 13. International, Israeli and Palestinian activists in Bil'in, Nil'in, and An-Nabi Salih, near Ramallah, and in al-Ma'sara, near Bethlehem, were met with tear-gas grenades as they marched towards the separation wall to protest the confiscation of their lands.

Fuel for generators is running out as the power crisis in Gaza continues, an electricity company official said Aug. 13. Kin'an Obed, vice-president of the Palestinian Energy Authority in Gaza, said the quantity of diesel that Israeli authorities allowed into the Strip that day was only sufficient to power one generator, and would run out within three days. Already, the power company has been forced to schedule 8-to10-hour power cuts every day for several months, Obed added. The sole power station in Gaza shut down totally on last week due to a shortage of fuel, leaving hospitals reliant on emergency generators.

The Israel Government Tourist Office (IGTO) lost an appeal Aug. 4 of a British ban on a vacation advertisement that described the Western Wall as part of Israel. The IGTO appealed after the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint in April that the Kotel is actually in the Occupied Territories. An image on the advert for vacations in Israel showed a picture of the wall with the gold Dome of the Rock in the background, captioned "Jerusalem." A spokesman from the ASA said: "After careful consideration, including of a report from the Independent Reviewer, the ASA Council has decided not to overturn its original upheld decision. The original adjudication will remain unchanged." (Jewish Chronicle, London, Aug. 5; IRNA, Aug. 4)

The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced Aug. 11 that it will conduct an investigation into the May flotilla incident, in which Israeli forces raided several Turkish ships bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip. The investigatory commission will operate under the office of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and will prepare a report to be presented to the UN panel established earlier this month to investigate the incident.

In two raids week, personnel of the Israel Lands Administration, backed up by a large police contingent, demolished the homes of some 300 residents in the "unrecognized" Bedouin village of al-Arakib in the Negev. Most of them—Israeli citizens, including many children—were left homeless. No assistance or compensation was offered by Israeli authorities. In the second police action Aug. 3, the entire village was bulldozed, with many of the residents' cattle, trees and belongings lost. Al-Arakib, which had about 40 homes, was one of 45 Bedouin villages not recognized by Israeli authorities.

Tension prevailed on both sides of the border after Israeli forces resumed routine activity in the area where deadly clashes took place Aug. 4 between Israeli and Lebanese soldiers. The Israeli forces managed to cut down the tree which ignited the skirmishes, Israel's Army Radio reported. The army said it had the right to remove trees if they hinder visibility and make Israeli forces vulnerable to attacks. Armored vehicles were stationed in the area to protect Israeli machinery used to cut down the tree which ignited the clashes. Israel and Lebanon blame each other for the brief exchange of fire that left one Israeli soldier, two Lebanese troops, and a Lebanese journalist dead.

An illegal Israeli settlement outpost erected near the larger Kiyrat Arba settlement in Hebron was evacuated by Israeli forces on the morning of Aug. 5, sparking violence from squatters. The outpost, a collection of wood buildings and tents in Hebron's al-Buwayra area, was taken down and more than a dozen settlers removed from the area, who proceeded to torch Palestinian lands, witnesses said.