A few days ago a new friend of mine, Firsa Arafat, a Palestinian peacemaker that I met at MEPEACE.org, shared Ma’an News Agency with me. Even though I’d passed over the site before, after Firsa recommended the site as the best independent Palestinian news source, I started browsing MNA more frequently and have been greatly impressed.

Ma’an, which means “together” in Arabic, is a Bethlehem based news agency that works with independent journalists throughout Palestine to provide a professional, informative independent news source in Arabic and English.

Launched in 2005, Ma’an News Agency (MNA) … is among the most browsed websites in the Palestinian territories, with over 3 million visits per month. Considered the main source of independent news from Palestine, MNA has become the first choice for online information for many Palestinians, and is also attracting a growing international readership and interest from prominent international news organizations and agencies.

Ma’an News Agency is an integral part of Ma’an Network, a non-profit media organization founded in 2002 to strengthen professional independent media in Palestine, build links between local, regional and international media, and consolidate freedom of expression and media pluralism as keys to promoting democracy and human rights.

Unfortunately MNA doesn’t have an RSS feed and I have to make a little added effort to go to their site. However, they do regularly update their facebook page and tweet on twitter. The content is written well and covers unique stories that I haven’t found any where else on the web.

Today I was especially surprised to find that only MNA was covering the opening of the Gaza Strip’s commercial crossings. The story is especially important since the crossings haven’t been opened all at once since June 2007 and signals a change in the relationship between Israel and Hamas.