Israel Arrest Palestinian Journalist and Drop Site Contributor Mohammed Awad
marwan
- August 13, 2026
Israeli forces have arrested Palestinian journalist and Drop Site contributor, Mohammad Awad, 38, from his hometown of Bitunia, west Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, early Wednesday morning. Two other Palestinians were arrested after raiding and searching their homes in the nearby city of Al-Bireh, according to the Wafa news agency. Israeli soldiers first raided an apartment in a different neighborhood that Awad’s family had moved out of months earlier, breaking down the door only to find it empty, Awad’s wife Eman told Al-Araby. They then went on foot to the family’s current home and pounded on the door until Awad opened it. He was blindfolded, handcuffed behind his back, and forced to walk down five flights of stairs before being taken away in a military jeep in a scene captured on video. Awad’s reporting for Drop Site has covered escalating violence by Israeli settlers across the West Bank, including the burning of a mosque in Qusra, south of Nablus, and an attack in Masafer Yatta last week that wounded five Palestinians and burned four homes. With his detention, the number of Palestinian journalists held in Israeli prisons has risen to 40, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society. Israel has killed more than 260 journalists since it began its genocide in Gaza, two of whom died in Israeli prisons according to Drop Site News.
Palestinian School Year Starts 6 September
- August 13, 2026
CROSSFIREARABIA – The Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education officially announced, Thursday, that the new 2026-2027 academic year will begin on Sunday, 6 September, in all schools. However, all administrative and teaching staff will begin work on 1 September, 2026, preparation. This is despite the restrictions and closures imposed on the West Bank. And because of the catastrophic situation in Gaza, the Ministry is considering resuming in-person classes in the Gaza Strip, starting with high school seniors, with the format of the academic year to be determined by mid-month. This comes as the UNRWA staff union proposes a plan to salvage the educational process by vacating only three schools in each governorate currently housing displaced people.
Tel al-Zaater: 50 Years On! Memory of a Massacre
- August 13, 2026
The Tel al-Zaatar Massacre: An Unforgettable Palestinian Wound.
On August 12, 1976, the Tel al-Zaatar camp fell after a 52-day siege, opening one of the bloodiest and most painful chapters in the history of the Lebanese Civil War.
Tel al-Zaatar was more than just a refugee camp.
It was a temporary home for Palestinians uprooted from their land after the Nakba. They carried the keys to their homes and the memories of their villages, trying to build new lives in exile.
But the war reached them.
52 Days Under Siege
In the summer of 1976, the camp was besieged amidst the escalating Lebanese Civil War and the conflict between Lebanese and Palestinian factions, complicated by regional interventions.
For long days, the camp’s residents lived under bombardment and siege, suffering from severe shortages of water, food, and medicine.
Children, women, the elderly, and the sick were among those trapped. Hunger gnawed at bodies, fear filled homes, and the bombardment transformed daily life into a constant wait for death.
As the days passed, the siege was no longer merely a military operation; it had become a humanitarian catastrophe.
August 12th… The Day the Camp Fell
On August 12th, the camp’s defenses collapsed, and the attacking forces entered Tel al-Zaatar.
Widespread killings of residents took place, and a large number of civilians were killed.
Historical sources differ in their estimates of the number of victims; some speak of hundreds, others of thousands killed during the siege, the battles, and the fall of the camp, while the fate of many missing persons remains unknown.
Some civilians were also killed while attempting to leave the camp, despite arrangements being made to evacuate the residents.
Here, the numbers are not the whole story.
Behind every number is a human being.
Behind every name is a mother waiting for her son.
Behind every picture is a child who never had the chance to grow up.
Behind every destroyed house is a family that lost its place, its memories, and its security.
A Camp Destroyed… But a Memory Remains
After the fall of Tel al-Zaatar, the camp was destroyed, and its remaining residents were displaced.
The survivors scattered to different parts of Lebanon and beyond, but they carried with them something the war could not destroy:
Memory.
Memory of the siege.
Memory of the hunger.
Memory of the bombing.
Memory of those who left and never returned.
And the memory of the camp that was once a home, then became a witness to one of the war’s most horrific tragedies.
Tel al-Zaatar is not just a page from the past.
The Lebanese Civil War may have been complex, involving Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian, and regional factions, and during which massacres and violations against civilians from various groups occurred.
But understanding the complexities of war never means forgetting the victims.
Nor does it mean reducing history to cold, hard numbers.
Tel al-Zaatar was a human tragedy.
And its victims were human beings with names, faces, dreams, and families.
That is why, every August 12th, the memory returns to the camp. We remember those who were killed.
We remember those who lost their loved ones.
We remember the survivors who lived the rest of their lives carrying the scars of those days.
And we remember Palestine, which the refugees carried with them to the camp, and then carried what remained of when they were forced to leave again.
From the Nakba to the camp, and from the camp to the diaspora… the Palestinian has always carried his memory with him.
And Tel al-Zaatar is one of those memories that must never be erased.
We don’t need hatred to remember.
We need the truth.
We don’t need revenge for the past.
We need not to forget.
May God have mercy on the martyrs of Tel al-Zaatar, and protect the survivors and their descendants, and may mercy be upon all the martyrs of war and displacement in Lebanon and Palestine.
Tel al-Zaatar remains in our memory… and memory never dies.
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UN Reports Grave Israeli Violations of Gaza Returnees
- August 13, 2026
CROSSFIREARABIA – The UN Office for Human Rights in The Palestinian Territories expressed its alarm over continuing reports of Palestinians returning to Gaza through the Rafah/Karem Abu Salem crossings are being subjected to physical assaults, degrading treatment and strip searches by Israeli soldiers and “armed individuals” working with the Israeli occupation. The UN Office stated it received reports the soldiers/individuals working with them are confiscating medicines, medical apparatuses, educational certificates, monies and personal belongings without establishing proper mechanisms for the return of these items. Many people returning to Gaza between 7 July and 4 August said many of the belongings and medicines were confiscated according to the Palestine Information Center.
