U.S. wants details on plans to build homes in East Jerusalem
The U.S. has requested that Israel provide clarifications on its plan to build more than 300 new homes in an East Jerusalem neighborhood, Israeli officials confirmed to Haaretz on Thursday. The new housing would expand Har Homa, a Jewish neighborhood in an area Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state. The Palestinians call the area Jabal Abu Ghneim, and Palestinian officials have appealed to the U.S. to block the project.
Israeli minister rebuffs Rice on settlement homes
Responding to the rare public U.S. censure, Israeli Construction and Housing Minister Zeev Boim reiterated Israel's position that it can build anywhere in Jerusalem, the Arab east sector of which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Go west – or become Palestinian
In the next few weeks, about 80,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank, who have remained imprisoned on the eastern side of the separation barrier, will receive a surprising envelope. In it they will find a Palestinian passport issued by the One Home movement, which is promoting the idea of their returning to inside the Green Line (the pre-1967 Six-Day War border).
Israel mulls 'massive' West Bank settlement expansion
Israeli ministers are mulling a proposal that would allow a "massive" expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and retroactively legalize dozens of settler outposts, said a former Israeli state attorney who oversaw a government study on Jewish building in the disputed territory. The proposal, authored by Israel's Justice Ministry, consists of a set of guidelines for building in the West Bank. It is scheduled to be taken up next week by a Cabinet panel tasked with determining the status of unauthorized settlement outposts erected over the past decade.
Young Israelis resist challenges to settlements
SHVUT AMI OUTPOST, West Bank — For two months, Jewish youths have been renovating an old stone house on this muddy hilltop in the northern West Bank. The house is not theirs, however. It belongs to a Palestinian family. And their seizure of it, along with the land around it, for a new settlement outpost is a violation of Israeli law. The police have evicted the group five times, but they keep coming back. . . the settlers continue building a patchwork of communities to try to preclude the drawing of a border between Israel and a future Palestinian state.
Palestinians, Israelis build mock 'outpost' to protest Israeli settlement expansion
(AP) In an area between Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Maaleh Adumim, demonstrators set up a small house, complete with a concrete foundation, and raised Palestinian flags. The fake outpost was meant to draw attention to Israel's continued settlement activity, including the more than 100 settlement outposts that were set up in recent years. The outposts were ostensibly built without official approval, but received millions of dollars government funding and other support. As part of renewed peace effort, Israel has to remove dozens of outposts, but has failed to take any action.
ISM: 11 human rights activists arrested in E-1 area
Three Palestinians, five Israelis, and three international (Swedish) activists were forcibly evicted from a Palestinian house and arrested today in the E-1 area. They have now been taken to Ma'ale Adumim police station. Early this morning Palestinians built a house in the controversial E-1 area. Palestinians are routinely denied permits to build on their own land, and homes that have been built are demolished. The Human Rights activists stayed inside for a few hours before a large police and army presence evicted them through use of force.
EU: New settlements, Gaza siege, targeted assassinations acts of war, not peace
According to the European Union, the few hopes raised by the Annapolis summit have been dashed by the Israeli policy of collective punishment and senseless fire of rockets by Palestinian extremist groups. The following is a statement by Luisa Morgantini, VP of the European Parliament: "All this came immediately after Annapolis, which by the way was not making a final negotiation but only a joint statement for negotiations. The Israeli Government did not lose time, and announced the expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied East Jerusalem, and every day Palestinians are being killed by the Israeli army or undercover units: in the last week 27 Palestinian people were killed by the Israeli raids in Gaza Strip and many others in the West Bank. . . .
National Geographic VIDEO: Bethlehem and the Wall
Photographer Christopher Anderson offers a look at modern-day Bethlehem. The birthplace of Jesus is today one of the most contentious places on Earth.
Bethlehem inaugurates Christmas Market
Palestinian Minister of Tourism Dr. Kholoud D'ebis stated that the Christmas message from Bethlehem, as the city prepares to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, is a message of peace, a message to break the siege and a message for a positive political development. The Christmas Market includes Palestinian products such as mother-of-pearl, olivewood handcrafts, folk music, Christmas music, food, olive oil, falafel and other local products. It will last for eight days
Twilight Zone / Refugee Redux – by Gideon Levy
Abd al-Halim Natah was a small child when his family was forced to leave their village, Beit Jubrin, and today he is an old man who is once again being forced to take his possessions, his children and his sheep, and leave his home. Israel is evicting him for a second time. The encampments and cave-homes in which he, his family and his neighbors live have been trampled because of the mega-checkpoint that is being built on the other side of the Green Line, on the site that has been their home for decades.
Israeli court extends administrative detention for 28 Palestinians
According to Nafha's attorney, eight prisoners were sentenced to a further six months; 11 detainees were sentenced to a further four months and 13 other prisoners were sentenced to a further three months. The Nafha society also denounced the detention of more than 900 Palestinians who are being held in so-called administrative detention, which is imprisonment without any charges. They said some of the detainees have been in detention for more than four years.
Made in Palestine
Tariq Abbas believes that his efforts to sell Palestinians products of local and international manufacture, instead of Israeli goods, are an integral element of the struggle against the occupation. He cannot, however, get too far away from politics. Not only does the reality of the occupation constantly affect the work of his office, which was used as an Israeli outpost during the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) Operation Defensive Shield, in the spring of 2002: Abbas also encounters the world of politics at every family gathering, since he is the son of PA President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).
30th Gaza patient dies under the siege
The medics identified the dead man as Zuhair Hussain, a cancer patient of his sixties, saying that the ministry has asked for his referral to a hospital outside Gaza, yet the Israeli authorities refused to grant him access. The sources added that this case is the 30th since Israel has placed the coastal Strip under complete closure in mid June, after the Hamas party took over the region.
Ma'an exclusive: Hamas control of Gaza Strip may soon be over
Dialogue between Fatah and Hamas has reached "a moment of decisiveness" and Hamas has contacted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Ramallah-based government, calling for a return to a national unity government, the sources said. In indirect, but ongoing negotiations, mediated by Saudi Arabia and a number of Arab states, Hamas has agreed to hand over control of civil ministries, such as the health and education ministries, in the Gaza Strip to Palestinian Authority control. But they are not prepared to relinquish control of security. They have also said they will relinquish control of the border crossings.
Report: Hamas wants cease-fire with Israel in the Gaza Strip
Hamas is making efforts to reach a ceasefire with Israel in the Gaza Strip, London-based newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi reported Saturday. According to the report, senior Hamas officials are attempting to dissuade militants from firing Qassam rockets and mortar shells from the Strip into southern Israel in efforts to prevent a large-scale Israel Defense Forces ground operation in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israel Radio reported Saturday that Damascus-based Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal had met with the head of the Islamic Jihad in Lebanon to discuss the issue. Islamic Jihad sources told the Al-Quds al-Arabi that the group had agreed to Hamas' proposal, but only if Israel agrees to a mutual ceasefire.
Report: Israel reopened Rafah crossing for pilgrims in exchange for Shalit tape
According to the report in London-based Al-Shark Al-Awsat newspaper, which quoted Fatah officials as its source, the recent crossing of Palestinian pilgrims en route to Mecca through the Rafah crossing was not made without Israel's consent, but in return for a new tape featuring Shalit. A spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) told Ynet that the London report was unfounded,
Gaza's donkeys in demand as fuel crisis mounts
While working donkeys have been bought and sold in Gaza since before Samson pulled down the Philistines' temple, it is a long time since they have been as valuable as they are now. Prices have risen, according to the traders, by up to 60 per cent since Israel closed off the enclave after Hamas's enforced takeover of the Strip almost six months ago.
Gaza petrol station owners' strike ends
A five-day-old strike by the owners of Gaza petrol stations ended late Thursday night, and customers started to line up to fill their tanks. "There is a decision to operate all fuel stations in the Gaza Strip starting tonight," said Mahmoud al-Khozendar of the Union of Gaza Service Stations. The petrol stations were striking in protest of an Israeli cut in fuel supplies to the Hamas-ruled Strip, in retaliation for daily rocket and mortar attacks from the area at its southern towns and villages.
European doctors: Israel responsible for humanitarian crisis in Gaza Strip
A delegation of doctors from Germany , Switzerland and Spain visited the Gaza Strip on Friday. "It is unjust to punish the people as a whole. Israel is detaining all the Palestinians in a big prison 'Ghetto' similar to what happened with the Jews in World War Two," said Dr Walter Conti, a Swiss physician who led the delegation. A nurse named Barbel Costabelly expressed her astonishment at the Gazan people's "tolerance and steadfastness."
PA cuts off salaries to Gaza Strip Health Ministry workers, union says
The union said that the PA cut off the salaries of more than 1000 health sector employees in the Gaza Strip this week. The move means that the Fatah-dominated PA, led by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, has cut off the salaries of more than 3000 workers since June. The union called the PA's decision a crime against "angels of mercy" who rescue and treat the sick and injured regardless of political affiliation.
Livni to push for international force in Gaza
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is expected to discuss the idea of the deployment of a NATO force in the region in talks with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Belgium over the weekend, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Traditionally NATO's position was that it would not deploy here until there was a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and does not want to go to Gaza and risk attack from Hamas, which has made clear it would oppose a NATO presence.
Israeli media mark 20th anniversary of first Intifada with special reports
Israeli army radio will air Sunday a lengthy program in addition to interviews with Palestinian and Israeli leaders to ask them about the differences between the First Intifada, or "Stones' Uprising," because of the stones that Palestinians threw at occupying Israeli forces, and the current armed uprising, or "Al-Aqsa Intifada," which began in September 2000. The army radio intends to find out weather the Palestinians plan to launch a third uprising.
Ahmed Yousuf: Open letter to Condoleezza Rice
Senior Political Advisor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Gaza: You have made it a precondition to any engagement with us that we accept certain conditions. Yet you don't apply the same preconditions to the Israelis. You don't require of them recognition of Palestinian rights or a renunciation of the terrible violence that they daily invoke on us. Many people make the mistake of presuming that we have some ideological aversion to making peace. Quite the opposite; Our conflict with the Israelis is a grievance-based conflict. We want to end the occupation of our land and the systematic human rights abuses that our people suffer from daily. We do not have any ideological problems with living side by side with Christians and Jews. When we have not been occupied we have successfully done this for thousands of years.
Of Arabs at Annapolis – by Susan Abualhawa
How is it possible that Arab men who command the greatest natural resource ever known to man manage to be utterly powerless to stop the wholesale robbery and rape of Palestine or Iraq ? I suppose this is nature of imperialism, and how cruelly it operates when good people do nothing to stand in its way. It's a bitter truth, but I get it. No one really expected Bush or Olmert to care whether Palestinians live or die. Israel's primary aim has always been clear: Palestine without Palestinians. What I don't understand, however, is what were all of those Arab leaders doing participating in that charade in Annapolis?
War of words over an oil named Peace
Mark Tran reports on a charity under fire for marketing an Israeli olive oil at the expense of Palestinian products – Peace Oil, an olive oil made in Israel by Jews and Arabs, would seem an ideal Christmas gift for those wishing to take a stand against consumerism. Despite its laudable intentions, however, Cat has come under fire from those who claim it is undermining products made by Palestinians and brought into Britain by cooperatives such as Zaytoun .
FILM REVIEW – Return to Palestine
Reviewed by Sam Bahour – If you are planning to present the Palestinian issue to foreign audiences, plan to use this film as your visual aid to reveal the true meaning of the occupation: organized state terror. The hour-long abridged DVD version of Return to Palestine by Ed Hill is a sombre account of the slow and painful process of ethnic cleansing that Palestinians are dealing with, in full view of the international community. Through the lens of Palestinian olive farmers, the documentary systematically walks the viewer through the oppression that Palestinians are facing daily.
BOOK REVIEW: The Butterfly's Burden by Mahmoud Darwish
this remarkable book assembles the first three volumes Darwish published on his return to Ramallah after a 26-year exile.
Two 'Israeli Arabs' arrested on suspicion of planning attacks
The Shin Bet security service has recently arrested two Israeli Arab youths suspected of planning al-Qaida inspired terror attacks against targets in Israel, a gag order lifted Thursday revealed. The two suspects, 21-year-old economics student Akrameh Jurin and a 17-year-old high school student, are both residents of Jaljulya, a local council in central Israel east of Kfar Sava.
Israeli Arab leader to PA: Don't recognize Israel as Jewish state
The Palestinian Authority must not recognize Israel as a Jewish state, head of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee Shawki Khatib said Friday during a Hadash party annual convention in Nazareth. According to Khatib, Israeli Arabs in Israel have been pushed to the margins due to the country's definition as Jewish state, and are paying a heavy price for this.
Widow threatened with deportation
On June 15, 2004, a day before Semion Mueller died of cancer, the Muellers had an appointment at the Interior Ministry office in Be'er Sheva. Natalia Mueller, 55, a non-Jewish Ukrainian, had completed five years and four months of her naturalization process. At this meeting she was supposed to file a request for the hoped-for citizenship. When Mueller got to the Interior Ministry, the clerk reportedly told her that if he died, she would have to leave the country since she is not Jewish.
Ethiopian Jewish community hit hard by discrimination
Examples of racism in Israel in 2007: a school that prides itself on its low number of Ethiopian students; parents requesting Ethiopian children be removed from their children's kindergarten; a teacher that says 'the student is a nuisance not only to Ethiopians but also to the Israeli students in the class.' Organizations looking out for Ethiopians unveil the true state of racism in Israel. The facts seem to show that these attitudes are not confined to specific areas of the country but rather represent a collective phenomenon within Israeli society.
Spreading his wings – refusenik general writes new book
Brigadier General Spector was the most senior officer who signed the "letter of the pilots," which was made public on September 24, 2003, and stated: "We, for whom the IDF and the air force are an integral part of our being; who were brought up to love Israel and to contribute to the Zionist ideal, cannot take part in the operations in the center of populated civilian areas; and [we] refuse to endanger innocent Palestinian civilians ... The continued occupation is critically harming the country's security." Now, four years later, Spector is publishing a full and detailed reply to the question of how someone like him could have signed the pilots' letter, and also why his signature is the only possible outcome of his education concerning the value of conscience and of "purity of arms." The reply comes in the form of a book entitled "Ram vebarur" ("Loud and Clear," Yedioth Ahronoth Books; in Hebrew), in which Spector tells his story and the story of the IAF.
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