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Israeli forces kill 20 in Gaza during Eid attacks
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have escalated their aggression on the Gaza Strip since the Eid al-Adha eve, killing twenty Palestinians and injuring 27 others, including four critically. The casualties resulted from acts of assassination and bombardment, and an incursion in central Gaza during which eight were killed on 20 December 2007. IOF also leveled sixty dunums (one dunam equals 1,000 square meters) of agricultural land and partially destroyed twelve homes in the area.
Israeli army fire wounds a Palestinian youth in a West Bank village
An Israeli soldier shot and wounded on Tuesday a Palestinian youth in the West Bank village of Nahalin, Palestinian media sources reported.
Israeli Army Invade Azzoun Yet Again
At 3:45 AM on the 24th of Dec, the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) invaded Azzoun, once again imposing curfew in the Palestinian village without any reason. A large number of military vehicles and soldiers were spread out all over the village, randomly attacking civilian Palestinians with teargas, sound bombs and rubber bullets. During the curfew IOF closed the centre of the city, not even allowing the ambulance to drive on the main road. A Palestinian family got permission to drive to their home in the old city, but despite the permission Israeli soldiers opened fire at the car. The front window of the car was hit with four rubber bullets. The parents and their 6 children (the youngest only two years old) got away with only minor injuries from glass splinters.
Two missiles fired at a civilian area in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, no injuries reported
IMEMC Correspondent in Gaza reported that an Israeli war plane fired two missiles at a building in the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Lahia, on Tuesday night.
Palestinian farmers, including child,
beaten by masked Israeli settlers near Nablus
Palestinian sources reported Tuesday that a group of farmers in their fields near Nablus, in the northern part of the West Bank, were badly beaten by a group of Israeli settlers living illegally in the area.
13 Palestinians detained in Israeli operations across West Bank
Israeli army forces detained 13Palestinians during its operations across the West Bank which started Tuesday night, Palestinian security sources said Wednesday. Most of the detentions took place in Nablus city where Israeli soldiers stormed tens of houses at dawn and seized at least 10 residents.
Palestinian interior minister:
security arrangements in the West Bank efficient
Palestinian interior minister, Abdelrazzaq aL-Yahya, asserted that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is keeping up a security plan across the West Bank with a 'great efficiency', and all scenes of chaos will be eliminated soon.
Hamas concerned over Israeli army actions against resistance
A senior leader and spokesperson of Hamas in southern Gaza, Ahmad Arreqeb, stated Tuesday that his movement takes the Israeli threats, to target Hamas's leaders, seriously.
Who is impeding ceasefire in Gaza?
The Palestinian government in Gaza has recently given many indications of its willingness to reach a ceasefire agreement with Israel. This writer has received first-hand information from some Gaza officials, expressing genuine readiness to reach a dignified and equitable ceasefire agreement that would put an end to the callous Israeli blockade of Gaza and the daily killing of Palestinians there in exchange for a stoppage of all rocket-firing on nearby Jewish settlements.
Hamas accuses Fatah of attempting to prolong Gaza siege
The ruling Hamas movement in Gaza accused its rival Fatah party Wednesday of attempting to further tighten the siege being imposed on the Gaza Strip, where Hamas wrestles control for the past six months.
INTERVIEW-Hamas won't budge in demands for Israeli soldier
Hamas will not release a captured Israeli soldier unless Israel meets its demand to free nearly 1,400 Palestinian prisoners, including 350 with life sentences, a leader of the Islamist group in Gaza said on Wednesday. Similar demands were rejected months ago by Israel, highlighting the gaps that remain between the two sides in trying to reach a swap deal for Sergeant Gilad Shalit, captured by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid in June 2006.
Barak, in Egypt, will seek calm with Hamas
Defense Minister Ehud Barak travels to Egypt today for meetings with the Egyptian leadership on the continued arms smuggling from Sinai into the Gaza Strip, and the efforts to achieve a tahadiyeh (calm) between the Palestinian militant groups and Israel.
Ahead of Abbas-Olmert meeting, the PFLP calls for halting peace talks
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), demanded Tuesday the Palestinian Authority to stop underway Palestinian-Israeli talks, branding the talks 'aimless'.
PM, Abbas to meet in bid to defuse Har Homa spat
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is scheduled to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday in an attempt to solve the so-called settlement crisis that has plagued negotiations since the Annapolis summit late last month.
High Court slams state for not providing Gaza power cuts data
The High Court of Justice assailed the State Prosecutor's Office Tuesday for failing to provide it with data on the government's plans to limit the supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip. "The fact that the work of the task force [on this issue] was completed but not presented to us is troubling," wrote Justices Dorit Beinisch, Esther Hayut and Yosef Elon. They also decided that a hearing on the electricity cuts will be held during the second half of January, 2008.
Egypt hits back at Israeli charges over Gaza
Egypt rejected Israeli complaints about weapons smuggling into Gaza on Wednesday, after talks between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak.
Egypt ask for national troop deployment in Sinai, Israeli refuse
The Israeli delegation officials that are visiting Egypt said that they will refuse the demands made by Egypt to deploy 2000 of its troops in the Sinai Peninsula.
Ramallah Government Pays Gaza's Civil Servants—If They Promise Not to Work
A PLUME OF smoke, its scent redolent of roasted apples, wafts out the paneless window into the autumn air. A rhythmic bubbling can be heard as 47-year-old Abu Khaled inhales from the ornate hookah set beside him. As he exhales deeply, his heavy eyes watch the latest snakelike plume follow its predecessor. Once a man of action, today he simply sits, sentenced by political maneuvering to a sedentary existence and lamenting the life he until recently led.
Palestinian Christians lament treatment
..."We do not believe what these evangelical and fundamentalist Christians in the U.S. are doing. This is not right. This is not the word of Jesus Christ. Our Lord was not a real estate agent," said Batarseh, 72.
Israel continues policy of denying visas to Christian clergy
As Christians around the world and in Bethlehem celebrate Christmas this year, the Israeli government is blocking clergy from reaching Bethlehem and other locations in the Holy Land this Christmas.
In Gaza, Santa is insolvent
"Santa Claus is empty handed this year ... insolvent," says Father Manuel Musallam, head of the Holy Family School in Gaza City. "All forms of celebration are absent," he says, raising his empty palms skywards. "We Christians and Muslims all live in fear and instability. The Israeli tanks, bulldozers and warplanes have laid siege on us all." His school, which has both Muslim and Christian students, likes to celebrate including all; this year few celebrations were planned, for fewer children.
Christians, too, suffer the evilness of the occupation
Christmas is a season of good will. However, for Israel and its notoriously mendacious propaganda machine, Christmas is also a hasbara opportunity for spreading lies and disseminating disinformation and half truths about Christians in the Holy Land.
Christmas celebrated in Bethlehem
A recent lull in violence and renewed Middle East peace talks have bolstered tourist and pilgrim numbers, with the Palestinian town in the West Bank enjoying its busiest Christmas since the second intifada began seven years ago.
Hamas: Past negotiations bring nothing for Palestinians
A spokesman for Hamas said Tuesday that years of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians gave everything to the occupation but nothing to the Palestinians. "The negotiations enhance the image of the occupation in front of the international community by showing the meetings with the Palestinian side which gets only illusive promises," spokesman Fawzi Barhoom said.
Fatah loyalists break out of Egyptian police camps
Dozens of Palestinian security men affiliated to Fatah staged a mass break-out on Tuesday from the camp where they have been held in the Egyptian town of Rafah, security sources said. Around 130 men from various Fatah security groups have been held in Egyptian police custody since they crossed the border from the Gaza Strip in June, fleeing in the aftermath of rival Hamas' seizure of the territory.
Apology in Kafr Qasem
Most Israelis still find it hard to acknowledge that they bear historical responsibility for the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem. The Zionist vision is based, among other things, on the assumption that its fulfillment need not cause injustice to anyone... This historical fiction is very harmful because as long as we convince ourselves that we have no part in the responsibility for the creation of the Palestinian tragedy, we have no real reason to try to correct the injustice. This is the importance of acknowledging our responsibility.
Cold reality for Fatah
He didn't try to hide his resentment as a reporter on the local radio cited a Hamas leader as saying that the movement had reached an agreement with Fatah to initiate dialogue with the aim of ending their current crisis. For Wael Khalil, the 35-year-old officer who is investigating recent bombings in Gaza, Fatah is not acting in good faith. "Had we not been working around the clock, we wouldn't have been able to foil most of the bombing attempts ordered by Fatah in Ramallah, Khalil told me.
"Jerusalem in Exile"—An Invitation to Palestinians
THE "JERUSALEM in Exile" project is searching for the mental image of Jerusalem that exists in the minds of the Palestinian people in the Diaspora. (The Diaspora now seems to include Palestinians in Palestine, who are barred from traveling to Jerusalem.) This mental image will be later transformed into a photographic image.
Ron Paul insists: 'Israel encourages Americans to go into Iran'
Ron Paul was on Meet the Press this morning, and for some reason, Israel was at the top of the agenda. As I wrote in the past, Paul was very careful not to single out Israel when it comes to foreign aid. Will you cut off all foreign aid to Israel, he was asked. "Absolutely," he said. But he didn't forget to add that he meant Israel "and the Arabs." Paul did raise some questions about his views regarding Israel when he talked about Israel and Iran.
Al-Shefa Hospital in pictures
Avoiding Responsibility
The Israeli demand to be recognized as a "Jewish state" was not only one of the main reasons for the failure of the Annapolis conference, it was one of the most controversial issues of the negotiations. This demand is rejected by Palestinians and all Arab governments. Hence, the support for the Israeli position on this controversial issue by President George W. Bush in his opening speech at Annapolis marked a snub to the Arabs and a failure of their diplomacy.
South Africa found peace, why not Middle East? by Desmond Tutu
December 21, 2007: At the height of the struggle, when apartheid's repression was at its most vicious and it seemed as if the apartheid rulers were firmly ensconced in power, we turned to the inspiration of our Hebrew tradition and antecedents. I could have spent a great deal of time rehearsing how I experienced a deja-vu when I saw a security checkpoint at which Palestinians had to negotiate most of their lives, that I was reminded so painfully of the same checkpoints in apartheid South Africa. I have not gone that route.
Palestine: A Peace-killing Linkage, De-linkage
Linking the "aliyah" to what the Jewish literature has been describing as Eretz Israel or Yisrael HaShleima (Greater Israel) to the Israeli colonial settlement of the Palestinian land, which the Hebrew state occupied in 1967, while at the same time negating the Palestinian Right of Return, is torpedoing whatever prospect is left for a peaceful solution for the Arab – Israeli conflict, undermining the latest U.S.-sponsored launch of the Palestinian - Israeli talks in Annapolis and further splintering, so far politically, the only viable Palestinian partner to Israel in any viable peace process, namely the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Palestinian cooking ‹ LOW PROFILE, HIGH FLAVOR
BETHLEHEM, West Bank -- It's the most talked about conflict in the world -- but the food remains a mystery. Despite decades of attention to the Mideast, Palestinian cooking is all but unknown to a world more familiar with images of angry Palestinians with AK-47s than chefs creating delicate salads or carefully roasted stuffed pigeon. "We do have (Palestinian) fighters," said Fadi Kattan, organizer of the Second Palestinian Culinary Competition, a recent effort to raise the profile of the region's cuisine. "But we also have other things that make us Palestinian."
Israel Wins "Nuke" War
A doomsday war between nuclear-armed adversaries Iran and Israel would kill up to 28 million Iranians and destroy their nation, but the Jewish state might survive, according to a prestigious US think tank.
Iran Jewish leader calls recent mass aliyah 'misinformation' bid
A top Iranian Jewish community leader on Wednesday described the recent immigration of 40 Iranian Jews to Israel as a misinformation campaign and insisted that Jews living in the Islamic Republic were not in danger under hard-line policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
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