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No Headlines As Epic Journey To Gaza Nears End 
 
 
 
British convey enters Gaza, Monday, March 9. (Aljazeera)
 
By Sonja Karkar

An epic journey across eight countries is nearing its end. Gaza is almost within sights of the weary drivers and their navigators. On Day 21, the British convoy leaders decided to by-pass the towns of Benghazi and Bayda in Libya after consulting with Libyan officials to cut the time it would take to get to Gaza. This meant a desert crossing of some 400km – enduring not what many would think to be hot and stifling conditions, but rather the bitter cold of winter winds unbroken by vast expanses of emptiness. Perhaps few thought of what would await them on this journey when they first set out, but certainly, despite the hardships no one is complaining. What the Palestinians in Gaza are suffering is so much more and that is uppermost in everyone’s minds.

Nevertheless, poor and oftentimes non-existent phone signals, no landmarks, breakdowns, sandstorms and security restrictions are just some of the hiccups that have made the epic journey a writer’s dream story – after all, there are some 300 people sharing in the experience and each with their own story to tell. Under normal circumstances, it would be splashed across pages and TV screens in large headlines with a blow-by-blow account of various travellers’ tales. Not so on this voyage. The media is strangely silent, seemingly uninterested even in the historic opening of the border between Morocco and Algeria that has been closed since 1994.

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Dispatch publishes major probe into Somali killings

by Kenichi Serino

The articles are being published online concurrently with the print edition of the newspaper, under the series headline “Dying to live”.  The newspaper’s lead story, headlined “Why I killed”,  is based on an interview with a man jailed for the murder of  Somalis.
In a front-page editorial, the paper wrote South Africans were giving the lie to the constitutional promise that the country belongs to all who live in it, united in diversity. "Instead, we behave like dogs snarling at a suburban gate when strangers come to call. Our series exposes the prejudice and hatred we hold in our hearts against those who are not one of ‘us’.

"Government policy is utterly inadequate, the system corrupt, and political leadership on this question is practically non-existent – and why, after all, should politicians care?" the editorial asks.

Read More »Dispatch publishes major probe into somali killings