Gallagher Fenwick

It's now five years since Islamist party Hamas took power in the Gaza Strip. Hamas claims that the lives of Palestinians has improved in that time, but locals who do not belong to the party would not agree, while ordinary Gazans are also complaining about how there are now more restrictions on their freedom of speech.

Observers warned Israeli authorities that the influx of illegal immigrants was a timebomb. They now say it has gone off, with Jewish residents in southern Tel Aviv attacking and insulting Africans there. On the political front, the Israeli Interior Minister recently called for most illegal immigrants to be jailed because they are criminals. Racism, government failure or unwillingness to deal with the issue and poverty are some of the ingredients that make up the volatile mix of South Tel Aviv.

The Palestinian Authority appears to be clamping down on dissent in the West Bank, blocking access to internet news sites and arresting journalists who are suspected of libel against leading Palestinian politicians. The growing censorship has surprised outside observers, many of whom considered Palestinian internet use relatively free compared with neighbouring countries.

More than a thousand Palestinian prisoners found freedom when Hamas released a single Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, at the end of 2011. Hundreds of them headed to Gaza, even though many had never lived there before. A few weeks after their return, our reporter found out what became of three of these former prisoners.